THE ROD OF AARON AS A PROPHETIC RELIC - AND SOME BASIC PRINCIPLES OF FOLKS WHO ARE IN APOSTASY

 After putting those quotes up by Heber C. Kimball, and my wife reading them and commenting in a foul mood about them (probably not liking the one about the pretty young polygamist wives), I am pretty sure he was saying stuff tongue in cheek.  We all do.  I am very sarcastic when I write and rely on people being fair-minded when I am joking, etc.  I often (sometimes more often than not) say something just to raise the hackles and give a wrong perception if I think someone sees me wrongly.  I have done it with siblings, my MIL, and probably just about everyone I meet who does not have my back including a member of my Bishopric who thinks some of the stuff I say is "nefarious".  If someone thinks I am an adulterating piece of work, I will always comment heartily about my girlfriend.  If someone thinks I am not in keeping with the Word of Wisdom, I will joke around about the wild parties and drunken excesses.  When I am done with them, they will have a sure knowledge that I am a real piece of work, while leaving those that really know me scratching their heads and wondering wth.  Joseph Smith was the same way when he was accused.  It is fun to just play with people and go along with their insanity.  Literal insanity.  Or mental illness.  Mentally ill because people cannot discern the middle of the road (where much of life lays).  

I guess I have been conditioned as I have spent time around people who simply want the narrative to be one way, that I have to just blow their mental machinations right up.  It is either that, or get pissed off and blow a gasket....  When I have been accused of literally being spawn of satan, as an upstanding Latter-day Saint, I just roll with it.  I think it is especially puzzling when the accuser is a fellow engineer or even a close family member, such as my aunt (whose trusted son is a doctor in the States) that feels that I am apostate for not dutifully getting the jab and not worshipping the white coats' every word.

The only time I have gotten pissed off (and did not play along with the insanity) was when I have been accused of being a child molester by my wife.  Again, when she was not mentally all there, and (not surprisingly) in her early 40's when the hormone changes started coming in.  No offense to the women out there, but I have witnessed so many women implode when the hormones change; kind of like some hellish trial by a sadistic god....  So, beware; especially if you have had traumatic events in your life (like losing a spouse, kid, any kind of abuse, cancer, loss of parent or parents suddenly, etc).  It seems like it is about once a week that another report rolls in and I just shake my dizzy head....  Similar things for the men with the mid-life crisis when their usefulness as a breeding partner is past and it is now steady state to get the job done of raising the family (more fun building a house than repeatedly staining the trim and adjusting the sashes).

But, the list in that previous article was done as a hit piece to try and discredit Heber C. Kimball as some loony guy who dabbles in the occult and chases skirts.  I can tell you, as a fellow "loony" guy, that they were said in all seriousness (other than maybe the jest about the pretty young women).  See, when you dismiss something outright, you lose the ability to ever experience it yourself.  I have witnessed it in so many who refuse to experiment upon the word.

Here is the problem - and most of my beef with folks at the DoC and other anti-Mormons out there.  They are often so blinded by their agenda (hatred towards the Church's stance on marriage and rejection of the whole gay agenda, or political conservativeness, or knowing that they should be keeping some commandments that are designed for the weakest of those who can be called Saints), that they cannot see the forest for the trees and even see when something is said in jest, or simply is a bad call.  I came close on this whole jab mess.  The hokey pokey rona juice clearly is not safe, nor effective.  Yet, I would dare not throw out the entire thing because of one small element - especially when there is nothing better to go to.  Thus, my warning to those who choose to apostatize that they will never quit their slide until they are fully sealed the devil's.  It does not end at 1832AD.  Nor at 33AD.  Nor at the conclusion of Moses' ministry.  It ends up in the waiting arms of the devil himself....  And then he throws the person (who thought they were safely in Jesus' arms), under the bus.  He is a real piece of shit - in a strictly galactic sense of the phrase....

And I will run down that bunny trail to make a point.  I have had several people who were about ready to crash and burn point out that they feel satan and the minions can be saved and that God will save ALL of His works.  I submit that it simply is not possible at this point.  They had their time in that phase of existence.  We have ours here.  Thus the reason that it is no small thing to piss away our membership in God's Kingdom.  I have seen many do it and declare themselves on a "hiatus" and how "liberating" it is now that the "restrictions" on their lives have been lifted.  Folks, this is mental illness.  To quote Jesus himself, "Any man (I assume this is someone with a deep and abiding testimony of the truth), having put his hand to the plow, and looking back, is not fit for the kingdom of God."  Very simple.  When the whip cracks and the plow moves forward, you cannot reverse it.  Most plows are not attached to the pulling animal with solid struts, but often leather straps, or ropes or some other flexible linkage, so that the act of hitting a rock in the soil will not shock and chafe the animal.  So, backing up simply is not possible.  The only way to go, is forward.  You may fall back into an old furrow, but eventually, you will end up cutting that new ground that you found too difficult to cut, when you fell into that old furrow.

So, for those who think it is normal or acceptable to just throw God's anointed under the bus and walk away from it all; may I remind that satan and other minions did just that.  It has not worked out so well for them.  The best thing to do, is just keep keepin' on....  Seriously.  Grow a pair, take in a deep breath, and move forward.  You already made the commitment in the pre-mortal world that you would follow Christ.  Now is the time to prove that you are good on your word.

So, off that bunny trail and onto an unusual statement by HCK that points out that I believe he was possibly in possession of that rod (or "gift") mentioned in D&C 6, which likely was the key to him having an exceptional gift of prophecy.  Here it is:

Last nite I clothed my self and offered up the Sines [signs] of the Holy Preasthood and called one [on] the name of the Lord. He hurd me fore my heart was mad[e] comfortable. I inquired by the rod. It was said my family was well, that my wife would come to me in the East, and that Congress would not do anything fore us.

Heber C. Kimball, Heber C. Kimball diary, June 6, 1844, in Kimball, On the Potter's Wheel, p. 65

Here is the part of Section 6 that I am talking about:

10 Behold thou hast a gift, and blessed art thou because of thy ^agift. Remember it is ^bsacred and cometh from above—

11 And if thou wilt ^ainquire, thou shalt know ^bmysteries which are great and marvelous; therefore thou shalt exercise thy ^cgift, that thou mayest find out mysteries, that thou mayest bring ^dmany to the knowledge of the truth, yea, ^econvince them of the error of their ways.

12 Make not thy gift known unto any save it be those who are of thy faith. Trifle not with ^asacred things.

13 If thou wilt do ^agood, yea, and ^bhold out ^cfaithful to the ^dend, thou shalt be saved in the ^ekingdom of God, which is the greatest of all the ^fgifts of God; for there is no gift greater than the gift of ^gsalvation.

So, for the Cardston Seminary teacher that called me out for even bringing up the topic of the originally-recorded wording of Section 6, what do you have to say for this?  I think it explains alot about what we know very little of.