THIS BLOG ATTEMPTS TO SHOW HOW SCIENCE IS CATCHING UP WITH REVEALED RELIGION

THIS BLOG IS AN ATTEMPT TO PUT ALL THE COOL STUFF THAT I BUMP INTO ABOUT THE SECOND COMING OF CHRIST AND EVENTS THAT LEAD UP TO IT INTO ONE LOCATION.
THE CONTENTS WILL BE FROM AN LDS PERSPECTIVE. IF YOU DISAGREE WITH ANYTHING IN HERE, I DO NOT PARTICULARLY CARE TO ARGUE, UNLESS YOU CAN ADD TO THIS BODY OF WORK. I HAVE AN OPEN MIND, THAT IS WHY I READ STUFF FROM ALL DIFFERENT PERSPECTIVES AND SEEK LEARNING FROM THE BEST BOOKS. I JUST AM NOT HERE TO ARGUE ABOUT IT - BUT TO PUT IT OUT THERE WHERE OTHERS CAN PERUSE/PURSUE IT. I TAKE PARTICULAR INTEREST IN HONEST SEEKERS OF TRUTH AND BELIEVE THAT SCIENCE IS REVEALED RELIGION'S BEST ALLY. YOU WILL SEE ALOT OF TOPICS IN THIS BLOG THAT SHOW SCIENCE BACKING - AND SLOWLY CATCHING UP WITH - REVEALED RELIGION.
ENJOY!!

Wednesday, December 30, 2009

JOSEPH SMITH'S PATRIARCHAL BLESSING

We have access to the blessings of the great patriarchs of the earlier dispensations in the Scriptures.

Why not Joseph Smith's blessing - the greatest (new) mortal to cross this sphere in the past 1900 years?

Here we go - and "praise to the man who communed with Jehovah!":


Joseph Smith,Jr.

Given by Joseph Smith, Sr., Patriarch of the Church of the Latter Day Saints, to his son on December 9, 1834. Joseph Smith, junior was born in Sharon, Windsor County, Vermont, December 23, 1805.

Joseph, my son, I lay my hands upon thy head in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, to confirm upon thee a father's blessing. The Lord thy God has called thee by name out of the heavens: thou hast heard his voice from on high from time to time, even in thy youth. The hand of the angel of his presence has been extended toward thee by which thou hast been lifted up and sustained; yea, the Lord has delivered thee from the hands of thine enemies and thou hast been made to rejoice in his salvation:
thou hast sought to know his ways, and from thy childhood thou hast meditated much upon the great things of his law. Thou hast suffered much in thy youth, and the poverty and afflictions of thy father's family have been a grief to thy soul. Thou hast desired to see them delivered from bondage, for thou hast loved them with a perfect love. Thou hast stood by thy father, and like Shem, would have covered his nakedness, rather than see him exposed to shame: when the daughters of the Gentiles laughed, thy heart has been moved with a just anger to avenge thy kindred. Thou hast been an obedient son: the commands of thy father and the reproofs of thy mother, thou hast respected and obeyed - for all these things the Lord my God will bless thee. Thou hast been called, even in thy youth to the great work of the Lord: to do a work in this generation which no man would do as thyself, in all things according to the will of the Lord. A marvelous work and a wonder has the Lord wrought by thy hand, even that which shall prepare the way for the remnants of his people to come in among the Gentiles, with their fulness, as the tribes of Israel are restored.

I bless thee with the blessings of thy fathers Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, and even the blessings of thy father Joseph, the son of Jacob. Behold, he looked after his posterity in the last days, when they should be scattered and driven by the Gentiles, and wept before the Lord: he sought diligently to know from whence the son should come who should bring forth the word of the Lord, by which they might be enlightened, and brought back to the true fold, and his eyes beheld thee, my son: his heart rejoiced and his soul was satisfied, and he said, As my blessings are to extend to the utmost bounds of the everlasting hills, as my father's blessing prevailed above the blessings of his progen[i]tor, and as my branches are to run over the wall, and my seed are to inherit the choice land whereon the Zion of God shall stand in the last days, from among my seed, scattered with the Gentiles, shall a choice Seer arise whose bowles shall be as a fountain of truth, whose loins shall be girded with the girdle of righteousness, whose hands shall be lifted with acceptance before the God of Jacob to turn away his anger from his annointed, whose heart shall meditate great wisdom, whose intelligence shall circumscribe and comprehend the deep things of God, and whose mouth shall utter the law of the just: His feet shall stand upon the neck of his enemies, and he shall walk upon the ashes of those who seek his destruction: with wine and oil shall he be sustained, and he shall feed upon the heritage of Jacob his father: the just shall desire his society, and the upright in heart shall be his companions: No weapon formed against him shall prosper, and though the wicked mar him for a little season, he shall be like one rising up in the heat of wine - he shall roar in his strength, and the Lord shall put to flight his
persecutors: he shall be blessed like the fruitful olive, and his memory shall be as sweet as the choice cluster of the first ripe grapes. Like a shief fully ripe, gathered into the garner, so shall he stand before the Lord, having produced a hundred fold. Thus spake my father Joseph.
Therefore, my son, I know for a surety that those things will be fulfilled, and I confirm upon thee all these blessings.

Thou shalt like to do the work which the Lord shall command thee: Thou shalt hold the Keys of this ministry, even the presidency of this church, both in time and in eternity. Thy heart shall be enlarged, and thou shalt be able to fill up the measure of thy days according to the will of the Lord. Thou shalt speak the word of the Lord and the earth shall tremble; the mountains shall move and the rivers shall turn out of their course. Thou shalt escape the edge of the sword, and put to flight the armies of the wicked. At thy word the lame shall walk, the deaf shall hear and the blind shall see. Thou shalt be gathered to Zion and in the goodly land thou shalt enjoy thine inheritance; thy children and thy children's children to the latest generation; for thy name and the names of thy posterity shall be recorded in the book of the Lord, even in the book of blessings and genealogies, for their joy and benefit forever. And now, my son, what more shall I say? Thou art as a fruitful olive and a choice vine: thou shalt be laden with precious fruit.
Thousands and tens of thousands shall come to a knowledge of the truth through thy ministry, and thou shalt rejoice with them in the Celestial
Kingdom:

Thou shalt stand upon the earth when it shall reel to and fro as a drunken man, and be removed out of its place: thou shalt stand when the mighty judgments go forth to the destruction of the wicked: thou shalt stand on Mount Zion when the tribes of Jacob come shouting from the north, and with thy brethren, the sons of Ephraim, crown them in the name of Jesus Christ: Thou shalt see thy Redeemer come in the clouds of heaven, and with the just receive the hallowed throng with shouts of hallalujahs, praise the Lord. Amen

MOTHER MARY SHIPTON'S WORDS TO COME ABOUT?

If you dig through this blog, there is alot of stuff about what is/may be going on in our heavens as we are told to watch for signs in the heavens and in the earth of our Lord's coming. Mother Mary Shipton, an English prophetess from times past had alot to say about a fascinating celestial event that will occur repeatedly. I have been watching this particular celestial development for several years now since they first discovered it (which subsequently spawned a bunch of Hollywood disaster movies).

It appears that life may be imitating art - and oh how it bugs me that Hollywood is taking the lead on anything that is remotely correct - other than proof positive that old scratch exists and is building his wretched kingdom here in defiance of truth and righteousness.

Here is the article:

By VLADIMIR ISACHENKOV, Associated Press Writer Vladimir Isachenkov, Associated Press Writer – Wed Dec 30, 8:28 am ET

MOSCOW – Russia's space chief said Wednesday his agency will consider sending a spacecraft to a large asteroid to knock it off its path and prevent a possible collision with Earth.

Anatoly Perminov said the space agency will hold a meeting soon to assess a mission to Apophis, telling Golos Rossii radio that it would invite NASA, the European Space Agency, the Chinese space agency and others to join the project once it is finalized.

When the 270-meter (885-foot) asteroid was first discovered in 2004, astronomers estimated the chances of it smashing into Earth in its first flyby in 2029 were as high as 1-in-37.

Further studies ruled out the possibility of an impact in 2029, when the asteroid is expected to come no closer than 18,300 miles (29,450 kilometers) above Earth's surface, but they indicated a small possibility of a hit on subsequent encounters.

In October, NASA lowered the odds that Apophis could hit Earth in 2036 from a 1-in-45,000 as earlier thought to a 1-in-250,000 chance after researchers recalculated the asteroid's path. It said another close encounter in 2068 will involve a 1-in-330,000 chance of impact.

Scientists have long theorized about asteroid deflection strategies. Some have proposed sending a probe to circle around a dangerous asteroid to gradually change its trajectory. Others suggested sending a spacecraft to collide with the asteroid and alter its momentum, or using nuclear weapons to hit it.

Without mentioning NASA findings, Perminov said that he heard from a scientist that Apophis is getting closer and may hit the planet. "I don't remember exactly, but it seems to me it could hit the Earth by 2032," Perminov said.

He wouldn't disclose any details of the project, saying they still need to be worked out. But he said the mission wouldn't require any nuclear explosions.

Hollywood action films "Deep Impact" and "Armageddon," have featured space missions scrambling to avoid catastrophic collisions. In both movies space crews use nuclear bombs in an attempt to prevent collisions.

"Calculations show that it's possible to create a special purpose spacecraft within the time we have, which would help avoid the collision without destroying it (the asteroid) and without detonating any nuclear charges," Perminov said. "The threat of collision can be averted."

"People's lives are at stake. We should pay several hundred million dollars and build a system that would allow to prevent a collision, rather than sit and wait for it to happen and kill hundreds of thousands of people," he added.

Boris Shustov, the director of the Institute of Astronomy under the Russian Academy of Sciences, hailed Perminov's statement as a signal that officials had come to recognize the danger posed by asteroids.

"Apophis is just a symbolic example, there are many other dangerous objects we know little about," he said, according to RIA Novosti news agency.

Monday, December 28, 2009

BOOK OF MORMON STYLE DESTRUCTION - SUBMERGED CITY





Another CATASTROPHIST evidence of the Book of Mormon. We have read the accounts of when Christ was crucified in the Old World, there was an earthquake big enough to rend the veil of the temple from top to bottom.

In the new world, there was destruction on a massive scale. Here is one of the results:

Divers explore Mayan ruins in Guatamalan lake
Divers probe Mayan ruins submerged in volcanic lake in Guatemala
Credit: New Media, Universidad Francisco Marroquín
Samabaj, the first underwater archaeological ruins excavated in Guatemala, were discovered accidentally 12 years ago
Source: New Media, Universidad Francisco Marroquín | Samabaj: un sitio sumergido en el Lago de Atitlán
| 11-01-2009
Lake Atitlán is a large lake (one that does not flow to the sea) in the Guatemalan Highlands. While Atitlan is recognized to be the deepest lake in Central America, its bottom has not been completely sounded. Estimates of its maximum depth range up to 340 meters.
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Samabaj, the first underwater archaeological ruins excavated in Guatemala, were discovered accidentally 12 years ago by Roberto Samayoa, a local businessman and recreational diver, exploring picturesque Lake Atitlan, ringed by Mayan villages and popular with foreign tourists.

Samayoa, whose grandmother told him legends of a sunken church, dived for years at the lake, often stumbling across pieces of pottery from the Mayan pre-classic period. In 1996, he found the site, with parts of buildings and huge ceremonial stones, known as stelae, clearly visible.

Only recently have professional archeologists taken an interest in investigating these matters, mapping the 400-square-meter (4,300-square-foot) area with sonar technology and excavating structures on a raised part of the lake bed.

Researchers believe this area, 50 feet below the lake's surface, was once an island until a catastrophic event raised water levels around 250 A.D. just before the height of the Mayan empire. The rising lake drowned the buildings and ceramics found intact there suggest the inhabitants left in a hurry.

"We have found six ceremonial monuments and four altars and without doubt there are more, which means this was an extremely important place from a spiritual point of view," lead archaeologist Sonia Medrano told Reuters in an interview.

THE TOMB WHERE NO DEAD MENS BONES LAY

I know this is out of season - this should be more of a Passover kind of article, but I have been reading up on Joseph of Arimathea to find out how he was rich enough to have his own tomb freshly hewn out of solid limestone which later became the temporary resting spot for Jesus' body.

I have also been trying to get more info on reports that he was a key figure in moving the gospel forward to some of the scattered remnants of the 10 tribes in Europe - most notably in England.

Here is some more background on this remarkable man:


Britain, Phoenicia's Secret Treasure, and its Conversion to Christianity
The Legendary Tin Mines of Cornwall

When Rome was still a tiny village on the Palatine Hill, Phoenician traders were sailing their ships the length and breadth of the Mediterranean and beyond in search of goods to be sold or traded for a handsome profit. There were great risks in making a long sea voyage and bringing home a valuable cargo, but the enormous profit that could be made from selling the goods made the risks worthwhile. The key was to trade a product that was unique, very desirable, hard to get, or desperately needed for other products that were common in the land of the people with whom you were trading. These products may be rare and desirable someplace else, and the trader now had something with which he could once again make a profit.

Tin was just such a product in the ancient world. Tin was vital to the ancients because it was needed in the making of bronze. Bronze was an alloy, or a mixture of two or more metals. To make bronze, the metal smith mixed copper with the proper amount of tin. Copper tools and weapons by themselves were too soft and did not long remain sharp. Tin made the copper harder and also made the molten metal fill the mold more completely when it was cast into useful objects like axe heads, hammers, and jewelry. So many useful articles were made of bronze in ancient times that no civilization could thrive very long without a supply of it or the copper and tin needed to make it.

The deposits of tin in the ancient world were usually small and not very plentiful. The Phoenicians discovered the tin deposits of the British Isles through their own exploring and seeking out of new products and markets for them. They kept the knowledge of the Cornish tin mines a closely guarded secret so they could control trade in the metal and charge a high price for it. After the Punic wars, Carthage, the one remaining city of the Phoenicians, became less and less an important economic power. With their well - known efficiency and thoroughness, the Romans counted access to the British tin mines as one of the advantages of conquering the island. Julius Caesar knew of the importance of British tin when he invaded the island in 55 to 54 B.C. After the conquest of Britain during the reign of Claudius, the Romans were in control of most of the world's supply of the metal. Hence, the closely guarded treasure secret of Britain's tin passed hands from the Phoenicians to the Romans.

The fact that tin trade existed is too well attested to need proof. Herodotus as early as 445 BC speaks of the British Isles as the Tin Islands or Cassiterides. Pytheas (352-323 BC) mentions the tin trade, as does also Polybius (circa 160). Diodorus Siculus gives a detailed description of the trade. He tells us that the tin was mined, beaten into squares, and carried to an island called Ictis, joined to the mainland at low tide, which is generally held to be Mount St. Michael in Cornwall, although some have identified it with Falmouth. Thence it was shipped to Morlais, and transported across France on pack horses to Marseilles. From Marseilles it was again shipped to Phoenicia. Innumerable ancient workings in Cornwall still attest the trade, and tin is still mined there today. Lord Avebury and Sir John Evans held the opinion that the trade existed as early as 1500 BC, and Sir Edward Creasy in his History of England writes: "The British mines mainly suppled the glorious adornment of Solomon's Temple". This matter ties in very well with the involvement of Phoenician builders with construction of Solomon's Temple.

Travel Between the Eastern Mediterranean and Britain

Before going into the controversial question of Glastonbury, Joseph of Arimathea and the stories or legends which surround it, one needs to stop at a few points to determine some basic givens. Glastonbury is traditionally the first Christian sanctuary in Great Britain, visited, so legend has it, by Joseph of Arimathea and Saints David & Patrick. It has a strong tradition in British history dating back to the time of King Arthur who is said to have been buried at the Abbey beside his lovely wife Queen Guinevere. His body was moved at a later date. Further, at Glastonbury Joseph of Arimathea is said to have planted the Holy Thorn tree which is still growing there today. Also, a holy well is supposed to be still found there.

The strong tradition tying Joseph of Arimathea with Glastonbury and the Phoenician tin trade with Cornwall may have strong thread of truth that ties them together. The only known sailors who came from the Eastern Mediterranean to Britain were Phoenician. Hence, the elementary conclusion is that Joseph of Arimathea, if he really made the trip(s), must have done it on Phoenician ships.

If this hypothesis is accepted, further reading on the subject could be accommodated. However, some claims and details seem far fetched but are presented herewith for your consideration despite their implausibility.

Below, the account is presented as is even though the author does not necessarily agree with this presentation in its totality.

However, for historical reference presents this some what irrefutable point of evidence:

Historians William of Malmesbury, Maelgwyn of Llandaff and Polydore Vergil all place Joseph of Arimathea at Glastonbury. Even the four Church councils of Pisa 1409, Constance 1417, Sienna 1424 and Basle 1434, mention that "the Churches of France and Spain must yield in points of antiquity and precedence to that of Britain as the latter Church was founded by Joseph of Arimathea immediately after the passion of Christ."

Joseph of Arimathea, Tin Merchant

According to the Talmud, Joseph of Arimathea was said to have been an uncle of the Virgin Mary, being a younger brother of her father. He gained his wealth as an importer in the tin trade, which existed between Cornwall and Phoenicia.

Joseph along with St. John buried Jesus after the crucifixion. Joseph, in the tin trade, made a lot of trips to Britain, where being a rich merchant made close contact with royalty; namely Kings Beli, Lud, Llyr and Arviragus, who gave Joseph and his companions some 2000 acres of land, tax free. Arviragus would become God's "Protectorate" for the Cradle of Christianity, Glastonbury. Caradoc, Pendragon of England, would become God's "Protectorate" of the fledgling English Church.

Joseph of Arimathea was a man of refinement, well educated, and one who possessed many talents, had extraordinary political and business ability. He has been called one of the richest men in the world. He learned about that tin trade from the Phoenicians, which then was akin in importance to that of steel today. They had been bringing ore from England for centuries. Joseph was well educated, a member of the ruling political body of the whole country. In St. Jerome's translation, Joseph's official title is given as 'Nobilis Decurio', a minister of mines for the Roman empire, with direct access to Pilate himself. He was no slouch. How better to protect Jesus, after Joseph the carpenter died, and insure the seeding and growth of the Gospel in England.

The basic story of Joseph's trip to England varies in some details from account to account. But the bare facts are that Joseph, with many disciples traveled from the holy land by Phoenician boat and landed at Marseilles (a Phoenician trading post), in the Vienoise province of the Gauls (France). From there he went on to England established seminaries and sent out missionaries. In his "Ecclesiastical Annals", Cardinal Baronius, Curator of the Vatican library, gives this account. "In that year the party mentioned was exposed to the sea in a vessel without sails or oars. The vessel drifted finally to Marseilles and they were saved. From Marseilles Joseph and his company passed into Britain and after preaching the Gospel there..."

How many of the disciples were with Joseph of Arimathea during his short stay in Gaul, before going on to England, is hard to say. Various existing records agree in part with the Cardinal Baronius record, naming among the occupants of the castaway boat Mary Magdalene, Martha, the hand-maiden Marcella, Lazarus whom Jesus raised from the dead, and Maximin the man whose sight Jesus restored. Other records state that Philip and James accompanied Joseph. Others report that Mary, the wife of Cleopas, and Mary, the mother of Jesus, were also in the boat. Here's Cardinal Baronius' complete list of passengers:

* St. Mary, wife of Cleopas
* St. Martha
* St. Lazarus
* St. Eutropius
* St. Salome
* St. Cleon
* St. Saturninus
* St. Mary Magdalene
* Marcella, the Bethany sisters' maid
* St. Maximin
* St. Martial
* St. Trophimus
* St. Sidonius (Restitutus)
* St. Joseph of Arimathea

Philip was waiting for the travelers in France. There is testimony asserting his commission in Gaul, all of which alike state that he received and consecrated Joseph, preparatory to his embarkation and appointment as the Apostle to Britain.

Although there are some who would argue for France being first, most records agree that Britain, at Glastonbury was the Root of the Christian movement. One would expect that history would show that the missionary activities would flow out of the well-spring of Christianity. And well does history record this. The Gaulic records state that for centuries the Archbishops of Treves and Rheims were all Britons supplied by the mother church at Glastonbury-Avalon. St. Cadval, a famed British missionary, going out from Glastonbury, founded the church of Tarentum, Italy, A.D. 170 four hundred years before the time of St. Augustine and at least fourteen years after King Lucius Christianized all of Britain in A.D. 156!

Converts literally flooded into Glastonbury for conversion, baptism, instruction and missionary assignment. Philip sent, from Gaul alone, one hundred sixty disciples to assist Joseph and his team with the crowds. And it is surely known that helpers were sent from other places beside France.

One of the first to go out from Glastonbury was Mary and Martha's brother Lazarus. He headed straight back to Marseilles where he held the Bishopric for seven years. But that was only natural. France was a Family Thing for the Bethany household. Mary and Martha both lived out their lives, preaching and teaching in the south of France. "The Coming of The Saints," by Taylor is a good book on the subject.

Many famous names are recorded as having been associated with Glastonbury-Avalon:

* Sidonis, Saturninus, and Cleon taught and supported other missionaries in Gaul, then returned to Britain.
* Martial's parents, Marcellus and Elizabeth were there along with St Zacchaeus.
* Parmena, disciple of Joseph, was appointed the first Bishop of Avignon.
* Drennalus, helped Joseph found the church at Morlaix. He was then appointed to Treguier as it's first Bishop.
* Beatus founded the church in Helvetia, after receiving his baptism and education at Avalon.
* Beatus was baptised by St. Barnabas, the brother of Aristobulus, sent in advance by St. Paul to Britain. He is referred to in scripture as Joses, the Levite.
* Mansuetus was consecrated the first Bishop of the Lotharingians A.D. 49, with his See at Toul. He also founded the church at Lorraine.

Historical note:
Mansuetus was a constant visitor to Rome after Claudia had married Pudens. He was a friend of Linus, the Bishop of Rome, and brother of Claudia. After the death of St. Clement, Mansuetus became the third official Bishop of the British Church at Rome. Thus we have three disciples of Avalon, instructed by St. Joseph, to become, in succession, Bishops of Rome.

Iltigius, in "De Patribus Apostolicis", quotes St. Peter as saying; "Concerning the Bishops who have been ordained in our lifetime, we make known to you that they are these. Of Antioch, Eudoius, ordained by me, Peter. Of the Church of Rome, Linus, son of Claudia, was first ordained by Paul, and after Linus's death, Clemens the second, ordained by me, Peter."

If all of this is true, was Glastonbury The First Christian Church
Thanks to Phoenician Christians (more history on Joseph)

In Lionel Smithett Lewis' St. Joseph of Arimathea at Glastonbury indicates "It is certain that Britain received the Faith in the first age from the first sowers of the Word. Of all the churches whose origin I have investigated in Britain, the church of Glastonbury is the most ancient.": wrote sir Henry Spelman in his Concilia, and again he wrote in the same work: "We have abundant evidence that this Britain of ours received the Faith, and that from the disciple of Christ Himself, soon after the Crucifixion of Christ."

Robert Parsons, the Jesuit, in his Three Conversions of England, admits that : "The Christian religion began in Britain within fifty years of Christ's ascension." His co-religionist, the very learned Alford, in his Regia Fides says: "It is perfectly certain that, before St. Paul had come to Rome, Aristobulus was absent in Britain." The discreet Fuller goes so far as to say: "If credit be given to these ancient authors, this Church without competition was senior to all Christian churches in the world." "Britain," wrote the erudite Polydore Vergil, "partly through Joseph of Arimathea, partly through Fugatus and Damianus, was of all kingdoms the first that received the Gospel." It is a matter of distinct interest that Cardinal Pole, twice over, when solemnly reconciling England to the Pope and the Church of Rome, at the beginning of Queen Mary's reign, claimed that Britain was the first country to be converted to Christianity.

The Venerable Bede, writing about AD 740, says: "The Britons preserved the Faith which they had received under King Lucius uncorrupted, and continued in peace and tranquility until the time of the Emperor Diocletian."

It will be noticed that two distinct events are spoken of above: (1) The foundation of the Church in England by the Disciples of Christ. (2) The acceptance of Christianity by the British Nation under Good King Lucius about AD 170. Britain was the first of all nations to accept Christianity as its national religion. Few people realize that this is why the British King is called "our Most Religious King". Not many realize that the superior dignity and antiquity of our national Church has been decided by Church Councils. The Councils of Pisa in 1409, Constance in 1417, Sienna in 1424, and Basle in 1434. It was there contended that the Churches of France and Spain must yield in points of antiquity and precedence to that of Britain, as the latter Church was founded by Joseph of Arimathea immediately after the Passion of Christ.

Gildas the Wise, the earliest Christian historian (AD 425-512) distinctly says that the Light of Christ shone here in the last year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar, that is AD 37. This falls in with the claim recorded above, which gave precedence to British Bishops at the Church Councils on the ground that Britain was converted "immediately after the Passion of Jesus Christ". It fits in also with the statements of Fuller and Polydore Virgil already recorded that the Church of Glastonbury was the Senior Church of the world; with Sir Henry Spelman's words that Britain received the Faith soon after the Crucifixion; with Alford's statement that Aristobulus was in Britain before St. Paul went to Rome; with the observance by the Greek Church of the martyrdom in Britain of Our Lord's disciple, St. Simon Zelotes, on May 10, AD 44 (a date supported by Cardinal Baronius; and with Hippolytus' (born about AD 160) inclusion of that Apostle in his lists as "Bishop of the Britons". All these are testimony to the year AD 37 as marking the coming of the first Mission.

Joseph of Arimathea was the protector of that valorous little band of disciples during the perilous years following the crucifixion, the indefatigable head of the Christian underground in Judea, and the guardian of Christ's only earthly treasure, - His mother.

According to the Talmud, Joseph was the younger brother of the father of the Virgin Mary. He was her uncle, and therefore a great uncle to Jesus. Chiefly from the secular reports we learn that Joseph was a married man and his son, Josephes. It is quite obvious that the husband of the Blessed Virgin Mary died while Jesus was young. Under Jewish law such a circumstance automatically appointed the next male kin of the husband, in this case Joseph, legal guardian of the family. We know that Joseph never forsook his nephew. He stood by Him as a bold, fearless defender at the notorious trial, and defied the Sanhedrin by going to Pilate and boldly claiming the body when all others feared to do so. It is commonly taught that Jesus was poor and of obscure relatives. His relationship with the affluent Joseph of Arimathea proves otherwise. In His own right He was a property owner but long before He took up His mission He forsook all material wealth.

Leading authorities identify Arimathea with Ramah, or Ramallah as it is called today. It was the birthplace of the prophet Samuel, and is called in the Septuagint Arimathaim. Josephus calls it Amartha. The identity seems clear. Now Ramah lay about eight miles due North of Jerusalem on the Jerusalem-Nazareth road. It was the first stopping place of caravans traveling North from Jerusalem. It would be the stopping place of the Holy family, both to and from the city.

Joseph is always spoken of as belonging to Arimathea, which implies that it was his existing place of residence. He was a wealthy man, and his duties as a chancellor would bring him frequently to Jerusalem, where he had also a town residence. He would certainly be in Jerusalem at the time of the feast. [of Passover] The whole story now becomes clear. As the uncle of the Virgin Mary he probably knew all about the wondrous story of Our Lord's birth. Year by rear, when Joseph and Mary attended the feast, he would enquire about the mysterious child. He would eagerly look forward to His first visit.


SOURCED FROM HERE

Sunday, December 27, 2009

AND THE SCEPTRE SHALL NOT DEPART

My mother always told me fantastical stories of Israelitish history in the British Isles. It has always stuck with me and I used to spend hours poring over a genealogical chart that the LDS church made showing how you could trace your lineage back to Adam if you could break into a royal line of Europe (I will somehow try to post this massive chart at a later time). This is the most comprehensive site I have found that documents how the right of Judah to rule and reign has not departed. Enjoy the link. There is alot of info here.

Here is a teaser:

Gen 49 is a crossroads of the Bible. Yet most people don't understand the implications of Jacob's actions in passing out the blessings and birthright before he dies. Jacob gives Joseph, and therefore his boys Ephraim and Manasseh, all the good stuff. Virtually the whole birthright. Jacob only keeps back the right to be king of the family and make it's governing laws. This means that although Joseph and his family will be the rich nobility of Israel, someone from Judah( a Jew) will be king.

When Joseph dies, the Tribe of Ephraim will be the pre-eminent tribe of the nation, but will accede to Judah in being king. As soon as Joseph dies in Egypt, some one from the tribe of Judah will take the rulership under Pharaoh. This person will be from the Zarah family of Judah; he was firstborn. Two hundred years after the secession of Judah from the nation Israel, Assyria conquers Samaria and deports the ten tribes(millions of them) to northern Mesopotamia. Most of them migrate to northwest europe and the British Isles over the next 17 centuries. But never fear, we still have a Judahite king in Jerusalem named Zedekiah. Oops! Here comes Nebuchadnezzor. He conquers Judah, kills Zedekiah's sons and carries Zedekiah and 95% of the people to Babylon. The line is cut!! What about David's promise now?

No problem. The Zarah line is ruling all across the northern Mediterranean. By this time they've got colonies in Spain, Ireland, and Britain. But the "throne of David" is not in those places. It is in Jerusalem. And the male bloodline has been cut! But not the FEMALE. God allowed the daughters to inherit when no male heirs were available. So Jeremiah takes the King's two daughters, and leaves for Ireland. He drops off one daughter in Spain and then marries the Pharez-Judah daughter of Zedekiah to the Zarah-Judah High King of Ireland. This final move sets things straight; the way God outlined them. Zarah is back on top. The "throne" is preserved. The resting place for Israel is being prepared for the arrival of the ten tribes as they begin to migrate across Europe.

Thursday, December 24, 2009

HALLMARKS OF A ZION SOCIETY

I HAVE ALWAYS FELT THAT WE NEED TO BE LIVING AS A ZION SOCIETY BEFORE CHRIST COMES - THAT THE LAW OF CONSECRATION WILL BE OF FULL FORCE BEFORE WE CAN SEE HIS FACE AND BE HIS PEOPLE.

THE CHARACTERISTICS OF THIS SOCIETY IS ALL SUMMED UP IN ONE OF THE MORE FAMOUS LDS SCRIPTURES, MOSES 7:18.

THE OPPOSITE OF THIS ZION SOCIETY CAN BE FOUND IN AN EVEN MORE FAMOUS SOCIETY OF SODOM THAT DID NOT MAKE IT IN GOD'S BALANCE OF JUDGEMENT. I HAD NEVER MADE THE CONNECTION UNTIL I READ THIS.

SOMETHING TO THINK ABOUT AS WE TRY TO OVERCOME THE WORLDLINESS THAT IS IN ALL OF US.

HAVE A MERRY CHRISTMAS - AND LET US ALL THINK OF THE OTHERS WHO ARE LESS FORTUNATE THAT ARE AROUND US AND SEEK THEIR HAPPINESS

Thursday, December 17, 2009

FROM THE MOUTH OF BABES - A PREDICTION TO PAY ATTENTION TO?

For those that have dug thru this blog, there is alot of talk the of the crud hitting the oscillator. Not once have I attempted or entertained the thought of putting an approximate timeline to the demise of our great country and the relative peace and safety that we have always known.

If you have read the Heisenberg Principle blog entry, you will know that I think anything of this sort is pretty much foolishness - but for those who are watching and waiting, we will see the leaves of the trees developing and know the signs as they come along.

One sign that has personal merit has to do with my own (surviving) boy who my wife and I used to call "prophet boy" for his uncanny ability to say stuff right before it would happen - this as a little 3-6 year old kid. The most sobering one was when he predicted Dallin's death the Easter Sunday before he passed over. He has not said much in the last few years to keep the moniker alive, but we were always fascinated with his 'gift' and we are open to our kids developing all the gifts of the Spirit that they have a predisposition for or just have a desire to develop.

So, back when my boy was exhibiting this gift frequently, he said one day that "I will die in battle when I am twenty". It was one of those things that normally I would just forget about except that when we were naming him at his baby blessing (first and middle name) after his grandpa that died in Vietnam (to carry on the Moulton name through my wife's line), I had the distinct impression/hope come across me that "I hope he does not meet the same fate as his name-sake" as one of the warring 'sons of Ephraim' whose right and duty it is to carry and defend the truth to the world through the shedding of blood, if necessary (a whole topic for another blogspot for another day...).

So I have pondered over this statement for years as I have watched with wonder as this young principled man has grown and developed into the warrior of righteousness that God wants all of us to be. He has also earned the title of '____, the Defender', as I have seen him stand on principle much like I had to at that age - and ever since.

So here is the kicker that left my jaw hanging and gave me a little more boldness to attempt to hazard a guess as to the timing of things hitting the oscillator in this country. I was teaching the 11 year olds in Primary and I was talking about Eternal Marriage. I was trying to humor a bunch of kids that think that the opposite sex is still gross and tell them that they will find someone very special and fall in love with them - enough to want to spend the rest of the eternities with them. I mentioned an approximate age of marriage of around 25 years old. One little boy (the same age as mine) blurts out, "I am not going to get married". I then reassured this boy that he was quite mistaken and that the young women in the class would one day become strangely irresistible to him and he would feel compelled towards marriage and raising a family. He then reaffirmed that he was not going to get married which elicited one last assurance from me before I effectively ignored his protesting and moved on - to keep from losing the class's attention.

He was very serious when he said it and it made me go chill from top to bottom. He said, "I am not going to get married (at 25). I am going to die in battle when I am twenty." If he had been a kid who was obsessed with death, dying or war (or had some blog insisting this kind of stuff will go down on our own soil in the near future), I would have dismissed it - but he used the EXACT words my boy did six years earlier. And those two boys are two months apart in age.

I am absolutely hoping that I am wrong - but I have had too many subtle hints along this line to not think that there might be something to it. We might be in for a wild ride in as few as 4-7 years. The second civil war followed by other nations coming in to "mop up" and "help out" (meaning killing as many God-fearing Christians as they can) may quite literally be on our door steps. I have always been of the 'hope' that it would take another 50-220 years for everything to play out - but I do not think so. My logical side says all of the things that have to transpire may take as few as 10-20 years to come about (that includes the Jews building their temple and Christ returning there, as well).

Thankfully, I only have the keys for my family and those I serve in an official errand from the Lord, but I put this out there for general consumption and open this up for comment. I would be interested in hearing other similar happenings from around the blogosphere.

Tuesday, December 8, 2009

THE LOGAN TEMPLE

This temple is near and dear in our family. My parents were sealed there as well as several siblings. One of my Grandparents was the first (white) male born in the valley - just after crossing the pass, the need to push came and the baby was born.

I ran across a tape in college that was recorded by a Logan Temple Historian that showed the hand of the Lord in its construction.

My ancestors were inhabitants in the valley when the following was witnessed and noted the great illumination in their journals. What a wild experience - to witness such a divine outpouring:

Manifestation of Divine Approval.

One evening in February, 1896, the Hale family was completing the record of sealing for the whole record in the Logan Temple when “a strange phenomenon was reported: the sacred structure, it is said, became suddenly illuminated–flooded from dome to foundation with a blaze of light. Apostle Marriner W. Merrill, who was then President of the Temple, observed the phenomenon as he was traveling on the highway that night from Logan to Richmond. It was likewise observed by many residents of Logan. . . . The following night the Temple was again flooded with illumination, the same as on the previous night.
“President Merrill finally concluded and announced to the general assembly in the Temple that this beautiful and glorious manifestation was a spiritual phenomenon. ‘The matter was subsequently called to the attention of President Wilford Woodruff,’ the account in the Deseret News continued, ‘who declared it to be an assembly of the great Hale family from the spirit world, who had gathered within those sacred walls in exultation over their liberation through the beneficient ministrations in their behalf.’”
Many Family Histories. In behalf of a family so diligent, it is not surprising that other men of the world should search out other lines of their ancestry. The wife of Bishop Jonathan H. Hale, Olive Boynton, was a sister of John F. Boynton, who was one of the first Quorum of Twelve Apostles. He left the Church but in his later years spent virtually his whole time compiling a monumental genealogy of the Boynton family, tracing it back to about 1000 A.D. Others gave similar service. In the Church Record Archives are charts recording the names of 200 direct ancestors of Alma H. Hale. For virtually every line there are one or more printed family genealogies with excellent records of descendants, including the families of Palmer, Johnson, Wicom, Hazeltine, Harriman, Elithorp, Plummer, Wood, Dole, Stickney, Hardy, Kimball, Scott, Whotlock, Day, Pengry, Nichols, George, Pratt, and Hutchinson.
In this remarkable way has the prayer of President Woodruff been fulfilled.


HERE IS A DIRECT TRANSCRIPT TAKEN FROM THE TAPE OF THE LOGAN TEMPLE RECORDER:

Hale family and the Logan Temple

Nolan P Olsen wrote a book called, “Logan Temple, First 100 years.” Nolan is a native of Cache Valley, his family having lived there for 123 years. He served in the Logan temple as an officiator, recorder, member of the temple presidency, and as acting president of the temple during the remodel period. He loved to travel and tell the stories of the Logan Temple. The following is one of his favorite stories, since it involves his own family history. (It is also our family)

In Nauvoo, the Prophet Joseph and the Lord selected twelve apostles for the latter days, and among them was John F Boynton. Only 22 years of age, a brilliant young dentist, maybe the youngest of our apostles. John was there when the prophet talked temple work and when they baptized in the Mississippi River and whatever else went on. The Prophet called the Twelve in one day and talked polygamy to them, told them, “Since you are the Lord’s chosen, He expects you brethren to practice polygamy.” He told them to go out and get them another spouse.

Brother Boynton went home, talked it over with his wife, and they decided they didn’t want another wife. So, while the other brethren went romancing, John went home. Before long, the other brethren are back with their new wives. Brother Boynton was called in, he had nothing to report. The prophet told him to go do it. He was finally called in four or five times. Never did it. He was finally disfellowshipped and then excommunicated for disobeying the prophet. He had one or two other little troubles to go with his disobedience. He went back to his home in Massachusetts.

His sister, Olive Boynton, had married Jonathon Harriman Hale, bishop of the ninth ward in Nauvoo. (Jonathon and Olive were our great grandparents. This is one of my family stories.)

The Hales headed west. Grandpa and Grandma died at winter quarters with the cholera. Three brothers and a sister came west and settled at Grantsville out by Tooele.

In the late 1870’s Uncle John got word that the Mormons were building a temple in Logan, and that sparked his interest. He never did lose his testimony of the gospel, he was never rebaptized, but he did have three wives, one at a time.

When he heard about our temple he compiled a real unusual record of the Hale and Boynton families. He wrote 1100 letters, traveled 6000 miles in a time when there isn’t a printed book anywhere to help him. He sent the records to his nephews at Grantsville, and they didn’t know what to do with them, just stack them up in a cupboard. It was 350 miles to St George, that temple is open. The Salt Lake temple did not open until ‘93.

When Logan opened in ’84 our Hale family moved to Cache Valley. Here they hired Brother Samuel Roskelley to keep the records. From then until about 1903 he kept a steady stream of names going through the temple.

One Sunday that fall he brought the records back to our Grandpa, Alma Hale. He said, “Brother Hale, my eyesight is poor, my health is bad. I can’t finish the records.” Grandpa didn’t know what to do. Nobody had been trained in genealogy in those days. When you don’t know what to do, there’s always something you can do. You can fast and pray.

Grandpa said he fasted and prayed for a week and some of the family joined him. The next Sunday, Brother Roskelley came back and said, “Give me the records. I made a promise to a heavenly being that I have to keep.”

He said, “Friday, as I came from the temple and neared the Hyde Park Lane, a man on a white horse suddenly appeared at the side of my buggy, and asked about the Hale and Boynton records. He assured me they were properly compiled, and the work in the temple was being done correctly, that every spirit was anxious that the work be completed for him or for her.”

Brother Roskelley explained his health problems. The rider promised him in the name of the Lord that his eyesight would be good, his health would improve and he could do it. Brother Roskelley agreed and the visitor disappeared. Brother Roskelley went home, took his glasses off to go to bed that night and never put them on again in his life. He had good eyesight.

He woke up the next morning feeling like a young man. His aches and pains were gone and he ran and did what he wanted. And as he described his visitor on the horse, Grandpa Alma Hale said, “Why, that was my father; that was Jonathon Harriman Hale, bishop of the ninth ward in Nauvoo.”

It took Brother Roskelley about two years to finish the record. One week in the fall of that year, we had a Hale reunion in the temple. We completed the last baptism, endowment, and then the last sealing on a Friday afternoon. That night as Brother Merrill returned home to Richmond, as he’d get to Smithfield and before the homes blocked his view of the temple, he would turn and tell the temple goodbye. This night as he did, he said his heart jumped almost out of him. The temple was on fire, and he didn’t know what to do. By the time he could drive his horse and buggy back the temple could burn down and he wouldn’t be much use to it. He decided to sit. He turned his buggy around and watched. In two or three minutes he said to himself, “That is not a fire.” There were no red flames burning upwards, but the whole building was lighted inside and out with a beautiful rosy glow that was steady and not a burning flame. He knew something unusual was taking place, but he went on home and came back on Monday morning.

As soon as he knew the story he talked with President Joseph F Smith, and the President asked, “What family in the Church has done something unusual in the temple?” The Hale family was the only one anywhere to complete such a record of 4,000 names. The President told him you have been permitted to have a visit from those 4,000 members of the Hale and Boynton families, who came from Heaven to sing and rejoice and be happy at their deliverance in the Logan Temple.

The people of Logan gathered at the temple to see the building lighted. We didn’t have electricity in the building until 10 years later; it was 1915 before we had electricity. Nothing but a coal oil lamp that would not light the building.

As the people marveled they heard a heavenly choir sing in the big room upstairs, and for about two hours the heavenly choir sang beautiful music. It happened again on the Saturday night, two nights in a row. The building was lighted and the heavenly choir sang.


THERE IS ALOT OF OTHER GREAT INFO I WILL PUBLISH LATER ABOUT THIS TEMPLE AND MAYBE GET A RECORDING OF THE TAPE TO GO WITH THIS.

AS A FUNNY SIDE NOTE, MY SISTER DATED A GUY WITH THE LAST NAME OF BOYNTON. THE INTERESTING THING ABOUT THE GUY WAS HIS FLAMING RED HAIR AND HIS NOTORIOUSLY BAD TEETH. THEY WERE SO BAD, MY MOM GAVE HIM THE NICK-NAME OF "SNAGGLE-TOOTHED BUCK". NOT VERY NICE OF MY MOM - BUT SHE WAS A BIT OF A EUGENICIST AND DIDN'T WANT ANY GRAND KIDS WITH ANOMALOUS GENES; EVEN THOUGH SHE BROUGHT A FEW BAD ONES INTO THE FOLD, HERSELF. IN LOOKING BACK, SHE MAY HAVE JUST WANTED TO AVOID MAKING THINGS WORSE THAN WHAT SHE HAD ALREADY DONE..... THAT STORY STILL BRINGS A SMILE TO MY FACE THINKING ABOUT IT.

Monday, December 7, 2009

ECONOMIC COLLAPSE - I HAVE SOME PUDDING FOR THE PROOF YOU SEEK




For about a decade now, I have been calling the coming of an economic meltdown - partly from things I have read:

“An army of Elders will be sent to the four quarters of the earth to search out the righteous and warn the wicked of what is coming. All kinds of religions will be started and miracles performed that will deceive the very elect if that were possible. Our sons and daughters must live so as to be prepared for what is coming.
After a while the Gentiles will gather by the thousands to this place, and Salt Lake City will be classed among the wicked cities of the world. A spirit of speculation and extravagance will take possession of the Saints, and the results will be financial bondage.
Persecution comes next and all true Latter-Day Saints will be tested to the limit. Many will apostatize and others will be still not knowing what to do. The judgments of God will be poured out upon the wicked to the extent that our Elders far and near will be called home, or in other words, the gospel will be taken from the Gentiles and later carried on to the Jews.
The western boundary of the State of Missouri will be swept so clean of its inhabitants that, as President Young tells it, when you return to that place, there will not be so much as a yellow dog left to wag his tail. Before that day comes, however, the Saints will be put to the tests that will try the integrity of the best of them. The pressures will become so great that the more righteous among them will cry unto the Lord day and night until deliverance comes.
Then the Prophet (Joseph Smith) and others will make their appearance and those who have remained faithful will be selected to return to Jackson County, Missouri and take part in the upbuilding of that beautiful city, the New Jerusalem.” Deseret News, May 23, 1931
Heber C. Kimball


and gained a witness of and partly due to a gut feel and sense of impending economic disaster - which has compelled me to try and follow the counsel to stay out of debt. Since I read Iohanni, I would say that my feelings went from an assurance of just a simple meltdown to one of a complete economic collapse that a pampered people will not endure causing extreme civil unrest, and finally the total chaos that the ancient Nephites endured right before Christ came (tribal breakdown). I have always wondered exactly what the socio-economic trigger would be and I am pretty confident that I have the answer. Who would have guessed. I guess we all should have. The US (for prophecie's sake) will have to collapse so that the one world power can take over and rule the hearts and minds of the people and cause the great and final setup for the wicked people of the earth. The clear and definitive and raw evil to provide a contrast for Christ's simple, pure ways. A clear and simple choice will have to be made. Some incredible things (proofs) will be brought forth for all peoples of the earth to see. All MUST choose. What an exciting time we live in!

But for now, we are in the economic melt-down stage - and it may take some time for quite a large economic ship such as ours to founder and then ultimately sink.

This US UNEMPLOYMENT MAP is a great little indicator of how widespread this recession is. I believe that we are further along than this map indicates. The actual unemployment numbers are closer to 17%, or higher. The official 10% that is being published are those that are ACTIVELY seeking employment. Alot of folks have bowed out of the job hunt to lay low for a while.

Iohanni said the collapse would start in the 3rd year of the second term of the son of Pres. Bush, Sr. That unemployment map shows it just as predicted - but does not show the clear data of the housing bubble collapsing in August 2007. The housing collapse then spread to other sectors of the economy and showed clearly as the months progressed into 2008.

Saturday, December 5, 2009

THE FIRST FIGHT FOR FREEDOM - A FOLK SONG OF THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION

This is too good not to share from the PBS Documentary "Liberty: The American Revolution".

The song is "Johnny Has Gone For A Soldier" by James Taylor and Mark O'Connor. True Americana.

I dedicate this to Marcia for her sacrifice in letting her soldier go to Vietnam and give his life for Western values of freedom and liberty. When I get a chance, I will post the raw video footage here showing what life was like over there in '69 and '70.

Meanwhile, enjoy James Taylor!!

BOOK OF MORMON RUINS IN UPSTATE NEW YORK

How come we never hear of these ruins in contemporary history? This is some great history from a BOOK OF MORMON EVIDENCES SITE:

The historian O. Turner wrote extensively of the region, with one passage worth repeating:

We are surrounded by evidence that a race preceded them (speaking of the Indians) farther advanced in civilization and the arts, and far more numerous. Here and there upon the brows of our hills, at the head of our ravines, are the fortifications; their locations selected with skill, adapted to refuge, subsistence and defense. The uprooted trees of our forest, that are the growth of centuries expose their mouldering remains; the uncovered mounds masses of their skeletons promiscuously heaped one upon the other, as if they were gathered and hurriedly entombed of well contested battle fields. In our valleys, upon our hillsides, the plough and the spade discover their rude implements, adapted to war, the chase, and domestic use. All these are dumb but eloquent chronicles of by-gone ages. We ask the red man to tell us from whence they came and whither they went: and he either amuse us with a wild and extravagant traditionary legend or acknowledges himself as ignorant as his interrogators. He and his progenitors have gazed upon these ancient relics for centuries. As we do now, wondered and consulted their wise men, and yet he is unable to aid our inquires. We invoke the aid of revelation, turn over the pages of history, trace the origin and dispersion of the races of mankind from the earliest period of the worlds existence, and yet we gather only enough to form the basis of vague surmise and conjecture. The crumbling walls the ruins overgrown by the gigantic forests of Central America, are not involved in impenetrable obscurity, than are the more humble, but equally interesting mounds and relics that abound in our region. 9

Thursday, December 3, 2009

THE LAW OF ATTRACTION - NEW AGE BULL PUCKEY

One thing I have developed toxic shock to is the sea of new age rhetoric that is out there (thanks Oprah!).

The sad part is that a large portion of the women in the church buy into this bull puckey. Here is an article that sums up how I feel. This woman has the gift of discernment in spades:


LOA Changing LDS Members’ and other Christians’ Beliefs

October 15, 2009 by Rosabella Knightley
Filed under Apostasy, Risks to Believers

4 Comments

4

Teachers of the Secret and the Law of Attraction may not always fully know what they are really teaching.

Lisa Nichols is a motivational speaker from the DVD “The Secret”. She may have started out believing in “God” but she now has a new definition of God. She uses all the typical occult terms. She even talks about putting things out into the universe and having them come back. She says she believes in God but what is the definition of God that she believes now? If we believe there are two powers, Father’s and Lucifer’s, that influence the world for Good or Evil; we see things from a different perspective than the world does. Lisa talks of God and seems very sweet and kind, but is she following a God or a mere power of the Universe that we can tap into.

If we look at it from this paradigm, did she plan to join the opposite side of God? No, she was seduced. She seems to innocently be caught in this great web of the adversary’s. She is sadly now a false teacher, an anti-Christ, for she does not call for the repentance of sinners, only the acceptance of godhood and the powers within. If we do not preach of Christ as our redeemer but preach that we redeem ourselves we are anti-Christs. She is a very good example of the elect being fooled. Though we don’t know where her faith was originally, we know she says she believes in God. But the definition of God is the whole issue. Oprah believes in God too. They do not worship the same God we do. They worship His opposite. Maybe when you hear them say the word “God” just replace it with the name Lucifer and see if it fits, because that is exactly who they are talking about. The occult teaches he is the “god” of the planet, the “god” of forces.

If they do not teach of repentance and sin, they are on the wrong side. If they do not testify of Christ as the redeemer of sin, they are on the wrong side. If they teach self-empowerment they are on the wrong side. I hate to sound so simplistic but it really comes down to these kinds of basic doctrinal truths. The new age teaches peace, love, sacrifice – wonderful good things. This is how Lucifer is appearing as an Angel of Light. He is teaching truths, but leaves out Father, sin and repentance. He claims to be the Christ bringing the world peace.

Leslie Householder teaches the law of attraction. She is an LDS author. Here is a quote from her:

“I felt no other choice than to escape “reality”. “I was a wreck. I finally just went to bed and decided that I didn’t care if I ever got up. The kids would just have to find their own food and look after themselves, because I couldn’t go on any longer. If I couldn’t find the freedom from stress that I needed, I’d just close my eyes and pretend I already had it. That’s the only place I could feel relief, and if that’s where I’d have to do it, so be it. I remember thinking, “Oh, you are so pathetic, Leslie!”

“If you accidentally stumble onto ONE of the rules, like I did, without knowing what you’ve done, the success or perceived prosperity is temporary. Little did I know that what I did that day was actually the beginning of my deliverance… it actually started us on a new self-help path to prosperity. I had applied ONE of the laws without even knowing it.”

Where are the focus on God? She teaches self and manifesting what she wants. She stumbled, as she says, onto one of the laws without knowing it……(self-help path of deliverance?). She is not teaching of God and repentance and submission to His will, she teaches how to manifest YOUR will, not Fathers will. It is so easy to confuse positive thinking and Faith but there is a great difference.

She goes on to say:

“God and the Universe operate in a lawful manner. It is good news to know that the Universe operates in an orderly way, because that means that once you learn the laws, you can know that as you follow them, the good fortune MUST come, by law. Just knowing this gives you the mental stamina to endure the “test period” of your faith.”

All Quotes and paraphrases from Leslie Householder come from her website http://www.thoughtsalive.com/

This is not what is meant by the Law of Restoration or the Law of Harvest or even Faith. Where are we taught this in the scriptures? Where does the Lord promise blessings in this life? He promises eternal ones, treasures in heaven not treasures on earth. The Occult teaches men to will material success into their lives. Ironically they teach this at first, then they teach you not to want material things but to want to attract world peace instead. These principles are to catch people by their selfish desires for wealth and abundance. Then once they have caught them, they teach them the higher laws and to use the Law of Attraction for the good of all, not just themselves. So it is a great way to entice people by their temporal desires to turn into helpers of Lucifer by showing them it is best for them too. They then teach that if you live the higher laws of using the power of attraction, sending goodwill out into the world, you are invoking Lucifer to come forth with his Plan.

I checked to see if Leslie Householder’s books were sold at Deseret Books they were not.

Carol Tuttle, also a member of the LDS Church, teaches Energy Healing and the law of attraction. Her books are not carried by any LDS bookstore either. The reason I was told when I inquired about Carol Tuttle’s book Remembering Wholeness: A Personal Handbook for Thriving in the 21st Century is this. This book I was told was pulled from the shelves and that Deseret would not be carrying it due to content. The only content that it had was occult in nature.

“Sales of Remembering Wholeness continue to climb through its word of mouth popularity. It is the only self-help book that bridges the gap between energy healing, metaphysics, and Christianity. Carol was recently chosen as the Barnes and Noble author of the Month.”

The quote is from Tuttle’s website www.caroltuttle.com. Her book is a mix of Marianne Williamson, Louise Hay and Neale Donald Walsh’s quotes and occult doctrines with a tiny bit of Mormon doctrine tossed in that is twisted to help prove that the occult doctrines are good. She teaches that the Angels of God are our servants.

Some quotes from Tuttle:

“One Sunday in church the speaker suggested that we are not perfect, nor could we attain remembering our perfection in this lifetime. But, if we worked hard enough, we could get a pretty good start at it. Her message implied that it was our doings that brought us to this not-yet-perfect-but-still-trying status. I had to chuckle inside because I once believed this too.”

“,…you are already perfect, you just forgot that you were.”

““What is the point then? Is this earth experience just a big To Do List? I believe that we can come to a remembrance of our god-self, our I-am-perfect-just-as-God-created-me self, in this lifetime. I believe I am getting to know that part of me now. You are loved. You are already whole.”

““We come into this world with the soul intent on remembering who we are—our gifts, our glory, our power, and our God-self.”

“I was led to Louise Hay’s book as my bible of positive talk. I learned the language, and I am very good at it now. I can honestly say it is my natural state.”

” At any given time you are emitting to the world a vibration that is being received by the Universe. It is your free agency to think any thought and feel any feeling that you choose. This agency is the most powerful tool that you have to change your life right now.

You are like a radio signal telling the world and the Universe who you believe you are and what you perceive your life to be. That signal goes out and that is what shows up in return to always make you right.

There is no exclusion in the Law of Attraction. If you think and worry about what you do not want, believing that is the way to fix it or safeguard yourself, you are fooling yourself The best way to get what you don’t want is to think about it a lot, talk about it a lot, and feel worried. It will show up and keep showing up. The best way to give yourself what you do want is to imagine it, get excited about it, allow it to happen, and express gratitude to God when it does.

We too often blame God or Satan for our challenging circumstances. When life is difficult we say that it is our test: it is God proving us. Or we say it is Satan tempting us or trying to control us.”

” I used to believe that my adversities in life were being dealt out by God. That was how I proved myself to him. That was contradictory to my knowledge that God was all loving and 1 knowing. Why would he have to try me and test me if he knew me, loved me, and essentially knew the outcome of my life? I now believe that I created my own struggles, with God’s support, so I could come to know myself and master my spirit by coming through the energy of pain, darkness and spiritual hardship.”

” Many people are intimidated and think it is silly to talk to angels. Most people do not know how to access these resources in their day-to-day life experiences. We seem to believe that we can only ask for spiritual intervention and assistance with the big, important, or challenging aspects of o our lives. But God wants us to invoke our spiritual resources to help us accomplish mundane as well as inspired tasks. When we ask for the intervention of the Heavens in all aspects of our lives, we will experience more and more of our lives unfolding to a higher will and not just our will alone.

” Angels walk before us and by our side daily. They prepare the way for our day to go smoothly. They assist us in orchestrating the details of our lives so we don’t have to. They assist us by creating in spirit that for which we have asked, so that we can manifest it in the physical realm effortlessly.”

” We have been taught to pray to God and to ask him to help us. If we start asking angels for help, where does that put God in our lives? It is my belief and practice that I pray to my Father in Heaven in the name of Jesus Christ. I believe that God has an entire universe full of spirit beings directed by the Holy Spirit to use for our benefit. They assist and serve God by helping us. We each have spiritual agreements and callings; angels have accepted the calling to serve humanity. It is up to us to ask them to help us.

Everyone has legions of spirit assistance at their disposal, yet most people doubt that it can be as simple as asking for it and allowing it to show up in their lives. Instead of asking for what they want and believing they can have it. Most people instead respond to the conditions of their life. Most people spend much of their time observing their life and what they don’t like about it, and observing others’ lives, making judgments about them. Most people are not being deliberate about what they want, and setting an intention that it will come forth.”

“Do you need to know who the angels are and call them by name? No, that is not necessary. Some people do; I don’t. Their identity to me is a vibration rather than an earthly name.” (Carol Tuttle, Remembering Wholeness, Chapter 26 “Angels are Among Us”, pp.134-135)

“When you start playing this game of asking your angels to assist you, all kinds of things will open up to you. As 1 look back on my experience of asking my angels, in the beginning I asked for very few things. Now I ask for their help with everything. I realized that the Universe has enormous resources to help me. I started noticing many of the things I was asking for were happening without my needing to take any action at all. My job is to identify what 1 want, to ask for it, allow it, and to say thank-you when it comes.”

‘Thank you for flowing to me the ideas of what to buy at the grocery store today to make easy, delicious, healthy meals this week. Please find me a rental car at a low rate in Hawaii tor our July trip. Orchestrate a tennis match for me tomorrow, early morning or afternoon. When we go to Palm Springs over spring break, I want fabulous weather and a safe and fun car ride down there. I want to play tennis three to four times and to play golf with our entire family. Thank you for finding us tickets to Disneyland at a discount.”

‘In my mind, I think of my angel fiends, chuckle, and tell them thanks. I notice myself thinking a lot, You guys crack me up! Thanks for making it so fun! “(Carol Tuttle, Remembering Wholeness, Chapter 27 “How to Petition Your Angels”, pp.134-135)

“We have been given creative powers and are meant to participate in an active relationship with the Universe and its processes. It requires conscious intention and skill to start partnering with God to co-create the life you want. If you desire this way of being, you need to take responsibility for being the creator of your life. It won’t just happen by itself.”

“We live on a planet of free choice. God has endowed each of us with the agency to create and govern our own lives. We have each been born with the light of Christ in us. Everyone has been blessed with a guidance system that is directly connected to the Holy Spirit and Christ energy. We each have the capacity of knowing, truly knowing what is right for us.’

‘The next time you make a decision that is right for you and ask for what you want, believe you can have it. Let go of justifying, explaining and defending your choice, and know that God wants you to use your creative powers to bless your life.”

“This planet of free choice is continuing to move to her heavenly celestial glory and to become a heaven on earth. As the earth vibrates at a higher rate, we may find our bodies, emotions and mental states reacting in strange and different ways. The exciting news is that as our creative powers are increasing, our intentions, beliefs, and thoughts are manifesting almost immediately.”

“Whether you believe it or not, you are the creator of your reality. Start partnering with God to create a reality that brings you joy. You’ll find it easier and more fun than the painful one you used to create.”

” There are more people choosing to live Christ-like lives than people choosing to create evil lives. At times it may not seem like it because the media bombards us with stories of violence, carnage, and every inhumane act possible. The media takes the experiences of the minority and sends the message that it is happening to the majority. This is not true. There is a dominance of love and brotherly kindness on the planet. Don’t buy into the doom and gloom. Keep your sights set on the light that radiates from so many of God’s children.

God wants us to know that he loves us and is very pleased with what we have created here on earth. We have a way to go, but the good news is we are moving in an accelerated fashion into higher states of consciousness and more and more levels of light and intelligence. This we have chosen for ourselves. The other option, which we did not choose, was to move into greater levels of darkness until we mass-destructed. This will not happen. If we were to say there has been a war here on earth between the forces of good and evil, we could say at this time that good is winning and will ultimately prevail.”

(Chapter 56, “The Test is Ending”, pp.287-289)

“As we align our will with God’s will, which is for us to be happy, and then ask for what we want, the Universe goes to great effort to flow what we want to us effortlessly and easily. Due to our r conditioning that we believe that we have to earn what we get, too often we move past the doors that have already opened for us. ‘Ask, and ye shall receive; knock, and it shall be opened unto you. “16 All we have to do is ask, then knock. Knocking is acknowledging the desire. As we desire what we have asked for. We are in a high vibration that draws what we have asked for into our lives synchronistically.”

I think the points made by Tuttle are very telling indeed. She does not see her life as in need of submitting to Fathers will but that He wants to give her all she wills. She confuses His great love for her with the desires of mortality. She believes that angels are our servants we send out on material errands. She even says they can do the mundane things in life for us. The only angels I have heard of that we can evoke using the law of attraction has been in magic where the which calls angels forth to do their bidding. This is the danger that lies in the ideas of the Law of Attraction. It takes Father’s will completely out and only focuses on our will. This is exactly what Lucifer want and teaches. He wants us to do our own will not Father’s then once we have broken the tie with Father he has great influence over us till the point that we surrender our agency to him and he become our God.

These self-empowerment books, tell everything with that title (self). Being self focused is pride. The occult teaches how to empower yourself with powers and how to use these powers for gain. Where your heart is, that is what you worship. Whatever you focus on the most is your God. I have nothing against a general lesson on how to be productive in life. That is valuable and needed. But that is not what the law of attraction is.

Let’s look at the scriptures and the words of Lucifer to see what Pride is like in its fullness:

Understanding Isaiah by DONALD W. PARRY • JAY A. PARRY • TINA M. PETERSON

Fall of Lucifer (14:12-23)

Lucifer’s statement (14:13-14) about his goals demonstrates his s extreme self-centeredness. He begins all five lines with the personal pronoun I, which shows that he is interested in his own goals and in glorifying himself. Lucifer had a fivefold plan: He wanted to enter heaven (without following God’s laws), to be greater than other souls, to become part of the assembly of gods, to be exalted above other authorities and powers, and to become like God himself (14:13-14). In contrast, God’s & Saints are taught to lose themselves in the service of others (Matt. 16:25; Luke 9: :24) not by looking after self but by seeking out the widows, the poor, the fatherless, and those with spiritual and temporal needs.

Isaiah’s treatment of the archdevil and enemy of all humanity, Lucifer, sets forth terms and phrases that on one hand demonstrate Lucifer’s attempt to imitate God’s exalted state, and on the other present Lucifer’s true degradation. Note the language connected with Lucifer’s attempts at exaltation: ascend, heaven, exalt, above, stars, mount, and north (14:13); and ascend, above, heights, clouds, and Most High (14:14). Contrast that with the language that deals with Lucifer’s actual lowliness: Fallen, cut down, to the ground (14:12); brought down to hell, pit (14:15); and cast out of thy grave, go down, pit, and trodden under (14:19).

The section has two applications: Lucifer’s fall from heaven during the pre-mortal existence, and the time when Lucifer will be cast down to hell, after the Millennium. The end, Babylon will herd Lucifer and his followers (14:21-23).

Isaiah 14:12-23

How art thou fallen from heaven. O Lucifer, son of the morning!

Art thou cut down to the ground, which did weaken the nations! (14:12)

For thou hast said in thy heart:

I will ascend into heaven.

I will exalt my throne above the stars of God:

I will sit also upon the [mountain of the assembly of the gods1” in the [farthest!’* north; (14:13)

I will ascend above the heights of the clouds:

I will be like the Most High. (14:14)

Yet thou shalt be brought down to hell, to the [depth] of the pit. (14:15)

They that see thee shall [stare]” at thee, and [shall] consider thee, [and shall say:]’*

Is this the man that made the earth to tremble that did shake the nations?

As we can see Lucifer was obsessed with the pronoun I, or self. He claimed to be as God. This is the exact patter we see in the whole New Spirituality. I am God, I want, I will, Self-realization. It is the religion of Self the same religion of Pride Lucifer had that was his fall. Christ has taught us to say Father Thy will be done and the glory be Thine forever. Does the Law of Attraction and its focus of willing our will into manifestation fit “Thy will not Mine”?

There are many today that are Wolves in sheep’s clothing teaching these ideas. Witches use the Law of Attraction. It is part of their teachings and they know that the power comes from Satan and his demons. These books on the law of attraction become a huge stepping stone or bridge into the occult. The law of attraction is a Core occult doctrine. Why do you need God if you can will things on your own? We are clearly told all blessings come from God, all that we have comes from Him. Lucifer promised Moses and Christ all the powers of the world. He can offer this to anyone that will follow him. As soon as you start to think you do not need Father you are now in Lucifer’s camp. For that is what he believes and teaches. He teaches the principle of the divine within and that you are “god”. He wants to be God and believes he is God and he then teaches us the same, so we rebel and become as miserable (liberated from Father) as his is.

Not all promoters of the new age know what they are doing. Many think it is goodness that they promote. The inner circles know it is Lucifer’s plan, but others do not. But this does not make them any less dangerous, just naive. The teachings are very dangerous and deadly. It is like a little child with a gun, they may not know and really understand the consequence of pulling the trigger but the outcome is the same. If they were taught right they would have the correct respect for the power which they yield, but if not they are left to their own devises.

We can see this in examples throughout the scriptures. Yes, some were blessed with riches and it did not make them evil, but the love of riches does. Many great spirits were not given riches for that was not the will of the Lord. If it was a true law that God gives you riches if you put forth faith, then we would have been shown that in Christ. Christ showed us the very opposite. His example was to put Father first in all things, then your fellow man and he did not seek riches of the world. This is the opposite that the new age teaches. They teach yourself first, then the fellow man, and leave out Father completely. Sometimes they will teach you to put your fellow man first, then yourself, but still leave out Father and His will.

I know of LDS people that have read The Secret and watched the movie and even bought it for others saying this is truth. As LDS we fall easily victim to these lies for we know we “Can be come as Father and be Gods…,” but that is only by submitting our will to Him, not by learning how to use “powers”. To live by the example of Christ and become one with Him is the only way to perfection, if we can be totally humble and submit our will. People who follow The Secret start even to say…

Why go to the temple?

What good does that do anyway, freemasons have temples too, so what is the big deal with going to the temple?

Truth is out there in the world and not just in the church.

They believe in the law of attraction and use it instead of faith in God and waiting for His will.

They want what they want now and are no longer willing to wait for God to grant them certain things.

They say the church is true but there are more truths out there that they are finding that clarify the doctrines of the church (redefining them).

These members are getting very proud and can no longer be taught. They think truth is inside them. They are starting to believe that they do not need to follow a living prophet or Apostles for they can know just as much or even more than them through these “new laws”.

Who needs God when you have the powers of God?

I have talked to many LDS that are seeing the falling away of loved ones into these ideas, for they do not lead to Father but away. What I have found in my research is that many of the older teachers of the laws of positive thinking and such were occultists and associated with other occultists that were even more blatant in their writings. Some logical points about having a good attitude is fine, the scriptures should be our source of uplifting information. Principles of using good judgments on money matters are fine, but using powers or laws of the universe to make you rich is another story completely. Again I emphasizes Thy will not mine or My will not Thine. Humility and Pride. God’s power or Lucifer’s Power.

The new age occultist leaders preach that Aids is a disease that is caused by guilt and the condemnation of others via the law of attraction. The idea that homosexuality is a sin is incorrect and is causing this disease. Once the person and the world accept that this is not a sin for there is no sin, the world would be freed of Aids. So it is the (Christians fault Aids exists.) If we show love and send love out into the universe the universe must send love back. Christians do not send love for they believe in a God that judges. Therefore they are the cause of the misery of man. Once you free yourself from the idea of sin, love reigns and the world is at peace. You Will only good things for yourself and others via the law of attraction. We attract Aids to our lives because of this wrong teaching of sin. What we put out into the universe comes back, we put out judgments then judgments come back, we put out love then love comes back. Those that put out these negative “religious ideas’ of judgments of God cause the world to not have love.

This is how dangerous this principle of the law of attraction really is. It will be the reason why Christians will be killed. So anyone that teaches it is fueling the flames and will be part of the cause of the persecution of the saints and their deaths. The Law of Attraction is Lucifer’s false doctrine that mirrors Faith…but faith is not the Law of Attraction. Faith is submitting to the will of the Father and believing in Him. It is not believing in the Law of Attraction taught by Lucifer. Does the law of attraction work? Yes, Lucifer will bless those that he chooses, did he not offer the same thing to Christ and Moses? He offered them the world with its riches and power….. you could say he offered them the Law of Attraction. What was their answer? No. That should be ours too. The law of attraction is the law that becomes the excuse to kill Christians, Jews and some Muslims. They have already written this. If you do not accept that you are “god” and there is not sin you are evil. Evil must be taken off the planet for the planet to go through the next transformation to its higher level, where the world will be full of love and peace under Lucifer. No separatists can be on the planet when it evolves into its next level…(they define separatists as those that believe in a God separate from themselves.) So that is us. We must be removed like a cancer is from the body of Christ. Barbara Marx Hubbard teaches this. She is very very close with Marianne Williamson, Neal Donald Walsh and Deepak Chopra and others. They all say she is wonderful and a visionary and the leading futurist. (Some great future for us is all I can say.)

I for one will stand by the Lord’s word and the true doctrines and follow what the prophet says. I will not follow the doctrines of devils that are being taught today.

It always amazes me that safety, salvation and protection is in the basic simple doctrines we have been taught. I am in awe of the beauty and simplicity of the Gospel. Each day I realize more and more how it is everything we need. As I research these things the clearer it is to me that all the truth we need comes from the many layers in the scriptures, words of the Prophets and going to the temple. We need nothing else. The extra things in the world are very dangerous and are designed to guide us off track. It becomes a complicated mess when you read doctrines of the adversary, for he twists things in a way that intermingles lies with truth. This is Lucifer’s strategy. We need to make sure we focus on the basic core doctrines that the prophets and scriptures have taught and we will be safe.

If members would just follow the Prophet and the doctrines of the Church and not try to add things they would have the pure truth. But they want more, they want to add upon their knowledge from out in the world. Well if you search out in the world that is where you find Lucifer’s 99.9% truth. When you add that now you have changed the pure doctrines into Lucifer’s. The path is simple – hold on to the iron rod, do not wander off into the mist of darkness. The iron rod (the word of God) will step by step get you to the tree of life. There are no short cuts or quick paths or powers you can tap into on your own. We get confused with the fact that we can become Gods and confuse it with the false teaching that we are already Gods and able to utilize divine powers. The only way to Godhood is through the atonement, mercy and submitting our Will to the Lord to be taught all things and to submit to all things and endure to the end. Then after all we can do, through mercy we are saved. But our Godhood is dependent on being humble and teachable, not proud. Pride was Lucifer’s Fall and will be the fall of many good wonderful people that are not willing fully to purge themselves of selfishness and pride, submitting to all things the Lord deems for us (all things). THY WILL NOT MINE. This must be what we think at all times. Pray for His will. Be His students, His children and not a student of the world and the children of the devil. Lucifer has played his same tune to the members of the church throughout all time. The examples in the book of Mormon are very clear.

I fear so much for many members being lead astray, even those that know about secret combinations. These occult doctrines are becoming a force that is bringing to pass the great separation of the wheat and tares. The separation process at its core will be the separation of the prideful and the humble. Humility, selflessness and submitting to Father in all things was the example of Christ. Pride and selfishness, claiming godhood, and wanting one’s own will over Father’s was the example of Lucifer.

I highly suggest reading President Benson’s talk “Beware of Pride” again and again.

http://tinyurl.com/2jkuom “Beware of Pride

Copyright 2009 by Rosabella Knightley

Tuesday, December 1, 2009

VISION OF CHARLES D. EVANS

Charles D. Evans - LDS Church Patriarch Sees Future PDF Print E-mail
Sunday, 09 March 2008 15:49

Charles D. Evans was a church patriarch, in the 1890's, while living in Springville, Utah.



While I lay pondering in deep solitude on the events of the present, my mind was drawn into a reverie such as I had never felt before,--a strong solicitude for my imperiled country utterly excluded every other thought, and raised my feelings to a point of intensity which I did not think it possible to endure.



While in this solemn, profound, and painful reverie of mind, to my infinite surprise, a light appeared in my room, which seemed to be soft and silvery as that diffused from a northern star. At the moment of its appearance, the acute feeling I had experienced instantly yielded to one of calm tranquility.



Although it may have been at the hour of midnight, and the side of the globe whereon I was situated, was excluded from the sunlight, yet all was light and bright and warm as an Italian landscape at noon, but the heat was softer or more subdued.



As I gazed upward, I saw descending through my bedroom roof, with a gently gliding movement, a personage clothed in white apparel, whose countenance was smoothly serene, his features regular, and the flashes of his eye seemed to shoot forth scintillations, to use an earthly comparison, strongly resembling those reflected from a diamond under an intensely illumined electric light, which dazzled but did not bewilder.



Those large, deep, inscrutable eyes were presently fixed upon mine, when instantly placing his hands up on my forehead his touch produced an indescribable serenity and calmness, a calmness not born of earth, but at once peaceful, delightful and heavenly. My whole being was imbued with a joy unspeakable. All feelings of sorrow instantly vanished. Those lines and shadows which care and sorrow impress upon us were dispelled as a deep fog before a blazing sun.



In the eyes of my heavenly visitor, for such he appeared to me, there was a sort of lofty pity and tenderness, infinitely stronger than any such feeling I ever saw manifested in ordinary mortals. His very calm appeared like a vast ocean stillness, at once overpowering to every agitated emotion.



By some intuition, or instinct, I felt he had something to communicate to sooth my sorrows and allay my apprehensions. Thereupon addressing me, he said:



"Son, I perceive thou hast grave anxieties over the perilous state of thy country, that thy soul has felt deep sorrow for its future. I have therefore come to thy relief and to tell thee of the causes that have led to this peril. Hear me attentively.



"Seventy-one years ago [1823], after an awful apostasy of centuries, in which all nations were enshrouded in spiritual darkness, when the angels had withdrawn themselves, the voice of prophets hushed, and the light of Urim and Thummim shown not, and the vision of the seers closed, while heaven itself shed not a ray of gladness to lighten a dark world, when Babel ruled and Satan laughed, and Church and Priesthood had taken their upward flight, and the voice of nations, possessing the books of the Jewish prophets, had ruled against vision and against Urim, against the further visits of angels, and against the doctrine of a church of apostles and prophets, thou knowest that then appeared a mighty angel with the solemn announcement of the hour of judgment, the burden of whose instructions pointed to dire calamities upon the present generation. This, therefore, is the cause of what thou seest and the end of the wicked hasteneth."



My vision now became extended in a marvelous manner, and the import of the past labors of the Elders was made plain to me. I saw multitudes fleeing to the place of safety in our mountain heights. The church was established in the wilderness. Simultaneously the nation had reached an unparalleled prosperity, wealth abounded, new territory was acquired, commerce extended, finance strengthened, confidence was maintained, and peoples abroad pointed to her as the model nation--the ideal of the past realized and perfected--the embodiment of the liberty sung by poets and sought for by sages.



"But," continued the Messenger, "thou beholdest a change. Confidence is lost, wealth is arrayed against labor, labor against wealth, yet the land abounds with plenty of food and raiment, and silver and gold are in abundance. Thou seest also the letters written by a Jew have wrought great confusion in the finances of the nation which, together with the policy of many wealthy ones, has produced distress and do produce further sorrow."



Factions now sprang up as if by magic; capital had entrenched itself against labor throughout the land; labor was organized against capital. The voice of the wise sought to tranquilize these two powerful factors in vain. Excited multitudes ran wildly about; strikes increased; lawlessness sought the place of regular government.



At this juncture I saw a banner floating in air whereupon was written the words, "BANKRUPTCY, FAMINE, FLOODS, FIRE, CYCLONES, BLOOD, PLAGUE." Mad with rage, men and women rushed upon each other. Blood flowed down the streets of cities like water. The demon of bloody hate had enthroned itself on the citadel of reason; the thirst for blood was more intense than that of the parched tongue for water. Thousands of bodies lay untombed in the streets. Men and women fell dead from the terror inspired by fear. Rest was but the precursor of the bloody work of the morrow. All around lay the mournfulness of a past in ruins. Monuments erected to perpetuate the names of the noble and brave were ruthlessly destroyed by combustibles.



A voice now sounded aloud these words, "Yet once again I shake not the earth only, but also heaven. And this word yet once again signifies the removing of things that are shaken, as of things that are made; that those things that cannot be shaken may remain."



Earthquakes rent the earth in vast chasms, which engulfed multitudes; terrible groanings and wailings filled the air; the shrieks of the suffering were indescribably awful. Water wildly rushed in from the tumultuous ocean, whose very roaring under the mad rage of the fierce cyclone, was unendurable to the ear. Cities were swept away in an instant, missiles were hurled through the atmosphere at a terrible velocity, and people were carried upward only to descend an unrecognizable mass. Islands appeared where ocean waves once tossed the gigantic steamer. In other parts, voluminous flames emanating from vast fires, rolled with fearful velocity, destroying life and property in their destructive course.



The seal of the dread menace of despair was stamped on every human visage; men fell exhausted, appalled and trembling. Every element of agitated nature seemed a demon of wrathful fury. Dense clouds, blacker than midnight darkness, whose thunders reverberated with intonations which shook the earth, obscured the sunlight. Darkness reigned unrivaled and supreme.



Again the light shone, revealing an atmosphere tinged with a leaden hue, which was the precursor of an unparalleled plague, whose first symptoms were recognized by a purple spot which appeared on the cheek or on the back of the hand, and which, invariably, enlarged until it spread over the entire surface of the body, producing certain death. Mothers, on sight of it, cast away their children as if they were poisonous reptiles. This plague, in grown persons, rotted the eyes in their sockets and consumed the tongue as would a powerful acid or an intense heat. Wicked men, suffering under its writhing agonies, cursed God and died, as they stood on their feet, and the birds of prey feasted on their carcasses.



I saw in my dream the Messenger again appear with a vial in his right hand, who addressing me, said: "Thou knowest somewhat of the chemistry taught in the schools of human learning, behold now a chemical sufficiently powerful to change the waters of the sea."



He then poured out his vial upon the sea and it became putrid as the blood of a dead man, and every living soul therein died. Other plagues followed which I forbear to record.



A foreign power had inroaded the nation, which, from every human indication, it appeared would seize the government and supplant it with monarchy. I stood trembling at the aspect, when, lo, a power arose in the west which declared itself in favor of the Constitution in its original form; to this suddenly rising power, every lover of constitutional rights and liberties throughout the nation gave hearty support. The struggle was fiercely contested, but the Stars and Stripes floated in the breeze, and bidding defiance to all opposition, waved proudly over the land.



Among the many banners I saw, was one inscribed thus: "The government based on the Constitution, now and forever"; on another, "Liberty of Conscience, Social, Religious, and Political."



The light of the Gospel which had but dimly shone because of abomination, now burst forth with a lustre that filled the earth. Cities appeared in every direction, one of which, in the center of the continent, was an embodiment of architectural science after the pattern of eternal perfections, whose towers glittered with a radiance emanating from the sparkling of emeralds, rubies, diamonds, and other precious stones set in a canopy of gold, and so elaborately and skillfully arranged as to shed forth a brilliancy which dazzled and enchanted the eye, excited admiration and developed a taste for the beautiful, beyond anything man had ever conceived.



Fountains of crystal water shot upwards their transparent jets, which, in the brilliant sunshine, formed ten thousand rainbow tints at once delightful to the eye. Gardens, the perfection of whose arrangement confound all our present attempts at genius, were bedecked with flowers of varied hue to develop and refine the taste and strengthen a love for these nature's chastest adornments.



Schools and universities were erected, to which all had access; in the latter, Urims were placed for the study of the past, present, and future, and for obtaining a knowledge of the heavenly bodies, and of the construction of worlds and universes. The inherent properties of matter, its arrangements, laws, and mutual relations were revealed and taught and made plain as the primer lesson of a child. The conflicting theories of geologists regarding the foundation and age of the earth were settled forever. All learning was based on eternal certainty. Angels brought forth the treasures of knowledge which had laid hid in the womb of the dumb and distant past.



The appliances for making learning easy surpass all conjecture. Chemistry was rendered extremely simple, by the power which the Urims conferred on man of looking into and through the very elements of every kind; a stone furnished no more obstruction to human vision than the air itself. Not only were the elements and all their changes and transformations plainly understood, but the construction, operations and laws of mind were thus rendered equally plain as those which governed the coarser elements.



While looking through the Urim and Thummim, I was amazed at a transformation, which even now is to me marvelous beyond description, clearly showing the manner in which particles composing the inorganic kingdom of nature are conducted upward to become a part of organic forms; another astounding revelation was a view clearly shown me of the entire circulation of the blood, both in man and animals.



After seeing these things and gazing once more upon the beautiful city, the following passage of scripture sounded in my ears: "OUT OF ZION, THE PERFECTION OF BEAUTY, GOD SHINETH."



On this I awoke to find all a dream. I have written the foregoing, which is founded on true principle, under the caption of a dream, partly to instruct and partly to check the folly of reading silly novels now so prevalent.



CHARLES D. EVANS

Springville, Utah



(Contributor, Vol. 15, 1893; TRUTH 1:12, pp. 161-163; see also Visions of the Latter Days, p. 55)