SOULMATES OR CELLMATES – TRADITIONAL MARRIAGE AS/IS SECRET COMBINATION


DECLARATION OF INTENT

“It is not my intention to persuade or dissuade anyone with regards to marriage.”

That was the way I planned to start this post. But I feel that it would be misleading to lead with that statement. To even think that I can persuade anyone or dissuade them from anything would be equally dishonest as attempting it. People will do what they will to do. People who use their divinely innate will-power to enable some people to lord over others are perhaps using a very low level of personally channeled will, but they are nonetheless using will-power to allow for a certain set of circumstances to prevail in the world. In many instances those who typically demonstrate weak will with regards to major and minor life decisions even share the same titles or labels as those who exercise will-power more firmly, more thoughtfully. They share space and time with others who identify as fighters for the cause of freedom. Many find it popular to designate themselves as Libertarian, or Anarchist these days. But the real difference can be seen in terms of consistency and target. There are those who make showy demonstrations of will-power on specifically ordered occasions where the greater group deems such displays appropriate. This occurs with a type of consistency in regularly scheduled events that serve as safety valves to preserve the status quo like political rallies, testimony meetings, etc. But our blinding hypocrisy shines through when vocalization impresses us with a false sense of accomplishment, and when physical action is directed from shallow grass-roots committees, only ever towards the wrong targets.

Why am I talking about the fight for freedom on global, national, and local levels after premising my remarks with an allusion to marriage? Because the illusion, or mirage that we call marriage has everything to do with the fight for freedom on a personal, local, regional, and global scale. So instead of leading with a negative declaration, let me rather state clearly what my intentions are in the affirmative. In the absence of will power, the most complete collection of virtues and talents is wholly worthless. So, I will, with my writing here, encourage men and women to use their personal supply of divine will-power consciously. That in doing this they may multiply and replenish their personal will, which is their personal portion of spirit, that they may build their spirit-bodies stronger and stronger still, till that increase develops a firm resolve within themselves to embody Christ qualities. These Christ qualities, like spiritual muscle, will enable personal resolve to transcend selfishness and crash through the partitioning walls that divide members of the human race like so many 6x6x6 office cubicles in this art-official reality. Only once this is accomplished can we say that we have lived up to our covenants to “always remember Him.” Cell walls becoming seen for the permeable membranes they truly are, it will be easy in that day for us to join hands and literally re-member the whole Body of Christ which is to rise up in power and great glory, free at last. Awaken. Remain vigilant. Nobody wants to miss out on the wedding celebration of the Bride Groom.

FAMILY HISTORY AND PRE-HISTORY, EXISTENCE AND PRE-EXISTENCE

family (n.)
Early 15c., “servants of a household,” from Latin familia “family servants, domestics collectively, the servants in a household,” thus also the estate and property, including members, of a household. Abstract noun formed from famulus “servant, slave,” which is of unknown origin. Derivatives of famulus include famula “serving woman, maid,” famulanter “in the manner of a servant,” famulitas “servitude,”

The family is said to be the fundamental unit of society. So, if society is disjointed, corrupt, oppressive, and iniquitous, is it then the fault of the family? What family? Which family? Who is this “Royal Family” who captivates the attention of the masses like Princess Die, or Prince WillIAm? What are we even talking about when we use this term “The Family”? The much used phrase has become as arbitrary and ironic by this point as the official titles of those who use it the most in their rhetoric today. Catholic Fathers are not fathers at all, in any real role, to anybody, not biologically nor spiritually speaking. But they find that people of the world listen when they speak about the sanctity of “The Family”. Political personas amplify their popularity through proclaiming themselves protectors of “Family Values”. And they amass precious photo-ops through tactics like “baby kissing.” The group which lead the LDS people are called “The Brethren”, but it is unclear how, and on what levels they relate to their followers. If we are all brothers and sisters in Christ then why the distinction, when did it begin to be made, and what does it mean for “The Family”? To their credit, “The Brethren” have tried to be as clear as possible, within the bounds that the Legislative Branch of the U.S. Government has set, about what they mean when they say, “The Family.”

In the first few lines of The Family: A Proclamation to the World, we have The Family being de-fined (stripped of its finery) and obliged to pledge allegiance to The World. The order of this New World of Earthly Existence is discussed in this document as if it were patterned after the Old World where we lived during our “pre-existent” stage with The Creator. At this point “The Brethren” evoke “The Father”. “In the pre-mortal realm,” they say, “…spirit sons and daughters knew and worshipped God as their Eternal Father…” It would seem that here we have found an unmistakably clear mental snapshot which would constitute a pre-mortal portrait of “The Family.” But, here come the selling points (or we should say sealing points). By the end of that same paragraph we are no longer talking about “The Family” but “families”. What on earth has happened to the Divine Family we enjoyed while enjoined in heaven? Did the War in Heaven culminate in a Big Bang, some kind of nuclear blast that destroyed the Divine Family and resulted in a supposedly more favorable dispersion of billions of nuclear families scattered about the universe? Obviously that scenario is not totally accurate. If it were then there would be no need to reorganize single individuals into traditional family units. Nuclear families existing eternally or even naturally as the result of some divine decree or pre-existential action, even an inadvertent one, would eliminate the search amongst males and females of planet Earth to find an adequate and appropriate helpmate. Can “traditional family values” be rightly called an extension or expansion of our family of origin in heaven above?

Notice there is no mention of a Heavenly Mother in the Proclamation to the World or anywhere else in Mormon or other Christian accounts of our pre-mortal existence for that matter. So we can not establish any doctrinal basis for the nuclear family as an eternal order from before the foundations of the world. There do exist sources which take one further back, and cover with more depth pre-mortal and pre-existential states, but they are not to be had inside correlated Christianity. The reality of what occurred before we were physically born into this world is more multifaceted in its complexity, yet much less complicated than the euphemistic reports we have received. It will become especially clear if we are willing to consider exactly where we end up upon withdrawing from the pre-mortal realm into physical existence, but immediately before being welcomed into the world. The conspicuous absence of a Mother in Heaven from Christian theology has a simple and even obvious explanation. But it is not one that most people are prepared to hear, understand, or accept. No, it does not mean that the early Mormon view of a polygynous paternal God is entirely accurate. But, neither does it support the monotheistic idea of a monogamous masculine deity, solar and solo, seated in his heavenly throne. Are we to picture Heavenly Father as a perfect but single parent? No, this would completely contradict statements made in the Proclamation let alone nature’s way. But neither need we assume that it was ever necessary to break up the Family of God into mini-monogamous models? Do such models accurately reflect that pre-mortal portrait of the Divine Family when gathered as one? Is it truthful to say that such flawed families as we have had here since primitive times up to the current day represent an unbroken continuation of that heavenly configuration which was abandoned at some point in our Earthly history?

The Pearl of Great Price gives descriptions of the Fall of Mankind as well as the rise of Secret Combinations. Secret Combinations are Secret Societies on their outermost and not so secret levels. But Secret Combinations have inner workings that are much more fundamental and therefore much more likely to be overlooked, remaining a secret to us. We make the common mistake of assuming ourselves innocent inasmuch as we are unaware of any affiliation or involvement on our part within a Secret Combination. As far as we know, we have not agreed to any binding contract which was authored by and tailors to the terms of Satan. Any time any two things are combined in any degree of unconsciousness a Secret Combination is formed. Once this happens, the only way to undo a Secret Combination is to expose it to the light of consciousness – to transform the Secret Combination into an Open Combination. The plight of the Nephites in the Book of Mormon (3 Nephi 4-7) shows us that we can imprison, convert, or kill every last member of a Secret Society and think we have uprooted the oath-bound bands once and for all, but as long as the basic structures of Church and State remain intact they will in a very short time begin to combine or conspire in the same secret manner to do evil. The secret is not one which is so much kept by so-called insiders of these types of groups; rather the secret is kept from the minds of any and all working within the machinations of Church and State. This is the case no matter how base or pure their intentions may appear. In fact, the more naïve one is, and the more convinced one is of his or her own personal righteousness based on public performance of civic and or religious duty, the more deceived and dangerous one becomes in the Secret Combination.

But all of that is only on the most superficial levels. The real roots of Secret Combinations go much deeper, almost as deep as the foundations of the Holy Family. In order to transmute the Secret Combinations that beset us into Open Combinations that liberate us, we will have to go through the same process of repentance that our First Parents went through to be redeemed from The Fall. It all began with Mom & Dad, and just as they “made all things known unto their sons and their daughters” (Moses 5:12), so we will have to look to Adam & Eve for some “spiritual sex education” if we want to know anything of the Plan of Redemption. In the books of the Pearl of Great Price, Adam and Eve are presented as both literal and figurative parents of the human race. When taken as a literal symbol we can clearly see how the DNA of Adam and of Eve is literally within us all – that the self expression of that DNA is made manifest in myriad ways. When understood on more subtle layers of symbolism we ironically see even less difference between our first parents and us, their offspring, and we come to consider ourselves, men and women, as Adams and Eves respectively. The word אדם ‘adam’ literally means ‘human’ in Hebrew. The name ‘Eve’ in Hebrew is pronounced – Havah, and written – חַוָּה. It derives from the Hebrew verb חוה meaning ‘to breathe’, and is related to the verb חיה (hayah) ‘to live’. It has been noted and discussed at length on this blog that ר֫וּחַ – ruach, the Hebrew word for ‘breath’ is translated as ‘spirit’ in Christian scripture, and that it also corresponds with the concept of a Heavenly Mother since it is always referred to in feminine form even when used with the definite article to mean Holy Spirit (הקודש ר֫וּחַ – ruach ha-kodesh), a vital member of the Godhead. When the Group God – Elohim (literally powers, or deities) creates Adam they then put into him the “breath of life.” He is now, as we would say, a living, breathing soul. The Dual Soul grouping of ‘Adam & Eve’ should be read in a semi-semitic mind set, from right to left to communicate the idea of Living Man.

Once we put these two names side by side the plan and purpose of our existence begins to reveal its self more fully to us. In a post on ldswomenofgod.com there is a brief but beautiful breakdown of the significance of each of the Hebrew letters in the names of Adam and Eve. But it lacks the maturity of a Kabbalistic expounding. So, not surprisingly Heavenly Mother is again missing in action. Since Adam & Eve’s offspring (aka Living Man) comes from the Father through the Mother of All Living, both man and woman share great responsibility. We will have to get a little more detailed than ldswomenofgod with this literal letter by letter analysis. The first letter in the name Adam is Aleph א. Aleph signifies the Father from whose presence we have left. Then comes Dalet ד, representing broken mankind, or a poor man. Dalet can also signify an open door flap on a tent and is the doorway through which we pass from immortality into physicality. Finally Mem ם, represents water. These last two letters in Adam’s name form the Hebrew word for blood, signifying the fact that, cut off from the Father, man becomes mortal. Reading in the Hebrew fashion from right to left then, Adam means: leaving the presence of God and all of mankind coming down to the earth to live as mortal beings. 2 Nephi 2:25 tells us that:

“Adam fell that men might be; and men are, that they might have joy.”

To “have joy” or to “delight in” when used intransitively in many of the Romance Languages, like Spanish, Portuguese, and French, means to orgasm. Eden עדן is a Hebrew word that means “pleasure, bliss, ecstasy.” To be in Eden is to be in ecstasy. All those nerves, all those ganglia of the 3 nervous systems unite in the sexual organs, and when the man and woman unite, all those nervous systems are ignited. If we include the penile duct we have a total of 4 rivers with many tributaries through which, not only the waters or bodily fluids symbolized by Mem may flow, but also surges of electric, ecstatic, Edenic energy while the Garden of God flourishes. This is in keeping with Genesis 2:10 which states that:

“a river went out of Eden to water the garden; and from thence it was parted, and became into four heads.”

Expulsion from the Father’s presence should not be premature. Neither must it be necessarily viewed as a negative thing. This after all comprises only the beginning part of the work of the Father. First spiritual energy is built up within the Father. Next that spiritual energy is released in physical form via carrier liquids and conductive channels. Following the sacred formula set forth in D&C 29:32, the Group God – Elohim creates:

“First spiritual, secondly temporal,”

God designates this as the beginning of His work. And here the baton gets passed to His “better half” where the work of the Mother commences. Her work is on the receptive end, and hence will be a symmetrical reflection of the Work of the Father. Verse 32 continues:

“and again, first temporal, and secondly spiritual, which is the last of my work—”

Another type of Eden welcomes and makes a home for the traveling soul who is on his or her way to the Lone & Dreary World of external experience. This Garden is more dimensionally dense than the last, more watery, but it is very comfortable. It will remain reasonably so up until – like the soul’s bout of sudden excitement at the outbreak of the War in Heaven – pressure builds and the pattern repeats, sending the heroic wayfarer on to the next leg of the journey. A mirror image starts to emerge as the Divine Plan progresses by the wisdom, and willingness of Eve.

Her Hebrew name, Havah חוה, picks up where Adam left off. The letter Chet ח, is packed with symbolism, much of which is missed in the brief post from ldswomenofgod.com. The author at that blog says that Chet represents a sacred or holy enclosure. She of course associates that with the idea of the Holy of Holies of The Temple, but only as seen within a Church context. In addition to her summation, I would like to offer some insight that addresses the role of Heavenly Mother and highlights the value of women. In the most reverent manner possible, may I boldly suggest that LDS women of God humbly recognize their own divinity, and remember that the body is the Temple of the Lord. In the classical Hebrew script Chet is constructed of the preceding two letters in the Hebrew alphabet, Vav and Zayin, joined at the top with a connecting line that resembles a yoke. Young LDS men and women have been repeatedly told by Church clergy to find a partner with whom they can be “equally yoked”. Yokes can be tools for combining efforts, and when used properly they can assist us in keeping those combined efforts open and clear of any secret combination. A yoke is a connection between two things so that they move and work together. Since the gematrical sum of the letters Vav and Zayin equals the same value as the Hebrew word for love (), we can see that the essential nature of this “moving and working together” is that of loving, even physical love making.

But all too many LDS marriages, although the wedding ceremony was performed in a beautiful building, are not taken on by both parties as an egalitarian yoke, but rather as a disjointed and cruel joke where one person shoulders all the burden. Most often the man supposes that by virtue of holding down a steady Babylonian job, he is entitled to shirk the emotional work required in family life – this, despite “The Brethren’s Proclamation” which suggests that sacred responsibilities be shared. Elohim’s commandments to Adam & Eve (Man & Woman) are even more explicitly against the division of labor, for therein lies the beginning stages of the division of the family. Nevertheless the unrighteous LDS man “holds the priesthood” over his wife’s head, and excuses all kinds of abuse on his part, while expecting her to be the more spiritually attuned one in the relationship. After all, it has been said on numerous occasions from LDS pulpits world-wide that women are naturally more spiritual than men. This is a patronizing cop-out that causes the hearts of many of the “fair daughters of this people” to die “pierced with deep wounds” as Jacob laments in Jacob, chapter 2.

Vav and Zayin equally yoked in Chet form a gateway. Since the letter Vav represents the yashar (light that descends from God the Father) and Zayin represents the chozer (light that ascends or returns to God the Father), some of the Jewish mystics consider Chet to be the doorway of light from heaven. And it should be apparent to anyone who is a parent that the light is reflected back out of the woman in the form of children who are “an heritage unto the Lord, and the fruit of the womb is his reward” as it says in Psalm 127:3. In our examination of the symbolic name/nature of Eve, we are honoring Chet as a symbol of the physical gateway through which all souls must pass to enter the Holy of Holies and eventually move into clay tabernacles of their own, for Eve is the Mother of All Living. The physical attributes of the woman are to be revered as sacred, not shrouded in secrecy; lest we let the Devil slip in between Adam & Eve and slyly shame them into a Secret Combination.

The second letter in Havah’s blessed name is Vav ו . Vav comes from a pictogram representing a stake or nail, and everywhere it shows up in Hebrew scripture it plays the role of connector. The first place we find it is in Genesis 1:1 where it connects the words “heaven” and “earth” in the story of creation. This placement is very appropriate since as our “equally yoked” Heavenly Parents told us in D&C 29:32 their co-creative and procreative work goes back and forth from spiritual to physical, then physical to spiritual in one eternal round. When we tap into this back n’ forth vibration we feel a sense of timelessness. And it is out of that infinite moment that we extract the souls of newborn children. Those souls get inserted by the Fat-Her into the Mother where they grow in her belly to over thousands of times the size of their initial gamete vehicles, and even hundreds of times the size of the zygote body. The word zygote actually comes from the Greek ζυγωτός zygōtos “joined” or “yoked”. Another notable and oversized Vav marks the center of the entire Torah (Leviticus 11:42). This spot in the text is known as the Belly of the Torah, not only because it is at the center point of the whole body of scripture, but also because it happens to occur in the word gachon, meaning “belly.” The oversized Vav at the Belly of the Torah makes a strong symbolic connection to the oversized belly of a pregnant priestess.

As pregnancy progresses through the three trimesters, so the three letter name of Eva חוה progresses to the final character – Hei ה . Hei is pronounced exactly like the English interjection “Hey!” and used by itself it has a similar meaning of “look” or “behold!”
According to early Jewish prophets Hei represents the divine breath, referring to the sound of the letter Hei – the outbreathing of Spirit. A prefixive Hei (or we might say the pre-existential Hei) functions as the definite article in Hebrew appointing the Children of The Most High to specific situations, whereas a suffixive Hei at the end of a noun “feminizes” it or allows it to be “fruitful” and reproductive. Remember how I said that Dalet represented a broken and poor man, but also the open door flap of a tent? Well, Hei ה is formed from Dalet ד and Yod י which looks like a comma suspended in midair and symbolizes an open hand. An angular open flap with an open hand should be a familiar grouping of imagery for Mormons who have been initiated and endowed in an LDS Temple. While the author of the post at ldswomenofgod.com claims that Vav stands for the veil of the temple, when in fact Vav only has the connotation of a connector and never that of a divider, still, the analogy works; perhaps better than she might imagine. For, approaching the spiritual side of the name of Mother Eva, we have come full circle in the First-Last/Last-First equation of FL/FLment in God’s Eternal Plan. It is said that the lines of the letter Hei paint a picture of returning to God by means of the transforming power of the Spirit.

The order of events in the Book of Moses in the Pearl of Great Price sheds much light on man’s beginnings, both in terms of a historical timeline for mankind’s giant leaps, and the smaller steps of a human being’s biological beginnings and individual lifeline. It is however important to realize that the Fall of Man involves a fall in frequency and does not begin at the point of their expulsion from the Garden of Eden, but long before, in higher, heavenly dimensions. A stationary observer would see great geological changes to the face of the earth over time, but these of course stem from forces set in motion behind the scenes as it were. The temporal advancement of the ages alone can not account for the disappearance of Eden any more than Darwin’s theory of Evolution can fully account for the emergence of humans. Adam, whether spoken of in his pre-mortal role as Michael the Archangel who bravely cast Satan down from the heavenly realms, or in his role as the First Man created from the dust of the earth, he is the same essential being. Truth is unchanging in that what is true for God’s children prior to mortality is true for God’s sons and daughters in every succeeding stage of existence. The half-way point for sojourning consciousness between heavenly and earthly stations is its playful time in the Garden of Eden. The womb is also technically part of that stay in the Kinder-Garden for all children of God where they rest and literally gather themselves, reviewing their divine mission callings before leaving the presence of the Holy One and fully entering the forgetful world of form.

Once gathered closely in one pre-existential heavenly huddle of spirituous forms, they felt sure, suspended in time, and undisturbed until a sudden war began to divide them and launch each individual headlong into the coming reality. What can seem a gradual paradisiacal process of condescension and gestation from one perspective, does at some point reach an abrupt transition. The mixing of eternal and earthly elements is full of fleeting sensations and can be somewhat confusing. What has the developing baby in the womb done to deserve being thrust from such weightlessness and convenience into a pressing sense of uncertainty? What parties have come together to decide the child’s fate, and where was he when this grand council was held? It is the same two Titans who clashed when, as a divine spark, he rode alongside millions of his brave brethren and sisters, spirt siblings – the hosts of heaven upon an armada of spermatozoa pushing out from Netzach in Victory through Hod – the final sphere of the “purely spiritual” realms which symbolizes Splendor, a spilling of light.

Biblical Adam is usually styled as Ha-Rishon “the first”. But in Kabbalah, Adam Ha-Kadmoni “the original” is indeed the first of the comprehensive Five spiritual Worlds in creation. Adam’s pre-mortal function above is distinguished from biblical Adam below in the flesh, where he included within himself all future human souls before partaking of the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil. The divine attributes of Adam’s former glory are never left behind; he carries the specific divine will and divine plan for subsequent creation within his pouch. He is like a character in the old movies that packs his most prized possessions into a sack tied to the end of a stick and sets out from home to embark on the adventure of a lifetime. Adam Kadmon (Original Man) is divine light without vessels, including all subsequent creation only in potential. This exalted anthropomorphism denotes that man is both the theocentric purpose of future creation, and the anthropocentric embodiment of the divine manifestations on high. These are some of the plain and precious truths which were had among the ancient Jews but were occulted long before Yeshua’s arrival and further muddied after his departure when he charged his apostles with delivering those plain and precious truths to the gentiles. I know of no plainer way to explain these “precious jewels” than to refer one to the ancient Biblical origins of sacred oaths and their association in ancient Semitic culture with the “precious jewels” of a man’s testes. From “testes” comes our word, “testify”. But who can testify truthfully of the Original Man, the Ancient of Days, without First Being acquainted with Him?

SURGICALLY SEVERING THE BONDS OF SATAN’S SHAMILY

If we want to sever our bonds with the Shamily of Satan we must first look at Satan’s genealogy. You will remember how the author at ldswomenofgod.com postulated that the Hebrew letter Vav stood for the Veil of the Temple. Of course this Line of Reasoning in the Temple of Reason is understandable. What else but a veil would a corralled Mormon mind correlate with this mid-way point between the physical and the spiritual steps which bring about the Last phase of Gods’ Work and Glory? But, as we have seen, Vav is the sign of “a nail”, and it serves us as a connector or not at all. 3909_VA_250What needs to be connected in order for The Family of God to continue? The glorious and glaringly obvious answer to this question lies in spiritual DNA. We have already delved into the “spiritual sex education” teachings of our First Parents, and it is vital knowledge to understand the wisdom of “spiritual sex” since by no other means, and in no other place than those temples pre-ordained by God can spiritual DNA (our divine heritage) be passed along through all generations of time. It may help to think of the Vav not merely as a nail but as a spiritually charged conductor for the purposes of creating a complete circuit between two points, two energy vectors. In even more tangible terms, Vav is a Valve. When God first created the “gene-rations” of the heavens and the earth, the word toldot (תולדות) is used (Gen. 2:4). This refers to created order before the sin and fall of Adam. After the fall of Adam, however, the word is spelled differently in the Hebrew text, with a missing letter Vav, like so – תלדות. Thereafter, each time the phrase, “these are the generations of” occurs in the Scriptures (a formulaic way of enumerating the gene-rations of the heads of families) the word is spelled defectively, with the Vav (ו) missing. The connection was “lost.”  However, when we come to Ruth 4:18 the phrase: “These are the generations of Perez” is spelled with the missing Vav restored!

In all of Jewish scripture, the only two places where we see the restored spelling is in Genesis 2:4 and Ruth 4:18, which leads our minds to ask what connection there might be between the creation of the heavens and the earth, the fall of mankind, and the creation of the family line of Perez? As a prefix Vav is used to function the same as the English word ‘and’. AND reversed spells DNA. In modern Hebrew the word ‘and’ would be rendered as a straight line. It was through this line (ו) of Perez that Jesus was born, as many may know. Jesus is important, but Christ is crucial. Christ has the central role in Gods’ plan, and Christ is a concept that transcends, or breaks through. What is truly important is to acknowledge that the name Perez (פרץ) means “breach” (from paratz, meaning “to break through”).  What does God need to “break through” in order to redeem his children? God is literally breaking through, and breaking up the families of fallen mankind so that he may restore the Divine Family here on Earth. Jesus Christ himself made it clear that he came to break up the imposter families into which we were all born.

“Suppose ye that I am come to give peace on earth? I tell you, Nay; but rather division: For from henceforth there shall be five in one house divided, three against two, and two against three.” – Luke 12:51-52

Of course the exact ratio of “three against two, and two against three” is referring to a five dimensional “household” of existence and being. We cling to and are tied to these three familiar dimensions and set ourselves at odds with the two higher dimensions of Heavenly Father and Heavenly Mother. But the enmity which exists between the 3rd dimension and the next two above us is not the only level of meaning which we should extract from this 3/5ths ratio. It has very real physical effects that trickle down like acid rain into this earthly existence. You will recall that not too long ago in the history of this wicked world it was decided by the American congress that people of African ancestry were only 3/5ths of a human being. We would be foolish not to pay attention to the more literal levels of Jesus’ teachings here along with the deeper symbolism. In Matt. 10:35-37 he declares:

“For I am come to set a man at variance against his father, and the daughter against her mother, and the daughter in law against her mother in law.

And a man’s foes shall be they of his own household.

He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me.”

How can someone’s enemy be of his own household, and yet he love his biological connections more than God? We can not afford to discount the importance of Jesus’ “hard sayings” as so many do with their pick-and-choose approach. If we do, we pay a high price indeed, for ignoring the Pearl of Great Price. Returning to the book of scripture by that same title, we read about the period immediately following the time known as the Fall when sin entered the world. Moses 5:3 tells us:

And from that time forth, the sons and daughters of Adam began to divide two and two in the land, and to till the land, and to tend flocks, and they also begat sons and daughters.

Then later on in Moses 5:13 we read:

And they loved Satan more than God. And men began from that time forth to be carnal, sensual, and devilish.

If we can not love our own flesh and blood more than God and still be counted worthy, then obviously loving Satan more than God would bring about disastrous results for our souls. At the same time we are commanded to love all men, even to love our enemies. Could it be that The Enemy (singular) goes about undetected among our households while we deem this or that group of fellow beings as enemies (plural)? Surely, as the scripture says, “an enemy hath done this” (Matt. 13:28) – but how? Ezra Taft Benson seems to place all the blame with certain communist “insiders”. But religious and political affiliation with any one particular lineage or set of cultural comrades to the exclusion of those with doctrinal differences creates a rift which more accurately places the power for evil with “outsiders”. Scripture never attributes power to any enemy without, only the enemy within the gates. When Jesus unequivocally asserts that a man’s familial fetters are those with which the enemy binds him, is he saying that we ought not to love those to whom we are linked by physical DNA chains? No, he says they are our enemies, and in the Sermon on the Mount Jesus made the bold rally cry to “Love your enemies!” Enemies are, after all, only fellow slaves who are scared of revolution. The Enemy which God warns us of in scripture is non-human. But it is clear that we never should, nor could we in truth ever really love our fellow beings with a love greater than that which we have been able to muster for God and God’s Family.

The First Family does not reside in the White House. The real Royal Family is not to be found walking the halls of Buckingham Palace. The First Family is the Heavenly Family which was made during the first stage of creation related in Genesis 1. This was an immaterial, spiritual creation. Then in Genesis 2 we find the account of the second stage of creation which was accomplished temporally. Most have supposed the latter to be a redundant, only somewhat more detailed version of the same events reported in the previous chapter. But this is not the case. For clarity on this matter let us review the Group God – Elohim’s creative formula revealed in D&C 29:31-33.

“For by the power of my Spirit created I them; yea, all things both spiritual and temporal—First spiritual, secondly temporal, and again, first temporal, and secondly spiritual, which is the last of my work—”

See, in Genesis chapter 1 we read about how Elohim first “made” all things, and in Gensis chapter 2 we are told how Elohim later “formed” all things. Hebrew word #6213 in Strong’s Concordance is עָשָׂה `asah – to do, accomplish, make. Hebrew word #3335 is יָצַר yatsar –to form, fashion, frame. During the whole first chapter the earth was “tohu bohu” – “without form, and void” (Genesis 1:2). But in dimensions beyond what we now typically experience in our daily routine, all plants, then all animals, and finally all men and women (not just Adam and Eve) were created in spirit. It says, “Let us make man,” and this was done in the “image of God” on the 6th Day. But then in Genesis 2:5 after God has rested from their labors it says that “there was not a man to till the ground” until verse 7 when God forms Adam out of clay, or dust of the earth that had been moistened by mist. From there the sequence forms a mirror image of the first half of creation starting with plants, then animals, and finally God’s crowning creation – woman.

The corrupt fruits of the Shamily Tree of Satan start to make themselves visibly manifest with those sons and daughters of Adam & Eve who, following the monogamous model, “began to divide two and two in the land” (Moses 5:3). They divided themselves according to the monogamous model and proceeded to “till the land, and to tend flocks, and they also begat sons and daughters.” All things were made known unto them by their First Parents who heard the voice of the Lord speaking to them “from the direction of Eden” (Moses 5:4) although they could no longer see the Lord. The Only Begotten was preached unto all their spirits directly via the Holy Spirit. But Satan, being the Lord of External Reality, “came among them” (Moses 5:13). He told them that seeing was believing, that to be-living one must acquire, consume, and horde a certain amount of physical stuff. A man’s life consisteth not in the abundance of the things which he possesseth (Luke 12:15). All mankind had been created as immaterial spirits in Heaven first and foremost, but for most this temporal reality became so tantalizing that they soon forgot themselves in a game of gluttony.

In order to play this game a lot of food would be necessary. To produce mass amounts of foodstuffs huge areas of land would need to be tilled. Tilling land is what fallen man does best. Even the sacred geometrical spirit structures of pure light that are commonly referred to as auras today, once mankind had fallen they took on a shape that resembled something like a tuber with a long tap root which creates ruts, “tilling” the energetic layers in the aura of the earth as fallen man moves to and fro. This shape may be what the blind man, after having been touched for the first time by Jesus beheld when he saw “men as trees, walking” (Mark 8:24). Such a spiritual attachment to our auras is probably also akin to the Chains of Hell which confine mankind to a similar fate as Cain through Satan. But as he filled up on starches the connection between early man’s spirit and physical body suffered greatly making him weaker and progressively more limited in his powers. It would take increasingly larger labor forces to upkeep an agricultural attempt at subduing man’s environment which seemed to have turned so hostile since the Fall. Stubborn and unwilling to repent just yet, civilizations concocted ever more elaborate methods of coping, each of them relying heavily on the arm of flesh, and leaning to their own understanding with a goal to create surplus goods.

Those who had made special and specific covenants with Satan formed an elite intelligentsia. Everyone else willingly aligned themselves behind these ancient men of renown to play the dependent role of subjects and slaves. Each side inducted the other into a Secret Combination. The only way out of this Secret Combination is to refuse to take sides and rather de-side one’s own fate. But man’s willful rebellion led him to invent an imaginary scenario in which he could convince himself that he were forced to decide between the lesser of two evils. This is in the greater reality nothing but spiritual sloth, for to de-cide between bad and worse is to commit deicide (the act of killing God). Being well aware of the divine flame within temporal mankind due to that aspect of their beings which had been created all together in the same day during the first half of creation, but vowing to keep it a secret from the masses of earth elements known as carnal man – one third of creation (the physical portion) was made to submit to the tyranny of one third of the Hosts of Heaven (spiritual creation) who had rebelled against the other two thirds, that is, against the God from whom they were made, both the God of Heaven and Earth.

From scriptural stories of the War in Heaven we learn that Lucifer led one third of the Hosts of Heaven after him. People have supposed this to be a case of one individual lying to others and using flattery or trickery to convert them to his scheme. But since every individual that has existed, does now, or ever will exist upon this planet was spiritually created at the same exact moment, we each knew everything that anyone else knew, and there was no way anyone could employ trickery against another. Lucifer does not represent an individual so much as the concept of individualism, but not a true individualism, rather a gross misunderstanding of it. If Luciferianism is misused individualism, then Satanism is misinterpreted collectivism. Lucifer says: “Surely I will do it!” (Moses 4:1) and the conglomerate of souls known as Satan cry out with one voice: “All hail the King!” This chant is a morphed echo which has come down to us through a mischievous game of Telestial Telephone from the Meridian of Time when it was originally shouted thusly: “All nail the King! Crucify him, crucify him!” (Luke 23:18-21). The two groups (the leaders and the led) are both blind and together form one Secret Combination of liars and legions. It allows God’s spirit children to keep a comfortable distance while still extracting work and certain benefits from their physical bodily counterparts. It allows for limited liability on the part of the mob. The lustful rush of power remains carefully reserved in the hands of the self-endangering crowd to be released (like Barabbas) only in murderous moments (like the day of the carnivorous and cannibalistic feast in Luke 23:17-19). No, not one soul will be lost, but many. Both parties in this conspiracy are guilty of working iniquity/inequality.

We all were, and still are, Divine Consciousness, divided into diverse bodies only for the purposes of growth and learning. As children of the Most High we are faced with the difficult decision of sacrifice of self versus sacrifice of others. But this is a tricky illusion because, being made from the self-same substance of Holy Spirit meant that, should we choose the seemingly safe route of sending another to sacrifice Himself for the rest of us, we will eventually be exposed and expelled as hypocrites for denying the Holy Spirit out of which we and Him were and are made essentially one. The Devil uses the appeal of a one-man sacrificial lamb system to give our minds the sense that security, and ultimately salvation can be bought if the Price is Right. Regardless of if the Prince is Righteous or not, he will always have his whipping boy, or so the thinking goes. False deities and their devotees in ancient times called this the doctrine of the scapegoat. Latter-day false gods call themselves corporate entities, and refer to this practice as “externalization”. From sheep to sheeple the progression of work has gotten progressively worse. Human history is the glorified gore of human sacrifice. Even though the word corporation comes from corpus, meaning body, corporate entities are not corporeal. These are entities which were afraid to take upon themselves the “far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory” (D&C 132:16) of a physical body, but who nevertheless are composed of strong natural desires towards the fulfillment that only comes through a union of spirit and flesh. The blood, sweat, and tears required for an individual’s redemption are therefore always cast by these entities upon somebody who actually has a body of flesh and blood. Adam & Eve chose to go through the pains and suffering and eventually rejoiced in their redemption, but many of their children rejected that path. Their spirits chose to remain aloof from their bodies as much as it were in their control – a deadly misuse of free will.

Those of us who truly take on physical bodies, take upon us the role of sacrificial lamb and savior. We take upon us the Name of Christ. That third part of the Hosts of Heaven which knows not the mind of God devised a plan which allowed them to bury their portion of spirit in earthen bodies, never to be used or risked. Their reasoning was that by keeping their t-a-l-e-n-t l-a-t-e-n-t not a single soul would be lost. What we really mean when we tell ourselves this lie is that we will not let go of our sense of singleness, that no “single” soul will be shared in this world, except under tightly controlled circumstances (man-made marriage). So the plan of exclusivity and externalization ensures that all are lost, becoming Sons of Perdition. The thing about Sons of Perdition is that they refuse to admit that they are lost. Deep inside the truth is known, and this is why the subject of Sons of Perdition is such a secret obsession among Elders in the Church of Jesus Christ of Lattter-Day Saints. Under the law the Holy Spirit in man is down-played and denied. If followed to its law-gical end we will be deposited into outer-darkness. Holy Spirit is that which connects individual and collective in an Open Combination that reduces the veil of unbelief to little more than a blurry line of scintillating electromagnetic energy which invites us to love and know one another, to know one’s self, know One Self, know Christ, know God.

Now that we have examined the genealogy of Satan’s Shamily we have before us a recent shamily portrait. It is not a pretty picture, though it poses as such. When you see the cheesy smiles, bear in mind that the photographer is Lucifer, the Light Bearer who coaxes them to say “cheese” so that they may keep up the appearance of happiness as he blinds them with flashes of false illumination. All the while he is assuring their ego with interjections of: “Beautiful…what a beautiful family!” This “perfect family” is propped before us all as the model which we must strive to emulate. Satan whispers in our ears as he proposes marriage that is most likely to serve his perverse purposes. We are told that, if we take part in the right rituals, in the right place, with the right person, we “shall be as the Gods”. It is not a family but a famiLIE, having a form of godliness but denying the power thereof through parameters placed by Church & State. Satan’s most current Shamily portrait shows a spiritually dysfunctional group that is nuclear in its physics structure and self-destructive in its nature like a nuclear bomb. It is preferably Christ-Shun in its programming. Each unit is issued license numbers and is a Government-approved, Church-sanctioned, monogamous machine. The machine’s function is to act as a franchised secret combination. In reality it is the inner most sanctum for all sects/sex of the Grand Secret Combination, but it does not know this. In each Husband & Wife’s mind their highest calling is to be Dud & Mum to deactivate & silence the Power of God before it can enter into this world by way of free will.

It is not that there is anything essentially wrong with the union of one man and one woman. Nor is there anything inherently evil about the agrarian lifestyle. The devastating effects arise from the manner in which these things are executed. Man-made marriage, whether in its modern monogamous form, or Paleolithic polygynous pairings, stems from the concept of ownership. Did the idea of owning land lead to the idea of owning people? People were fashioned by Elohim out of the dust of the earth/land, so I don’t think we can make a valid distinction between those two types of ownership. Moses 5:3, as well as famed anthropologist Jared Diamond’s scathing indictment of the agricultural revolution, seem to indicate that the evil and alien devils of ownership over people and place invaded the humanity and its habitat simultaneously. As soon as Satan was cursed to “eat dust” all of his days (ie. to eat away at all earthly creation including human bodies which are composed of the dust of the earth), that devil dug deep into Mother Earth with tenacious talons to obtain gold and silver with which to tempt Her children (For more detail see Moses 4:20, Genesis 3:14, LDS Temple Endowment – The Garden Scene, or read The Devil in the Dust). The “tenacious talons” he used for mining were our early ancestors themselves as they clutched tightly the talents they had received as inheritance from their Lord. The devilish doctrine of “MINE” made for millions of “MINERS” desperately seeking outside of themselves for that which is precious above all else – the Love of God. With a SCARCITY mind-set they set about building one SCARED-CITY full of SCARED-SILLY slaves to the devil and his angels. All it would require to break the spell and put a stop to Satan’s Army would be to shed selfishness and let our inner light so shine before men that work-a-day worldly worriers change into warriors of truth and light. When we see the Army for what it really is, understanding that they Are-Me then the War in Heaven ends and the domino effect will cause the by now long line of tyrants to fall till Christ Consciousness reigns on Earth.

RELATIONSHIPS vs. RELATION-CHIPS

Man-made marriage and agricultural techniques which are not based on a deep respect for nature are a perverted and corrupted compLIEance with the original commandment to multiply and replenish the earth. What is the original sin and what are the resulting transgressions which identify its commission? They are possession and ownership constructs stemming from fear of loss or lack, which itself is a direct result of lack in only one category – lack of faith. The Forbidden Fruit is a Fore-Bitten Fruit. Partaking of it triggers a downward shift in consciousness that dissects and transforms the same outward actions in which we had previously taken part – those which gave us joy and gave God pleasure – into taboos to be avoided at all co$t.

Wendell Berry, whose integrity as an American novelist, poet, environmental activist, and farmer certainly qualifies him even by worldly standards to be a cultural critic of our corrupt customs, says that:

“Marriage, in what is evidently its most popular version, is now on the one hand an intimate ‘relationship’ involving (ideally) two successful careerists in the same bed, and on the other hand a sort of private political system in which rights and interests must be constantly asserted and defended. Marriage, in other words, has now taken the form of divorce: a prolonged and impassioned negotiation, as to how things shall be divided. During their understandably temporary association, the ‘married’ couple will typically consume a large quantity of merchandise and a large portion of each other. The modern household is the place where the consumptive couple do their consuming. Nothing productive is done there. Such work as is done there is done at the expense of the resident couple or family, and to the profit of suppliers of energy and household technology. For entertainment, the inmates consume television or purchase other consumable diversion elsewhere”

This concise expose on the consumptive (lustful) nature of the most modern and up-to-date version of the man-made institution of marriage reminds me of a scripture in the New Testament which addresses the same issues.

“But if ye bite and devour one another, take heed that ye be not consumed one of another.”

– Galatians 5:15

engageIt seems we are actually chipping away at each other and furthering the fragmentation of society with all these relation-chips in which we are “engaged” instead of being “engaged” in the good cause of Zion as we are invited to do in D&C . Cheesy “engagement” photos are added to Lucifer’s portfolio after being circulated among pleased “family and friends” with invitations to a very exclusive and elitist event which supposedly marks the fulfillment of all righteousness for two young LDS people. Indeed ye may say we ignore the admonition of Paul to:

“Love thy neighbour as thyself”

Paul even goes so far as to say that:

“For all the law is fulfilled in this”

Christ’s apostle warns us against biting, devouring, and consuming one another. Today’s apostate apostles give add-vice more in line with the policy behind the Devil’s sneaky introduction of state marriage licenses. The intent behind any l-i-c-e-n-s-e really is to try to s-i-l-e-n-c-e the still small voice speaking in our hearts. All marriages which are not marriages of the heart are not of God. The heart chakra is seen as a spinning ball of emerald light. Without getting this “green light” marriages do not have the Lord’s approval. Marital links are bound to u-n-t-i-e in as much as they fail to u-n-i-t-e the intellectual with the instinctual in the common ground of the heart chakra, because they have not been sealed by the Holy Spirit of promise. Not many know or care that the marriage license was introduced in the U.S. to prohibit and prevent the reunification of the races, to circumvent the literal gathering of the Tribes of Israel, and thereby encourage racism and spiritual inbreeding. But Satan and all those who are members of his Shamily do care very much if you attempt to make such an important decision such as with whom to join yourself in holy matrimony listening only to your heart. The Lord’s voice as heard by Adam & Eve coming from the direction of Eden, that green garden located in the heartland is supposedly not enough to base such life decisions on it. Mother Eve’s shock and dismay is felt and shared by all those who personally know God. The “Brethren” have come to persuade us to disobey Father and to do the Devil’s bidding in keeping the 12 Tribes separated, scattered, and weak. It is important to Latter-Day Rome to uphold Romantic ideas about marriage. Exactly one month after Valentine’s Day in 1977, apostate apostle Void K. Packer gave a talk entitled Follow the Rule to an audience of marrying age young adults at BYU. Referring back to an earlier quote from the then President, Spencer Kimball, he spoke these words:

“It’s been the policy of the Church—and it’s been spoken on many occasions—that as the gathering of Israel is in Mexico for the Mexicans, in Tonga for the Tongans, in China for the Chinese, and so on, so has been our counsel as it relates to marriage.

We’ve always counseled in the Church for our Mexican members to marry Mexicans, our Japanese members to marry Japanese, our Caucasians to marry Caucasians, our Polynesian members to marry Polynesians. The counsel has been wise. You may say again, “Well, I know of exceptions.” I do, too, and they’ve been very successful marriages. I know some of them. You might even say, “I can show you local Church leaders or perhaps even general leaders who have married out of their race.” I say, “Yes—exceptions.” Then I would remind you of that Relief Society woman’s near-scriptural statement, “We’d like to follow the rule first, and then we’ll take care of the exceptions.”

Geopolitical statements like that rarely, if ever, get recognized by LDS for what they are. There is a growing number of LDS whose banter about “threatened liberties” and “One World Global Government” and “Secret Combinations” and such has grown considerably more fervent in recent years. But even these do err because they are taught by the precepts of men in suits in their places of worship. Their membership in the Secret Combination is a secret to themselves. These patronizing patriots would never question the false traditions of their founding fathers, especially not those dealing with “The Family”. Although the literal gathering of the 12 Tribes is one of their 13 articles of faith, they support a “don’t come to us, we’ll come to you” anti-gathering policy when it comes to their franchised McDonald’s farmed-family plot version of Zion. This is because they are willfully ignorant of and uninterested in the spiritual gathering which requires personal effort on their part to know the Holy One of Israel. It is much more comfortable to snuggle up to their spouses and sleep the deep sleep of the Ten Foolish Virgins. I used to think it harsh when I would read at the end of that parable where the Wise say to the foolish and fuel-less half of the wedding invitees, “Go to them that sell.” But now it makes perfect sense to me. The Foolish Virgins miss the real Wedding Feast of the Bridegroom precisely because they invest their faith in mammon-arranged marriages. In Zion is milk and honey without price, but their faith funds are fully invested in the world of finances and fiancés. They have locked the Seed of Abraham away in a savings vault with the World (Seed) Bank and now they are asking the Wise Virgins for a loan? Just as I can not expect another to magically endow my body with muscle and strength enough to enable me to perform great feats, I can not rely on anyone else but my Lord to light my way in these last days. For he is “the true light that lighteth every man that cometh into the world” (D&C 93:2)

When I say “my Lord” I mean that portion of the Light of Christ that is my own spirit body. The scriptures are surprisingly clear when distinguishing between “The Lord YOUR God” and the One Source which is referred to as “Your God AND My God”. The literal gathering of Israel can not occur without the spiritual gathering and the two coincide with the reconciliation and reunification of both your spirit and physical bodies. This may seem a very foreign concept to many, but that fact in of itself is only evidence of the reality of fallen man’s predicament. It seems foreign because we are strangers still to ourselves. If we make an earnest study of the scriptures we will learn much and see the truth clearly.

“This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh.

For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would.

But if ye be led of the Spirit, ye are not under the law.”

– Galatians 5:16-18

Walking in Spirit should not be a hard concept to accept. After all, in the 21st Century we accept all kinds of invisible forces. We accept radio waves, microwaves, cell-phone transmissions, TV waves, X-rays, ultrasound, and cosmic, and infared radiation without question. Nobody has ever seen or touched any of these things, but they are an article of total faith for everyone, just because science says so. But men and women are stubborn and prefer to remain divided in their psyches, in their houses, in their neighborhoods and as a family. If walking in spirit is so simple in concept, how about in practice? What’s the trick to it? The trick is that there is no trick. Notice that Paul says that if we are led by the Spirit, we are not under the law. What does he mean we are not under the law? Is not spirit bound by the same laws of the universe as we have observed them to be through telescopes and microscopes? I was trained in SS (Sunday School) to think that God reigns Supreme because of his knowledge of and perfect adherence to the laws of nature. How then can anyone be above the law? Here are some quotes from two very different people, both sometimes referred to by the title “Lion in Zion”.

Brigham Young once said:

“If I had forty wives in the United States, they did not know it, and could not substantiate it; neither did I ask any lawyer, judge, or magistrate for them. I live above the law, and so do this people.”

– Journal of Discourses, v. 1, p. 361

He is also quoted as having said:

“I want to live perfectly above the law, and make it my servant instead of my master.”

It is informingly ironic that Brigham should say that if he had forty wives, they did not know it, and could not substantiate it. Marriage after the manner of men, including Mormon marriage is of “no effect” outside of this world. Thus saith the Lord in section 132 of the D&C, so proponents of Mormon marriage should know better than anyone. And, as Brighams unwitting victims of his lawless and loveless marriage contracts can attest, man-made marriages, even whilst in this world, can often be so meaningless that the participants can not substantiate it. It is good that Brigham Young did not ask any lawyer, judge, or magistrate for the women he married, for they never were state property. But if Brigham thought that they belonged to him for “time and all eternity,” then he was no doubt greatly disappointed in the next life where all such vain imaginings fade and all relationships revert back to their natural and eternal state of spiritual sovereignty. In earlier posts I have addressed Brother Brigham in all his iconic yet ironic bravery as well as his bigotry. He was a man. As men all any of us can strive for is balance between the extremes (Heavenly Mother & Father) that combine to make us what and who we are. Is one extreme good while the other is evil? Essentially and literally it is us who determine. The very “constitution” of our beings is “endowed” by our Creator with the “unalienable” Right to Choose. To “Choose the Right” does not mean we never “Choose the Left,” for to place such ridiculous restrictions on children of a Supreme Being would have us going in circles. But the Devil is an alien force that seeks to alienate spirit and flesh from one another. We aid by engaging ourselves in worldly marriage contracts in which two children of God combine and swear and oath to serve Satan as gate keepers between the Heavenly and Earthly realms. They swear to only use the Power of the Creator amongst themselves, never outside of their Secret Combination, and never in any significant quantity or quality.

During an interview in 1973, when asked by the Pharisees, “what do you think about all this crime and violence going on?” Bob Marley said:

“Is laws cause crime and violence. Earth a come, earth a forward to how creation was an how earth fi rest. Is a mind ting. Now all the laws that we abide by and blaah-blaah-boom-boom-boom, what cause wi fi suffer. As any man can know that.”

Which being translated from the Jamaican Patois into Standard English reads thusly:

“It is laws that cause crime and violence. Heaven and Earth (as separate things) shall pass away in the end. Earth is coming back around to how creation was at first and how Earth is prophesied to finally rest. It is something to ponder out in our minds. Now all the laws that we abide by and so on, and so forth – that is the cause of man’s suffering. Any man can know this by the witness of the Holy Spirit.”

When the cunning Pharisites asked him if he was speaking of any laws in particular, so as to ensnare him, Bob answered them, saying:

“Every law! The only law which is law is the law of life.”

He went on to explain:

“Now dig dis. A man build him city and him seh him want these people fi run it, and him want these people to live yah soh. Now me don’t waan get involved talking like me is a politician. Mi jus’ waan talk ’bout righteousness. Like seh well then, Jah a earth rightful ruler and him noh run no wire fence.”

Or in other words:

“Now listen to this parable. A man builds himself a city and says that he wants certain people to run it. And the man wants everyone in the city to live just so. Now I don’t want to get involved like as if I were a politician. I just want to talk about righteousness. So, we know that the Lord God is the rightful ruler of this whole earth and He does not make borders.”

God does not make borders, and this is what places him above the law. Those who make borders can only take orders. Compare the words of these two men and judge for yourself, who better personifies the “Lion in Zion”. Young wanted to live “perfectly” so as to place himself above the law and make it a servant. Marley was clear in his testimony that God is the Law and there is no man who can superimpose laws upon God. Marley seems to be describing the Mormon (per)version of the Lion in Zion in his parable. Brigham built cities and commanded his fellow man living in those cities to live in a certain way. He imagined that he was paving the way for a theocracy which would eventually reign supreme with Jesus as King. But Jesus Christ rejects such false zions and turns downs such temptations as he did with the adversary in the wilderness. Jesus, like Bob does not want to get involved as if he were a politician. He told the devil plainly shortly before his ministry, and he told the governor plainly shortly before his execution that His Kingdom was not of this world. Love and commitment between men and women is indeed crucial to the building of Zion. But check out Rita’s undying love and respect for Bob despite what the world chooses to see as infidelity and philandering on his part. Now compare that with Ann Eliza’s grievances of neglect, cruel treatment, and physical plus spiritual oppression. A proper understanding of the principle of marriage is necessary to establish Zion on earth. And this proper understanding must penetrate the traditional ideas of marriage throughout the ages which are all based on the fruits of the flesh and accumulation of these. Traditional marriage transfigures the precious Gifts of God from infinite abundance into enumerated items. Whoever dies with the most recognitions, the most toys, the most wives and children, wins!

Having observed in Brigham and Bob two very different types of “outlaws” let us now scrutinize ourselves. Do we abet the Enemy or do we abide the Law? Do we simply have many loved ones or do we have much love? Some may use section 132 of the D&C to justify multiple lustful lovers; many more will use the basic premises and some of the terminology in that section to justify their wasteful monogamous marriage and add some air of celestial holiness to it. Extravagance/Sextravagance, it is all sin in the eyes of the Lord. But In verse 5 we are told that:

“For all who will have a blessing at my hands shall abide the law which was appointed for that blessing, and the conditions thereof, as were instituted from before the foundation of the world.”

To abide means to remain in a place, to dwell or sojourn in it. But how can we abide in heavenly law while also dwelling in a tabernacle of flesh? How do we stop committing the sin of lust – flesh against Spirit, and Spirit against flesh? The answer is not in total abandon to the flesh any more than it is in a total subjugation of the flesh to some supposedly high ideals which are really only high and mighty idols of pride. Tyranny of one kind can not cancel out tyranny of another. Only through love will all be set in order. The faulty relation-chip which most men have with their bodies is illustrated very well in the story of Judah and Tamar in Genesis 38. Judah was supposed to give his daughter-in-law Tamar seed, but he would not. He kept avoiding her and passing her off onto his sons who likewise denied her their seed. Finally, while Judah is away traveling, Tamar veils herself and pretends to be a harlot in a public place. With her face concealed behind a veil and wearing clothing customary of a harlot Judah does not know that it is Tamar, and he solicits sex with her. She requires his staff, his signet, and his bracelets as collateral. After they lay together Tamar disappears and is nowhere to be found. She had conceived and later when others accuse her of having “played the harlot” Judah says “Bring her forth, and let her be burnt.” Then Tamar produces proof that she was pregnant with Judah’s child when she shows him his staff, signet, and bracelets. Judah acknowledged them, and said, “She hath been more righteous than I.”

tamar

We would condemn the life of a woman like her who used clever trickery to accomplish her ends. And were it not for her prominent role in the moral stories of the Bible, we would likely pronounce judgment on Tamar herself for “playing the harlot” and thereby “playing” the self-righteous Judah for a fool. How dare she! But ask yourself what kind of outwardly misleading cost-u-me do you wear and how much does it cost-u-&-me in our relationships and dealings one with another? Who is the real harlot? Women like her get ignored because of a silent judgment against her looks. What could women possibly offer the world beyond physical beauty? It is through Tamar that the aforementioned line of Perez and Jesus Christ himself come. Jesus apparently inherited Tamar’s “disguise” since it was written of him that he came to us “with no apparent beauty that man should him desire”. If divinity disguises itself in such a manner, what might the good looking people we meet, or see celebrated on tell-lie-vision look like inwardly, underneath the physical mask? The repairing of the broken physical DNA of fallen man through Christ is symbolized by the breach of Perez. The union of Judah and Tamar symbolized the re-linking (religion) of the severed spiritual DNA of the Family of God. But the symbolism is lost on most because we refuse to see how our inner self could share any blame in our fallen state. For the vast majority of mankind throughout most of our history, we as independent spirits created by the Most High and endowed with free-will, have been unwilling to “come in unto” our physical bodies except under a strictly “payment for pleasure” basis. The attitude of Our Higher Selves towards our tabernacles of clay had been dismissive and degrading at best and despotic at worst. Only once Tamar, bearing the Son of Man, despised and scorned, finally spoke up were we redeemed. Christ, with the staff of his spine laid straight against the grain of the cruel cross, the wounds in his wrists as they were braced upon the crossbeam, he produced the sure signet bearing indisputable proof of legitimacy.

If we remain conscious of the fact that we are first spirit beings and secondly beings of flesh then we may at least acknowledge that like parents and children, neither are perfect, both the spirit and the physical body are learning, however there is a certain order which will allow both to progress and experience maximum joy. For our part as physical creatures we may be tempted to say: “Gifts of the Spirit are all very fine and well. But how is any real work of the Lord to get done without at least some attention to temporal matters?” The Lord’s answer is clear. First, the Lord has already commanded the spirit of man to care for and attend to all the needs of his physical body. Secondly, due to the psychological and physiological schisms that separate a man from his Lord’s presence, Jesus understandingly entreated us to take it day by day and not to worry so much about tomorrow. This task is easier said than done for a race that has grown so accustomed to working exclusively with action-faith as opposed to power-faith. These two modes of faith are meant to function perfectly together. You can learn more about action-faith and power-faith in this video.

We only find it so difficult to exercise power-faith because it is a function of the spirit body which typically restricts interaction with the flesh to transactions of a worldly nature to conduct business as usual in Babylon. This circumstance is partly due to the lofty-mindedness of the Spirit Self and partly due to the stubbornness of the developing physical body, which upon receiving a portion of spirit feels ready and determined to set out on its own. It is natural for us to desire independence and for the physical aspect of man to become aquatinted with grief and sorrows is good to certain extent. When we try to avoid suffering at all costs then we end up paying the utmost price at the point when all of those divinely ordained and perfectly purposed painful aspects of existence pile up and demand our attention. This is something that the philosophies of men do not take into account. Most philosophies, whether of Western or Eastern men, tend to make the physical body the “bad guy” in every instance. If anything the opposite is true when it comes to true scripture unmingled with abstinent and ascetic philosophies. The teachers of religion love to disseminate half truths that castigate one half of creation while excusing disembodied beings of light as if they could do no wrong. But God Almighty takes issue with his rebellious spirit children for not loving and lifting his material grand children, raising the sons of men in the same way that he has raised spiritual mankind. Remember that Paul told the Galatians (and the same applies to all earthlings) that when,

“….the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh….ye cannot do the things that ye would.”

This accurately explains the abusive relation-chip that holds us back. This is the awful situation that we must rise above if we are ever to defeat the Secret Combinations. In this awful situation one cannot do the things that one would, or should. You can not stop thinking about all the “sufficient evil” you have on your to-do list tomorrow. You can not obey God’s word to your heart when the beggar puts his petition to you, because like him you must deal with harsh realities of a fallen world. You can not spend time with your children, let alone set a good example for them to see what powerful miracles the Lord is able to do. You can not exercise your faith right now because today is the only chance you will have to exercise your physical muscle at the gym where you paid for a year’s membership. You can not afford to take a sick-day unless you use your vacation time. You can not heal yourself when you are sick. You can not heal others. You can not free yourself from captivity to your enemies. You can not see the angels that stand ready to help you. You can not worship God according to the dictates of your own conscience. You cannot even buy, sell, or trade without taking the mark of the beast. It is illegal. But,

“If ye be led of the Spirit, ye are not under the law.”

Then you could learn another language, or several, or hundreds. You could speak with the tongue of angels. You could have the body you always wanted. You could expand your family’s horizons in countless ways. You could fly to visit Grandpa and Grandma without the use of a plane. You could see your dead loved ones again. You could know what the weather is going to be like tomorrow without having to rely on the weatherman’s best guess. You could change the world for the better. You could conquer corruption and alleviate suffering. You could proclaim and feel peace. You could praise the Lord morning, noon, and night. You could live a zen-like life where your praise and blessings flow without ceasing. You could see the face of God! You could do so many things if you were led of the Spirit.

Some people think that such stuff is nonsense and terribly impractical. I think it is terribly impractical not to be able to fly as the eagle can, or to regenerate limbs as the lizard can. If God loves and looks after small creatures like the sparrow, then why do we doubt his love and attention towards us? I think it is terribly impractical to spend the majority of your waking hours working at a job to pay the bills. It is terribly impractical for the Lord’s purposes and His grand design in giving us the golden opportunity to be a part of a golden age, contributing to something as wonderful as Zion during the millennium. But it is terribly convenient for the Devil and all the underlings who, as low as they are, still manage to rule over us. So when people try to insinuate that we Mormon mystics, or LDS anarchists “get real” just remember that to insinuate means: to suggest or hint (something bad or reprehensible) in an indirect and unpleasant way. Religionists in general and religious Statists especially have insinuation down to a science. They will intrinsically act similarly to the Gaddianton Robbers who were cowardly and had to secrete themselves in cavernous hiding places while making sneaky, indirect and unpleasant raids on others. Are you going to let them get away with it?

“The Children of God must always be mocked by the children of the world, whether in the church or out of it – children with sharp ears and eyes, but dull hearts,”

says George McDonald in Unspoken Sermons.

“Those that hold love the only good in the world understand and smile at the world’s children, and can do very well without anything they have got to tell them. In the higher state to which their love is leading them, they will speedily out-strip the men of science (state, religion), for they have that which is at the root of science (state, religion), that for the revealing of which God’s science (self-governance, religious experiences) exists.”

Insinuation also refers to a tactic that involves maneuvering oneself into (a position of favor or office) by subtle manipulation. This particular definition matches the tactics of the children of the world even more exactly in the regular activities of their Secret Combination. The reason I am reading so much into this word – insinuate – is so that I might prepare our minds to do among the haughty experts of today’s world as Jesus did among the ancient Jewish leaders. We can not feel ashamed of the testimony of Christ. We must expose the intentions in the hearts of the children of the matrix which are the inward cause of their insinuating apostasy, impropriety, or blasphemy on our part. The way I see it, to in-sinew-ate is very backwards, because it is not sinews that we are supposed to weave into a strong-arm of flesh with which to affect change. We are expected to infuse spiritual strength into the loins and sinews.

Whether you are a religionist who insinuates that non-religious people are the problem, or a non-religious Statist who insinuates that religious folks are the problem….If you are a patriot who insinuates that anarchists are not practical in our desires for liberty and justice for all….if you are an anarchist or a libertarian who insinuates that mystics are not practical in our approach….if you are a religionist who insinuates that everyone else is evil…..it says nothing of us, only of you. It says that IN-SIN-U-ATE, and in sin you continue eating, glutting yourself in your personal position secured and secreted within a Secret Combination so secret that its own members do not know of it.

To call the skeptics non-believers would be unfair, for they most certainly believe in the current system that has prevailed since the beguiling of our First Parents, spreading death, despair and decadence time and space, and it dictates the use of their action-faith. All Doubting Thomases, as they are sometimes called, are precise in the direction of their doubt. They have the utmost confidence in the rules and laws of this miserable, unjust existence, they only doubt things like miracles and freely offered forgiveness. To those who put their trust in the arm of flesh, and think the Gospel of Christ terribly impractical – to those who talk as though they are ready to take matters into their own hands – those who think in terms of food storage, guns, and ammo – I would like to say stand still and see the salvation of the Lord! But the truth is that most of you will still put your trust in these things to some extent, and what’s more dangerous, you will lean unto your own understanding. So by way of invitation I say let each man exercise his will, whether it be unto salvation or condemnation, but let him do it with more energy of soul. If you are a fund raiser then get out there and raise more funds than ever before. If you are a “prepper” make sure you horde plenty of food and plenty bullets to ward off all the starving hordes that come from neighboring areas in search of food. If you think that Zion can or will be established by means of political reform then by all means campaign and vote. If you believe the Church with which you are affiliated does valid work in saving, or even helping souls, then what are you waiting for? Shout it from the rooftops. Do what you are going to do, but make sure you give it your all!

UNTIL YOU MEET YOUR SOULMATE THE BODY CONSISTS OF CELLMATES

To my brothers and sisters who have grown weary of this world, and who through various life circumstances have arrived at a place of humility instead of hubris: let us look a little deeper into the truth of the matter, the truth of the spirit, and the truth that will be once spirit and matter are made one. There has been much speculation as to what Zion will look like, and how to approach it, achieve it, live it. I offer this study in the only way it can be offered, freely. I beseech you to not let my freedom in expression offend your sensibilities, and I hope in faith that you will not dismiss what I write because of its novelty, or its subtlety. If there is confusion at first upon consideration of the scriptures I share here, and the seemingly strange light in which I share them with you – please, reserve judgment, ponder and pray for new eyes and ears with which to understand and discern. AdamKadmon2I do not desire to impress you with my intellect, or brag about my righteousness. I do not even see these things as “mine” but divine qualities which are available to and through all from the One True and Living God. To even speak of will as mine at this point makes little sense. I am not trying to build the blog following here or anywhere else online. I do not represent any official organization or formal movement. I am not selling any books like the old General Authorities or Denver Snuffer. Many scriptures have already been written and are available to even the poorest among us. I would like to examine some scripture which is appropriate to the majority of my audience and to which I have already referred earlier – D&C 93.

1 Verily, thus saith the Lord: It shall come to pass that every soul who forsaketh his sins and cometh unto me, and calleth on my name, and obeyeth my voice, and keepeth my commandments, shall see my face and know that I am;

Recently Denver Snuffer has received much attention, positive and negative, for making the supposedly apostate claim that anyone can see the Lord’s face. Was that the real reason, or was he excommunicated because he was selling so many books and his teachings had become quite popular with the people. Whether it was Denver’s conscious intention or not he was in competition with the Church leadership. Nephi tells us that: “priestcrafts are that men preach and set themselves up for a light unto the world, that they may get gain and praise of the world; but they seek not the welfare of Zion” (2 Nephi 26:29). Remember we discussed how it is a spiritual pitfall, not to mention a physiological impossibility for the 10 Wise Virgins in Jesus’ parable to impart of their oil to the 10 Foolish Virgins. To set one’s self up for a light unto the world is vanity and is completely unnecessary since, as we previously read in D&C 93:2, the Lord is:

“…the true light that lighteth every man that cometh into the world;”

Now I want to call attention to the Lord’s wording here. He does not say he is a light unto the world, but that he literally lights every man that comes into it. Let’s face it, Jesus was not hugely popular among the Church leadership, and neither was he readily recognized as divine by the average man on the street. He most certainly let his light shine before men, but with the intention of inspiring them to turn on their personal glory switch which would in turn glorify their Father in Heaven. This cyclical give-and-take glorification is like a divine electrical circuit. If we think that the current of the Holy Spirit is merely one-way then we fail to feel that divine electric spark and our action is similar to a kinked wire. It is up to us to affirm that divine connection. Verse 3 reminds us that in order to be like Jesus we must feel and know that:

“I am in the Father, and the Father in me, and the Father and I are one—”

What exactly are we saying here? Jesus couldn’t possibly expect others to understand him when emphatically repeating this mystifying phrase, much less to adopt it themselves as a personal mantra. That is probably the reason for his performance of miracles in the flesh, isn’t it? We think that only by actions can we prove anything or demonstrate truth. But when it comes down to it, the idea that “seeing is believing” is backwards, and comes to us from the principles introduced by Lucifer. The Light Bearer wants us to be totally reliant upon him. Light is necessary for sight in this world of his. But what truly is light? Do we cling to the burning Æther like the inflammatory personality of Lucifer as he fell through the Abyss, and by the fury of his flight kindled the air? The Æther was already there before it became visible by its burning to carnal eyes through their lenses, rods, and cones, was it not? In the fittingly titled book of Æther, in the 12th chapter, 6th verse, appears a clearly defined outline of faith and its workings. Moroni comments:

“I would show unto the world that faith is things which are hoped for and not seen; wherefore, dispute not because ye see not, for ye receive no witness until after the trial of your faith.”

Did Jesus purposefully tone it down, or dim his light before men to accommodate the world? No he was and is the Sun of God, shining in the morning, shining at noonday, at evening, and all through the night. The only differences are in our varying perceptions of his glory from distinct angles as the world turns. Jesus said: “blessed are ye if ye shall believe in me and be baptized, after that ye have seen me and know that I am” (3 Nephi 12:1). But in verse 2 he follows up with this:

“And again, more blessed are they who shall believe in your words because that ye shall testify that ye have seen me, and that ye know that I am. Yea, blessed are they who shall believe in your words, and come down into the depths of humility and be baptized, for they shall be visited with fire and with the Holy Ghost, and shall receive a remission of their sins.”

Will this fire of which Christ speaks be immediately visible to our physical eyes upon its visitation to the believing individual? Not necessarily. For Jesus tells us in 3 Nephi 9:20 that the Lamanites at the time of their conversion were baptized with fire and with the Holy Ghost, and they knew it not. If the individuals coming to the Lord with broken hearts and contrite spirits do not always see magnificent displays of heavenly light at the moment of their baptism, which is a personal witness to God and inwardly very private, then it is much less probable that onlookers to the more public performances of that ritual should see anything in the way of rays of light reaching their ocular organs. Do we expect to see plasmic discharges within the visible light spectrum of our carnal eyes before we practice feeling or otherwise sensing energetic bursts of spirit? Just because we do not perceive the angel that visits us with the sense of sight does not mean he was not sent by the Lord with an extremely important message for us? The stubborn ass of the prophet Balaam could see the Lord’s messenger and were it not for that faithful animal; the prophet’s stubborn ass would have entirely missed the angelic visitation. Sure, God could make the sign by which we gauge truth to be the sign of a dove, cloven tongues of fire, or any other visual sign, but seeing beings of light, or new stars in the heavens does not engender belief within the hard hearts of the wicked, and such light is typically only revealed to them for the purposes of protecting believers from harm, or death at the hands of those who insist on being shown signs. The Holy Spirit is not some magic wand and a True God does not use it to bedazzle mortals or to entertain non-believers.

LDSA has pointed out, and I agree with him, that the phrase “and they knew it not” (spoken to survivors of mass destruction on the American continent anciently by the voice of Christ from above a thick body of mists of darkness), can be interpreted as being specifically in reference to the group of roughly 300 composed of Lamanites and Nephite dissenters who had captured, imprisoned, and now came to kill the believing prophets, Lehi and Nephi (Helaman 5). Footnotes in the original printing of the Book of Mormon seemed to indicate this, but of course Jesus does not specify. Looking at this group of roughly 300 souls who were converted at that time, we see that the impressive pyrotechnics surrounding this event and the people involved do indeed follow the general rule of administering unto believers who have exercised faith in the crucial hour of their deliverance. Whereas LDSA thinks that Jesus is saying that these souls “knew it not” due to ignorance in theological matters, this can not be what the Savior meant because when one sees one’s self encircled in a blazing plasma pillar as each of theses individuals were able to behold, it does not take a religious expert to deduct that what is happening is a total immersion in flame without being physically burned, or consumed. Basically put, personal experiences of this nature are not something of which one is completely unaware.

But, remember that apart from the heat felt by fire, the only other key feature of fire (or plasmic discharges described in those terms), would be light. Physical sight is dependent on light, but light itself as a manifestation of the spectrum of glory is not necessarily dependent upon the short-sightedness of man’s physical eyes. It exists as it is independently from man’s ability or inability to perceive it on every level. This populous mob of prophet-killers had not merited the manifestation through scripture study, and it was not even the words of Aminidab (one of the Nephite born dissenters among them) which “illuminated” their darkened minds. It was their faith in the unseen which granted a lifting of the thick cloud of darkness that hung over all of them. They found themselves in the same benighted condition that the mix of Nephite and Lamanite survivors at the time of Christ’s visitation found themselves years later. The reason that those 300 saw pillars of flame around Nephi and Lehi, was because they were taken by surprise, ambushed as it were by the flash of extreme belief generated by those two men in the Lord their God. Their own soul’s immediate reaction was to shake violently from the sudden and unexpected penetration of their collective perspective. Never having known the Lord as a personal God was what automatically thrust them all into a sudden state of shock brought on by such an abrupt awareness of something beyond the black veil which they were accustomed to believing was an impenetrable border marking the edge of all there was to see. Confronted with the light of truth, their souls immediately retreated, but the veil of darkness was now all they could see, since their awareness had been pulled to that edge. Lost in that thick curtain, the crowd panicked, stumbled, and faltered till a still small voice spoke to them from above the darkness. (This voice sounded from above somewhere overhead and could possibly be related with the Dreaming Emissary as described by Carlos Castaneda and other lucid dreamers. The voice above their heads tells them things that they should have already known as evidenced by Aminidab’s later reference to the prior instruction of Alma, Amulek, and Zeezrom. This is of particular note because Castaneda was told by his spiritual teacher, Don Juan, that the voice of the Dreaming Emissary can only remind one of what they ought to already know.) The voice pierced their souls and caused their frames to continue gyrating violently while the walls of the prison remained firm and unaffected. At this point though, they were already encompassed by pillars of fire. The darkness in which they were collectively enveloped was the real, and plain reason that they “knew it not”.

As soon as they exercised faith in Christ, who had been taught unto them by Alma, and Amulek, and Zeezrom, the darkness dispersed. (obviously this refers to Nephite dissenters specifically unless there is a missing record of Alma, Amulek, and Zeezrom preaching to the natural-born Lamanites) The darkness had not so much seized them, but they were simply passing through it, similar to Joseph Smith immediately following his glorious First Vision. The darkness dispersed because of their faith in what they had seen flashed before their eyes and the voice they now heard. They, like the Brother of Jared, could no longer be kept without the veil (Ether 12:21). When the darkness dispersed, that is when they knew that they were each surrounded by a personal plasma pillar, baptizing them in fire. The phenomena evolved to an inner baptism of the Holy Ghost which filled them as with fire. Now in that state they were able to view ministering angels descending out of a heavenly opening. After this miraculous event they were commanded to go forth and share what they had seen and heard, and to not marvel or doubt. This commandment to marvel not, nor doubt was important because it was not likely that their walk of faith would be graced with many more experiences of the same magnitude of that day in the same prison where Ammon and his brethren were cast by the servants of Limhi.

But just as the baptism(s) of fire had been for those 300 a simultaneously individual and collective phenomenon, and just as it had begun regardless of their collective or individual level of awareness (triggered by the faith of those two prisoners), so the truthfulness of the wonders they all encountered were to remain bright in their memory and held sacred in their hearts, even through times of darkness ahead, and in spite of the lack of visual confirmation as they progressed in faith. The resulting spiritual conversion was not limited to these 300 souls, but swept across the land, where it took great hold at least among the Lamanites who were so purified by their respective baptisms of fire that they conceded the lands of the Nephites which they had formerly taken by force. They made and kept a promise to the Lord to “seek no more to destroy [his] servants whom [he] sent….to declare good tidings.” These things happened around the time of Jesus’ birth on the other side of the world in Jerusalem. Then around the time of Jesus’ crucifixion, another throng of Nephites and Lamanites once again were enveloped in a cloud of darkness, and told by a voice on high to offer up no more the shedding of blood, but instead to offer up the sacrifice of a broken heart and a contrite spirit. They were told that if they would do this, they would be baptized with fire and the Holy Ghost like the Lamanites were at the time of their conversion while they were in the dark and, “knew it not.” (3 Nephi 9:19-20)

The element of fire is used by God as a purifying flame which is always accompanied by a certain heat that can be felt to warm and comfort the bosoms of men in a sensation that is instantly spiritual and physical. The wild-fire patterns of popularity and success for Denver Snuffer’s timely book series are very different from the spreading fires of conversion among the Lamanites. This fire is not taking as strong a hold and is spread mostly due to wild-winds which are stirring up the hearts of many these days. Unfortunately the majority of the hard-hearted LDS are not stirred up unto repentance by these winds. The Brethren and a host of bloggers in the LDS community blow hard. But this only produces light breezes that softly caress the many souls who were growing restless in their hearts, and whispers a lonely lullaby that lulls them back to sleep. Reverend Snuffer was very careful not to step on the feet of those who belong to the leadership half of our cabal, but it is impossible to toe that line between leaders and the led without disturbing the precarious imbalance of a Secret Combination like ours. The Holy Ghost is a Comforter, not an appeaser. Sooner or later we all have to wake up.

And, upon awakening, what shall we see? I am reminded of the Christmas carol – Do You See What I See? Is it necessary that everyone see what I see in the same way I see it? Does everyone have to “see things” the way Smith, Packer, or Snuffer does? Perhaps what makes Joseph’s First Vision so special is the fact that, much to the satisfaction of his critics, Joseph did not go around sharing this deeply intimate experience with anyone and everyone right away. And they find fault with the fact that years later when he actually recorded it, he was still trying to grasp the magnitude of meaning conveyed in it. If it is not God’s formula to reveal himself to everyone then is the Church leadership right to defend their God’s privacy by means of shunning Snuffer? If they are mistaken, and it is God’s formula is to reveal himself to everyone in precisely the same manner, which manner is that exactly? If there are indeed similarities in the divine encounters experienced by various people ranging from Adam to Mohonri Moriancumer, from Moses, to Mohammed, and from John the Revelator to Joseph Smith, then what necessitates the publishing of Reverend Snuffer’s works, or the circulation of Packer’s inferences – especially when they provide less details than most scriptural accounts of direct dealings between man and his maker? What is so special about these “special witnesses” and why should Reverend Snuffer be so reluctant and vague about his encounters with the divine, yet so profuse in detailing procedures for the saints to know the Lord?

Another author who is immensely popular among the LDS people is C.S. Lewis. In a book which bears a title reminiscent of D&C 132’s reference to a “far more, and an exceeding, and an eternal weight of glory” C.S. Lewis spoke of our innate homesickness for Heaven and the longing we feel for the portion of spirit which inhabits these temporal bodies to finally see our long lost friends again. Nothing is real till Israel reunites her scattered and lost tribes. Our physical beings must meet their spiritual counterparts and return to live in love supreme. It is the Secret Combination of the two which keeps us shut out from the presence of the Lord and unable to move from being inmates to being intimate in our connection to each other and to God. Lewis described it this way:

“In speaking of this desire for our own faroff country, which we find in ourselves even now, I feel a certain shyness. I am almost committing an indecency. I am trying to rip open the inconsolable secret in each one of you—the secret which hurts so much that you take your revenge on it by calling it names like Nostalgia and Romanticism and Adolescence; the secret also which pierces with such sweetness that when, in very intimate conversation, the mention of it becomes imminent, we grow awkward and affect to laugh at ourselves; the secret we cannot hide and cannot tell, though we desire to do both. We cannot tell it because it is a desire for something that has never actually appeared in our experience. We cannot hide it because our experience is constantly suggesting it, and we betray ourselves like lovers at the mention of a name.

Our commonest expedient is to call it beauty and behave as if that had settled the matter. Wordsworth’s expedient was to identify it with certain moments in his own past. But all this is a cheat. If Wordsworth had gone back to those moments in the past, he would not have found the thing itself, but only the reminder of it; what he remembered would turn out to be itself a remembering. The books or the music in which we thought the beauty was located will betray us if we trust to them; it was not in them, it only came through them, and what came through them was longing. These things—the beauty, the memory of our own past—are good images of what we really desire; but if they are mistaken for the thing itself they turn into dumb idols, breaking the hearts of their worshippers. For they are not the thing itself; they are only the scent of a flower we have not found, the echo of a tune we have not heard, news from a country we have never yet visited.”

― C.S. Lewis, The Weight of Glory

Speaking on the popularity of such books that promise success in this life, books like the best-seller The Secret, and the follow-up to it called The Power, a virtuous young woman I met in the Caribbean once told me:

“The Secret is that we have Holy Spirits. Those spirits need to be nourished and they can only be nurtured by one thing. That’s why after all the music, all the drugs, all the food, all the money, life seems to fall short. And when everything falls short and we sit there hopeless, broken, or even just bored…we turn to the most powerful force on the face of this planet in an attempt to fix ourselves.”

I asked her what she felt was the only thing that could nourish our spirits, and she said:

“Love…true love ignites our souls and awakens the dead parts inside of all of us. Almost like magic. The Most High IS Divine Love. LOVE IS The Most High.”

There are also self-help books that claim to be food for our spirit. The bright minds that write them and market them focus us on a promise of not only success in this life, but also in the next. How intriguing! How exciting! How enlightening! How much does this book cost? LDSA candidly and realistically depicts these book vendors in a satirical interview with an imaginary character named Harold P. Kraft, who just so happens to perfectly fit the bill of many popular LDS authors.

Interviewer: Now, the second book, and for our listeners, that book was called, The Secret Knowledge that No One Knows Except Me and Jesus, But I’ll Tell You Anyway!, that book I couldn’t put it down.

Kraft: No one could.  I had people jokingly tell me I ought to run for prophet.  They kept saying to me, “It’s like the Savior is back!  You’ve brought the Savior back!”  Of course, that’s just silly.  I am just a lowly mortal.  I did nothing.  The Lord did everything through me and my nothingness.

Interviewer: What’s amazing is that the second book cost more than the first, yet sold better.  How do you explain that?

Kraft: I realized that the people hungered for more than what they were getting at church and I realized that they wanted what I could offer them.  So I offered them more, more pages, more words.  The book was almost twice the size of the first one, at 789 pages, so I had to make the price commensurate.  I think it sold for $39.97 or something like that, so although the book was double in size, its price was not.  I was giving them a better deal, something really for nothing.

As LDSA’s satire highlights the fact that there are many among us who succumb to the natural man’s tendency to be prideful. We sometimes say that such a person is “full of his/herself” but in reality that person is very empty and seeks to fill the void with things which it sees outside his/herself. Jesus broke it down very succinctly. Confused Rabbis were once again attempting to ensnare Jesus in his words and trip him up by asking about the many laws of man. As they did centuries later with Bob Marley, they hoped Jesus would single out one of their many laws as higher and thereby set aside other laws which they could accuse him of disregarding. He answered them that there was no great commandment in the law, but rather a Great Law of Love which flows through all situational regulation, and it was that Law only with which the Master Teacher concerns himself.

“Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.

This is the first and great commandment.

And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.

On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.”

– Matt. 22:37-40

Jesus says to love the Lord thy God with all your being. He then says to love your neighbor as your own being. If there are three distinct beings mentioned here, namely:

1. Your God

2. Your Neighbor

3. Yourself

…and if it is implied that we love all three with all energy of soul then why does Jesus say there are only 2 commandments upon which all the laws and the prophets rest? The First and Great commandment to love the Lord your God with all your being is straightforward. And the second like unto it. So, Jesus did not miscount. He did not make a distinction between loving yourself and loving your God. This is one action done with all the heart, all the soul, and with the entire mind. Anyone who differentiates between God and Self is demarcating a boundary that makes enemies of the two, and though he feign devotion to a higher power, he is not wholly devoted to holiness, only dead-I-cated to the devilish doctrine of division which will make it impossible to refrain from discrimination among his neighbors. Remember I said that the scriptures establish a specification with the usage of two terms – “the Lord YOUR God” and “your God AND my God”. To clarify for those parts of our minds that need to see some sort of delineation, the scriptures are extremely precise. It is our minds that are dull with corrosion and unready to receive, or fully acknowledge truth. In the following verses of Matt. 22 we see that Jesus puts an end to all the Pharisees questions with a question of his own for them.

Jesus asked them, “What think ye of Christ? Whose son is he?” They say unto him, “The Son of David.”

Jesus responded, “How is it then that David, speaking under the inspiration of the Spirit, calls the Messiah ‘my Lord’? For David said:

The LORD said unto my Lord, Sit thou on my right hand, till I make thine enemies thy footstool.

If David then call him Lord, how is he his son?”

And no man was able to answer him a word, neither durst any man from that day forth ask him any more questions.

Even though Jesus simply points out David’s deferral of ‘my Lord’ to ‘The Lord’ a Pharisee can only see heresy. A Pharisee clings tooth and nail to hearsay and labels as heresy anything within the realm of intimate, first-hand knowledge. But the Bible makes it “Christ-All Clear” that real knowledge is always an intimate affair. Anything or anyone worth knowing is worthy of an intimate encounter, and to establish a “hitherto shalt thou come, but no further” relationship between man and his maker is to promote ignorance and set up Satan’s Secret Combination. We say that Cain was the founder of the original Secret Combination, and this rejection of intimacy was exactly Cain’s response when he said: “Who is the Lord that I should know him?” With that attitude setting the tone, is it at all surprising to later hear Cain deny knowing of Abel’s whereabouts, asking the callous and infamous question: “Am I my brother’s keeper?” The word “know” is consistent in Moses 5 as it is throughout the rest of scripture with its meaning connoting an intimate act, not necessarily sexual in a carnal sense, but nonetheless intimate. We have all heard it said that sharing is caring, but we often fail to realize that sharing is knowing. Jesus shared the parable of the Good Samaritan showing that he recognized the seamless link between Love of God and love for one’s fellow man. His shameless sharing left the confused Rabbis even more confounded. He exposed religion as a sham and shamed those religious teachers and leaders in their conniving. The things Jesus shared showed that Jesus knew and understood the subtle yet eternally vast difference between the Secret Combinations of the Devil and the Open Combination of God in all things. At that point in his mortal ministry when Jesus plainly exposed the truth and shocked and silenced all the Pharisees for the last time in terms of trying to pick doctrinal debates, we see Jesus share a paradoxically private, inside moment of triumph with a brother who spots the subtlety in Jesus’ out-in-the-open yet multi-layered truth sharing style. The man exclaims:

“thou hast said the truth: for there is One God; and there is none other but he,”

to which he adds:

“And to love him with all the heart, and with all the understanding, and with all the soul, and with all the strength, and to love his neighbour as himself, is more than all whole burnt offerings and sacrifices.” (Mark 12:32,33)

When the man says, “to love his neighbor as himself” the word ‘his’ can only be referencing one person since his previous statement declares that there is no one else other than God. Self-ignorant scribes would later translate the text without a capital ‘H’. But there is a reason why the Scribe addressing Jesus used the word ‘his’ and not ‘thy’ or ‘one’s’. This reveals the true nature of possession and reveals as hypocrites and liars those who claim to serve a God who is sovereign above all, yet divide loyalties among other things hither and thither into categorical hierarchies. Was this man mistaken in his reasoning? Did he mistake Jesus’ sayings, or do we? Well, the scripture says that Jesus answered him discretely and told the scribe:

“Thou art not far from the kingdom of God.” (Mark 12:34)

The individual is the connection between God and neighbor. Now we should be able to make more sense of Christ’s explanation of the two-in-one concept of “I-in-Father-Father-in-Me” which continues the study in D&C 93 verse 4.

The Father because he gave me of his fulness, and the Son because I was in the world and made flesh my tabernacle, and dwelt among the sons of men.

The everlasting Open Combination which is most desirable between God and mortals is often referred to with the title of the Holy Priesthood after the Order of the Son of God. In all ancient languages and many still in use today, the words ‘son’ or ‘sons’ carry the meaning of ‘child’ or ‘children’ – sons and daughters. This is why there is a distinction between the “sons of men” and the “Son of Man”. For a people such as the LDS who appear to be the most family focused group on the face of things, if not the face of the earth, in these latter days, we should not find it difficult to conceptualize of our mortal cellves as God’s Grandchildren. If God is Mormon, certainly he would have numerous concourses of grandkids. What we really need to understand is how to “grow up unto the Lord” by recognizing our true selves as God’s immortal children who have received such a glorious inheritance only to squander it instead of caring for our own flesh and blood. We have not done right by our own flesh and blood. We have not been “raising” our “children” in “incorruption.” Our neighbors who we are commanded to love as ourselves are sometimes viewed with pity, or even disdain on our parts, if those neighbors come from “broken families” where the “good old fashioned” grandparents are forced to shoulder the burden of raising babies because the parents neglect or reject their divine calling. But we are vain and ignorant. The neighbors down the block may be poor underachieving druggies and deadbeats, but our white picket fences encase white sepulchers full of dead men’s bones. Our worldly achievements are our addictions, and our vanity is our poverty of soul.

It is key to note that acceptance of the Fullness of the Father is what made Jesus into the Father, and that taking that fullness into the world via the vehicle of a temporal tabernacle is what made him the Son. I say “made” because, though not in the way of the world, in accordance with the conditions instituted from before the foundation of the world, Jesus was a “made man”. We might even say he was “the” made man or the first man to complete the process of being made perfect in spirit and flesh. He showed us how it is done. Now it is our turn. But how can we possibly hope to receive the Fullness of the Father? The answer is painfully obvious – through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. The question we ought to put to ourselves is what has kept us from even thinking of asking and accepting that fullness in the first place? It may seem obvious, however it is worth pointing out that a spirit that not only bears the title but truly  is a father in that he has spiritually begotten at least one spirit child does not cease to exist by passing on his fullness. Rather, a spiritual father emits energy and perfectly duplicates himself. Now here is the trick, in order to be truly perfect the duplicate must also have free-will to execute work independently. Worldly fathers often try to live vicariously through their sons. But such attempts are never successful. In fact they are always disastrous in one sense or another, because they begin with the bypassing of that intensely spiritual process of depositing one’s self fully, passing one’s fullness into another.

“We must be willing and able to go beyond ego to reach out to something more, to experience the parts of ourselves that have nothing to do with the agendas of our personalities. At the same time, we must also be willing to experience the limitation and pain that our ego’s habits are causing us.

In the last analysis, learning how to transcend the ego involves nothing less than learning how to be open to love. Only love has the power to save us from ourselves. Until we learn to truly love ourselves and others—and to accept the love of others—there can be no hope of lasting happiness or peace or redemption.” (Don Richard Riso and Russ Hudson – Personality Types, 460-61)

GOING FROM BEING INMATES TO BEING INTIMATE

To be a servant in our Father’s house is not necessarily synonymous with being a Son of the Father. For a real father & son relationship to occur there needs to be a going out, and a coming in of pure spirit. Most of us have done the first part. Like the prodigal son we have opted to take our inheritance and go out into the world. But now that we are here we have made the mistake of squandering that portion of spirit that the Father gave us when we left his presence. What is worse, we commit the sin of pride and we do not call home to ask for more. Thinking that we can do it on our own, leads to thinking we must do it on our own. Our own stubbornness and selfishness turn to forgetfulness and get falsely attributed to God. And how would we know any different so long as we refuse to accept God’s attributes for incorporation into our bodies? Fariduddin ‘Attar, the mystic Sufi saint of Iran wrote:

It is those who cannot see straight who fall into error: This is the sightedness of the man who denies God attributes. Ah, the pity! Nobody possesses the power: Eyes blind and the world filled with sunlight!

Walking in darkness at noonday as the scripture says (D&C 95:6) we stumble around as self-made victims when we could be enjoying a continuous flow of power from on high. A little work is required, but it is not the same strenuous, frivolous and futile labor of the flesh. Jesus told us that his yoke was easy and his burden light. To receive the Fullness of the Father means essentially to yoke, or sync up the Power Faith by which our immortal spirit body operates with the Action Faith which our mortal body uses to assert its self in this existence. An infusion of spirit and flesh is necessary in order for Power Faith from on high to bleed effortlessly into Action Faith as exhibited here below. Jesus expounds upon this process in verse 5 of D&C section 93.

I was in the world and received of my Father, and the works of him were plainly manifest.

So first we have to be in the world. Great! Here we are! Then we have to receive of our Father. Great! We have already done that, and we dip into that supply everyday! All that we lack is to keep doing this and perfect the process. Not even Jesus received the fullness at first. Verse 12 says that he received “grace for grace” and continued from “grace to grace” until he received the fullness. The moment when Jesus received the fullness appears to have taken place at his baptism. Section 93 now quotes from John and tells us:

14 And thus he was called the Son of God, because he received not of the fulness at the first.

15 And I, John, bear record, and lo, the heavens were opened, and the Holy Ghost descended upon him in the form of a dove, and sat upon him, and there came a voice out of heaven saying: This is my beloved Son.

The confused masses of Christ-Shuns go to the doctors of the Church for prescriptions (doctrines). Some of these doctrines are of men and others are of devils. None of them can cure us. One of the most popular drugs on the market today is a sin-thetic perversion of the doctrine of divine sonship. It is advertised as something that was instantaneously inherited by Jesus at his birth and something to be kept out of the reach of the children. But such poison pills are not of God. If you will read the ingredients listed in the per-scriptures you will see that Jesus (the physical man) did not become a Son of God until he accepted Christ into himself. He was born Jesus and reborn as Jesus Christ – Son of God.

Jackson Browne – Doctor My Eyes

Doctor, my eyes have seen the years
And the slow parade of fears without crying
Now I want to understand

I have done all that I could
To see the evil and the good without hiding
You must help me if you can

Doctor, my eyes
Tell me what is wrong

Was I unwise to leave them open for so long

‘Cause I have wandered through this world
And as each moment has unfurled
I’ve been waiting to awaken from these dreams
People go just where they will
I never noticed them until I got this feeling
That it’s later than it seems

Doctor, my eyes
Tell me what you see

I hear their cries
Just say if it’s too late for me

Doctor, my eyes
Cannot see the sky
Is this the PRICE for having learned how not to cry

.

Divine Lawgic – The Cycle

Jesus suffered the children
He knew the way they felt

Children suffer like Jesus
’Cause every day they’re dealt

Punishments that they didn’t deserve
Feel the centripetal force as we swerve
Through the curve
Of The Cycle

If we are to become again like little children then we most certainly need to relearn how to cry. To more fully receive of the fullness when undergoing a baptism of water we need to be WILLING TO GET WET, not just physically but emotionally. In John 11: 35 it tells us that “Jesus wept.” Although this is the shortest verses in all scripture, and seemingly very non-descript, I believe that this time in Jesus life was another baptism of water or at least another level of it for him. A wave of emotion starts to come over Jesus at this point. He weeps, he groans in the spirit and in himself (John 11:33,38), Jesus even vacillates and shows signs of nervousness. He says in John 12:27….

“Now is my soul troubled; and what shall I say? Father, save me from this hour: but for this cause came I unto this hour.”

Nephi pointed out that the Lamb of God was baptized in water to fulfill all righteousness. But then Nephi asks us a question: In what way did the Lamb of God fulfill all righteousness by being baptized in water? Nephi asks us this question because he does not want us committing the common error of supposing that the answer is in the physical ritual alone. We can talk all we want about the importance of gospel ordinances but without recognizing the pre-ordination to which the actions are meant to link, we are talking about a gospel gadget which is of no good with no power source. Alternately if we address the issue of the Pre-Stood Power as if it were the socket into which we must plug, then we have missed the point again – mistaking the outlet for the energy itself or accepting it as the ultimate source. And just as Nephi, my heart too delights in plainness. So, just in case we are tempted to take the analogy of electrical current as used by modern man, and apply it directly to the availability of the Pre-Stood Power of GOD, let us be perfectly clear:

TITHING FUNDS PAY THE BILL FOR LIGHTS & ELECTRICITY IN THE CHURCH OF JESUS CHRIST OF LATTER-DAY SAINTS.

THE PRE-STOOD POWER OF GOD IS AVAILABLE AND GIVEN TO ALL MEN LIBERALLY AS IT IS ACCEPTED LIBERALLY BY THEM IN THE BODY OF CHRIST – FREE OF CHARGE (MONETARILY SPEAKING) FULL OF CHARGE, AND FULL OF LIGHT (SPIRITUALLY SPEAKING).

Nephi says that through the baptism of water Jesus received light, glory, and power accorded to his flesh. In order for this to happen his body of flesh had to humbly accept the role of Holy Lamb of God.

For what doth it profit a man if a gift is bestowed upon him, and he receive not the gift? Behold, he rejoices not in that which is given unto him, neither rejoices in him who is the giver of the gift. (D&C 88:33)

Nephi also asks us rhetorically whether or not we know that the Lamb of God was Holy. He asks us this so that we might make the mental connection between a baptism of water later in life and one’s own birth coming straightway out of the waters of the womb. He wants us to understand the plan of redemption and recognize innocence when we see it. Little children are every bit as holy as was Jesus. In fact Moroni states that they are “alive in Christ, even from the foundation of the world” (Moroni 8:12). If we will skip ahead in our reading of D&C section 93 we find that:

38 Every spirit of man was innocent in the beginning; and God having redeemed man from the fall, men became again, in their infant state, innocent before God.

We will return to this scriptural elucidation of our innocence before God later. But for now let us resume our investigation of baptisms of water and fire, and how exactly it is that they can bring about the fulfillment of all righteousness. Fulfillment of all righteousness is a quality of eternity. As seen filtered through the lens of time it is an ongoing or cyclical process. As Nephi points out, simply because one enters into time through the strait and narrow gate of the birth canal, does not mean he has completed all the works that the Father would have him do. This is where Action Faith comes into play and fulfills its crucial part in the divine plan. Re-baptism, or re-birth, resets us in that course we found ourselves in as infants, but it does not negate the need to keep moving either. Jesus, for example had only just begun his 3 year ministry when he was baptized by his cousin John. We can not say that the baptism of fire wherein the Holy Ghost descended upon him in the form of a dove was the completion of his works. Only a fulfilling of all righteousness, or a filling up of all three levels of God’s righteous creation – Intelligence, Spirit, and finally Flesh. This was like a stop at a spiritual filling station before Jesus set out through the gate and on the path to another baptism of fire. He brings up this next baptism of fire and the burning desire he had to accomplish it in Luke 12.

49 I am come to set fire to the earth, and I only wish it were already ablaze!

50 But I have a baptism to be baptized with; and how am I straitened till it be accomplished!

You will recall that Nephi also uses the word strait to depict the path one enters after the baptism of water. When Jesus says he is “straitened,” this can also be translated as being “pressed” or “pent up” until the baptism has reached its completion. Jesus had grown in wisdom and stature as a young man and now, since receiving the Fullness of the Father, he was literally outgrowing this level of reality known as the 3rd dimension. It’s been theorized that the whole realm of human experience which we inhabit can be closely calculated to exist within a base rate wavelength of 7.23 cm. This measurement corresponds to the average length of space between a human being’s eyes from the center of one pupil to the other. It is the average distance from the tip of the chin to the tip of the nose. It also matches the span of the palms of many humans’ hands. And it is the approximate distance between the chakras in our spirit bodies. This 7.23 cm motif can be found repeated in various ways throughout our bodies because we are submerged within this particular universe and it is embedded within us. But if you think 7.23 cm is narrow, try to imagine the 4th and subsequently higher dimensions. As you go up the wavelength gets shorter and shorter, with higher and higher energy. As you go down in dimensional levels, the wavelength gets longer and longer, with lower and lower energy. This is why Jesus told us:

“Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat:

Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.” (Matt. 7:13-14)

LDSA has stated these truths as plainly as he can in the following statement:

“You are either immersed in plasma or you are not. You are either in an intensity phase or in a rest phase of the cycle. There is no such thing as non-cyclic gradualness. If you think you are growing spiritually for the past ten years without any intense spiritual experiences, you are kidding yourself. It means that you have been in a spiritual rest phase of the cycle during this time. No one can remain at spiritual rest for any extended period of time before spirituality begins to decay. It is an impossibility. So, the LDS concept of a gradual, life-long, imperceptible baptism of fire is patently false and leads to spiritual death.”

From heights which afford a god-eye or more eternal vantage point there is of course a perceivable gradual build in the process of perfection. God rested on the 7th day. But remember that the Father is not alone in this work. When he rests from his labors then the Mother’s labor has only just begun. LDSA is right. There is no such thing as non-cyclic gradualness. But he does not say there is no such thing as gradualness. What can be called a rest phase of the cycle on one end is on the other side of the cycle moving into intensity phase. This is the meaning behind the Yin-Yang symbol, and constitutes the basic tenet of Feng Shui as it follows the cyclical flow of Ch’i energies – that as the nature of anything moves toward the extreme, so it gives birth to its opposite.  Continuing from “grace to grace” as Christ did certainly describes some sort of graduation. But then, as I mentioned earlier, there come periods of transition and completion that are intense and experienced in time as moments when we feel a burst of eternity. From this side it may seem as if nothing is happening but if we are receptive then we will know that the Father is doing his work, and will be ready to meet the movement as it cycles around to us. He does his work for all of us. It will always come to each of us. But it will not flow through those who resist it. How can one resist something so powerful as the work of the Holy Father? They who resist never survive unharmed, simply because positive effects can never be forced upon anyone. If we would receive grace upon grace, then it is essential for us to understand what is happening during our rest cycles.

cyclical progression
You will notice that the above conceptual mapping of the flow of eternity matches the patterns formed by the spiraling of our DNA. We are to be still and submit, letting the active energies flow into and through our bodies. These cycles will most definitely be felt as intense moments, and LDSA is right to offer us the wisdom of a ten year gauge. If you have not felt any such intense movement of the spirit within a ten year span then you are definitely dying. You will want to do something immediately to remedy that situation. Or rather, you must stop doing whatever you have been doing which you erroneously considered so important to your spiritual progression. Stop it now, and hold off from doing those things for as long as you can, for as long as it takes, till you feel the burn in the faith muscles of your sorely under-worked spirit body. The burn is literal, not the same burning of physically pumped muscle, but similar. Though not in the manner or role typically accepted and taught at Church, the physical body does play a vital role in our spiritual progression. It is challenging for most Church-goers to understand because that role is passive. In Feng Shui, Ti Ch’i (not to be confused with Ta’i Chi which we will discuss later) means Earth Spirit, and is sometimes called “host ch’i” because earth elements, like those which constitute our physical bodies, are made to host the heavenly elements. Or, as it is stated in the D&C – Truth hosts Light. Ti Ch’i – the Spirit of Truth bears witness of the Father & the Son.

Your physical body, composed of earth elements, was made to bear witness to the Father & the Son. Dr. Bradley Nelson, author of The Emotion Code and a member of the LDS Church demonstrates how the body can communicate answers from God with subtle sensations that may be used to engage in clear conversation and direct dialogue with spirit. Most have not or will not consider what Justin and others on this blog have discussed since the posting of an excerpt from NCCG.ORG by LDSA. The average Mormon or Christian will say that the Holy Ghost can not be feminine in any other sense than the linguistically generative sense of the Hebrew words for Spirit and Holy Spirit. Christians will hold doggedly to their Homoerotic Model of the Holy Trinity and will say that the mere idea of a Holy Mother beyond Catholic Virgin Worship is utterly pagan and therefore of the devil. Many protestant groups will even vilify the Catholic view of a Holy Mother. And The LDS will forever play the fence, condemning Catholic practice as a distraction while reveling in rumors of a Heavenly Mother who, in keeping with her Puritan, Victorian, and LDS ways, never will reveal too much about herself. Even fewer people will allow themselves to come to a comprehension of Her as physical earth element. Earth elements to them are dirty, and the Heavenly Mother in their minds must be after their vain narcissistic reflection – pristine and prissy – an evil snow queen who thinks she knows what she is doing.

Even those who are not as prideful in their thinking, but more genuine in their curiosity, will be confused because of the doctrinal idea that the Holy Ghost does not have a body. They will not allow themselves to see that the third member of the Godhead has no individual body of flesh and blood because She is the Mother of All Living, out of whom are composed endless individual life-forms. She spreads Herself far and wide and forgoes a form unique to herself so that She can, through physical creation, witness that there is a God. Nowhere does She express Herself and Her mission as fully as in Womb-man. So I tend to agree with LDSA and Justin – The Holy Ghost is a Woman. Dallon J. recently made a comment that brought up the idea that the Father will forgive anything except the reviling against and flat-out denial of the Holy Ghost. Does that include denying women the priesthood? Remember that one of the key features of the Secret Combinations since their early establishment in the history of this planet is that “It was among the sons of men. And among the daughters of men these things were not spoken” (Moses 5:52-53) Many Mormons in Utah and other parts recently peacefully demonstrated their disapproval of Church policy at the Priesthood Session of General Conference. In the end, being granted permission to enter closed meetings, or entrance into a leadership group traditionally limited to a “boys only” club will do nothing. But on the other hand priesthoodlums with all their pretending can do nothing to stop a woman from receiving the Father, witnessing to the Truth, and wielding the real priesthood in great power. There are opportunities for the restoration to move forward, and for real power to pour into our bodies at regular intervals. If the beneficial blessings of God come into our lives but are not let into our bodies then we are taking unrighteous advantage and we have yet to actually know God.

These cycles of spiritual activity come around regularly, but can only be detected and properly, more fully processed when the physical body is at rest, or ease. No amount of activity in the Church can compensate for activity in the Spirit, and in fact our over-doing it will hinder us because it inevitably leads to over-looking the spirit. This is The Damnation of Inactivity that I addressed in one of my earliest posts. The intense cycles of Yang energy from the Father which come to us when we are in a rest phase are called “quickenings” for the flesh. To quicken means to come to life, to give life to. It also connotes of course that something is made faster. They are called quickenings because of how, through time, they are perceived to be much more abrupt and quick than the normal everyday flow. Really they are only landmark points of unity gained as spirit and flesh tie in together to become one. (See the graphic above which illustrates the DNA-like progression of eternity) In D&C 88 we read:

29 Ye who are quickened by a portion of the celestial glory shall then receive of the same, even a fulness.

30 And they who are quickened by a portion of the terrestrial glory shall then receive of the same, even a fulness.

31 And also they who are quickened by a portion of the telestial glory shall then receive of the same, even a fulness.

32 And they who remain shall also be quickened; nevertheless, they shall return again to their own place, to enjoy that which they are willing to receive, because they were not willing to enjoy that which they might have received.

These quickenings are of extreme importance, however, they do not represent any one individual’s strength to create change of or by his self. Creation did not start with the Big Bang. There was a slow and steady movement which from this side of things was completely imperceptible, but which nevertheless built up to that explosive moment where time began. In the mid 60s to the late 70s, Arno A. Penzias and Robert W. Wilson, while working for Bell Labs, discovered what they called cosmic microwave background radiation, a nearly uniform glow that fills the Universe in the microwave band of the radio spectrum. They were experimenting with a supersensitive, 6 meter (20 ft) horn antenna. Upon reduction of their data they found a low, steady, mysterious noise that persisted in their receiver. This residual noise was 100 times more intense than they had expected, was evenly spread over the sky, and was present day and night. They were certain that the radiation they detected on a wavelength of 7.35 cm did not come from the Earth, the Sun, or even our galaxy.

Notice how remarkably close they were to that base rate wavelength of 7.23 cm which is the basic band for the 3 dimensional reality which we inhabit. After thoroughly checking their equipment, removing some pigeons nesting in the antenna and cleaning out the accumulated droppings, the noise remained. Both concluded that this noise was coming from outside our own galaxy—although they were not aware of any radio source that would account for it. Penzias and Wilson were awarded a Nobel Prize in 1978 because their discovery bolstered the assertion that the Universe had its beginning with a Big Bang. Big Bang theory gained prevalence in the scientific and academic community from then on. It was to the secularists a huge victory. The Big Bang came to be heralded as a blinding Bearer of Light who blocked or barred any further investigation into the mysteries of God. Lucifer had people convinced that it all started with him – that he in fact had triggered the creation and put the plan into motion. Since the days discussed in Moses 5 till now, the sons of men have become increasingly more convinced that things are done through demon-strations of sheer masculine energy. Nothing could be further from the truth, but no one is willing to give up the spot light and admit they are all riding on a dark wave of feminine energy with the force of trillions of megatons behind them.

Just as the Big bang seems so important to the scientific community, the At-One-ment is said to be the pivotal moment for the plan from a Christian outlook. I wonder if many of us pause to realize the Crux of Creation continued before us on the Cross of Calvary. Many eyes are being opened these days to the prison planet that this world has become. Jesus made a prison break from this prison planet. He did not only sneak off leaving us with high hopes but low chances of escaping ourselves, but he actually cast out the warden. If we will stop being our own prison guard, torturer, and warden, then we will realize what a great thing Jesus has done for us. But simply praising him in name only, while continuing to kowtow to systems of control, is hypocritical and pathetic. Jesus’ sure hope was in expressed in John 12:31-32 when he said:

“Now is the judgment of this world: now shall the prince of this world be cast out.

And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me.”

The Jesus-led prison break is completely comparable with the Fall of Adam (Father let this cup pass from me. Nevertheless thy will be done”/“I see that this must be. I will partake that man may be.”). The At-One-ment is also congruent and synonymous with Michael’s victory over the Dragon in the pre-mortal realm. And like the Big Bang, Christ’s atonement actually resulted in the furtherance of the creation of the Kingdom.  Remember he also said: “I go to prepare a place for you.” (“It is good.”/“It is finished.”) BANG! a space was opened to us in further di-mansions of his Father’s House. But in order to enjoy any of this we must first convert our cell mates into soul mates. We must enter and escape through the bridal chamber. The marriage of the bride-groom is the only true marriage upon which any other form of marriage must be based if it is to survive – the marriage of one’s Nefesh (animal-self) with the Ruach (spirit-self). John 2:25 says that Jesus….

“….needed not that any should testify of man: for he knew what was in man.”

GETTING FREEAQUAINTED WITH THE ONE TRUE & LIVING GOD

The ancients knew all these things. The ancient Chinese tradition of Feng Shui has retained perfect clarity on the difference between the way of life and the way of death. This, despite the practice having passed through joint persecutions and purposeful perversion perpetrated upon it by the (secretly) combined efforts of three major religions and their colluded state governments. (And that’s not even including the crazy Christianity of the European missionaries with their state agendas for colonization or the extremely oppressive communist regime in China’s recent history.) Feng Shui defines Yang Ch’i as Bright Spirit. This comes from the Father and is simply called ‘Light’ in the Doctrine & Covenants. Yin Ch’i is classified as Decayed or Torpid Spirit. It comes from the Mother and serves a very important purpose. From it we get all matter and hence our precious physical bodies. In the Doctrine & Covenants this energy is designated simply as ‘Truth’. There is a third classification of Ch’i, or type of energy which can affect us, and it is most often referred to in Feng Shui scripture as Sha Ch’i – meaning “cutting ch’i” or “killing breath.” In D&C 93, and elsewhere in LDS/Christian scripture we find this type of spirit mentioned as ‘The Evil One’. The whole point of the gospel of Feng Shui is to encourage Light Ch’i, block or deflect the Evil Ch’i, and disperse or spread Truth Ch’i. In the D&C, section 93, we can identify certain Feng Shui principles that will help us to live in alignment with Light and Truth.

28 He that keepeth his commandments receiveth truth (physical elemental energy) and light (non-physical elemental energy), until he is glorified in truth (in the flesh) and knoweth (has an intimate relationship with) all things.

29 Man was also in the beginning with God. Intelligence, or the light of truth (Yin & Yang in its unconsciously, or secretly combined state, also known in Feng Shui as The Great Absolute), was not created or made, neither indeed can be.

30 All truth (physical element) is independent in that sphere in which God (The Father – Yang – Light) has placed it, to act for itself, as all intelligence also (intelligence becomes conscious of itself as light and then gets placed in truth); otherwise there is no existence.

31 Behold, here is the agency of man, and here is the condemnation of man; because that which was from the beginning (namely the Great Absolute) is plainly manifest unto them (The Secret Combination of unawareness is laid bare before them in Open Combination), and they receive not the light (they receive not the Father).

1-miscellaneous-digital-art-water-vs-fire-wallpaperThe Great Absolute rendered in Chinese is Ta’i Chi. Yes, this is the same word used to denote those strange and wondrous movements you see the old Asian man doing in a park during the early morning hours. The Chinese word Chi, meaning absolute or ultimate, is not be confused with Ch’i, which means spirit or breath. The Great Absolute has been completely and utterly misunderstood by modern man, and ironically the current-day Chinese have been some of the most extreme. Though the term Great has been tagged onto the title of many an “Absolute Monarch”, and though the word “Absolute” has been used by many learned men of our day from Calvin to Marx, the founding fathers of our latter-day societies only managed to mingle and mangle the Great Absolute into a Secret Combination of Communistic-Capitalism. This combination has led to much bloodshed on earth, as I try to illustrate in The Spiritual Side of Genocide Pts. 1 & 2. In part 2 especially I wrote about the secretiveness that perverts a perfect plan and prevents the absolute union of opposites from flowering in the hearts of men and in our world. They have turned the unspeakable beauty of life into a raging Armageddon of the sexes that threatens to destroy all creation.

An equally scientific and spiritual understanding of the Great Absolute is the only thing that can absolve the horrendous effects of that damnable Secret Combination of energy against energy, which is contrary to both Heaven and Earth making them into a Hell.

Ab=Father

Solute=Son

Solvent=Mother

Absolve = Integration into the Son of qualities from both Father and Mother.

This is done either in Secret Combination leading to condemnation and loss or Perdition of Sons, or it is done through Open Combination of the Mother and Father through the agency of man to the exaltation of Sons of God. D&C 93 is a rather interesting section for these Father & Son principles to find expression. In more arcane mathematical systems the numeral 9 represents the Son and 3 represents the Father. 6 represents the Mother or our physical bodies that are made to receive the 3 & the 9. Electrical engineer and futurist, Nikolai Tesla said: “If you only knew the magnificence of the 3, 6 and 9, then you would have a key to the universe.”  The FATH3R and the MOTH6R energies oscillate back and forth continuously.

3+3=6

6+6=12 (1+2=3)

12+12=24 (2+4=6)

24+24=48 (4+8=12[1+2=3])

The T’ai Chi symbol (more commonly known in the West as the Yin-Yang symbol) is not dualistic but threefold. Everything is based on thirds – The Holy Trinity. We think that the universe is based on dualities because we see only the effects not the cause. It is impossible for there to be a father or mother without a child being. The child is the cause. The Child is the 9. I have spoken of the pre-existent quality of Christ, the Son and his pre-seeding relationship to both the Mother as well as the Father in my post, Introduction to the Thermodynamics and Eternodynamics of Desire. Here I want to simply display how this is so in numerical terms. Christ’s esoteric number has always been 9. This is the only number all multiples of which are equal to its self.

9×1=9

9×2=18 (1+8=9)

9×3=27 (2+7=9)

This is because 9 is an all inclusive energy emanating in a straight line from the center of mass out of the nucleus of every atom, and from out of the singularity of a black hole represented by the 369Zer0. “It is complete!” as Jesus is said to have exclaimed on the cross. It is The One revealing perfection on through the Ennead. It is the Son and Sum of all the single digit integers which combine to form all other numbers. When we realize what Jesus realized, and confess the divinity of the S9N, then that rebellious third of the Hosts of Heaven that was the cause of this war will turn their causal power to the freeing of the captives, and the reign of righteousness on Earth. Section 93 continues:

32 And every man whose spirit (Christ) receiveth not the light (Father) is under condemnation.

33 For man is spirit (Christ). The elements (Light & Truth) are eternal, and spirit (Christ) and element (Father & Mother), inseparably connected, receive a fulness of joy;

34 And when separated, man cannot receive a fulness of joy.

35 The elements (Energy vibrating into Form) are the tabernacle of God; yea, man is the tabernacle of God, even temples (Bodies); and whatsoever temple is defiled, God shall destroy that temple.

36 The glory of God is intelligence, or, in other words, light and truth (True Marriage).

37 Light and truth forsake that evil one.

38 Every spirit of man was innocent in the beginning; and God having redeemed man from the fall, men became again, in their infant state, innocent before God.

39 And that wicked one cometh and taketh away light and truth (True Marriage), through disobedience, from the children of men (Human Beings), and because of the tradition of their fathers (False Marriage).

40 But I have commanded you to bring up your children (Bodies) in light and truth (True Marriage).

This blog has hosted a considerable amount of discussion on the question of if the baptism of Christ Jesus fulfilled all righteousness, and whether then that fulfillment included performance of a marriage ordinance. In a desire to clear away some of our worldly thinking so as to better see the truth of the matter as well as the truth of the spirit and how the two fit together in perfect unity, I mentioned the man-made institution of marriage. I was sorely misunderstood. The writing of this post has been in part to rectify that misunderstanding. It is quite simple really. When I speak of the man-made institution of marriage I am speaking of the man-made institution of marriage. If I speak of the heavenly principle of union then I will use other terms such as, ‘pre-ordained,’ ‘eternal,’ ‘divine’, or ‘spiritual,’ etc. Anyone can falsely accuse me, or misconstrue the words I employ to convey a deeper meaning. But that deeper meaning can not be misconstrued, or misused. It is untouchable from within the realm of temporal traditions, languages of limitation, and other physical controls. These transitory things are all institutions created for the express purpose of exposing something greater than their selves. If an institution, like the institution of marriage, in alignment with the divine truth of union, serves to point to that which it symbolizes, then it is of value and will upheld and maintained by the Creator’s creative power. If however the institution of marriages made by men starts to act as a law unto itself (not an extension of the Only True and Living Marriage throughout the Infinite Universe of Space and Time between the Heavenly Father and the Heavenly Mother – The Eternal Family of Amen) well then that marriage is only a mirage and will fade away.

As followers of Christ we ought to be most interested in fulfilling all righteousness. This can only be done by receiving of a fullness grace by grace. Fulfilling relationships start with a person’s relationship with his or herself. If one doesn’t have a well balanced relationship like between Yin and Yang within one’s self then they will seek fulfillment with someone else. But without a fulfilling relationship with yourself then you can not have one with anyone else. There is no faking it. It is like any relationship – perhaps even more expressly so – a daily thing requiring love and attention. When self knowledge and love abound inside one, then and only then, yes,  it overflows into another. These two become balanced partners aiding each other by receiving and returning that love which overflows from the real basis of truly fulfilling relationships in the first place. When the two are made one, they/we become a new person with expanded goals and capabilities. The frontier expands from there since if something is truly full-filling…it means that it is satisfied in its fullness, yet still FILLING in its timeless, eternal scope. Such intrapersonal intelligence results in overflow which will naturally and appropriately grow the group and multiply the connections of love. But this only can happen in direct proportion to the fulfillment at its roots and through its trunk, branches and bows. Eventually the whole hue-man family will realize that our roots are already well entwined in lovemaking us essentially one orga-ni-sm. With the feeling of fulfillment supplied endlessly from that infinite well deep within, people will see each other differently than they do now. They will not see one another as property or even as business partners. We will see one another accurately for what we are – SELF. This is a Self-Fulfilling prophecy, echoed down through the gene-rations of time by all prophets, even the false prophets.

In The Worldly Memo on the Family, the First Presidency proclaimed:

“We warn that the disintegration of the family will bring upon individuals, communities, and nations the calamities foretold by ancient and modern prophets.”

Then in an appeal to the world for help they said:

“We call upon responsible citizens and officers of government everywhere to promote those measures designed to maintain and strengthen the family as the fundamental unit of society.”

But the real Family is the royal Family of God. All of mankind was together with GOD as one in spirit. Following that state of existence spiritual mankind was married by the power and authority of GOD with our physical helpmates. The different stages of the plan rolled forward with perfect linkage until our rebellion against GOD. Matt. 19:6 warns:

“What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder.”

This sham marriage promotes separation of goods, of people, or spirit and flesh. It pinpoints the actual beginning of “the break-down of the family” which is used as a rhetorical tool in the fear mongering of many world leaders when addressing the solemn faces of their assembled followers today. Super-Tradition is Superstition and as Stevie Wonder sings: “Superstition Aint The Way” YahWeh is The-WaYaW-ehTo reunite the Divine Family. And the Son of God is the means by which divine masculine and feminine extend out in complimentary opposite directions from their common seed ‘Y’ – Yod, gatHERing togetHER again where ‘X’ marks the spot in a spiritually chromosomal Criss+Cross. This is the only true and living church:

Christ
Humanity
Universally
Reconnecting
Christ
Humanity

What is standing so defiantly betwixt CH and CH as the true and living church attempts to lurch forward like a CHu-CHu train to Zion, preventing the reconnection of Christ and Humanity? U-R! (You-Are). You are the only thing that stands between Christ and Humanity. Ask yourself, R-U ready for C.H.U.R.C.H? Are you ready for real marriage?
We sojourn here below with only one thing standing between the mortal frame and its maker. That one thing is our individual portion of Holy Spirit taught in Sunday School as the Spirit Body being composed of the Light of Christ in all men and women. It is given freely but even so, it is up to us to accept, maintain, and cherish a joining of the spirit and flesh as the Gift of the Holy Ghost. Connect the “monk” of your mind and “beast” of your body and you will see that one is not pure and the other debase; but both are equal, both are sacred and of God.

“Only connect! That was the whole of her sermon. Only connect the prose and the passion, and both will be exalted, and human love will be seen at its height. Live in fragments no longer. Only connect, and the beast and the monk, robbed of the isolation that is life to either, will die. Connect….connect without bitterness until all men are brothers.”

– From Howard’s End by E. M. Forrester

TRUE MARRIAGE WILL ABOLISH SECRET SOCIETIES AND ESTABLISH ZION

I realize that not everyone who participates in this forum is or even considers themselves to be anarchists. Likely there are some who do not even consider themselves LDS. But I am going to assume that everyone reading and or contributing here is at least passively interested in the spirit of freedom. That is, freedom of conscience freedom of body. My remaining remarks may be taken and applied politically, although they are actually apolitical. They can be interpreted materialistically, but that is only half of the intent behind them. They can be relegated to mental realms and theorized over with false displays of passion, or they may be foolhardily flung into zealous action with no thought to pragmatism. I offer them in soberness and in love.

The concept that our spirit bodies and our physical bodies could actually be strangers in need of sealing themselves as one before any real and enduring connection be made and maintained with others may seem very foreign. But this does not meant that it has not been as close at hand as our own spirit selves, staring us in the face every time we pour over the Holy Scriptures. The language of D&C 93 elucidates the Lord’s will.

19 I give unto you these sayings that you may understand and know how to worship, and know what you worship, that you may come unto the Father in my name, and in due time receive of his fulness.

20 For if you keep my commandments you shall receive of his fulness, and be glorified in me as I am in the Father; therefore, I say unto you, you shall receive grace for grace.

21 And now, verily I say unto you, I was in the beginning with the Father, and am the Firstborn;

22 And all those who are begotten through me are partakers of the glory of the same, and are the church of the Firstborn.

Christ is inviting us to be a part of something amazing. He is proposing an act so intimate that it is beyond our comprehension, and a relationship that is so unconventional that our minds can not grasp its implications. Love is liberating, and we say God is love. We claim to worship God. To worship something is to live for it. If we live for love, and if love has the power to liberate, then why are we not free? Could it be that we do not know what love is – that we don’t know God. In D&C 93 the Lord says he is trying to help us understand and know how to worship, and know what we worship. One of the 13 Articles of Faith in the Mormon religion states that: “we claim the privilege of worshiping Almighty God according to the dictates of our own conscience, and allow all men the same privilege, let them worship how, where, or what they may.” Notice how the word ‘who’ is never used in conjunction with the word ‘worship’ as the object of that verb (neither in the scripture verse nor the article of faith). What indeed to we worship? And how can we claim to worship “Almighty God” until we have first embodied the lessons of the Lord that he gave to the LDS people in D&C 93, thereby coming to know what we worship?

Contrary to common belief, Christianity is not the dominant religion in the United States. That distinction belongs to statism. And LDS do not worship within the context of restored Christianity as they suppose. They worship within the framework of the state. The global community at first glance appears to be divided along many religious lines. But the truth is that all religions are tentacles of the one world religion. What do the vast majority of humans on planet earth worship? They worship the state. The modern world, from Salt Lake to Shanghai, is predominately Statanic as far as dutiful worship is concerned. We the people uphold tyranny and one of the most efficient ways we do this is through doggedly and fearfully holding to the practice of monogamy. I am not suggesting that rearranging ourselves into non-monogamous set ups would change anything in this game of chess where we are all pawns. No. But a change of heart would result in more than simple rearranging of pieces on the board. IT WILL CHANGE THE ENTIRE GAME.

In Spanish there is a saying that goes: “Secretos de Dos No Son de Dios.” Secrets between two are not of God. Of course, we may say that marriage is a sacred relationship between three, not two. It is cliché by now in this Christian culture which is not Christ-like, to hear marriage described this way as a triune between man, woman and God. But if the first two partners universally recognized as the responsible parties involved in a marriage contract are not half as intimately acquainted with this mysterious third party as they are with each other, then what does it mean to say that marriage is a relationship between one man, one woman, and one God?  If a man marries a woman in a temple, or church, or synagogue in this world, yet he knows not the God by whose authority and power the marriage deal is supposedly sealed, then that couple are living in sin. And no amount of approval from men, no recommendation, or written agreement, not even prayers and scripture study on the part of the couple and their family can compensate for the internal work of remembering, honoring, and returning to our Heavenly Home.

Now chances are you, like myself, and probably everyone you know, come from a long line of married people. I am not accusing any one of us of having evil hearts. Quite the contrary, I only desire for us to remove the veil of unbelief, the pride from over our hearts and eyes that keeps us from seeing how enforced monogamy is a franchised secret combination. All forms of traditional marriage never have been anything more or less than that. Study its roots and you will come to the rise of evil empires on this earth. Be aware that traditional marriage more than any other institution has controlled the people, destroyed the family, riveted the sacred connection between the hearts of the fathers and the hearts of the children, and maintained Babylon throughout all of its temporary runs. Babylon will fall. It always does. Will you fall with it? A lot of people talk a lot these days about fighting the Secret Combinations or the “Illuminati” but they don’t ever affect any real change. When Joseph Smith spoke about fighting the Secret Combination he said:

“It is an imperative duty that we owe to God, to angels, with whom we shall be brought to stand, and also to ourselves, to our wives and children, who have been made to bow down with grief, sorrow, and care, under the most damning hand of murder, tyranny, and oppression, supported and urged on and upheld by the influence of that spirit which hath so strongly riveted the creeds of the fathers, who have inherited lies, upon the hearts of the children, and filled the world with confusion, and has been growing stronger and stronger, and is now the very mainspring of all corruption, and the whole earth groans under the weight of its iniquity.”

– D&C 123:7

We don’t like to admit it, but we have been that hand of tyranny and we have been that spirit that has so strongly riveted whatever lies we have inherited right onto the next generation. And thus the vicious cycle continues. Traditional marriage and the traditional families that splinter off from its destructive exploits are false gods and idols.

In the spiritual terms that are causal, eternal, and therefore matter more than physical matter when it comes to getting free from false gods, with their falsehoods, false flags, and false families, we need to know that we can never be blood of Abraham unless we do the works of Abraham. We must also remember what Jesus says; that God is able to make stones into Sons of Abraham, but if we want to be Sons of God then that means we accept God alone as our Father. Few realize how completely we must reject the idea that God is only to be found through this or that lineage, this or that tradition, practice, or place. The temples must tumble, the vain and repetitious prayers must cease, the ideas of “our fathers” must die! The state is made in the image of the fallen father. For the state of things in the world to change for the better the fallen father must elevate himself. Not through the societal structure which he has set up to make one man appear higher than the next, but through a spiritual elevation that brings down all societal structures that do not serve the soul of man, which is the same as God.

According to ancient Jewish and Islamic legend, one day Abraham was shown his father, Terah’s shop which was full of many idols. Young Abraham, thinking that perhaps he could discover intimacy with them, made some desirable delicacies and placed them before the idols. When nothing happened, he realized that these idols were nothing more than clay — they could do nothing for him or anyone else for that matter. So he proceeded to destroy all the idols, except for one. When Terah received word of this, he went to Abraham and said, “Son, what did you do to my idols?!” “I brought them delicacies,” Abraham replied, “and then the biggest idol became envious of the others, and destroyed them all.” Terah, furious with Abraham, said, “You’re lying to me! How can idols made by my own hands do such things?” “You’re right father.” Replied Abraham, “Now tell me, then, why do we worship idols that can not eat, drink or even move?” This kind of idol worship may sound far removed from us, but we too, have our idols. They may not be made of clay but they are very real! The love of money, possessions, success, leisure, food, sensuality, security and outward beauty — the love of tradition and even our friends and family — the pursuit of our selfish goals and dreams are among some just off the top of my head. Most of these are not bad things in and of themselves, don’t get me wrong. But if we are not careful, they can all easily become idols in our lives! What is the object of our affections today? What takes up the majority of our time, effort, and resources? These are our idols. Anything that we allow to run our life becomes our god.

When Abraham smashed his father’s idols, it was a type of emotional, mental, physical, or basically stated, a full spiritual patricide. This patricide was performed in the right and true order, and because Abraham was willing to follow through all the way, he was made an inheritor of the right and true order of the priesthood. Later we find stories of filicide in the life and times of Abraham. From his own biological father’s attempts to sacrifice him to idol/idle gods who can do nothing of or for themselves, to Abraham’s strange struggle with child sacrifice of his only son, Isaac, man learns what works and what does not work in the right and true order. Matricide will also be required of the true follower of righteousness who shares Abraham’s desires for good, and who would share in the abundance of blessings given to and through the noble patriarch. The inheritance of priesthood power is thankfully not left to mere dissemination of literal seed. Even if it were, that seed would still be practically as numerous as the sands of the seashore. But remember the grains of sand were only one half of the whole picture painted by God for his servant Abraham when the promises of the Abrahamic covenant were extended. The stars of the sky are the first and more numerous host that despite their staggering numbers and greatness in terms of glory, are still only able to compose half of the bargain, relying on the earthly grains of sand and other earthly elements, in order to complete the circuit.

The pre-stood power is not passed along man to man via the laying on of hands like some kind of worldly coronation or knighting. Whether benighted, or bedazzled, overtaken by darkness or blinded by the light, man finds himself swaying to and fro like a drunken man between these two supposedly separate states of being. He is told that he must choose one over the other and once neatly divided into opposing sides he goes from intimacy to infighting. As an answer to the alcoholic-like tendencies of man’s lust for control while not upsetting his classical victim-view of himself, man was taught not to leave his “Mother & Father” and cleave unto his divinely appointed help-meat of the physical body till becoming one purified, translated, resurrected, and perfected flesh, but rather to have and hold to another human being as a means of faking salvation and exaltation. If we look at the etymological roots of the terms “to have” and “to hold” we see that their literal meanings lay more along the same lines as “to plot” and “to sheme.”

scheme (n.)

1550s, “figure of speech,” from Medieval Latin schema “shape, figure, form, figure of speech,” from Greek skhema (genitive skhematos) “figure, appearance, the nature of a thing,” related to skhein “to get,” and ekhein “to have,” from PIE root *segh- “to hold, to hold in one’s power, to have” (cf. Sanskrit sahate “he masters,” sahah “power, victory;” Avestan hazah “power, victory;” Greek ekhein “to have, hold;” Gothic sigis, Old High German sigu, Old Norse sigr, Old English sige “victory”). The sense “program of action” first is attested 1640s. Unfavorable overtones (selfish, devious) began to creep in early 18c.

The feeling of jealousy lead to the devil-up-ment of the concept of ownership. That gave rise to the tradition of marriage, which in turn triggered the division of the Holy Family of God and the rise of secret combinations upon the earth. To repeat, Moses 5:3 says that the sons and daughters of Adam began to divide two and two in the land, and to till the land, and to tend flocks, and they also begat sons and daughters. And from that time forth, we have loved Satan more than God. We have been literally intrigued with one another, men and women, entangled in a web of intrigue that endeavors to split and to pit creation against creator and visa versa. Those spirits which insist on a “safe distance” between spirit bodies and physical bodies are idol/idle gods preferring to be served by others who they deem sub-creatures. They want very much to combine efforts in order to further their personal agendas, but no one of them is willing to take upon them tabernacles of clay and do their own work. Therefore, their idea of owning things and people is in vain. For only through love and the removal of boundaries can things or people be held together for time and all eternity.

As the Divine Plan rolls forward, two scrolls, those of Earth and Heaven are being rolled into One. All true lovers of liberty (or we could say liberated lovers) will come to the point where we must improve upon Patrick Henry’s exclamation of “Give me liberty or give me death!” We have had to overcome the level of hypocrisy that allowed a man to speak such brave sounding words in the presence of God, angels, and his fellow man yet justify such a cowardice contempt for God, angels, and his fellow man through the tradition of slavery. (Yes Patrick Henry, the man who said: “Is life so dear, or peace so sweet, as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery? Forbid it, Almighty God!” like many of the Founding Fathers, was a slave holder.) We will now need to claim our birthright as sovereign souls and make a declaration of independence from the many false gods, those of our brethren who choose to linger, or hide in their castles in the sky while their temples below remain un-filled and thus de-filed. Those who want to remain two-gether rather than coming together to-gather in Zion will be allowed to do so, but they will have to return to their own place, they may no longer live like vampires off of the labors and spiritual energy of others.

If any man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy; for the temple of God is holy, which temple ye are.

–          1 Corinthians 3:17

And what agreement has the temple of God with idols? for you are the temple of the living God; as God has said, “I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people.”

–          2 Corinthians 6:16

It is essential that the LDS people wake up to the conspiracy which keeps Zion at bay. The idea of the Holy Temples of the Lord has been defiled and corrupted within their psyches to represent a caste-system of castles in the sky casting the burden of building projects, entirely onto earthlings who are made to labor for a false zion, mixing a mortal mortar made of the gritty blood of martyrs who mar and sell their selves and their skilldren in the marketplace of Mammon that is the temple yard. LDS see “the temple” as the characters in sci-fi thriller Oblivion saw the Tet – a towering mission control station floating in space above them. Unbeknownst to them, they are being controlled by a non-human entity that rules from an off-planet safe-hold, using its brainwashed subjects to fight against Zion in husband and wife teams. The evil in high places has a great fear of the flourishing of Zion on the face of the earth, so it has hi-jacked certain humans memories. These poor souls are convinced that they were specially chosen for a great mission to save earth, when in reality their bodies have been commandeered and their minds co-opted into a scheme to suppress it. Constantly throughout the film, the duped couples stationed in their state of the art, futuristically furnished houses are asked in transmissions whether they feel they are “still an efficient team?” That is almost all that matters from their point of view because that is all that matters to their devilish liar of a leader.

While many these days prefer to ignore section 132 of the Doctrine & Covenants entirely given its awkward mention of plural marriage and other things not in keeping with the trends of the times, still the Nu-Mormons along with the old-school saints with more of a fundamentalist bent, all believe firmly in the sanctity of marriage. The sanctity afforded to the LDS fashioned perversion of matri-money is one that must be upheld through purely temporal means. This means that men stand guard at the gate to enforce sanctions against those who do not pay ten percent of their finances to the institution which currently controls the temples. And they literally swear that there is something special, and even eternal about their particular brand of ™pull marriage. Shareholders in this scheme are not getting what they were promised, for they neither share in temporal things nor hold anything in eternity. In many ways Section 132 reveals the fine print of the contract they enter into.

16 Therefore, when they are out of the world they neither marry nor are given in marriage; but are appointed angels in heaven, which angels are ministering servants, to minister for those who are worthy of a far more, and an exceeding, and an eternal weight of glory.

17 For these angels did not abide my law; therefore, they cannot be enlarged, but remain separately and singly, without exaltation, in their saved condition, to all eternity; and from henceforth are not gods, but are angels of God forever and ever.

LDS men and women are instructed in their temples in the true order of prayer. They link hands man to woman and woman to man in a symbolic circle. They pretend to an order that most will never attain. They blaspheme GOD when hearing from the prophet in their midst that “only the best of feelings should exist in the circle” they yet insist that the “best feelings” be reserved for only one other person, not even the person immediately to their left with whom they are told to take each other’s hand. Failing to link past with present, they have cut short their futures. They do not even consider past lives with past marriages a possibility, so future lives and future marriages are also out of the question for them. This is why Jesus calls us as well as those in Israel during his mortal ministry an adulterous generation. Reading on in D&C 132 we find the following contractual language:

22 For strait is the gate, and narrow the way that leadeth unto the exaltation and continuation of the lives, and few there be that find it, because ye receive me not in the world neither do ye know me.

23 But if ye receive me in the world, then shall ye know me, and shall receive your exaltation; that where I am ye shall be also.

24 This is eternal lives—to know the only wise and true God, and Jesus Christ, whom he hath sent. I am he. Receive ye, therefore, my law.

25 Broad is the gate, and wide the way that leadeth to the deaths; and many there are that go in thereat, because they receive me not, neither do they abide in my law.

Vanity has many a Mormon thinking that they will be ministered to in the afterlife by angels while they inherit their own planets to be populated solely by them and their significant other. Only the wise will realize that the planet inherited by the truly righteous is the earth. Mormon theology states plainly that this earth will regain its lost paradisiacal glory, and not only that, but it will continue to cycle around till it comes fully into its celestial glory. With so many Mormons clamoring to gain entrance into the Celestial Kingdom by way of some Golden Ticket available exclusively at participating retailers, for those who adorn their bodies in specially marked packages, it is easily forgotten that the Celestial Kingdom is this very planet we now inhabit in her future state. As we enter the Millennial reign of Christ it is the just who are resurrected. Just beings to not practice marriage after the manner of men as per the worldly traditions, they have all things in common among them. The just resurrected beings walking the earth as she ascends to the celestial glory are the gods to whom the souls of monogamists, polygamists, cheaters, wife-beaters, jealous lovers, and they who choose other various types of vanity, will be permitted to persist only as separately and singly appointed servant-spirits. These are the “angels in heaven” referenced by Jesus Christ, who neither marry nor are given in marriage in the resurrection.

Notice they are “in heaven” after having passed away. Remember that Jesus came to tell us that Heaven and Earth would both pass away. The two are to be folded together as a scroll at the last day. Those who do not wish to participate in the ultimate act of intimacy are allowed to fall back, and enjoy a certain degree of glory but they can not enjoy that which they were not willing to abide while in the world. They will be disembodied angels in heaven who are obliged to minister unto the gods. The gods are those souls who were worthy of a far more, and an exceeding, and an eternal weight of glory. They are those who married spirit with flesh. Love is the bonding agent that keeps us together individually and collectively. Anything less than love has no power to bind beyond this lone and dreary world.

“Two tattoos – one read: “No Apology,” the other said “Love is cursed by monogamy.” That’s somethin’ that the pastor don’t preach. That’s somethin’ that a teacher can’t teach. When we die, the money we can’t keep but we’ll probably spend it all, ‘cause the pain aint cheap. Preach!”

No Church In The Wild – Kanye West

The song of this world is a sad one. Fortunately mutual oppression in all its forms of matri-money have a beginning middle and end. They can not even extend over to telestial transaction but will be utterly dissolved in the end. You can’t take IT with you. I.T. is the “I-They” mentality that lies at the core of our luciferian world view. “Love has been in perpetual strife with monogamy” says Ellen Key, a Swedish writer. “A great poet has seldom sung of lawfully wedded happiness, but often of free and secret love; and in this respect, too, the time is coming when there will no longer be one standard of morality for poetry, and another for life.” The only reason that free and secret seem to go together when describing true love in this world is because the world is based on a secret combination and it hunts down any and all who will not comply to the rigid controls of the prince of this world, who Jesus said was Lucifer himself. Recently there appeared on Zomarah’s blog a post describing the newly revamped video presentation portion of the endowment ceremony performed in LDS owned and operated ™pulls world-wide. Zomarah recounts the tempting and seduction of Eve by the Lucifer character in the video:

“Next we saw Eve sitting down, her naughty lady bits covered in the latest “modest is hottest” woven baskets. Lucifer approached her from a distance. Slowly he snaked his way closer, tempting her. Then he knelt before her with his head bowed, offering the fruit to her as the only way to become like God. She paused and contemplated. She stood and looked towards the tree. You could see on her face that this was a difficult decision. Then, almost tearfully, she took the dried-ornamental-pepper-strawberry-tomato fruit and took a bite.”

Is it ironic, or telling that Lucifer should be seen to kneel down on one knee before Eve as if proposing marriage? As this War in Heaven continues to spread further and further into Earth Life, affecting everything and everyone in its path for the worse, the truth becomes clearer and clearer for those who are willing to see it. Of course what we see in the temple video is nothing more than acting, but then again that is what most of modern living, including institutionalized marriage is – acting. And Lucifer is the playwright. The famous Irish anarchist Oscar Wilde said that marriage was the triumph of imagination over intelligence. I would put it into Mormon theological terms and say that marriage is the temporal and temporary triumph of vain imagination over infinite intelligence. But humankind is even now awakening from the deep sleep and placing their faith in Christ as the way to redemption from the fall. Now, in the words of the great spiritual poet Rumi: “Don’t go back to sleep.”

The foolish virgins in the parable of the 10 Virgins not only let their oil run out, leaving them without light, but they also fall asleep. The indwelling of the spirit is the oil our lamps need to light the dark night. If and as one succeeds in achieving the first marriage between body and soul, then one has already conquered much of the fear standing between the individual life and the gathering of Zion on a large scale. Fears are overcome and the truly married man or woman stand ready to move forward when the late-night call goes out to come in unto the marriage feast. The “guest” ch’i and “host” ch’i have to be in constant communication for this to happen. The invitations go out internally not like an intra-office memo that workers of the world will receive. The invitation goes out energetically, but not electronically like an email to which one may RSVP. When you get it you know and are known. If you do not get it then that explains why the Bridegroom says: “Most certainly I tell you, I don’t know you.” Does the Lord send invitations to those who he does not know? Well I suppose that many are called, but few are chosen. I know that many have felt the call. Proponents and opponents alike of what is commonly called “plural marriage” both exhibit a lot of fear of it. One group tends to make up a lot of rules and regulations as to how it must look, who can do what, and exactly when, where, or how it may be done. In fear they hedge up the way for themselves and for others. Those who are opposed to the very idea of “plural marriages” forget that all marriage in this world, by very definition is “plural”. Their fear does not come from the idea of grouping two things into the same general space, they are fearful of what may happen when two things become one.

If the doorway to heaven suddenly appeared in front of you, what would you do? Would you be afraid of leaving something behind? Even knowing that you could have anything you desired in paradise, would you feel anxious about stepping through the door? I remember that as a very young boy my family visited the Christus statue at Temple Square in Salt Lake City. While we were ascending the spiral ramp that leads into the room where the statue is showcased, I was told that we were going to see Jesus. I noticed that the walls were covered in images of outer space. My child-like mind imagined that we were really ascending a sort of staircase to heaven and I grew very uneasy. I told my parents that I did not want to go to heaven yet, I wasn’t finished enjoying my life here. Jesus recognized and pointed out constantly that the Kingdom of Heaven is available in every moment, yet for most of us the intellect has the first say in the choice to step through that door, and it is full of irrational requirements. Who has planted these irrational thoughts in our heads? Jesus understands our hesitance when it comes to entering a new reality. What he does not tolerate however is the enemy stance that is taken by the teachers of religion who not only decide for themselves not to enter the Kingdom of Heaven just yet, but have the nerve to deny access to others.

For many it is the tyranny of those gatekeepers who present themselves as master teachers but are in fact master teasers which keeps us living in fear. The open combination of Heaven and Earth prophesied since ancient times has always plowed a long and lonely furrow through the secret combination which fills our world with blood and horror. A lot of fear surrounds the issue of non-monogamous relationships because we are afraid of tyranny. Ironically it is not that we really feel tyranny will rear its ugly head if we all loved each other more or allowed our hearts to do what they were created to do. No it’s that we are every second aware of the tyranny that hangs over us already, watching our every move. I have a friend who spends much of his time preaching against the Secret Combinations. He has seen, heard, and felt much. He tries to communicate with others and share his testimony everywhere he goes. He feels held back the restriction of freedoms in the U.S. and considers himself a true patriot and one who is awake to the tyranny in his homeland. He mistakenly thinks that he needs to convert others, and endlessly bemoans the fact that he has not found a group of believers with whom to live out the many righteous desires of his heart. He does not see that his patriotism comes from and comes out in the form of patronizing. The “knowledge” he dispenses to others is purely informational stuff gained from reading material and online videos. There is of course the personal experience which is uniquely his as he walks with Christ, but he can not seem to share this because he mistakenly assumes that everyone’s walk with their savior must resemble his own for anything to make sense. The further he goes down the “rabbit hole” as he says, the more afraid he is to break from tradition. The more he attracts able-bodied, and heartily committed friends to him, the more excuses he must place to maintain his meticulously studied sense of self. Even though he is in constant search of a real home, he assumes that he knows how a home should be structured. In a conversation with friends he said:

“Creating a persons life in all ways starts at home. That’s why emphasis is placed on the sanctity of marriage in almost all religions. In order for us all to climb Jacobs ladder to God we need to pull together first as families.”

I offered some correction in hopes that my brother would see brotherhood more clearly for what it is, and what it isn’t. I told him we all need to pull together first as FAMILY not families – plural, divided. “That will only get you more and more of what you have had – serial monogamy ending and starting again with divorce after divorce,” I said.  “You say that creating a person’s life in all ways starts at home. What begins at home is certainly sacred life, but it is meant to overthrow the Church & State, not to be the way things currently are where Church & State set the precedence for the home to keep the love and power of God from ever getting out of these little square-box-house-cages and spreading across the land.” I looked deeply into my friend’s hear through his eyes and said: “The world’s religions do not sanctify marriage, they monopolize it and desecrate it, making it into a mockery, and an affront to the God of Israel.” My brother still wants to talk about the Secret Combinations, more than ever before – about the Illuminati, gun rights, the Founding Fathers, off-gridding, strategic-location, sacred geometry, and deep doctrine….but my brother doesn’t want to talk with me as much anymore, at least not for now. Filibustering about the freedom of speech can put up a front of bravery. Even taking action can become a distraction. Where fear is, faith dwindles.

Fela Kuti was a famous activist and saxophonist who learned a lot in his lifetime about the link between false marriage traditions and the extreme corruption and oppression that his people put up with in his home country of Nigeria. “My people are scared of the air around them,” he sang. “They always have an excuse not to fight for freedom.” Many if not most of the biggest excuses people have to not fight for freedom surround the issue of ‘family’. Fela once said:

“The human spirit is stronger than any government or institution.”

And he proved it by example. His life parallels that of Joseph Smith in many ways. Both were men who were severely persecuted and accused of promiscuity. Fela was almost beaten to death while his 77-year-old mother was thrown out of an upstairs window. She died soon after. But this didn’t break Fela. After recovering from his injuries, he married 27 women in a single ceremony. The women were left jobless after government actions that resulted in the destruction and desertion of his compound, Kalakuta, similar to the withdrawal of the early saints from Kirtland. Fela himself would take care of his wives. But, the mass wedding was followed by a mass divorce 10 years later. He went on to establish a political party, continued to lambaste the authorities and suffered beatings and imprisonment. In 1979 he ran for presidency, but the military torpedoed his candidacy. Fela’s marital arrangements and sexual behavior continue to draw criticism to this day. And the same corrupt officials who oppressed the Nigerian people then are still in power today.

Why do we accuse others who live/love differently or more freely than ourselves, of having bad hearts? Psychoanalyst Wilhelm Reich studied the Holy Spirit from a scientific angle and called it Orgone. He said:

“It is necessary to raise a strong protest when those who determine their social behavior on the basis of inner laws instead of external compulsive codes are labeled immoral. A man and a woman are husband and wife not because they have received the sacrament, but because they feel themselves to be husband and wife. The inner and not the external law is the yardstick of genuine freedom.”

To say someone is distracted if they are in fact listening to their heart (the only place God will speak to you) is to declare more love for Satan than for God. When we make such allegations against our brothers and sisters, who are in fact seeking Zion, we are submitting to the tyrant. We are being adulterous by not sticking with God’s Son who said: “Freely thou hast been given, freely shalt thou give.” We say GOD is LOVE but we don’t believe in LOVE. We are not afraid that we might be disloyal by acting in righteousness on god-given desires. We are simply afraid to admit that we are being disloyal to God and have been for GENE-RATION after adulterous GENE-RATION. Our spirits are not under the same limitations that our bodies are. Our spirits are the grown-ups in this situation, and it is about time that they started to act like adults in terms of maturity. We should be exercising our spirit bodies in faith to exercise from our souls every trace of fear and selfishness. We can no longer put the blame upon the body of flesh. These physical bodies we have been blessed with are our children, and must be treated as such, or there will literally be hell to pay for our souls. Joseph Smith told us that:

“All things whatsoever God in his infinite wisdom has seen fit and proper to reveal to us, while we are dwelling in mortality, in regard to our mortal bodies, are revealed to us in the abstract, and independent of affinity of this mortal tabernacle, but are revealed to our spirits precisely as though we had no bodies at all.”

It is time to raise our children in light and truth. It is time to receive of the fullness, and experience true marriage. Now is the time to lay aside false traditions and realign ourselves with the Family of God, or else remain as the natural man – an enemy to God. I pray that it become clear to all my brothers and sisters that we must defeat the Secret Combination by reverting it to the original and beautiful open combination that was presented to us as the Eternal Plan of Happiness in the beginning. God will show us each how to achieve Zion within and without. We need only be brave enough to act on the promptings of the Holy Spirit instead of giving into the false traditions of our fathers.

THE DEVIL IN THE DUST


ARMIES & NAVIES

Should members of modern society follow the example of the Anti-Nehpi-Lehies, and if so, how?  Does it require gun owners to give up those guns or even increasingly tighter government control of guns and by extension their owners and the general populace? Are weapons used rarely and only for purposes of protection able to be correctly termed “weapons of war” or is this only a gross error and ploy being pushed in the media today? For any unfamiliar with the Book of Mormon story, let me clarify that the word ‘Anti’ in this context does not mean against. It refers to the Reformed Egyptian reflex of an ancient Khemetian (Egyptian) word ‘N-T-Y’ which is used grammatically to connect a relative clause to an undetermined antecedent. It would translate as “One With”, “One Of” or “One who” depending on the relative clause which followed. Note that they did not take on the name Anti-Laman-Ishmael-Jacob-Zoram-Nehphi-Lehies, aligning themselves as a friend to all the various groups and subgroups of the area. So after but not in consequence of their conversion, they essentially took sides in a war. The story of the Anti-Nephi-Lehies or at least the people who later choose to be designated by that title is presented in a deeply moving way. What did they do first? Well, they were converted in their hearts and mightily at that. Okay so assuming one or even a group of individuals among us today have experienced a similarly mighty change of heart. What would the naturally ensuing fruits be which would identify them as truly repentant?

The converted Lamanites buried their weapons of war. How can you and I do that? Do you or I have access to the literal weapons of war? If the answer is no, does this mean we don’t have anything to do as an outward token of our repentance? Even the Anti-Nephi-Lehies, as they later came to be called, were protected by a standing army of large in stature Nephites a standing army sometimes supplemented by their own stripling sons. How convenient! Don’t you just love modern sin systems? I guess we were never personally guilty in the first place, eh? Wow, how wonderful. So basically I can shed a tear over the dead children in the so-called Middle East and other parts of Africa and Asia and I’m good? I like that. Surely God will understand when I continue, business as usual, with my way of “life” which is not a lifestyle at all but rather a deathstyle, but HEY, what can I do about that? I take the sacrament every Sunday. Along with my fellow ‘Drunkards of Ephraim’ First we eat (Wonderbread) then we drink (Tapwater) and next we are “merry” (mingling in the foyer), for tomorrow, we die (physically that is, since we have already died as to things of the spirit today, Sunday, our Holy Day of worship/warship). We engage in these ongoing “dead works” so that we may take up the weapons of war and oppression again and again -That we may always have “the poor” to be with us. Amen!

But are our hands truly clean? If so, great! If not….how does one truly rid his or her garments of the Latter-Day Stains from the blood of this generation? It turns out it is not that complicated. We determine what has been our role in the sins of our day, which is more often than not a simple carrying on of false traditions of our fathers, and we STOP DOING IT. Oh but the momentum created by our time-honored sin cycles is too great. Surely JESUS, the PEACE-maker would not expect us to do something so simple yet drastic as withdrawing financial support from monetized murder. He said “render unto Caesar” didn’t He? So that’s what I’m doing.

Take a look at the coin that Jesus referred to when they tried to corner him on this “tax issue”. If it was indeed the Denaruis of Tiberius, as many scholars have suggested, then there are a couple details that are very noteworthy. On one side there was a picture of Caesar with an inscription that claimed Caesar was divine. On the other was the image of a female depiction of Pax (Peace). So I guess we CAN promote peace by paying taxes. Sure we can, for as the great Roman lawyer and historian, Publius Tacitus quotes his father-in-law as having said: “They rob, kill, plunder and usurp under false titles. They call it empire. They make a desolation and they call it peace.” Yep, that’s Pax Romana for ya. That is American foreign and domestic policy. In the modern-day version of the Roman Empire, and the latter-day version of the Holy Roman Church, we have a son-and-father, attorneys-at-law duo (Josh and Ron Madsen) who speak out against the same evils as they see them taking place currently. But they are bold in speech only. They, like their ancient Roman counterparts, fail the age-old Chinese test for insanity. Though they see the picture clearly – that of a stream of water flowing into a pool – when asked how they would set about draining the pool, they do not include cutting off the current/currency streaming into it. Thus, according to ancient Chinese wisdom, they can be judged to be insane. I ask again: Can we promote peace while still paying taxes? Sure – Peace “as the world giveth”. But Jesus was not interested in the Nobel Peace Prize, nor any other type of Medal or Metal. Whether the Tribute Penny was the Denarius of Tiberius, the Antiochan Tetradrachm, the Denarius of Augustus or any other of the various possible coinage which was used as a visual aide by the Master Teacher in his example…The most important detail to consider, so obvious it might be overlooked, is the material of which this coin was made. SILVER or if we are to read the Gospel of Thomas then the coin in question is described as being of GOLD. Either way, those of us who have been offered the light of truth more clearly than any people since the post-resurrection Nephites ought to see a connection appearing in crisp clarity before our eyes.

But make no mistake about it, what we have been offered and what we have received are two very different things, and so the plain and precious things that Jesus said unto the Nephites in person remain mostly unwritten, and this for a reason -damage control. We have already condemned ourselves sufficiently. If and as the fullness of the Gospel as taught to the mixture of Nehpites and Lamanites commonly referred to as ‘The Nephites’ during Christ’s visit to what is now known as the Americas, is revealed as prophesied, by “men inspired of Heaven” it will only serve the purpose of condemning more fully the majority of gentiles who choose to reject the fullness, vainly pretending to already possess it. Kind of hard to prove possession based upon written records alone anyway, since it has to be written on our HEARTS for us to be “found possessed of it in the last day” (in which case we are numbered among the remnant and it will be well with us) but it’s even harder to prove when our own Book of Mormon is so undeniably, blatantly, purposefully, and stoically silent as to the juicy details of what Jesus spoke unto the multitude that instructed them on how to live PEACEFULLY. They were specifically commanded not to write them. And they happen to mention that GREATER THINGS STILL were spoken to them by the mouth of the babes. Will records containing specifics on how to build a Zion be “brought forth” to us? The real questions are:  Have they already? Are they out there or in here? And most importantly when we come across them what do we do, accept or reject? I guess that is why Jesus, in speaking to the ancient inhabitants of “this land” about us in “this time” called it the strange work or act of The Father.

DUST DEVILS

This is the strange act of the same Father who stood not in conflict but in conversation with Lucifer. Notice even in the super-sacred-secret, copyrighted, intellectual property of the Corporation of the President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (Corporation Sole) video production of the Temple Drama, how cool and collect Elohim is in his correspondence with Lucifer. Lucifer ap-PARENT-ly sees his own PARENT as an enemy. But, God The Father appears to not be distressed in the slightest. Lucifer says “If you do that then I’ll do this!”  God responds with a “Works for me” tone. Everything and everyone, including, yes, The Devil, works for Elohim. God is ALL knowing. God is ALL powerful. God is ALL there is. Beside (Elo)Him, there is no one. At least that is what a scribe once said to Jesus. “And when Jesus saw that he answered discreetly, he said unto him, Thou art not far from the kingdom of God. And no man after that durst ask him any question.” (Mark 12:34) It is discrete because the Truth that was known by Jesus and that scribe was communicated between them and for all the world to discover but between the lines. There is a photograph of the Honorable Elijah Mohammed founder of the Islamic Restoration Movement in Latter-Day America. The photo was taken in the early 60s and also features the famous boxer Ali Mohammed and activist Malcolm X. The photographer was obviously more concerned with capturing the image of these three iconic figures in one shot but to me the slightly blurry background holds more interest. There was a sign posted at this speaking engagement which read “There Is No God But Allah.” But in this image the sign, not being the focal point, was cut off by an audience member’s head. So it contained an interesting message for those with “eyes to see”. THERE IS NO GOD BUT ALL. God is THE Creator and as such is in everyone and everything.

no god but all
So if God is almighty then who is this guy Lucifer who considers himself an opponent of God. And who are we to side with him. It most certainly seems that Lucifer delivered on his threats. And if we are honest we will admit that we have all fallen into this plot in one way or another. But HOW is his scheme working on us? Remember it all ends up working for GOD working for GOOD. So who is this guy anyhow? I thought he rebelled and lost his first estate so what kind of state is he in to be talking to The Father like that? Abraham 3:28 says that Lucifer was “angry, and kept not his first estate; and, at that day, many followed after him.” It is helpful to think of this word ‘estate’ in terms of states of matter (gas, liquid, solid). That ‘First Estate’ was a SPIRIT BODY. Joseph Smith explains that Spirit is Matter, only more refined. So it stands that the matter we call flesh is spirit, just less refined, fallen. The ancient gospel tradition which has managed to survive through the Lamanites, if nothing else can teach us that EVERYTHING has spirit. And this alone is a mighty important thing to know and live by. The Lord tells us this in the D&C as well, just in case we are wont to ignore His voice speaking through the Lamanites, like the Nephites dismissed Samuel – Just in case we are tempted to disregard the collective voice of the Book of Mormon prophets speaking to us “from the DUST.” The dust too has spirit and is in fact what composes our FLESH. Now we find Lucifer, cursed worse than all the beasts of the field, or we could say made lower than all the forms manifesting on the universal grid of existence. The serpent is representative of a low frequency wave form as it goes along, upon its belly, eating DUST.

Dust is about the worst form of existence for infinite intelligence to inhabit, at least when viewed from the mentality of being stuck. Certainly one who subscribes to scientific materialism or the idea that only visible matter really matters, does not feel that he may meet the measure of a man from within this very “particular” state of affairs. Dust particles do not rank high in terms of visibility. In order to get noticed they must make mortals sneeze. But the sneeze itself and the almost automatic “Blessing” which follows it in most cultures, ensures a strong defense and immunity to the wiles of any would-be trouble makers at this level of life. From this limited view-point, a soul is molested by monstrous mites as one mourns what might have been, like Dicken’s chain laden “Ghost of Jacob Marley”. But this would be especially true of any soul who retains memory of former glory. Even sand is a step up from the perspective of one who is fallen in the dust. Sand grains, although small and shifty, array themselves in splendid spreads reminiscent of the stars in the Milky Way. Both noble gases and gritty glasses nobly represent parts of the great, innumerable Seed of Abraham. But dust, dust is loose, lowly and lonely.

Despite this demotion the Devil still strives to be worshipped. If there is anything we can say to advocate the adversary, it is that he at least seems to understand the idea of “dusting” yourself off and trying again. His methods are desperate and futile. However there is a Redemptive Plan put into motion simultaneously with The Fall. So we find him saying “If you do this to me” and delivering his infamous threats which we have already seen him make “good” on. But take a close look at the logical order this back n’ forth between Elohim and Satan follows. The Devil says: “I will take the spirit(s) that follow(s) me and [they shall] possess the bodies thou createst for Adam and Eve.” Elsewhere in the dialogue Elohim Himself verifies that those bodies are made of the dust of the earth, to which realm the rebellious one was previously cast. So how does Satan eventually succeed in getting the sons and daughters of Adam and Eve to love him more than God as we read in Moses 5:13? It is the old natural man trick. It is important to understand that the “Natural Man” that Alma speaks of in Alma 42:10 is “carnal” so were speaking of the flesh which brings us back to dust (literally).

ENMITY – EYBAH & EYAH

Continuing with the dialogue between Elohim and Lucifer in the LDS Endowment Ceremony, we see that after Lucifer’s threat to possess the bodies created for Adam and Eve, Elohim counters by placing “enmity” between Lucifer and the woman; between his seed and her seed. The Hebrew word translated in the Bible as “enmity” is “eybah” (pronounced ay-bawh). An LDS seminary teacher in Montana made the honest mistake of confusing the word “eybah” with “eyah” – a Hebrew word which translates as “I am”. I am grateful for the seminary teacher’s error, because it gives us deep truth to ponder when considering God’s strategic placement of enmity between daughter and devil.

‘Eyah’ is in fact the word that GOD speaks to Moses when He utters the famous “Eyah aser Eyah” – “I AM that I AM.” But when we use the phrase “I am” we typically mean something very different. Man’s individualistic use of these words speaks as well to the feeling one has for another who he considers his or her enemy. Enmity is the “firewall” which we put up against everything and everyone who we consider to be “other” as we fall further from our Heavenly Home and child-like natures, typically within the first few months of mortal life when self-cognizance kicks in and we begin disassociating ourselves from so much. When the effects of this fall first start to set in, a baby will often cry intensely when the mother or father leaves the room whereas before this time they barely noticed any difference, feeling his or her ‘self’ in every way a part of the parents. Once we go from feeling a part of to feeling apart from our Heavenly Parents then all Hell can break lose in our minds during even the shortest temporary absence of one or both of The Parents. This is evident from the drama that develops when Father exits with a promise to return momentarily and Up Jumps the Devil.

We all learn that “I AM” myself and “YOU ARE” yourself. “This” is “MY body” and “That” is “my environment” We view this as a normal healthy development, however, Jesus tells us: “This is my body which is given for you”. We hear Jesus saying we have to become as little children if we want to inherit the Kingdom of Heaven. So just how close to Heaven do we want to get? In Ephesians 2:14-15, Jesus is spoken of as the one “who made both groups into one, and broke down the barrier of the dividing wall, by abolishing in His flesh the enmity, which is the Law of commandments contained in ordinances, that in Himself He might make the two into one new man, thus establishing peace.” Eventually the baby grows accustomed to the ‘difference‘ and as he advances into adulthood he is actually digressing towards ‘indifference‘; thus the need for rebirth and being made new in Christ. We seem to be caught in a silly tug-o-war that reduces warriors to worriers. Either we are worrying excessively over what to eat, what to wear, what others think of us or we are justifying a selfish expansion of what we see as our personal empire; rolling over people and consuming things in our lust for power. This all equates to nothing more than a faulty view of our surroundings. Any power we think we gain while in acting on these hallucinations is nothing more than a hopeless attempt to compensate for a lack of spiritual power. It is the Spirit that suffers the most from a near total diversion of our attention to all things physical. Speaking on Scientific Materialism, Quantum Activist Amit Goswami has said:

“This is a very exclusive world view because it excludes all the other things that we experience like mind, vital energies, feelings, intuition, and only holds on to that one thing, sensory experience, matter. So this, of course, creates a denigration, denigration of values, denigration of meaning. Because it is mind that gives meaning and the supramental that gives us values. If you ignore those compartments of experience, obviously it will become oriented towards separateness. In this view we are separate beings. We are just the physical body. The more we come to believe in scientific materialism, the more we give up values like love, beauty, justice, truth and goodness.”

The Prophet’s journal for November 6, 1835, records:

“I was this morning introduced to a man from the east. After hearing my name, he remarked that I was nothing but a man, indicating by this expression, that he had supposed that a person to whom the Lord should see fit to reveal His will, must be something more than a man. He seemed to have forgotten the saying that fell from the lips of St. James, that [Elijah] was a man subject to like passions as we are, yet he had such power with God, that He, in answer to his prayers, shut the heavens that they gave no rain for the space of three years and six months; and again, in answer to his prayer, the heavens gave forth rain, and the earth gave forth fruit [see James 5:17–18]. Indeed, such is the darkness and ignorance of this generation, that they look upon it as incredible that a man should have any [dealings] with his Maker.”

What is the subtle but essential difference between “Eyah” and “Eybah” that prevent us from having any dealings with our Maker? What is it that makes it so easy for us to slip from an all inclusive spiritual view to a physical focus that turns our back on God and pits us against our own flesh and blood, literally; starting with our own bodies and spreading like an infection to our brothers and sisters?

Hebrew is a language layered with meaning starting with each of the 22 letters of the alphabet. Breaking down the two words and analyze the meaning letter by letter we get:

EYAH =  ע – to arc י – to manifest א – to begin ח – to define
EYBAH =  ע – to arc י – to manifest ב – *amid* א – to begin ח  – to define

Obviously they are practically identical in phonetics and this equates to very similar embedded meanings. But there is one difference inserted smack dab in the middle, halving the Great‘I AM’ as it were; dividing Man and Maker in a duel of duality. The marker between the two halves is fittingly represented by the Hebrew letter ב (pronounced beyt) an ancient pictogram representing the concept of inside/outside. If we end where our skin begins then why is so little of our daily attention focused inwardly. Are we really that disinterested in our inner selves? And if the truth of the matter which Jesus tried to share with us, shows us that we do not end where our skin begins but extend well beyond connected with other life forms around us through the Holy Spirit; why the animosity towards our outer selves? Are we afraid of a little dirt? Do we feel threatened by the elements? We’re all just earth, air, water and fire after all.

“I have intended my remarks for all, both rich and poor, bond and free, great and small. I have no enmity against any man. I love you all” – Joseph Smith Jr.

GOLD & SILVER – PRECIOUS METALS vs. PREC[AR]IOUS METALS

What is Old Lucifer going to do now? He announces menacingly: “with that enmity I will take the treasures of the earth, and with gold and silver I will buy up armies and navies, false priests who oppress and tyrants who destroy, and reign with blood and horror on the earth!” But can we trace the current state of violence in the world to trace metals? Metals are no more responsible for the violence in this world than are the weapons forged with them. Things are things, they are neutral. It is the intentions of man which direct power to or through these things. This is why God’s teaching should clarify “things” for us. Seek – ye – first – the kingdom of God – and all these things – shall be – added unto you. It is not then the metals but the concept behind medals of honor which is capable of pulling men’s honor away from the kingdom of God, which resides inside them and attaching it to external things.This is why soldiers are given medals made of shiny metals for their commendable (command-able) performance, their bloody human sacrifice. Demons are all so easily commanded. What is more limited to following commands generated from outside influence than a computer? As we enjoy our man made machines. Daemons are downloaded and they too enjoy seeing man made machine. To overcome artificial intelligence, we need only act from our eternal intelligence. The time is coming when we will need to call upon our eternal intelligence and rescue those who have watched too many terminator movies from perishing in fear while real-life robo-cops patrol the street apprehending people; persecuting and prosecuting the saints for thought crimes. For, the Devil’s end-game is not in this threat to “take the treasures of the earth and with gold and silver buy up armies and navies”. It’s not in his “false priests who oppress”, nor his “tyrants who destroy, and reign with blood and horror”. The precious metals, the blood, they’re all just cogs in his trance-humanist scheme to do what he threatened at the outset-To thoroughly possess the bodies created for Adam and Eve.

Here we have the whole plan of the Evil One laid bare before us. There is no justification for being bought off. Even with all the riches in the world, we could not afford to ignore our divine calling. Gold and silver were Lucifer’s elements of choice due to their special Solar and Lunar qualities. They are elemental representations of the Universal Pre-Stood Power’s Masculine and Feminine aspects, respectively. If he did not first trick mankind into externalizing the innate powers inherited through the spiritual genes from a Heavenly Father and Mother, the Trickster would not have got very far. Blood was another necessary element to Lucifer’s design. Islamic lore maintains that trace levels of demonic blood flow through the veins of all the races of the human family. Mormon theology asserts that blood is not a component of resurrected and perfected bodies. This “lone and dreary world” where man sojourns and Lucifer is Lord is aptly titled. The descriptive word “dreary” comes from the Old English dreorig meaning “bloody, blood-stained” from dreor “gore, blood”. The blood of the saints cries out to the Lord from the dust. Blood and dust seem to share a mysterious relationship throughout scripture.

“What profit is there in my blood, when I go down to the pit? Shall the dust praise thee? shall it declare thy truth?” – Psalms 30:9

Well we certainly see the profit for the leaders of this misled world when they spill the blood of innocents in their endless wars. But is it possible that there is another side to the story that we do not see. Does the blood of Christ cleanse, condemn or both? Is the Dust of the Earth redeemable? We had better hope it is.

“And they had viewed themselves in their own carnal state, even less than the dust of the earth. And they all cried aloud with one voice, saying: O have mercy, and apply the atoning blood of Christ that we may receive forgiveness of our sins, and our hearts may be purified; for we believe in Jesus Christ, the Son of God, who created heaven and earth, and all things; who shall come down among the children of men.” – Mosiah 4:2

SPIRITUAL GIFT GIVING AND RECEIVING


Preface –

I have taken the liberty of writing on such a sacred topic but doing it in the typical banal style and cheesy tone of today’s consumer culture. I do not do this to make light of very real and very sincere things. But by the juxtaposition of something so heartfelt with something so mindless, I hope to bribe and trick our selfish minds into passing along a meaningful message to our imprisoned hearts. Enjoy!

THE IMPORTANCE OF BEINGS – EARNEST LIVING

What to wear? Where to go?  Who to be with?  Life is full of so many questions. Sometimes it’s hard to know how to make the best impression. One thing is for sure, we should place the most importance on people. “People, places and things,” we will remember from back in our school days, are all nouns. But only people and places are pronouns. So, if we want to be a pro at things, we should literally and figuratively CAPITALIZE on people and place.

“Without People You’re Nothing.”- Joe Strummer

People and place work together to produce things. So when you see something you want, know that it will take a combination of people and place to get it. Everybody wants to be hip to the latest and greatest, so keep your eye on everyone. Everybody is the same, but every body is different. Everyone wants to feel accepted but we also want to stand out in the crowd. This shared desire to get our share is a common bond between all of us. Unfortunately it is commonplace to see people get all bound up with things. These days, charity and giving are all too uncommon. People are trying to take it with them like Tut-ankh-amen. But that’s what happens when you get wrapped up in it like ancient mummies. Chasing money is not where it’s at. Keep your eye on the people! That’s where it all starts. So don’t just look at the cool clothes that come and go. Look at the people wearing and look at the people who are making those clothes. Get the big picture. Otherwise, in your attempts to be noticed as an individual you will end up being just another indy-visual.

Looking at only the clothes we will miss the bodies. And if we’re attracted only to the bodies then we will be distracted from the beings  which inhabit those bodies. The beings out there are in reality the only ones with anything to offer us. Refusing to look at the being because you’re hung up on the behavior; sells others and yourself short. Besides, when it comes to behavior, all you can do is be-have yourself. When you look past another’s behavior you will find what you’re looking for. Seeing beings — always a good look!

Earnest living or living honestly is not the same as making an “Earnist Living.” Are you an Earnist? Do you like to pay or overpay for things to let other people know or think that you spend and have a lot of money? Maybe you don’t even care what other people think but you feel like you’re getting a better product if you always pay the maximum marked up price. Perhaps you’ve seen someone who had something and got caught in the thought that they didn’t deserve it. If your main focus is on money and markets, you are probably an Earnist. When you’re too busy earning a living you are not learning from living. Existence has its own type of economics.

GENIUS / GENIE – US

In the economy of existence there are two camps  – Flesh/Corporeal and Spirit/Ethereal. But unlike Capitalism/Corporatism vs. Socialism/Communism, which work together to create chaos; the dual nature of existence promotes order.

Spirit is thankfully not confined to the same laws as the flesh is. That’s what makes it possible for God to send or leave a “portion of that spirit” to dwell in us. (Alma 18:35) The LDS sacrament prayer for the water/wine/spirits is almost identical to that which is uttered over the bread/bodies, except that any mention of commandments or obedience to them is conspicuously absent. In high-school, you might have learned a little bit about physics but you probably weren’t taught anything about metaphysics. But don’t worry. You don’t have to be an expert to understand it. In fact, a lot of so called experts don’t get it. It’s not about trying to be a genius. Just know what genius is.

Genius is a genie in us. Solomon the Wise, who knows a thing or two about working with Djinn (Genies) says: “With all thy getting, get understanding.” (Proverbs 4:7) This is the best thing you can get or give this season or any season for that matter. You want exclusive? You can’t get this gadget from The Apple Store. Technically, it’s available to anyone but so few posses it. And it’s the perfect gift for the man who thinks he has everything. It will appeal to your desire to fit in with others and your urge for uniqueness. It is the ultimate networking tool. And the settings can be completely personalized. It’s more than just the latest technology from Silicon Valley. It is the spirit of Silicon Valley and the soul of the Indus Valley, where Steve Jobs went to get his original inspiration. Trace the products (things) that inspire you, back to the places and people that came together to man-u-facture them. That way you will secure a life-time supply of treasures.

By now you’re probably wondering how you can take advantage of this incredible offer. I’ll tell you. But first you need to understand something about daemons. Despite what the Big Three companies advertise in their desperate, orthodox scams, designed to keep you in lifetime customer relationships which favor the middle man and preach that the customer is never right (unless of course he does what he’s told) – Dæmons are benevolent forces – not so much devine beings but rather a non-personified, peculiar mode of their activity. They can also assume the form of guardian beings who dispense “riches” among mortals. If you order any of the Gifts of The Spirit from God’s catalog of free goodies, it is one of these guys who will deliver it. So if you’re tired of paying up to 10% charges for your current church service, then you are ready for a direct relationship with God, and ready for what I’m going to tell you.

Rub that magic lamp. Everybody has an old lamp (pineal gland), stashed away in their attic (head), just collecting dust. Don’t be fooled by those merchants that advertise “new lamps for old.” They run commercials to try to con the general public into turning in their magic lamps for shiny gimmicks. Your old lamp will work just fine. It only needs to be cleaned up a bit. Don’t be a Foolish or Fuel-less Virgin. Rub it, decalcify it and then make sure to put oil in it! Wise virgins use E.V.O. (Extra Virgin Olive Oil), Skate Liver Oil, Cod Liver Oil. Any of these will have your light “so shining,” that men and women who see you will consider you a distributor of God’s Gifts to the world. Don’t be bashful. Let it shine, let it shine, let it shine!

Warning –We’re talking about unlocking and releasing your god potential, so you need to be fully prepared and even expect that people will one day form cults around your name. Hopefully they will eventually look past the persona and catch the vision themselves. Certainly your closest friends will. Then multi-level miracle campaigns will spring up everywhere you go. But even in the humble initial stages of your accumulation and distribution of gifts, you have to be comfortable with being emulated. When we magnificently magnify our callings in life we do not feel threatened in the slightest by copiers or even freeloaders. We respect them as equals and care for them as we would a newborn baby, who cries and eats and does not contribute in the same ways an adult would but is no less valuable in our sight.

TURN SHOPPING LISTS INTO SWAPPING LISTS SHARING WITH THE STARS

Some of the best, shining examples we have available to us are the celebrities or stars of our day. Many of them put it all out there into the Universe. Yeah, sure they may have their faults, but don’t we all? Remember what we said about getting self-righteously stuck on critiquing others’ behavior. Look past those character flaws to the essence. It might be helpful to make a list of attributes you bring to the table and combine it with a list of characteristics you admire in a particular singer, actor or even historical figure. They can be dead or alive, male or female. If you can establish any type of strong mental/emotional link to that person, you can merge and make it work. Jesus Christ, the biggest Super Star of them all understood this very well. As Lord Jesus Krishna, He left us with an ancient Indian text called the Bhagavata Purana, that catalogs many of the toys available to children of the Most High. He dipped into the magic sack of good gifts often to make use of such cool tricks as anūrmi-mattvam: Being undisturbed by hunger, thirst, and other bodily disturbances, and sva-chanda mṛtyuh: Dying when one desires. He showed that He possessed these two particular powers when He said, “Man shall not live by bread alone,” (Luke 4:4) and when He spoke the words, “No man taketh it from me, but I lay it down of myself.”(John10:18)

George Bernard Shaw said:

“If you have an apple and I have an apple and we exchange these apples then you and I will still each have one apple. But if you have an idea and I have an idea and we exchange these ideas, then each of us will have two ideas.”

Ideas can be so much more than the metaphorical light bulb or flash of inspiration. Spirit is made of consolidated ideas. Letting ourselves be inspired by our fellow man is the self same act as letting our light shine. You literally have nothing to lose and everything to gain.

There’s a famous song by Earth, Wind & Fire that says: “You’re a shining star – no matter who you are – shining bright to see – what you can truly be.” Musicians are magicians and I always wondered why EWF, omitted the magical element of Water from their band name. But if we think of this Aquarian Age outfit’s masterful music as the water that they bear to the world, we can learn much about the way this spiritual gift giving and receiving works.

F*I*L*E  SHARING  IS  L*I*F*E  SHARING

Osmosis is: The tendency of a fluid, usually water, to pass through a semipermeable membrane into a solution where the solvent concentration is higher, thus equalizing the concentrations of materials on either side of the membrane – A subtle or gradual absorption or mingling. When you get that pineal cone secreting, what you’re doing is properly consecrating. Once your lamp is lubed up and consecrated, then your efforts will be concentrated more equally among both camps of the Economics of Existence – Spiritual and Physical. Genius is also known as the activating spirit. It is downloadable and dilutable. In the mundane market of mammon, non-dilutable shares are preferred. But in the mundus spiritus, the more diluted, the more desirable. To get the ball rolling with that activating spirit, it can’t remain still. It needs to be dis-stilled. The idea is, that disturbance of the vital force concentrates the spirit-like, essence of any substance, situation or abstract idea. Osmosis is the wave of the future. Concepts like College Courses and Social Security are so passé. Why spend thousands of dollars and hours on something which will never give you an immediate return and in many cases will never pay out as much as you put into it? But even though Osmosis is being applied in exciting, cutting edge ways today; it is by no means a new science.

Moses, one of history’s most famous self-made men, employed the art in some very impressive dæmon-strations. ‘Moses’ means ‘Son of’ in ancient Khemetian and can be seen in names like Ramses (Son of Ra) and Thutmose (Son of Tut). Are we expected to believe that the single most important role of the Old Testament is played by a guy  named simply “Son of”? How is it that he has only half a name? This child of destiny who was passed back and forth from the king’s court to a people in poverty, similarly to Nathan Jr. in the Cohen Bros. classic, Raising Arizona, should we call him Nothing Jr.? Or is it more likely that the Judeo-Christian re-writers of history purposely masked the man’s moniker in mystery, to demon-ize the real power by which such amazing miracles were performed? We’re told that Pharaoh’s daughter named him Moses because she “drew him from the water.” The Nile was thought of as the backbone of Ausr, who the Greeks called Osiris. Might then Moses’ real name be Ausrmoses or Os-moses?

On this side of the impregnable veil between worlds we may find materials lacking but on the other side there is abundance. Going from lack to luck? The secret is in ‘U’. Let’s say you need a new house. You may not be able to pull a house out of your magic hat (pineal gland), but you can pull out the idea of a new house from that region. And that will pull the desired house and yourself into the same space. Here’s how to order: Fill out the thought form with as much information as you can without worrying about every last detail. All requests should be like a woman’s skirt – long enough to cover everything but short enough to keep it interesting. If you like, you may include images, audio/video files, text, whatever. Simply attach them with the thought form and “submit.” (James 4:7) It is not necessary to address them to any particular department but if you know the name of someone who works on the other side and feel to bring the matter to their attention for a faster response time, then please, feel free to do so.

If you follow these general guidelines and let spirit flow, you should receive what you ask for. If your genie brings curses instead of blessings then the problem is with the application process. Remember, you should be maintaining a lovely feeling of the “I” and the “We” together. When the moon hits your I ‘Am’ coinciding with what We ‘Are’ – that’s Amare (to love).  Unless you are asking from that in-between place of Am-Are then you are asking Am-Is (amiss). (James 4:3) Do you sometimes have difficulty shaking that “me vs. the world” mentality? Do you feel like you’ve been souled a lie? Just calm down, play some soulful aRe&Be one -with everyone… One with everything he or she wants and needs!

You will start to develop, by osmosis, the 7 Habits of Highly Effective People. According to followers of the Coven of Covey, these fit into 3 imperatives which start with Independenceor Self-Mastery, progressing to Interdependenceor Unity with Others, and finally looping back around to Self Renewal. This corresponds very well with our universal desire to experience simultaneously the synergy of the group and the power of the individual. Whether the 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, the 5 Siddhis of Yoga and Meditation, the 8 Siddhis of Hinduism or the Christian Gifts of the Spirit with their 2 complimentary groups of 7 each combining for a grand total of 14 – the point is not to get stuck in this ideology or that tradition but to “covet earnestly the best gifts.” Hey I thought we weren’t supposed to covet. I’m telling you, this is the “more excellent way” (1 Cor.12:31) of the new æon of Ma’at. The trends are all moving toward a balance between collectivism and individuality.

If you haven’t done it yet, don’t get left behind, get updated, and upgraded in heart and mind. If you’re like most of us, you have been a member of one of the many file-sharing communities that are buckling and breaking up, under the pressure of the State. You feel the life-sharing that you crave starting to cave under ever tighter controls. Don’t fret and definitely do not delay. Link into the saving network of our common spiritual lineage now. At this point the institution is working endlessly to keep a FILE on you+your kindred dead but is itself, almost entirely devoid of LIFE. When we see such a dire dearth of the Spiritual Gifts in The Church, it’s like watching a poisoned puppy die a slow painful death. That poor DOG is in need of men who heed GOD and can, with love, fulfill the wise purposes of the Generator Operator Destroyer of Heaven and Earth.

DON’T BE ASHAMED – KEEP IT MOVING WITH NEW ASHE!

It is impossible or at least silly to speak of the Spiritual Gifts without talking about that which keeps all the Gifts in circulation.

Ashé! is the power to make things happen, the spiritual life force. Ashé! takes the foundational energy of the other world and ((BAM)) makes it available in this world. But wait, that’s not all! Ashé!’s versatile nature also makes it possible to effect change in the realms beyond from the comfort of your own home.

Are you tired of the same old religious routine? So many churches claim to be true and living but they’re all rigor and no vigor. Stop settling for rigormortis! Get out of that annoying contract with Death & Hell and get into Ashé! Or should we say let Ashé! get into you. Ashé! provides an amazing body/mind workout. Just listen to this satisfied practitioner….

“I do a lot of traveling, from Jerusalem to Thessalonica, from Corinth to Rome. I’m always on the road. I take Ashé! with me wherever I go. Since I started using Ashé! back in Damascus, I’ve felt this deep connection both to the Greeks, and to the Barbarians; both to the wise, and to the unwise. I make connections between Jew and Gentile, male and female and [it] keeps me connected, that I may be comforted together with my friends by the mutual faith of both them and me. It’s great! I just make a request, if by any means now at length I might have a prosperous journey and the results are astounding every time. Ashé! makes a great gift. I impart it to all my family and friends. For I am not ashamed of the testimonial of Jesus Christ that is in me…ASHE!

–  Paul, Apostle of the Lord

The word ‘Ashé’ is Yoruba but the actual energy it describes is universal. Whereas in the ancient Afrikan tradition the tendency is to internalize the Holy Spirit, today’s Christ-Shun culture clings to a “hitherto shalt thou come, but no further” attitude as touching (or should we say, almost but not quite touching) any matter of the spirit. Hence, Christ-Shuns, as well as a sad group of saints who actually have genuine desires to follow the Christ to the fullest, are tempted to attempt to divide the indivisible. Don’t they wonder why their God remains invisible to them when He is supposed to be invincible in their lives and through their bodies? As long as we persist in perverting AsHé into As He, obsessed with doing as he would do, trying to live as he lived, then we will be truly living in sin, which is not living at all but constitutes the committing of slow spiritual suicide. No wonder so many people of the world, whether of European, Afrikan or Asian heritage are ripening for destruction.  They’re so miserable, so removed from the roots (or to paraphrase Jacob 5 in the Book of Mormon: Burdened by lofty branches) that they practically beg the posthumously deified king, Xangô (Shango) to intervene with his double-bladed axe (aXé) via his earthly and earthy devotees.

THE LORD GIVETH AND THE LORD TAKETH AWAY WITH HIS DOUBLE EDGED SWORD WHICH IS CALLED ASHE

Before one can continue in the Circle of Life, he or she must commence the Spiritual Gift Exchange for themselves and their household. But if one refuses to personally participate in the very power by which that flow is generated and labels such spiritual/paranormal activity as voodoo or native superstition, saying it is of the Devil, all the while promoting a soulless version of family history record keeping and lame, stiff dance steps, to replace the spontaneous movements of the dance of life, then I ask you….Who is the devil, who is the zombie? Once you have hardened your heart to such a point; once you’ve set your heart like a flint against H.I.M (His Imperial Majesty); that’s when, in the symmetry of the universe, the poetic justice of the Lord, He will set His face like a flint against you. You’ve probably seen Him staring you right in the eyes and didn’t even know it. Traditional Afrikan art often depicts the carved figure of a woman holding her bosom as a gift to God with a single double-bladed axe sticking up from her head. Yep, just like He did through the “foreheads” of His prophets Ezekiel (Ezekiel 3:9) and Isaiah when He possessed them and made them unashamed to preach against the rebellious House of Israel. (Isaiah 50:7)

Here is where the gloves come off. A-SH-E becomes A-CH-E. And the Ori’shas – literally ‘owners of heads’ – become a headache if we deny them. This has a very real physiological effect that is not to be ignored. Neurotransmission is the process by which spiritual signals get propagated throughout the physical body. It is necessary for the regulations of bodily secretions and organ functions critical for the long-term survival of multicellular vertebrate organisms such as mammals. There is an enzyme called AChE (Acetylcholinesterase). This is a perfectly appropriate name for it, since it functions like a “small axe” that cleaves peptide bonds by means of hydrolysis. If it becomes inhibited in its function, it creates serious problems for the flow of important spiritual messages across the synapses. AChE is specifically intended to aid in the smooth flow of a neurotransmitter called Acetylcholine (often abbreviated ACh). ACh has a variety of effects as a neuromodulator upon arousal and reward. ACh has an important role in the enhancement of sensory perceptions when we wake upand in sustaining attention. If AChE is not able to function correctly, the ACh and the messages it carries, literally clog up the synapses. Irreversible inhibitors of AChE may lead to muscular paralysis, memory deficit and Alzheimer’s disease or even death by asphyxiation.

If that sounds bad, check out the drastically negative spiritual effects: When ASHE turns to ACHE, the softer, even soothing sound of consolation, signified by the letters ‘Sh’ and whispered by Our Mother to quiet fears in our formative years, now changes to the harsher, chastising sound of the ‘Ch’, from The Father. Shango retains cool self-control but subtly shifts to Chango.  Suddenly, Ere we are aware, our vain shopping for shoes at City Creek Mall turns to chopping block blues for any and all cocky heads that refuse to ‘choose the right.’ One of Shango’s sacred colors is white. It symbolizes the logic He gets from His Grandfather, Obatala. Oh, but alas He will not spare the stubborn head that has not inherited some of Aganyu’s blood red. Past all feeling and passion, unrepentant hearts will wither. Like the Lion of Zion, Bob Marley, sings in the song “Small Ax,” It is the small acts of the righteous that eventually “cut down” the “Big Tree”. And in a Jamaican accent ‘Big Tree’ could be understood to mean ‘Big Three’. Let the pride of the Jews, the Christians and the Muslims fall like a great and spacious building in an earthquake! The Lord of the Vineyard uses Aché like a hatchet to prune and cast into the blaze, all lofty branches who do not acknowledge the roots. If this seems un-fair to ye so called ‘fair-ones’ remember, Nephi said, “If ye ask not….ye are not brought into the light, but must perish in the dark” (2 Nephi 32:4) In other words, “If you don’t aks, you get axed.” Brethren, are we therefore justified in lingering while the Spiritual Gifts fall completely out of use for fear that some might misuse them? Seems to this author, that the Master employed the metaphor of money in the parable of the talents to show us that, abstaining from using them is in fact (ab)using the Gifts of the Fathers.

SHARING IS PREPARING

Do we need to be commanded in all things? What are we, a bunch of high-school girls (foolish virgins) before prom? Don’t wait to be ‘axed out.’ Ask for your gifts today and start giving and getting in the United Order right away! There have been many, many groups who have sought to live as one and establish Zion. The Oneida Community in New York, New Harmony in Pennsylvania and Nauvoo in Illinois are only three of endless defunct examples from the past. There is no shortage of people trying today either. From southern Utah to Canada, California to Russia, gathering for the purpose of spiritual enlightenment and good living is ‘in’. Organization and reason figure heavily into the planning of these communities. Polygyny and even polyandry in some cases are working themselves into mainstream culture as polyamory peaks the public’s interest. Everywhere, the word ‘Share’ is in the air.

Even within virtual realms so far detached from physical people and places, there is a great meeting of the minds taking place. If you know how to read the signs you will find memos from God popping up in the strangest of spaces. Key words are everywhere surging up from the collective consciousness to clue you into the New Multidimensional Jerusalem where all are intimately linked. Verizon Network has recently revealed a “Share Everything” plan for the family. Could the Logos spell it out any more plainly for us? A whole generation of ambitious and admirable attempts at community based on sharing were spawned by Napster, who lived up to its name as it succeeded in its purpose to stir us from our napping. And speaking of naps, extremely esoterically coded messages, probably with deeply intended dual meaning, appear before our eyes and ears in the advertisements for the new feature film, Paranorman. It is an animated zombie [movie] set for release right on the day of the new moon (8-17-2012). Norman Babcock, a misunderstood boy who speaks with the dead, takes on ghosts, zombies and grown-ups to save his town from a centuries-old curse. One specific ad being run is not your ‘normal’ preview. Only spiritually awake and alert audience members will notice what the foolish and sleepy virgins fail to see. The young hero, who symbolically represents the hearts of the children that must be turned to the hearts of the fathers to avoid the curse, tells us that he is promoting something called NAPZ (National Alliance of People and Zombies). He says, “Life shouldn’t just be for the living.” Nap time is over folks!

MAKING THE CHOICE BETWEEN DECREES OF DECAYING DEATH AND LAWS OF LOVING LIFE

You don’t have to be a fan of the band to agree that ‘The Grateful Dead’ sounds a lot better than the ‘Ungrateful Undead.’ In “Friend of The Devil,” Garcia gives some good advice on how to nec-romance the nasty nuisance of not so kindred dead by killing them with kindness. He suggests keeping it moving but never running in fear from the ghosts of our past. Spending “a night in Utah, in a cave up in the hills,” while lighting out on the lamb, wending our way from one wife to the next, as the lyrics indicate, might just transform any shy man into a Sha-man. Without shamanic elders after the likes of Alma, how would we understand that, “that same spirit which doth possess your bodies at the time that ye go out of this life, that same spirit will have power to possess your body in that eternal world.” (Alma 34:34).  To the same degree that a man or woman was a terror or a tyrant to his or her own family and fellow man during life, that same foul spirit will resume reeking, and wreaking havoc from the great beyond. At this very moment you and your family most likely have relatives, both dead and alive, who are involved in your life either as a help or a hindrance. If you do not recognize them, then you can not fully accept the goods they bring, nor fully reject the garbage they bring. What non-tribally structured utopians do not grasp is the firmness of the grip that spirit holds on flesh and the irresistible draw that the flesh holds for the spirit. Upon death, the disembodied spirit becomes very clear in his understanding of this fact as he can clearly see how the flesh is unable to wield any influence independently of the spirit. When we love our bodies right, we do indeed become one with them but if we aint’ lovin’ ’em right,  then we will feel  unable to resist the evil urge to break that eternal law of our Mother Matter who says – “Love Me Or Leave Me.”

Mother Earth moans and groans under oppression of evil spirits who buy up false priests to exercise unrighteous dominion over the elements. (D&C 123:7) Afflicted since the dawn of civilization along the Indus Tributaries by men of renown and their giants of industry who, in dust, try to subjugate the womanly wilderness under their man-ipulation. The saints will in dust, cry against the monstrous men strewing their blood like a morbid menstrual cycle of mortal combat. But the beautiful body of Christ is starting to exercise her rights and exorcise the demons who torment her. Just as Jesus said through Isaiah:

“Shake thyself from the dust; arise, sit down, O Jerusalem; loose thyself from the bands of thy neck, O captive daughter of Zion.”  – Isaiah 52:2

Or as Jesus said through a young, full of life, Michael Jackson in a chiasmic channeling during the break down of one of the most popular songs sung by him and his brothers:

Sit down girl, I think I love ya? No, get up girl, show me what you can do Shake it, shake it baby, come on now. Shake it, shake it baby” – Jackson 5:ABC 1:50

Alma, (Soul in Spanish) tells us that, though all gifts are by definition freely offered some are automatically received in this life due to prior arrangements. But even the great gift of resurrection is made available by and through LOVE which must be accepted before the gift takes effect for the individual. He also mentions that, meanwhile, the soul who did not accept part nor portion of the Spirit of the Lord will be weeping, and wailing, and gnashing its teeth. (Alma 40) And the reason he gives for this is that, due to their wicked choices and also their abdication of choice, the spirit of the devil enters into them and takes possession of their house.

THE TRUE LAW OF THE JUNGLE – CHOOSE OR LOSE

Possession must be thought of as a neutral term. It is up to us as individuals to choose between demonic or angelic influences. But remember that demons are only fallen angels. Nothing can compensate for a lack of personal righteousness. So while a proper understanding of possession opens us up to an endless universe of possibilities, if we decline to work consciously with cohorts and instead hand over our will to another, we are left with zero excuses. The Real King of The Jungle has clearly delineated the True Law to us. He will gladly work with us if we are either hot or cold, But if we won’t choose, the Conquering Lion chews us up and spews us out. When we gingerly nibble and sip at the Body and Blood of Christ rather than being enthused (en “in” + theos “god”), literally possessed of God, then we eat and drink to our own condemnation.

Possession is nine tenths of the law. But still, many would-be inheritors of Zion focus all their attention on the one tenth of the law of tithing. And this they usually pay out to others in cash or kind as a religious duty rather than a natural, free and fractal continuance of the fractions of infinity. It is said that a human being typically only uses ten percent of his brain, leaving nine tenths to be possessed by whatever entity has a mind to do so. We must allow ourselves to be spatially and specially occupied by the Spirit of Christ. Because, “charity is the pure love of Christ, and it endureth forever; and whoso is found possessed of it at the last day, it shall be well with him.” (Moroni 7:47)  The true church of Christ is waking up to the power she alone holds and the people have taken to occupying places from Wall Street to Oakland. And yet, these well meaning 99 percent masses have not fully realized that no one mighty and strong like moses can or will free them from the 1 percent masters. Until we all step up to fulfill our role as saviors on Mount Zion, our sad state will be reflected in both ecology and economy. Millions in debt could be instantly transmuted into millions in death benefits through the death of the ego. From ego, we go to a mutually beneficial, cooperative relationship with our dead, a simple symbiotic bond with nature and a planetary paradise. To achieve this, we have to stop waffling and just ‘leggo’ our ‘eggo’. This truly is eternal life insurance. The verb insure derives from the Latin word securus, meaning “safe” or “secure,” which itself derives from se, meaning “without” and caru, meaning “care” – literally “without care or worries.” Before the Lion King of The Jungle can reclaim his throne and restore the Circulation of Life’s Gifts, he must learn to live the law of “Hakuna Matata!”

RICH-U-ALL – SNACKRAMENTS & BATHTISMS

It is good to get. It is good to give. The two actions are really one and the same as they form a balance. There is absolutely no need to obsess over rules, traditions or laws, even good laws can turn bad real quick if they are not kept simple. Love is the law and sharing of our own volition is how we show our love. You should know that the only reason for Lucifer’s fall was because he did not want to share. In essence, the only thing we have to share is our will and that is freely given to us and must be allowed to operate freely through and around us. So Lucifer had to invent a scenario wherein we are conned into giving up our will and thereby limiting love.

There are endless ways in which we can share love. Rituals as seemingly unimportant as a midnight snack or a shower after work can serve to revitalize the individual. And that vitality can be shared with the group through meals or sexual intercourse. But how do our routines regain that vital spark that transforms rote ritual into rich-u-all? How can a snack become a snackrament and a bath become a bathtism? We have to make our spiritual intent more intense. Many have hoped to establish a heaven on earth and have failed because their focus was on arranging the external in such a way, in hopes that following formula would provide security and comfort. I’m not saying that it doesn’t work from the outside inward at all, that fractal alignment of temporal things can not draw down the blessings of heaven. I’m saying if we are going to have all things in common, let’s not skip any steps. That we must meet the Lord halfway is true but unfortunately when only a trickle came through, as opposed to the pouring promised in scripture no one seemed to notice. And why did they not notice? Because they had never done the internal work of wanting, desiring, dreaming and imagining heavenly blessings. They relied and focused too much on ‘laws unto themselves’ rather than eternal law. They followed the double-minded tradition of their fathers  – “Pray as if it all depended on the Lord, but work as if it all depended on you.”

The Law of Consecration outlined in canonized LDS Church scripture and its attempted implication in the early days of the Church, provide a perfect example of an imperfect understanding of spiritual law. D&C tells us to “consecrate our properties” and that this will help God’s people to establish equality and bring security, then prosperity to all. We could start with money, cars, and canned goods in an honest desire to care for one another and tend to the poor. But if we never take consecration to a deeper level then all our efforts will be temporary in their effects. Why don’t we read “properties” as a scientific term, as in our physical and chemical properties? Is it because we do not believe it possible to share such things? Is it that we are SELFish and are happy to give away extra cash as long as we can remain detached from the poor “in spirit”? If we can donate so called non perishable food items at the drop of a dime, then why not move one step closer to the truly non perishable qualities of the spirit? Would ‘sister wives’ in a polygynous situation or ‘brother outlaws’ in a polyandrous family structure, be more likely to share and share alike, not only their spouse, but material things as well, out of an external expectancy to comply with household rules? Or do you think maybe a greater motivation would be heart to heart spiritual connection, which would dispense with the need for any lists of do’s and don’ts ruling over their minds. This is why men seem to so easily set aside differences and assimilate when they are told that it is for the defense of women and children. This is why women more naturally share in the role of raising children than in the sharing of the clothes of their wardrobe (providing they are the right size). But I have seen strange and wondrous shape shifting override our physical programming. With my own eyes, I have witnessed how one superconscious size fits all. What if I told you it was possible to share physical attributes by uploading the pre-seeding spiritual attributes and participating in a non jealous potluck of properties?

The term potluck is very similar to potlatch. The potlatch was a big celebration among Native Americans of the northwest, which involved some serious gift giving and receiving. Often the host would give all his possessions away. This continued until European settlers outlawed the practice. The settlers’ problem was in their settling for less, for a world view severely lacking connection to the unseen world, instead of hanging on to their own lucky tribal traditions extending back before the Middle Ages, in Europe. Going from lack to luck, as it turns out, actually has a science to it. Remember it’s people coming together in a place that produces things. Viewing ‘luck’ as some kind of arbitrary thing, will not get us anywhere. Anytown U.S.A. would be wise to wake up to distinctly American mixes of Afrikan, European, and Native spiritual sanitation practices like Hoodoo, which are extremely practical in their applications and will serve the people in the approaching Greatest American Depression. In order to weather the stormy times ahead we will need to make sure we are on the right side of the right law.

LEGAL MATTERS & LAWFUL SPIRITS – DON’T MISS THE MYSTIC MARRIAGE…DIVORCE THE DEVIL

In a 1973 interview, when asked his opinion of all the crime and violence going on in the world, Bob Marley stated that it was laws that caused crime and violence and that any man could know that fact. The Pharisites tried to ensnare the prophet by asking him if there were any of man’s laws in particular which he wished to publically decry. To which he responded: “Every law! The only law which is law is the law of life.” That same year, Marley demonstrated his knowledge of and love for the law of life when he recorded the infamous I Shot The Sherriff.” IF you want to SHARE in “all that the Father hath,” (John 16:15) then you will have to shoot the ‘SHARE-IF.’ He is the impish being who enforces the “death & taxes” mode of business among men to stifle and kill good will. There is only one real way you can steal; and that is to uphold a policy of force. And a police force does just that. The Share-If will only let you share IF, your papers are in order, IF you are a member of the club, IF his masters don’t decide to completely mono-polize it. The Sherriff is an enemy to Zion. While this single track eventually served to make a mixed Marley sound militant and look iconic, the following year, it provided a caucasian, cowboy-hat clad Clapton with an ironic #1 hit on the charts. Both versions had their own lives. Both came from the same divine creative spark. Bob deserves praise for the original revelation. Eric deserves credit for bringing the message in some level of purity to other sheep in the fold. This is how The Good Shepherd works. Linking through Christ Consciousness is ultimately The Way we are gonna’ run the devil outa’ town. Of course, the Sherriff is always trailing strong, long-haired types like Sampson, Jesus and Bob with his hellhounds. The head imp himself sent imposters with a devilish counterattack.

Ashé is a chain that, if unbroken, ensures eternal connection between the creator and the creation. While writing the preceding paragraph, the spirit of Bob Marley, who was guiding my hand, reminded me of a personal revelation regarding “I Shot The Sherriff” which had impacted me as a teenager. In part of the lyrics, Bob explains that the Sherriff always hated the singer and he tells us:

“Everytime I’d plant a seed, He’d say, Kill it before it grows.’ He’d say, ‘Kill them before they grow.”

When I first heard those lines, my mind supposed that they could very well be a thinly veiled reference to cultivation of marijuana plants. But from behind the innermost veil, the Holy Spirit bore witness to my heart and mind, that there was a deeper meaning. The seeds referenced were unborn children.

The creator in this case, had guided my hand from the beginning paragraph of this section, when he cited the correct year of these scenes from his life, leading my fingers to type it in spite of my skeptical mind, which was sure they must have occurred later. Now as the doubting Thomas in me double checked the date online, the consciousness of the creator indulged me and then whispered that there was more he wished to reveal to me at that time. So, having brought this previously released information about the scripture of the song to my memory, and I having brought myself to an online search engine for the purpose of proving the more subtle and recent received details; my mind was sufficiently humbled to hear a still small voice.

It told me to enter the words “birth control” alongside the numbers of the year in question, “1973.” To my surprise, this resulted in the discovery of an obscure prog-rock band from Germany whose name directly related to the prior revelation regarding the slaughter of innocents and gave me a foreboding feeling. Birth Control came out with a song that very year entitled “Gama Ray.” The name of the song was equally scary since gama-rays have everything to do with those decrees of decaying death which we spoke of above in contrast to the law of loving light and life. Gama-rays are associated with radioactive decay and DNA damage. In addition to radioactive decay, there are also some non-nuclear sources that are known to produce gama-rays, for example, thunderstorms. This then is a summoning of Shango’s bad side, since apart from his axe, Shango is known to throw lightning bolts. Shekinah is a Hebrew word that means the dwelling or settling, and is used to denote the dwelling or settling of the divine presence of God, especially behind the veil in the Temple. Shekinah is a parallel idea to Sophia (wisdom) in Christianity. Imagine the Shekinah or Shock n’Awe I felt come over me when I clicked on the video clip before me and saw images of mass destruction. Even more awesome was the wisdom which distilled upon me as I heard and read between the lines, a not so cleverly disguised eugenicist message calling Afrikans out by name. Then most chilling of all, was the music. The notes of the transitional breakdowns were slightly off but nonetheless unmistakably close to the famous chords in the transitions of Marley’s lively anthem. The notes contained, hidden within them, the indisputable evidence that this had been the Devil’s direct response to the Reggae Renegade, who must have been to the forces of evil, a devastating Bo[m]b Marley, on the battlefield of spiritual warfare in that year of 1973.

The immediate seizing upon the powerful life force which was born into the world with this one Bob Marley song, is a perfect example of the truth that: Even in the humble initial stages of your accumulation and distribution of gifts, your journey to godhood, you have to be comfortable with being emulated. I know we expressed these things earlier but it is worthy of bearing bolder witness again and again. When we magnificently magnify our callings in life, we do not feel threatened in the slightest by copyright infringers, freeloaders or even detractors. We respect them as equals and care for them as we would a newborn baby, who cries and eats and does not contribute in the same ways an adult would but is no less valuable in our sight. Even when those babies become annoying adolescents, willfully rebelling against us as creative beings and sometimes hijacking our dear creations to serve nefarious purposes for which they were never intended; we remain calm knowing that truth & righteousness always prevail. For so persecuted they the prophets and righteous men that came before us. Why should we be afraid? We stand on the shoulders of the ancestors. We maintain perfect clarity on this point, that we are where we are today, and forever, because we were allowed the complete freedom to emulate or rebel against God according to our wills. Then why not see good and perfection in ourselves? We know and we understand that mighty God is a living man. We have been granted a glorious vision from Heaven, wherein we can see ourselves simultaneously as God’s and as GODS. Yes, we know that all things shall work together for our good. AMEN.

 

Special Thanks –

I would first and foremost like to thank God/Christ for making this special, spiritual collaboration possible. As for God’s specific aspects who’s combined efforts helped to write this piece, I sincerely thank my good friends, Frederick Douglass, Joseph Smith Jr., Robert Nesta Marley and The Honorable Marcus Mosiah Garvey.

P.S. Hugh Nibley, if that was you, then I thank you for your brief appearance and pointers.

THE DAMNATION OF INACTIVITY


What does it mean to be inactive?

The word ‘inactive’ can be used to mean dormant. When someone or something is sleeping we say they are inactive because we do not detect much activity on their part. In more scientific terms, ‘inactive’ can mean inert. In these cases it is often used to talk about dead matter with no inherent power of motion. Inactive can also mean lazy or slothful. In LDS jargon, being inactive means that you are not attending church at all or your attendance is very sporadic.

In order to understand inactivity it is useful to analyze its opposite. Opposites are merely special relationships; so special that we can really only come to understand one side by understanding the other.

Church Activity

Active LDS regularly attend a minimum of 1-3 hours of church meetings a week. The vast majority are involved in far more activities beyond the minimal Sunday services.

Active LDS:
1. Attend various meetings throughout the week.
2. Are assigned monthly visitations among the membership.
3. Plan and execute cultural and community activities on an ongoing basis.
4. Perform certain rituals in temples which serve as dedicated space for these ceremonies.

Sounds pretty active, indeed LDS are generally very busy people. Not all are necessarily physically active in the sense of getting plenty of exercise, but they keep themselves busy. So what are the specifics of their activity? What exactly do they do? It may be useful to employ a recent trend in social commentary to dissect this subject.

WHAT ACTIVE LDS THINK THEY DO vs. WHAT ACTIVE LDS ACTUALLY DO

Active LDS think they show devotion to God by attending a myriad of meetings.

In these meetings one can expect to find pretty much what you would find at any meeting in modern society. That is, lectures, books, notes, reports, a few people talking, a lot of folks listening and some sleeping while many more are daydreaming, thinking about being somewhere other than where they are in that moment.

The active LDS think they are loving their neighbor when they make assigned monthly visits (or phone calls if busy schedules do not permit an in-person visit) to other LDS people in their vicinity.

What actually happens is that two adult men or two adult women will drop by a particular residence to engage in a bit of ‘friendly banter’, after which the visitors read a message dictated from the Saltican City and end with a short prayer. At any point in this visit the assigned Home Teachers or Visiting Teachers, as they are called, will insert a key question. This question may be worded in any number of ways but what is always inferred is “Is there anything you need?” or “Is there anything we can do for you?” The customary response is “Oh no, nothing I can think of right now, but thank you.”

In familiar scenes such as this the action of the active LDS is revealed to be mere acting, in the sense of Hollywood actors. This is the sad truth behind such action because, as Justin has written in The Written Records post

“ethics only teach us how to live as though you were one with your neighbor. You learn the modes of ACTION that imply a compassionate relationship with another person. It offers you incentive to ACT in a certain way – but it cannot generate the genuine feeling of it.”

Active LDS think that they serve people through their constant cultural and community events.

In reality LDS people serve the interests of corporations. Whether it be a cultural activity as small as a Singles Ward dance or a local Christmas Pageant, or a huge community effort like Mormon Helping Hands preparing the giant metropolis of Rio De Janeiro for the Olympics or a Historic Vaccine Rollout in Africa. It all serves to reinforce Babylonian deathstyles masquerading as righteous lifestyles.

Corporation is a word that comes from the Latin word for body. The corporations that are served by the LDS people are only the vehicles through which Satan, or the conglomerate of souls who followed Lucifer and denied themselves the opportunity to inhabit tabernacles of flesh , work to force the ways of the World onto the Earth. Corporations according to today’s laws are granted more rights than humans and this was done so that the angels to a devil who take these legal fictions on as their personas can feel themselves superior to man even though they know that cooperation between spirit and matter will always remain the highest ideal in the universe. Incorporation is the act or process of combining of substances; absorption of light or moisture. This should be noteworthy to believers who seek to better understand how a spirit, can either possess or become one with a temporal body –the former being an action of evil spirits and the latter the glorious work of good spirits. In more recent times ‘incorporation’ has been used to mean: The act of uniting several persons into one fiction called a corporation. In 1885, Ambrose Bierce said:

“A, B and C are a corporation. A robs, B steals and C (it is necessary that there be one gentleman in the concern) cheats. It is a plundering, thieving, swindling corporation. But A, B and C, who have jointly determined and severally executed every crime of the corporation, are blameless.”

In this way the definition of a corporation matches that of a Secret Combination as we read in the Book of Mormon.

Condemning the righteous because of their righteousness; letting the guilty and the wicked go unpunished because of their money; and moreover to be held in office at the head of government, to rule and do according to their wills, that they might get gain and glory of the world, and, moreover, that they might the more easily commit adultery, and steal, and kill, and do according to their own wills—(Hel 7:5)

Active LDS think they are doing the Lord’s Work when they perform rituals in their temples.

These actions in the modern day church have not received the Lord’s seal of approval and are in fact meaningless in many cases. Of course the rituals can be effective on a case by case basis. But alas the Holy Places have become corrupted by the money changers who charge a 10 percent entrance fee in exchange for what they claim are “saving ordinances”. Some churchgoers who gain entrance to the Celestial Room in one of these LDS temples believe that they are then guaranteed entrance into the Celestial Kingdom of God. But even worse than the mind state of those who assume they have obtained some kind of golden ticket, is the awful state of the millions more who believe they have to “keep working at it.”

The first category is comprised of the blind who will end up being leaders within the ranks of the Church and World. The second category is made up of the blind followers who are led by the blind. Both are necessary components of Satan’s gory work. Jesus tells us that both will end up in the ditch. While willfully ignorant Mormons perform vicarious work for the dead they never once suppose that they are the dead. Their awful situation is reflected by Malcolm, the main character in M. Night Shyamalan’s The Sixth Sense. In their pride these individuals fail to see that they are performing dead works in a whited sepulcher. The active member is told that he/she has obtained the highest honor by simply being in the temple. And thus the Devil cheateth their souls. In this way the temples which have now been streamlined and dot the land, function as factories for the continuance of Secret Combinations. Their secretive dispensing of esoteric handshakes and whatnot lay the foundations for the murdering kind of bands that later form using the self same set of symbols. We know this to be the case because this scenario has already played out in every dispensation and is repeating once again. Man-made or should we say Mason-made temples are only stone structures after all. There is a stone that the builders always seem to refuse. As highfaluting symbols of the body, these temples are equally, nay, more susceptible to becoming training grounds for apprenticeship under the Fallen.

Hugh Nibley pointed out the ancient meaning of temples as universities and universities as temples. As a university professor he was thus a temple worker. He also pointed out to active LDS the dangerous route they were actively pursuing. Working hand in hand to bring about the awful state of affairs spoken of by Moroni, The Nazis and The Niceys, The future fools alongside the Gadianton Robbers of tomorrow don cap and gown and graduate. Neither group is fully aware of the fact that they collectively form that combination which is most secret of all, even hidden from its own members.

Members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints who remain active as such, do so at a terrible risk. But then again so do Americans, Mexicans, Canadians and basically all people across the planet who consider themselves actively engaged in modern society. Inactivity, meaning infrequent or terminated church attendance, may very well be a part of the solution for you and your family right now, as it will most certainly be an eventual step for all humble followers of Christ in the eternal perspective, but it obviously is not THE answer. We are eternal spirit children of eternal Heavenly Parents, so ‘inactivity’ is never an option for eternal beings. It is rather a question of how and where our eternal flame of activity is directed. As we can see, activity in the church is not what it seems. Activity according to Saltican City is inactivity, slothfulness, trapped potential and misdirected energy according to the Spirit of Truth. What was once a lively body of saints is essentially being rapidly reduced to a Combination of pride and busy-work. The apostasy/atrophy is spreading and the Spirit is quickly vacating. We stand witness along with Moroni of old, to the death and decay. Know this. The LDS church will not recover. Know This, That Every Soul Is Free. Take the good, leave the bad and Press Forward Saints!

ACTIVATE GOD’S POWER WITHIN YOU

Jesus said plainly, “The Kingdom of Heaven is within you.” But that leaves us with a very good question. How in the Hell can we let the Heaven out? Well, questions and answers are opposites. As stated previously, opposites are special relationships; two things so close that they are intimately linked. And ironically we find that the best and truly the only way to learn about one half is to learn from or through the other. So let’s look at two principles which we will term ACTIVE & PASSIVE. There is a much more comprehensive list touching on both of these principles in LDSA’s Split Brain Model of the Gospel post. These correspond to your Left and Right brain so I would strongly suggest reading that entire post. Here I will only list a few key operations.

PASSIVE                        ACTIVE
Reading                          Writing
Listening                        Speaking
Exhaling                          Inhaling
Feeling                            Thinking
Mudra                             Mantra
Love                                Will

It may become increasingly difficult to mentally separate these two states, the more deeply one examines their relationship to each other. This is as it should be, all in one. But God does not want us to be confused so we must learn to combine and utilize both in unison. Our confusion comes only in comprehending these two as separate states. And our insistence that ‘never the twain shall meet’ cuts us off from God. Justin has written a post called “The Tree of This and That,” which is a must read for anyone who is serious in their devotion to God and wishes to overcome this division. If and whenever we find ourselves feeling far from our Heavenly Parents we have to locate some kind of starting point to go from cut off to connected. So we start by making that compartmentalized view which we hold into a positive teaching tool to reverse the effects of having eaten the forbidden fruit. If, as we say in Mormonism, we are to find our way home to God and return with honor, we must stop seeing the passive and active, internal and external aspects of ourselves as existing APART from each other and instead see them as A PART of each other. This looking at the mark is the only way for us to set ourselves apart from the waning world and make ourselves a part of God’s Eternal Work and Glory.

So to gain our bearing once having admitted and let go of our misguided ways, we should begin to see our turning away from the institutionalized church not as inactivity, but a glorious opportunity for inner activity. This would be a good saying to keep in mind and use when people come to try and question or pressure us into returning to the ways of the church-world. Tell them, “My inactivity is inner activity. Dispute not because you see not.” Proper understanding of the passive side of life, will come through breathing exercises, scripture study, meditation and prayer. And this understanding will bring personal revelation. No one can tell you exactly what to do. But when the Holy Spirit brings suggestions and solutions to your heart and mind, you must then apply them actively in your life. For that reason it was given. The inspiration will come as it is sought. IF PERSONAL REVELATION IS NOT SOUGHT OR NOT PUT INTO ACTION WHEN RECEIVED THEN DAMNATION AND DEATH WILL FOLLOW.

I know this is not what we like to hear, but it is true. There are really only two things in the universe. Those two things are things to act and things to be acted upon, energy and matter, father and mother. In this way life has been and will continue for ever more. Eternal life is happening right now. It is granted unto men to choose or reject it according to their wills.

Think about this. For the last 2000 or so years of the Piscean Dispensation humanity has been evolving with the Revelation expressed by the Christ that God is Love…for the next 2000 or so years of the incoming Aquarian Dispensation, humanity’s contribution to the plan will be to realize the next imminent Revelation by the Christ which is the Will aspect of God and this time Jesus will come in power and great glory. The Soul itself is pure electricity arising from the Father Spirit connecting with Mother Matter and all in creation, seen and unseen, exists because of this. We as souls are self conscious electricity and our energy follows thought. In the years approaching the Millennium we will see with more and more clarity that we are not the field of knowledge, nor the knowledge, but the Knower; that we are the Thinker (not the thought). Even Einstien’s great equation is the equation of Spirit in Matter. That is all there is to it. Heavenly Father and Heavenly Mother want naturally to be together to cleave to one another. They are eternally sealed. If we will accept this simple fact we too may be sealed for time and all eternity with them as their offspring.

Love and will, can only be understood together. Aligning our will with His will does not mean doing something we don’t particularly want to do just because we think it is what God would like us to do. This is in fact the way of the Devil and should alert us to the truth about so much so called service performed vainly in Jesus’ name. Aligning our wills necessitates knowing. We will only come to know God’s will when we know our own will and this can not happen while following rules set by anyone else. Much of our experience within the church was backwards. So we simply need to flip it around to realize the great purpose of life. Life is to be given and shared in love. Life without love serves no purpose and love without life is nothing.

In Sunday School, Seminary or Gospel Doctrine we have all heard it taught that we have spirit bodies. But only now are some of us awakening to the fact that our eyes, ears, mouths and noses; as the primary song goes, are not without their spiritual counterparts. The five physical senses are only the tip of an iceberg of pre-seeding spiritual faculties. As members of the corporate church we wandered around thinking of ourselves as human beings trying to have ‘spiritual experiences’. But when we stop partaking of the Kool-Aid just long enough to start waking up, we REMEMBER THAT WE ARE SPIRITUAL BEINGS TRYING TO HAVE HUMAN EXPERIENCES. I realize that this is a popular and perhaps cliché phrase these days but think about the word ‘trying’ and how it implies that THIS LIFE IS what our spirits aspire to not some next life. Eternal life starts for you when you say it does. The eternal union, the mystic marriage of flesh and spirit is what it’s all about. There are many paths but they all lead to this. Many of them are much more exciting than Church Activity ever was or could be. This is an exciting time for you and your loved ones as paths that were formally forbidden open up you can feel the Spirit of Christ Triumphant, the tingling of the Holy Spirit. And if at this point you can not be sure whether that sensation is of God or of the Devil well then you have two options before you. Either press forward with faith in God or GO BACKwards TO the CHURCH Wards.

The Baptism of Fire


The following is my current understanding of the baptism of fire.

One baptism in three parts

The gospel of Jesus Christ has one, tripartite baptism consisting of the baptism of water, the baptism of fire and the baptism of the Holy Ghost. The purpose of baptism is to witness that there exists a covenant between God and the man being baptized. Unless all three witnesses have occurred, the covenant between him and God is not binding.

The doctrine of re-baptism applies equally to all three

Anyone who enters into an agreement with another is free to witness or affirm the fact of the agreement by attestation for as many times as desired. There is no law of man or God against this. In fact, under the law of God, we are to “stand as witnesses of God at all times and in all things, and in all places” that we may be in, even until death. So, the principle of witnessing and re-witnessing is a part of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

The manner in which man witnesses of his covenant to serve God is through water baptism. This means that in order to re-witness his covenant, he must be re-baptized. Therefore, he may receive the baptism of water whenever and as many times as he desires and must, per his covenant, be ever ready to be re-baptized at all times and in all places, to re-attest of the validity of his covenant. This is the doctrine or principle of re-baptism and it applies equally to both water, fire and Holy Ghost baptisms.

Order: fire and Spirit, then water, then fire and Spirit, etc.

Re-baptism being a principle of the gospel, the order in which these baptisms are received is not all that important. The only necessary thing is that each one is received, for these are really three parts of one baptism. Nevertheless, the scriptural, ideal order is first the baptism of fire and of the Holy Ghost (see D&C 20: 37), followed by the baptism of water, followed by another baptism of fire and of the Holy Ghost, and thereafter, any part may be repeated multiple times throughout one’s life.

Another thing that the gospel states is that after a baptism of water, the baptism of fire and of the Holy Ghost is supposed to follow on its heels, either right after coming out of the water, or right after confirmation by the laying on of hands.

To demonstrate these principles, Joseph Smith received a baptism of fire during the First Vision, then a baptism of fire during each of Moroni’s visits and during the visit of John the Baptist, then a water baptism by the hand of Oliver Cowdery, followed by a baptism of the Holy Ghost after he came out of the water. Later he received other baptisms of fire with the visits of Peter, James, John, Moses, Elijah, etc. He also received another water baptism after the church was legally organized, etc.

Simultaneity

A baptism of fire is always accompanied with a baptism of the Holy Ghost, but a person may be baptized with the Holy Ghost without an accompanying baptism of fire. This is why the baptism of fire is always called the baptism (singular) of fire and of the Holy Ghost, and not the baptisms (plural) of fire and of the Holy Ghost. These two parts of the tripartite baptism occur simultaneously as a single baptismal event whenever there is a baptism of fire.

Jesus alone performs the baptism of fire

Unlike the baptism of water, which can be performed by the hand of a mortal man under priesthood power and authority, the baptism of fire is reserved for Deity alone to accomplish and is based upon the state of a man’s heart and his faith in Him. (See 3 Ne. 12: 1-2; 3 Ne. 9: 20; Matt. 3: 11; Luke 3: 16; JST Mark 1: 6; JST John 1: 28.)

Confirmation is not the baptism of fire

The scriptures say that elders are “to confirm those who are baptized into the church, by the laying of of hands for the baptism of fire and the Holy Ghost.” This is the ordinance of confirmation. Laying hands on someone’s head for the baptism of fire does not baptize anyone with fire. Only the Lord can do that.

When the scriptures say that this ordinance is “for” the baptism of fire, it is using that word “for” to mean “indicating the end with reference to which anything is, acts, serves or is done.” Specifically, the word “for” in that sentence means “as a preparation for” or “with the object of.” So, elders lay hands as a preparation for the baptism of fire, or they lay hands with the object of the baptism of fire.

The ordinance of confirmation, then, is a preparatory ordinance, which precedes an actual baptism of fire. This ordinance is called confirmation because it is intended to confirm the believers’ faith, both that of the one being confirmed and that of those doing the confirming. This is because true priesthood is “inseparably connected with the powers of heaven,” so when true priesthood is exercised as an ordinance of the gospel, there will be a corresponding manifestation of heavenly power. So, after the ordinance of confirmation, there is supposed to be a baptism of fire that occurs, showing that the covenant of the newly baptized person is accepted of God, as well as the priesthood of the one who is doing the confirming.

Binding and accepted covenants

The baptism of fire serves to witness to the new member, to the priesthood holder(s) confirming, and to the church that is present, that the covenant that the man has entered into with his God, witnessed by his water baptism, is accepted by God and is now in force. In other words, that it is binding, both upon the man and his God.

To put another way, water baptism is man’s way of witnessing to God that he has entered into a covenant to serve Him, whereas fire baptism is God’s way of witnessing to man that He has accepted that covenantal relationship.

(Jesus said, “Whoso believeth in me believeth in the Father also; and unto him will the Father bear record (witness) of me, for he will visit him with fire and with the Holy Ghost.” See 3 Ne. 11: 35.)

Plasma is the medium

To serve as a witness to all these people, the baptism of fire must be a visual sign. The medium used is not the fire of a gas stove or match, but discharging plasma in appearance as fire. Depending upon where one is located in relation to the plasma display, it may look like the flame of fire, like a palpable or living light, like lightning, or just as immense glory or brightness.

Specifically, the baptism of fire consists of twin plasma filaments, rapidly rotating around a central axis, creating a plasma tube or sheath, or plasma column, in other words, a cylindrical shape around the person being baptized. When viewed from the outside, it appears to be “a pillar of fire.” When viewed from within the tube, the fire aspects may or may not be discerned, but its bright light or glory is apparent. Thus we have the various accounts of Joseph Smith’s First Vision, which was a baptism of fire, using the words “fire,” “flame,” “light,” “brightness” and “glory” to describe the discharging plasma he was witnessing.

Sometimes the twin filaments themselves can be discerned, and so we get a description of “cloven tongues of fire,” meaning twin tongues (or filaments) of plasma flame. Other descriptions are of fire “encircling” the persons being baptized, showing that the filaments rotate around the person.

All of these scriptural accounts are describing the same plasma manifestation observed from different spatial perspectives, and so accounts vary. But even with everything before a person, sometimes details can still be missed, as in 1 Ne. 15: 27.

Other aspects

Fire baptism is by complete, or cellular, immersion. Plasma both surrounds and enters the man, so that he becomes “filled with fire.” The fire can be seen and felt. To the one immersed in it, it initially feels like he is burning to death, in an incomprehensibly complete and rapid manner, as every part of the body seems to have caught on fire. Great fear instantly comes upon the man as he fully believes he is about to die. But in the next instant his mind realizes that death has not occurred, that there is no pain and that there is no apparent cellular damage or harm. The fear leaves just as suddenly as it comes, only to be replaced with a feeling of awe and gratitude as the mind realizes that this same destroying fire, which should have instantly atomized the body, is somehow keeping the body protected from its own destructive power.

The divine plasma has the effect of cleansing the heart of man, purifying it of all dross (sinful desires), so that he no longer desires to sin, but instead abhors it. In this swept clean condition, the Holy Ghost then unexpectedly and suddenly enters the man and causes the individual bits of his soul to shout for joy, because of the presence of Deity.

Fire baptism allows other heavenly manifestations to occur

The baptism of fire purifies a person’s heart and Jesus said that all the pure in heart shall see God. So, whenever a person receives a baptism of fire, chances are real good that they will also see either an angel, vision or God Himself. At the very least some revelation or prophecy will occur along with the baptism of fire, or some other manifestation of one of the gifts of the Spirit.

Fire remits sin

Whenever a person receives a baptism of fire, his sins are automatically remitted. In other words, he becomes justified, or guiltless, before the Lord. Nephi said, “For the gate by which ye should enter is repentance and baptism by water; and then cometh a remission of your sins by fire and by the Holy Ghost.”

Fire brings forth a new tongue

Nephi also said that when a man receives the baptism of fire he then can speak with a new tongue, even the tongue of angels, and that “angels speak by the power of the Holy Ghost; wherefore, they speak the words of Christ.”

There are only two, definitive, scriptural examples

There are plenty of scriptural verses that mention the doctrine of baptism of fire, but there are only two accounts in our current standard works in which it is definitively stated that actual baptisms of fire occurred. Of those two accounts, only one applies to us in the latter days. They are:

Adam’s baptism of fire
After Adam was baptized by the Spirit of the Lord, as recorded in Moses 6: 64-68, he heard a voice saying, “Thou art baptized with fire, and with the Holy Ghost.” Nevertheless, there is no mention of any manifestation of fire in the account. Although quite interesting, this experience was, apparently, Adam specific and is not the template for the baptism of fire among the modern masses.

The Lamanites’ baptism of fire
When the Nephite missionaries Nephi and Lehi preached among the Lamanites and were imprisoned, about 300 souls received a baptism of fire, as recorded in Hel. 5: 20-49. This is the scriptural template of a baptism of fire for all mankind. We know this because the voice of Jesus Christ said so:

And ye shall offer for a sacrifice unto me a broken heart and a contrite spirit. And whoso cometh unto me with a broken heart and a contrite spirit, him will I baptize with fire and with the Holy Ghost, even as the Lamanites, because of their faith in me at the time of their conversion, were baptized with fire and with the Holy Ghost, and they knew it not. (3 Ne. 9: 20)

So, the Lord categorically states in the above scripture that the experience of the 300 souls was a baptism of fire. Additionally, He states that all baptisms of fire that He performs will be “even as the Lamanites… were baptized with fire.” The Lamanites’ baptism of fire, then, is the standard, the rule, and NOT the exception. It is the event that the Lord points to for us to determine whether a baptism of fire has occurred.

(The word “even” in the phrase “even as the Lamanites” means “in or to such (indicated) degree or kind.”)

What the baptism of fire consists of

Based upon the Lamanites’ experience, there are six characteristics of any baptism of fire. They are:

1. Fire encircling an individual, forming a cylindrical shape, such as a column or “pillar of fire” or plasma tube. This would be twin Birkeland currents (plasma cables or filaments) rotating rapidly around a central axis, in appearance like a fire tornado. This is the visual sign to all those witnessing the baptism.

2. The presence and ministration of angels.

3. Justification, meaning a remission of sins.

4. Purification, by fire entering the heart.

5. Sanctification, by becoming filled with (baptized in) the Holy Ghost.

6. Speaking with a new tongue (the tongue of angels, meaning speaking by the power of the Holy Ghost.)

Two more scriptural examples

Using the six characteristics above, we find two more scriptural examples of baptisms of fire which exactly match that of the Lamanites, although the text does not specifically say that they were fire baptisms. They are:

The Nephite little children’s baptism of fire
Jesus baptized little children with fire, as recorded in 3 Ne. 17: 21-25 and as witnessed by 2500 people. These children were encircled by fire, had angels minister to them and spoke in new tongues (see 3 Ne. 26: 14, 16.) Also, we know that they were justified, purified and sanctified, for they were little children and all little children are alive in Christ.

The 12 disciples’ baptism of fire
The fire baptism of these men is recorded in 3 Ne. 19: 11-15. They were encircled about by fire, filled with fire, had angels minister to them and prayed by the power of the Holy Ghost. From the text it is clear that they were justified, purified and sanctified.

Other intimated baptisms of fire

Joseph Smith’s baptisms of fire
As mentioned above, each of Joseph’s angelic ministrations was attended by a baptism of fire (plasma), including the First Vision.

For example, one First Vision account says, “A pillar of fire appeared above my head; which presently rested down upon me, and filled me with un-speakable joy. A personage appeared in the midst of this pillar of flame, which was spread all around and yet nothing consumed…I saw many angels in this vision.”

Another First Vision account says, “while in [the] attitude of calling upon the Lord [in the 16th* year of my age] a pillar of {fire} lightabove the brightness of the Sun at noon day come down fromabove and rested upon me and I was filld with the Spirit of God”. In this account Joseph couldn’t decide whether what he saw was fire or light. He finally decided on light and crossed out fire. The reason for his confusion was that he was witnessing discharging plasma.

I believe that it is reasonable to conclude that the plasma nature of the angel Moroni’s visit (see The plasma aspects of the First Vision and Moroni’s visit) was typical of all angelic ministrations to Joseph, and thus all such events in his life were likely baptisms of fire.

Moses’ vision of God
In Moses chapter 1 it says that “the glory of God was upon Moses.” That sounds to me like a plasma event and that he received a baptism of fire.

Lehi’s pillar of fire
1 Ne. 1: 6 mentions Lehi seeing a pillar of fire. It is obviously a super-duper abridgment of all that occurred, but it sounds like a baptism of fire.

Nephi’s visit from the Lord
Nephi mentions in 1 Ne. 2: 16 that he was visited by the Lord. He doesn’t elaborate but my guess is that this was Nephi’s first baptism of fire. Jesus states in 3 Ne. 11: 35 that when the Father visits people, He visits them with fire and with the Holy Ghost.

Cloven tongues on day of Pentecost
As recorded in Acts chapter 2, there appeared “cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them.” They were filled with the Spirit, spoke other tongues and spoke by the power of the Holy Ghost. It’s not an exact match of the Lamanite experience (angels are missing), but pretty darn close.

Gentile cloven tongues
In Acts 11: 15 we read Peter’s words about how the Gentiles also received the Holy Ghost. He said, “And as I began to speak, the Holy Ghost fell on them, as on us at the beginning.” That, to me, seems to be saying that the Holy Ghost fell on the Gentiles in the same way that the Holy Ghost fell on the Jews, namely, with accompanying manifestation of cloven tongues like as of fire. This could explain the astonishment of the Jews who witnessed the manifestation of tongues among the Gentiles. (See Acts 10: 44-47.)

Downgrading the baptism of fire

Now, when you compare the scriptural accounts of the baptism of fire to our modern, LDS definitions, it becomes obvious that we have downgraded the sudden, rapid changes effectuated by the marvelous, visual, power displays of the real deal to something gradual, drawn out, imperceptible and nondescript. For example:

While one definition of this expression (the baptism of fire and the Holy Ghost) refers to a cleansing by the Holy Spirit as if by fire, still the scriptures and the writings of the prophets indicate there is something more.

The new convert who has accepted the gift of the Holy Ghost with the right spirit will experience not only a cleansing but a feeling that will give him a new heart and make of him a new person. Sometimes this is immediate, and sometimes it happens over a period of time.

The scriptures, and even our church history, record miraculous instances when visible flames encircled the humble followers of Christ—literal manifestations of fire and the Holy Ghost—but more often this fire works quietly and unseen in the hearts of those who have received the gift of the Holy Ghost.

The witness, the change, the cleansing that comes gradually is no less powerful to the person with the right heart, and he or she is impelled to action whether the experience was a sudden, miraculous manifestation or the quiet workings of the Spirit.

(Fire and the Holy Ghost, Loren C. Dunn, Ensign, June 1995)

We have taken away the majesty of the Father’s witness and replaced it with something that goes entirely against nature. Nature is cyclic, cycling between periods of rest and periods of activity. All things work on this principle, including spiritual things. Baptism (all three parts) are designed to be moments of spiritual intensity. You cannot perform a baptism of water over a period of time, or gradually, quietly and unseen. No, you are outside of the water (which can be visually discerned), then you are immersed, and then you come out of the water. There is nothing gradual about it. A single water baptism cannot be performed over days and years. In like manner, the baptism of fire is a punctuated, spiritually intense event.

No one’s spirituality is designed to grow gradually. Gradual spiritual growth is the same as no spiritual growth. There is no such animal as gradual spiritual growth. You either have intense spiritual experiences from time to time or you are spiritually dying. This is why we are commanded to come together often, to intensify the Spirit so as to be capable of growing spiritually.

Joseph Smith’s life was meant to be an example to us. He had multiple, very intense spiritual experiences. It began with a baptism of fire, it continued with more baptisms of fire and it ended in a volley of gun fire. John Taylor said that Joseph lived for glory, died for glory and glory is his eternal reward. Glory = plasma = the baptism of fire. Joseph did, indeed, live for those fire baptism experiences. He had a lot of them, he saw a lot of angels and who knows how many visions, and he wanted to have more of the same. And he tried ceaselessly to get the saints to experience what he was experiencing. So did Moses and all true prophets.

You are either immersed in plasma or you are not. You are either in an intensity phase or in a rest phase of the cycle. There is no such thing as non-cyclic gradualness. If you think you are growing spiritually for the past ten years without any intense spiritual experiences, you are kidding yourself. It means that you have been in a spiritual rest phase of the cycle during this time. No one can remain at spiritual rest for any extended period of time before spirituality begins to decay. It is an impossibility. So, the LDS concept of a gradual, life-long, imperceptible baptism of fire is patently false and leads to spiritual death.

Everyone will receive a baptism of fire

It is not a question of if, but when and how. If a man humbles himself before the Lord and enters into a covenant to serve Him, he’ll receive a baptism of fire in this life, one that will purify and justify him. But there are other baptisms of fire that can be received. For example, one is the baptism of fire that the earth and all those that do wickedly upon her will receive at the Second Coming. Another is the baptism of fire that occurs when the sons of perdition are immersed in the lake of fire and brimstone. One way or another, we are all eventually going to have to go through some type of baptismal fire.

And they knew it not

In closing, let me address one other thing. Jesus said that the Lamanites “were baptized with fire and with the Holy Ghost, and they knew it not.” Some have taken that to mean that the Lamanites experienced a change upon their hearts which they did not perceive, because it happened gradually, over time. In other words, that the Lord meant that there was no great manifestation during the Lamanites’ fire and Holy Ghost baptism. And also that the Lord was not referring to the 300 Lamanites who were in prison with Nephi and Lehi, but was referring instead to other Lamanite converts.

This is an incorrect interpretation.

The real meaning of the Lord’s words is that the Lamanites (the 300 souls in that prison) had a magnificent, visual baptism of fire and of the Holy Ghost, but did not know what it was. That is all that the Lord meant by what He said.

Any time someone experiences a baptism of fire without first being taught about it, they go through the experience without knowing what it is. Joseph’s First Vision fire baptism was performed on him while he was still a boy totally ignorant of such a thing as a baptism of fire. In my own life, I remember that the first time that I had a baptism of fire (prior to my water baptism) I was blown away and didn’t know what it was. The missionaries that had taught me the gospel had not explained this doctrine, so it came as a complete surprise to me and it was only years later, as I studied and learned more of the gospel on my own, that I was able to determine what the hell it was. Prior to that time, it was always an anomaly to me and when talking to others about the various spiritual experiences I had had over the years, I would always set it apart by saying something like, “The second time the Holy Ghost manifested itself to me was quite different than the other times. It was, well, a really big manifestation with a lot of power and I thought I was going to die, or I did die and came back to life. I’m not really sure what happened. All I know is I was consumed in fire but somehow survived unharmed.” Such were my ignorant descriptions. But of course it was a different manifestation than the others. It was a baptism of fire, for crying out loud! But I knew it not.

And in the same manner, neither did the Lamanites.

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The Will of God and Faith


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

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

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

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

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

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

The two historical cases:

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

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

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

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

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

The extrapolated case:

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

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

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

What about faith?

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

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

and

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

and

Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Jesus Christ, that we might be justified by the faith of Christ, and not by the works of the law: for by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified.

and

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

and

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

Faith = Word of God + Belief + the Spirit:

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

Now, we will compare the word unto a seed.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Continuing one with Alma’s preaching in chapter 32:

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

The seed Alma spoke of was:

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

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

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

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

Continuing on in Alma 32:

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

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

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

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

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

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

The desire to believe:

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

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

or

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

Then Alma advises that:

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

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

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

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

God’s will is your faith:

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

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

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

we read that Alma replies:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

and

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

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

The will of the Lord be done.

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

Next Article by Justin:

Previous Article by Justin:  The Tribal Church

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

The seeds of the powers of godliness


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

Walking by sight

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

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

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

Two principles of faith

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

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

Moving mountains

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

Power faith is celestial

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

Action faith is earthly

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

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

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

Imperfect memory is necessary for our test of power faith

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

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

Blindness required to walk by faith

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

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

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

To re-iterate:

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

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

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

We must walk by faith

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

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

The best gifts develop power faith

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

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

The gifts given to the LDS Gentile church

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

Gifts are paired

There are seven pairs of gifts.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Perfection of the saints

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

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

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

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

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

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

Paul also said:

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

Order of the gifts in the church

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

And God hath set some in the church,

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

secondarily prophets (gift to prophesy),

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

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

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

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

governments (gift of discerning of gifts),

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

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

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

and some, prophets (gift to prophesy);

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

and some, pastors (gift of discerning of gifts)

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

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

Modern view of the best gifts

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

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

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

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

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

The gift of the word of knowledge

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

Ammon possessed the word of knowledge

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

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

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

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

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

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

Now Lamoni said unto Ammon:

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

Now Lamoni said unto him:

Who told thee that thy brethren were in prison?

And Ammon said unto him:

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

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

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

The Savior mentioned the word of knowledge

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

And I command you that ye shall write these sayings after I am gone, that if it so be that my people at Jerusalem, they who have seen me and been with me in my ministry, do not ask the Father in my name, that they may receive a knowledge of you by the Holy Ghost, and also of the other tribes whom they know not of, that these sayings which ye shall write shall be kept and shall be manifested unto the Gentiles, that through the fulness of the Gentiles, the remnant of their seed, who shall be scattered forth upon the face of the earth because of their unbelief, may be brought in, or may be brought to a knowledge of me, their Redeemer. (3 Ne. 16: 4; the gift of the word of knowledge is in bold type.)

Contrasted with the gift to prophesy

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Similar gifts

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

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

All best gifts obtained by faith, not by study

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

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

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

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

Confusion of the gifts

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

How the best gifts work

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

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

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

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

Some personal experience

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

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

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

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

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

Gifts are unscientific

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

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

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

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

Gifts are intended to engender and develop faith

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Don’t avoid the best gifts

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

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

The gifts are to avoid deception

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

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

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

The gifts are no more

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

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

But two gifts left

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

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

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

The return of the gifts

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

The future use of the best gifts

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

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

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

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

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Every one of us had a perfect, wonderful and happy childhood


Old Photos

My wife recently asked me to scan in some old photos of our family.  As I looked over them, it made me once again realize how fleeting childhood is.  My kids are currently all over the childhood age spectrum.  They are all adorable to me just as they are right now, but viewing these photos and seeing how very young they were and how cute and cuddly they used to be in their earlier childhood stages, caused me to feel an acute nostalgia.  I longed for another chance at holding each one of them again in my arms, as babes and infants, or playing with them as toddlers, or watching them develop again as boys and girls.  It pained me that I wasn’t able to do that and also that my memory of those years wasn’t absolutely perfect, so as to re-live those precious experiences merely by accessing my memory.

My own childhood was very happy, but again, my memory of it is only of instances, not of continuous days, hours and minutes.  I cannot relive it by memory.  The most I can do is enjoy the childhood my kids are currently going through and to take advantage and cherish every moment I can.

Although my childhood was what I consider a happy one, it wasn’t perfectly so, of course.  None of us live perfectly happy lives, in perfect conditions.  And very many of us go through childhoods that are very far from happy, miserable even.  This is quite the shame, as childhood is so different than adulthood.  Childhood comes once and then is gone forever, whereas adulthood comes and stays with you throughout the eternities.

To have experienced a rotten childhood is such a bummer.  A child is the most alive creature on the planet and deserves to be around adults who are also alive and vibrant.  Often, though, life turns adults sour and adults take out that sourness on everyone around them, including the children.  This is unfortunate because once the sparkle of childhood, which can be seen in each child’s eyes and in their smile, is gone, it is gone forever.

At least, that is the conventional view.  My understanding is a bit different.

Memory of Mortality

When I was eighteen years old, I was once praying to God about something and in the midst of the prayer the Holy Ghost responded.  I cannot recall what I was praying about, but I do recall the communication.  It made quite the impression on me because it was the first time I had received anything from the Spirit while praying.  Here I was talking to God and then I get interrupted by a message.  Anyway, the Spirit told me that, by divine design,  our memory during mortality was not perfect.  She told me that the ability to forget was a gift of God given to us during our mortal existence, so that the purposes of God would not be thwarted.  Apparently, a perfect mortal memory, meaning a perfect memory of mortality, or of our mortal existence, would create tremendous guilt in mankind and we, having a perfect remembrance during mortality of all the bad things we’d done, would, essentially, end our lives.  Guilt, apparently, if it cannot be removed from one’s brain or mind or heart, is an unquenchable fire that destroys humanity.  Mankind self-destructs if faced with non-stop, perfectly rememberd guilt.  The atonement has power to remove that guilt, but much of mankind does not apply the atonement, or does not know of it, therefore, if mankind had a perfect memory here on earth Satan would conquer all and frustrate the plans of God.  The Spirit explained to me, then, that God had given us the ability to forget with the passage of time and the inability to recall things perfectly, to extend the lives of man upon the earth, giving them the opportunity to learn of the gospel and accept the atonement.

Again, I don’t recall exactly what I was praying about, but I think I was praying about memory, which is why I got this answer.  At any rate, I remember I was satisfied by this answer, and I was content to not have a perfect memory during mortality.

Memory of Pre-Mortality

We are all taught that there was a veil of forgetfulness placed upon us before we were born here on Earth.  This is why we cannot remember our pre-mortal existence.  This veil of forgetfulness allows us to exercise faith in the Lord because it takes away our memories of Him.  If we all had perfect memories of our pre-mortal existence, there would be no test or trial.  Mortality would be as easy to pass as if we were still living in God’s presence, for with a perfect memory of our life there, sin would hold no temptation to us here.  So, God temporarily took away our memory of our life there, so that we wouldn’t be influenced in our decisions here.  This veil of forgetfulness appears to have been placed upon our spirits, or spiritual bodies.  In other words, the veil of forgetfulness is not an aspect of our physical, mortal bodies.  On the other hand, I learned from the Spirit that God made our physical, mortal bodies in such a way as to limit our mortal memories.  In other words, the faulty or imperfect memory we have here during mortality is a result of the physicality connected to our spirits, the physical clothing acting as a dampener of the spiritual senses, limiting what we can see and perceive (and remember) through the spiritual senses.

The Restoration of All Memories

In the resurrection, we get our memories back.  We’ll remember both our pre-mortal existence perfectly and also our mortal experiences perfectly.  The immortal bodies we receive will have the intentional limitation that was placed there taken out, so as to be able to recall every instance of our lives, back to the very starting day when we first came into existence.  The blood of Christ will have been applied to everyone who inherits the kingdom of God (any of the three glories), so there will be no more guilt upon us and it will be expedient to see the sum of our lives finally.

Again, this happens in the resurrection, not in upon death.  Upon death, we all will enter into the spirit world, some of us going to paradise, others to spirit prison.  Without the physical body, the limitation that the body imposed upon our spirits concerning the dampening of the senses, including the memory, will be lifted, so that all will be able to sense fully, with perfect remembrance of every instance of their mortal lives.  Those with unrepentant guilt will have that guilt ignited into a fire that will consume them until they accept the gospel and repent, while those who have already repented will have peace of mind.  Unlike mortality, the guilt felt by the unrepentant sinners in the spirit world will not cause them to take their lives, for they cannot die, being immortal spirits, but it will merely give them the misery associated with the suffering of the damned, with gnashing of teeth, etc., until they repent and obtain the relief brought by the blood of Christ and forgiveness of sin.

The spirits in prison or in paradise, although possessing a perfect memory of their mortal existence, will still not remember their pre-mortal existence, as the veil of forgetfulness was placed upon their spirit bodies and will not be lifted until the resurrection.  Because of this, missionary work still needs to be done among the spirits in prison, for, if they could remember their pre-mortal existence, they would also be able to remember the plan of salvation and all that we learned then, and would have no need of missionaries preaching to them.  Their memories would be a sufficient preacher.  However, while residing in the spirit world, prior to the resurrection, nobody will recall their pre-mortal existence.

Two childhoods

Childhood being such a special time of life, one of the blessings that God has in store for each of His children is the restoration of the memory of their mortal childhood.  Now, that can be both good and bad.  Good if you had a happy childhood, bad if you were abused or otherwise had a miserable childhood.  However, He’s got that covered, too.

In the heavens, we also had a childhood.  Unlike our earthly parents, our heavenly Parents did everything right.  They provided the best environment, full of love and opportunities to learn and grow.  Whereas our mortal childhood is fleeting, our heavenly childhood lasted a veritable eternity.  We were perfectly happy in every sense of the word.  We enjoyed our siblings, our environment, the animals and other creations of God, the beauty seen everywhere, our own spirit bodies and those of others, and most especially, we enjoyed our Parents.  They were perfect in every way.  Every expression they had, ever word they spoke, every action they took, was perfectly calculated to make their children happy.  We were ectatic in their presence.  They understood how special childhood is and did not let time slip away from them.  They enjoyed our childhood as much as we did.

No comparison

Take the happiest child in the world, or the adults who claim to have had the happiest children of all and compare them with the childhood we all had in the heavens and we’d all see that there is no comparison.  The heavenly childhood lasted virtually an eternity.  In comparison, here it is less than an instant.  There we had all our needs taken care of, with perfect bodies, with unlimited opportunities and an infinite number of new things to confront our senses.  It was a continuous marvel of new wonders 24-hours a day, non-stop.  Imagine a kid in such a situation!  He or she would be giddy with excitement.  Such was our heavenly childhood.  Here, as children we have the same inclinations of wonder at all the new things, but rarely do we get to indulge ourselves in wonder and excitement.  Mostly, children are taught here to conform to the rules, not to explore their world.  Children often don’t have their needs taken care of.  Many are in loveless or abusive environments.  And many have imperfect bodies, being lame, blind, mutilated, etc.  Still, the spirit inside is a child and thus, is holy and heavenly, having come from a place of wonder.

Additionally, children here on earth have their adulthood forced upon them.  They get to a certain age and their bodies forcibly change them into an adult.  There is nothing they can do about it.  In yonder heavens, though, we had untramelled agency.  Want to stay a child?  Okay, stay a child for as long as you want.  Want to become an adult? (and the adult of our species is called a god, with reproductive capabilities), well, okay, you can go through the process of becoming an adult by being born into a physical, mortal body and then following the plan of salvation.  This is why our heavenly childhood was of a seemingly endless duration.  Every child placed into such a heavenly situation would voluntarily choose to stay in that state for an exceedingly long time, a veritable eternity.  Only when we had had our fill of being children, having reached the point of learning and playing that the next new wonders were with adulthood, only then did we have the desire to become an adult, and only then did we leave behind our heavenly childhood and enter mortality to begin the process.  Due to the quantity of new wonders in heaven, our heavenly childhood must have been mindboggingly long and exciting.  Any way you look at it, the heavenly childhood was superior to what we experience here.

When our memories come back

In the resurrection, we all will remember our heavenly childhood and will be able to re-live it, through our perfect memory, over and over again.  That memory will bring us so much joy and will wipe away or overpower any sorrow we might have felt about our mortal childhood.  Everyone, then, is going to get the memories of the perfect childhood.  With the perfect Parents.  And the perfect environment.  The Lord, in His mercy and foreknowledge, in this way can mend our broken mortal childhood memories and give us something infinitely better.

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The Holy Ghost is a Woman


The following is an excerpt taken from the NCCG.ORG web site. It is from the article, Yah’shua the Messiah (Jesus Christ) and His Place in the Godhead.  I have lifted it verbatim, trying to keep it in its original font size and color, but have hyperlinked all the scriptures. 

The Personality of the Ruach haQodesh (Holy Spirit) 

To understand how the Son was created by the Father we must now turn to the third member of the Godhead, the Ruach haQodesh (Holy Spirit). That the Spirit is a PERSON and not just an INVISIBLE FORCE is proven by many passages, though it is equally true that the ACTIVITY of the Spirit is often present in neutral, sexless terms. 

To lie to the Ruach haQodesh (Holy Spirit) is to lie to God [Eloah] (Ac.5:3-4). And the way that the Third Member of the Godhead is linked to both the Father and the Son in 1 Corinthians 12:4-6 and 2 Corinthians 13:14 would be a blasphemy if the Ruach haQodesh (Holy Spirit) were not God [Eloah]. The Ruach (Spirit) shows personality – thus She “understands” (Rom.8:27, Aram.), She “wills” (Ac.13:2; 1 Cor.12:11, Aram.), She may be “grieved” (Eph.4:30, Aram.). Such terms would be meaningless if applied solely to an impersonal power or influence. 

The Feminine Gender of the Ruach haQodesh (Holy Spirit) 

According to both classical Trinitarian and Binitarian models, the Third Member of the Godhead is MALE. The problem here is that in the Hebrew OLD TESTAMENT the Spirit is always FEMALE and in the GREEK New Testament either MALE or NEUTER, thus creating a CONTRADICTION. No Person can have three genders! 

But the problem is eliminated when we turn to the original HEBREW and ARAMAIC texts of the New Testament from which the GREEK texts were translated. As one scholar notes: 

    “One problem that presents itself in translating the New Testament from Hebrew and Aramaic into English is that of the gender of the Ruach haKodesh (Holy Spirit). English is very different from Hebrew and Aramaic. To begin with, English has three genders, masculine, feminine and neuter (i.e. he, she and it). Hebrew and Aramaic have no neuter gender. In Hebrew and Aramaic everything is either a “he” or a “she” and nothing is an “it”. Also gender plays a much more important rôle in Hebrew and in Aramaic than in English. In English gender is usually only an issue when dealing with pronouns. But in Hebrew and Aramaic nouns and verbs are also masculine or feminine. And while there are no true adjectives in Hebrew (nouns are also used as adjectives), noun modifiers must agree in gender with the noun. Now the Hebrew word RUACH (Aramaic RUCHA) is grammatically feminine as is the phrase Ruach haKodesh. This is matched by the rôle of the Ruach haKodesh as “comforter” (Jn.14-16) and the identifier of the “comforter” with YHWH acting as a “mother” (Is.66:13).
    “Now in English the Ruach is often referred to as “he” or “it” as also in the Greek New Testament. However this seems very odd indeed to the Semitic mind.
    “Now it is very clear that the gender of the RUACH has been revised in many passages of the Aramaic to agree with the Hellenistic concept of the Holy Spirit as being either a “he” or an “it”. Thus the pronouns used for the Ruach haKodesh in Jn.14-16 in the Peshitta are all masculine. However, the hand of revision is very clear. For example while both the Peshitta and Old Syriac have “he” in Jn.16:8 the Old Syriac has “she” just a few verses further down in 16:13 while the Peshitta has “he”.
    “And She the Ruach gives testimony …” 
    (James S. Trimm, Hebraic-Roots Version “New Testament”, 2001, SANJ, Hurst, Texas, pp.xxxiii-xxxiv)

The Book of Proverbs and the Ruach haQodesh (Holy Spirit) 

Because of this confusion of genders both scholars and scriptorians often mistakenly believe that the “Wisdom” of God in the Book of Proverbs is an allusion to the Second Member of the Godhead, Yah’shua (Jesus). Thus William F. Dankenbring writes:  

    “A clear allusion to this fact of divine unity of plurality is found in the book of Proverbs. Here the second member of the Godhead is revealed, as the “Wisdom” of God. Notice this remarkable Scripture witness!:
     “The LORD possessed me in the BEGINNING of his way, before His works of old. I was set up [established] FROM EVERLASTING, from the BEGINNING, or ever the earth was. When there were no depths, I WAS BROUGHT FORTH [CREATED, BORN]; when there were no fountains abounding with water. Before the mountains were settled, before the hills was I BROUGHT FORTH [CREATED, BORN] … When He prepared the heavens, I WAS THERE … when He appointed the foundations of the earth: THEN I WAS BY HIM, as one brought up with Him: and I was daily His delight, rejoicing always before Him; rejoicing in the habitable part of his earth; and my delights were with the sons of men” (Proverbs 8:22-31, KJV).

 The Old Testament “Wisdom” is a Female Personage 

However, as Karen Vaughan points out: 

    Sophia, the Greek translation of the Hebrew Hochmah is the feminine personification of Wisdom in the Pentateuch. She is neither a goddess nor a new age creation of feminist theologians. She was a real biblical person with more material on her in the Old Testament (with Apocrypha) than anyone in the scriptures, except God, Job, Moses and David …
    “One reason we little consider Sophia, even in readings of the Old Testament, is that English translations usually translate the feminine Sophia into the abstract “Wisdom”. Although the Greek and Hebrew words were fully feminine, the English is not. The fullest development of her is in the so-called “Wisdom Books” of the apocrypha in the Greek Pentateuch (sic. – should be Tanakh or Old Testament – ed.) that were canonised into Christian Scripture and are still used by the Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox churches. Sophia dominates the first nine chapters of Proverbs and is found in both the Old and New Testaments.
    “In the Hebrew tradition, Sophia was considered to have been with God from the beginning of Creation. In Proverbs 8:27-51, Sophia says:
    “When God [Yahweh] set the heavens in place, I was present,
    When God drew a ring on the surface of the deep,
    When God fixed the clouds above,
    When God fixed fast the wells of the deep,
    when God assigned the sea its limits-
    and the waters will not invade the land,
    when God established the foundations of the earth,
    I was by God’s side, a master craftswoman,
    delighting God day after day,
    ever at play by God’s side,
    at play everywhere in God’s domain,
    delighting to be with the children of humanity.”
    Sophia, in the biblical creation was not ‘a god’, but was a divine being. It is not clear that She was uncreated like Jesus [Yah’shua]: the word used to refer to Her creation also means “acquired” by God. Proverbs 8:22 – “God created me [acquired me] (Sophia) when God’s purpose first unfolded.” Ecclesiasticus 1:14 – “before all things, Sophia was created.” She serves at the heart of the creative process, as Wisdom and as Teacher who was sent by God to save humanity. The book of Wisdom speaks to Her divinity (7:25-26):
    She is the breath of God’s power & a stream of pure glory of the Almighty.
    This is why nothing polluted enters Her.
    For She mirrors God’s energy completely, and She images God’s goodness.”
    (Review of the book Sophia in the Biblical Tradition (Harper and Row; 1986) by Susan Cady, Marian Ronan and Hal Taussig)

From this we are able to come to two stunning conclusions: 

  • 1. Hochma/Sophia/Wisdom was CREATED;
  • 2. She is GOD in a subordinate sense.
  • In other words, She was created at some “beginning” JUST AS YAH’SHUA (JESUS) was. In Hebrew tradition, Hochma / Sophia / Wisdom is known also as the Ruach haQodesh (Holy Spirit) (Prov.8:22-31) and the HEAVENLY MOTHER — a created being, and was “by God’s [Eloah’s] side. 

    Implications

    If the above is accurate about Hebrew, surely this opens up a new can of worms.  For example, would this not change our view of the nature of the Godhead (Father, Son and Mother)?  Of priesthood?  Of priests and priestesses or prophets and prophetesses (listen to verse 3: not Mrs. Priest and Mrs Prophet but female priests and female prophets)?  Of the gifts of the Spirit?  Of the miraculous birth of Jesus?  Of speaking or working by the power of the Holy Ghost?  Of our worship of the Father (in the name of the Son, by the power of the Mother)???

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    What The Priesthood Is


    Note: I found this essay while surfing the Internet this past week.  I took it from the mormon_anarchy Yahoo group.  Wake_Up posted it there on Sun Oct 8, 2000, as the third message and now I’m re-posting it here in a slightly edited fashion (I tried to correct some typos). I have also re-posted three more of his essays.  (See Why Father is an Anarchist, Congruence vs. Obedience, and Agency: The Single Principle for a Continuous War.)

    Please keep in mind that I did not write this article. I tried to contact the author, (whose real name, according to Stirling D. Allen, is Jahnihah Wrede), but my email was returned as “Undelivered Mail Returned to Sender.”  If you want more information about him or his views, I suggest you visit his (now defunct) web site, which you can view by using the Way Back Machine.

    What The Priesthood Is

    Whenever I ask this question, people invaribly answer with,

    “The Priesthood is the authority to act in the name of God.”

    Unfortunately, this rhetorical regurgitation does not even address the question.

    To explain ‘what’ the Priesthood (PH) is requires first to know what its substance is. Only then can one understand its purposeful use. One must come to realize that the PH has parts and attributes to it that define ‘what’ it really is before one can be capable of attempting to ‘use’ PH power.

    It would be very much like trying to use an automobile to convey one’s self down the street when lacking an understanding of what it is, or the manner in which each component functions to utilize it as it was created for – to safely travel down the street. Can you remember any time in your life when you were completely perplexed by something totally foreign to your knowledge? All of us have experienced this. Learning about the pro-creative powers of our bodies and the truth behind the ‘birds and bees’ astonished us all when we found out what ‘it’ was for. Coming to an understanding of ‘what’ the PH is, is no different.

    Allow me to ask you a simpler question to help define where our focus should be in answering ‘what’ the PH is.

    “What is a credit card?”

    If your answer begins to explain what you can ‘do’ with it, or the responsibilities attached to it, or who can use one, then you have not told me the first thing to answer my question which should be an explanation about it being a piece of plastic. How perplexed would a person be 70 years ago in their attempt to describe a piece of plastic? Could anyone have conceived of such a substance that was neither wood, metal, leather or glass, yet was a substitute for them all? It didn’t exist then, but we take plastic for granted as it is everywhere a part of our daily lives now. It’s the same with the PH. Now you see that any answer that does not begin to define the nature and substance of the PH is a stumbling block to truly being able to function within it, or operate congruent to it.

    So then, ‘What is the PH ?’

    In reading the Holy Writ of God, we typically find certain nouns being used, but we rarely associate attributes to these nouns.  Further more, we don’t compare the sets of attributes of each noun with one another to obtain a much larger perspective on what God is telling us. Take ‘Truth’ for example. Like defining ‘PH’, we are stuck with rhetoric instead of enlightenment. ‘Truth’ has certain attributes as does ‘Spirit’, ‘Light’, ‘intelligence’, ‘charity’, ‘faith’ and of course, ‘PH’.  When we discern the attributes and nature of each these nouns, we begin to discover something odd – that they all share the same attributes and nature, though some are merely sub-sets of the others. In other words, God has apparently been holding our hand in a very detailed manner to explain to us everything about who He is, and how He operates ALL though scripture.  We just haven’t taken advantage gathering up all these details, and then standing back to look at them for what they are, and their relationship to each other.

    All through this article, which is admittedly my own personal paradigm, you’ll find that each subject doesn’t really have a clear beginning and end because each item of discussion are all inter-related to the others and consequently I am talking about only ONE thing by taking several different perspectives in order that I might be understood. Consequently, my weakness in writing only compounds the already difficult task. My apologies, please bear with me through all of this.

    Several times in scripture we are told about the attributes of PH, but we mistake them for ‘how’ we ought to be behaving BEFORE exercising the ‘PH’. The reality is that those attributes ARE the detailed description of the ‘PH’, and until we are indeed living congruently within those Godly attributes ourselves, we can forget about ‘using’ the powers “inseparably connected” to the PH.

    Instead of listing those attributes here, I listed them above as ultimately ‘charity’ contains the exact same set of attributes as PH, because it is indeed “inseparably connected” – even the same thing with a little different descriptive perspective. Charity is ‘what’ Priesthood is – provided that you know ‘what’ charity truly is, you also know ‘what’ PH is.

    While this turns authoritarian mindsets upside down, I want to remind you that men have consistently reversed the meaning of the truth of the Gospel. Sometimes unintentionally out of ignorance; most other times intentionally in attempts to obtain or maintain control upon men rather than to ‘let them go’ after the presentation of the truth. While it is true that a ‘church’ is an assembled body of believers, the intention was to refrain from stifling growth toward mankind’s pinnacle of potential – being Joint-Heirs with Jesus Christ; Godhood.

    As long as men maintain control of ‘PH’, and only hand salvation out piecemeal to those who are required to believe a specific dogma before obtaining it, all mankind will remain in bondage. While it is true that PH authority is conferred, even that person can not hold onto it if they become incongruent to PH itself. NO ONE, by mere virtue of having been ‘ordained’, can justify acting in any Godly authority if they are incongruent to the attributes and methods of operation of PH. A person’s ‘calling’ or ‘office’ does not give them PH, and it can not sustain them in acting incongruent to the very powers they wish to violate or disassociate themselves from in ANY DEGREE.

    Many people fear this paradigm because of the idea that God is somehow ‘inferior’ to PH. God is congruent to PH as He Himself has developed the nature and attributes of Godliness, which attributes and nature are those He has described as ‘charity’ or PH.

    God ‘surfs’ the wave of PH. He doesn’t attempt to change it, or fight against it. The very principles that allow the entire universe to exist is the method of harmony God has found to be Eternally True, and thus He has made every effort to explain them to us, also.  Invariably, everything that Christianity teaches about Jesus being a person full of love is exactly the harmony existing in the universe.  Becoming congruent to that existence is what God has done, and what we must also discover for ourselves. We could fight against it, but we would then be like Lucifer. It’s our choice.  We have complete freedom to choose it just as God or Lucifer does.

    The ‘spirit’ or ‘PH’ is not withdrawn from us the very moment we exercise any degree of unrighteous dominion, but we ‘fall’ from it.  When we choose to be incongruent to those attributes, we disconnect ourselves from the very powers of Heaven. God can also suffer the same consequence because He is just as free to choose as we are, but it would require Him to do something totally outside of His nature and character. It would require Him behaving in a manner that is totally unlike Himself. Just as it is inconceivable to the vast majority of us to commit murder, it is for God to become incongruent to PH. God can fall from being God, just like Lucifer did, and just like we can freely choose to become congruent to PH or to fight against it, and consequently God, too.

    Wake_Up

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