THE BEAR IS ALMOST IN THE CORNER?

 According to Sarah Menet, the nuclear fuse is lit off when Iran fires on Israel (likely Tel Aviv) and then it goes from there.  I have always had issue with that narrative, in that this would be a suicide mission for Iran.  No one, no matter how crazy, would do that knowing that the USA and Israel would both act immediately and turn Iran or her military installations into glass parking lots.  However, if the USA were knocked out militarily by Russia, then this would seem at least a plausible move.  Emboldened by the downfall of "the Great Satan", I can see Iran acting.  I need to familiarize myself more with what the OT has to say on the actions of Persia.  I am sure it is all spelled out in there.

Anyway, this article got me to thinking about all of the fun possibilities as Russia goes further into the corner and Ukraine makes offensive drone attacks within Russia's borders and conventional weapon stocks reach the bottom of the barrel for Russia:

https://thehill.com/opinion/national-security/4027714-in-ukraine-russia-is-nearly-down-to-its-nukes/

In the end, no one cares about that stupid entangling alliance.  People on both sides just want to live their lives and not have people screwing around with them.  How will people ever learn peace?  Politicians are corrupt, stupid, self-serving wastes of air and have caused more hell on this earth than I care to think about.

BIGFOOT AND CAIN

Well, I just ran into a most remarkable man named Daniel B.  I was supposed to purchase something from him on FB that I desperately need, and he was going to sell it to a person that drove several hours to come pick it up with their large truck and several men.  When he went to load it on the trailer, it would not run.  I was then called and I agreed to take it once the problem was repaired.

I agreed to meet with him to give him a down to hold it until the repair was completed.  I gave him the deposit and we started to chat.  Over time, he opened up and we had a most awesome four hour conversation in which he shared that he has the gift of healing, but has not been able to raise anyone from the dead.  He is not LDS, but clearly is a man of faith.  There are healings by the prayer of faith of the healer and the healed and some through the instrumentality of faith and Priesthood power.

One of the things that he has shared is that he has seen evil manifest in the forms of demonic creatures, including something he described as a bigfoot experience.  He is an avid hunter and his dad used to breed some of the best tracking hounds in the US.  He was out in the mountains near the Canadian border when he saw something moving through the trees much faster than a human can run, knocking down brush and small trees as it came up the valley towards him.  His friends ran, but he persuaded one with a .44 Magnum to lend him his gun to attempt to scare it off, which was successful after the second warning shot.  He said that his research into this stuff indicates that they come and go via "portals", which is very interesting.

I shared some details of our beliefs or lore on the matter.  Here is something that I thought I would look up so I could possibly share with him.  We have a lunch date on Friday.  The bromance is budding:

President Joseph F. Smith, Salt Lake City:

Dear Brother: In relation to the subject of the visit of Cain to Brother David W. Patten in the State of Tennessee, . . . It was in the evening, just twilight, when Brother Patten rode up to my father's house, . . . My mother having first noticed his changed appearance said: "Brother Patten, are you sick?" He replied that he was not, but had just met with a very remarkable personage who had represented himself as being Cain, who murdered his brother, Abel. He went on to tell the circumstances as near as I can recall in the following language:

As I was riding along the road on my mule I suddenly noticed a very strange personage walking beside me. He walked along-beside me for about two miles. His head was about even with my shoulders as I sat in my saddle. He wore no clothing, but was covered with hair. His skin was very dark . . .

Your friend and Brother, A. O. Smoot (Life of David W. Patten: the First Apostolic Martyr, by Lycurgus A. Wilson, Deseret News, 1900, pp. 57-59).

More awesome material:

Also - almost all Cain-sighting references found online spawn from the same source. This source. It’s a compilation thrown together by Mathew Bowman. He did a great job. Three of the four stories listed below can be found there.

As for #1 here, like I said, it’s probably the best known of the lot. But most other places where it’s posted don’t have this much detail:

1)   David Patten

“[David Patten] was making his home with Levi Taylor, the step-father of Abraham O. Smoot, at the time and had been to Paris, some sixteen miles away, holding a meeting. Riding home in the evening, just where his road lay through a dense growth of brush, called in those parts a "barren," he suddenly became aware that a person on foot by his side was keeping pace with the mule on which he rode.

“But the subjoined letter, dated at Provo, Utah, will explain the matter:

President Joseph F. Smith, Salt Lake City:

“Dear Brother:

“In relation to the subject of the visit of Cain to Brother David W. Patten in the State of Tennessee, about which you wrote to me, I will say that ac- cording to the best of my recollection it was in the month of September, 1835.
It was in the evening, just twilight, when Brother Patten rode up to my father's house, alighted from his mule and came into the house. The family immediately observed that his countenance was quite changed. My mother having first noticed his changed appearance said:

“"Brother Patten, are you sick?" He replied that he was not, but had just met with a very remarkable personage who had represented himself as being Cain, who murdered his brother, Abel. He went on to tell the circumstances as near as I can recall in the following language:

“"As I was riding along the road on my mule I suddenly noticed a very strange personage walking beside me. He walked along beside me for about two miles. His head was about even with my shoulders as I sat in my saddle.

“He wore no clothing, but was covered with hair. His skin was very dark. I asked him where he dwelt and he re- plied that he had no home, that he was a wanderer in the earth and traveled to and fro. He said he was a very miserable creature, that he had earnestly sought death during his sojourn upon the earth, but that he could not die, and his mission was to destroy the souls of men. About the time he expressed himself thus, I rebuked him in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by virtue of the Holy Priesthood, and commanded him to go hence, and he immediately departed out of my sight. When he left me I found myself near your house."

“There was much conversation about the circumstances between Brother Patten and my family which I don't recall, but the above is in substance his statement to us at the time. The date is, to the best of my recollection, and I think it is correct, but it may possible have been in the spring of 1836, but I feel quite positive that the former date is right.” (https://archive.org/details/lifeofdavidwpatt00wilsrich starts on P. 45)

This next one made an appearance on the blog before. It was on a list of miraculous temple dedications. This isn’t the sort of thing one thinks of when imagining a temple being committed to God. It is the sort of thing that should be on a list just like this:

2) E. Wesley Smith

“E. Wesley Smith, son of Prophet Joseph F. Smith, was serving as a mission president in Hawaii when he had his own encounter. According to Matthew Bowman's article published in the Journal of Mormon History, "A Mormon Bigfoot: David Patten’s Cain and the Concept of Evil in LDS Folklore," the night before the Laie Hawaii Temple was dedicated in 1921, E. Wesley experienced the following events: "A man came through the door. He was tall enough to have to stoop to enter. His eyes were very protruding and rather wild looking, his fingernails were thick and long. He presented a rather unkempt appearance and wore no clothing at all. . . . There suddenly appeared in [Smith’s] right hand a light which had the size and appearance of a dagger. . . . A voice said, “This is your priesthood.” He commanded the person in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ to depart. . . . Immediately when the light appeared the person stopped and on being commanded to leave, he backed out the door." (http://zionarise.org/ldsarticlesoctober14.pdf)

The materializing weapon is definitely unique. I’d like to hear this account straight from the mouth of E. Wesley to see if the original had a materializing Voltron sword. Unfortunately it’s lost to the ages.

Kind of following suit, here is another encounter with a large, hairy aggressor:

3) Non-Specific Apostle

“One 1984 tale spoke of an unnamed apostle from the 1920s whose car had broken down while he was in Mexico “checking up on the mission there.” While walking through the desert to find help, the apostle encountered “a very large man about 7 feet tall and very dark and harry [sic] coming towards him. . . . The Apostle asked him who he was. This man said he was Caine [sic] . . . [and tried] to over power [the Apostle, but] . . . the Apostle cast him out with the authority of the Priesthood.”” (https://digitalcommons.usu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?referer=http://www.ldsliving.com/When-Cain-Appeared-to-Joseph-Fielding-Smith-s-Brother-And-Talked-with-Apostle-David-W-Patten/s/83424&httpsredir=1&article=1051&context=mormonhistory)

I’m proud of this next one – because it’s not already on the Bowman list. Quite a feat, believe you me. It sounds a lot like a typical Bigfoot sighting – but the creature asks questions! Speaking is much more Cain-sighting-esque, from what I’ve seen, than Bigfoot-sighting-esque:

4)   An Unspecified Grandfather

“1981 B/M class, fall semester, a student said that her grandfather told her of this incident when he was fishing (in Montana). The age of the grandfather would place this incident in the 1940’s or 50’s.

“He said he was in an open valley with mostly open land around him and a hill behind him which ran down to the river. As he was fishing he sensed something coming up behind him because the hair on the back of his neck started to tingle. He turned and saw a very large black man, covered with hair and wearing no clothes, coming down the hill toward him.

“He immediately realized that there was no place to run or hide and the river was too big to allow him escape, so he stood there and waited for the creature to approach. It came directly to him and asked him “What time is it?” He replied with the time and was told, “No. Not the time. What time [year] is it?” upon hearing the answer he returned up the side of the hill and disappeared.” (http://emp.byui.edu/davisr/121/Cain.htm)

Simple request, right? Sounds like someone lost in time. 

THE DISCERNING OF SPIRITS

 There is probably very little we need to be more concerned about than this topic with all of the disinformation, AI and so much else out there.  It is a mess!:

Joseph’s Beginning Of Instructions on Discernment

The morning after the visitations from the angel Moroni (21-22 September 1823), Joseph Smith went to the side of the hill Cumorah to unearth the plates he had seen in his vision. As he later told Oliver Cowdery on the road to Cumorah he became fixed and determined to obtain the plates for wealth and prestige and not for the glory of God. Only after attempting unsuccessfully three times to remove the plates from the stone box in which they were enclosed did he become aware that Moroni was present. The angel indicated that he was permitted by God to be led by this evil spirit so that from that time forth he would always know the difference between a true spirit and an evil spirit. This was only a beginning of his instructions in the gift of discerning spirits (D&C 46:15-16, 23, 27).

George A. Smith, who received his endowment with Parley P. Pratt in December 1843, and who also was a witness to all the dimensions of Joseph's teachings on this subject, later said, "There was no point upon which the Prophet Joseph dwelt more than the discerning of Spirits" ("Minutes of Meetings held in Provo City," 28 November 1869, Church Archives).

The Words of Joseph Smith, pp 20-21

CHICOMS ARE RATTLING THEIR SABERS...

I suspect they will pull several of our carrier groups into a trap and then use these weapons that we have no defense against to sink them, doing what the Japanese did not quite do in WWII.

The only question I have is when will they attempt to pull it off:

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/science/article/3221495/chinese-scientists-war-game-hypersonic-strike-us-carrier-group-south-china-sea 

WHO KILLED JFK? IT WAS THE DEEP STATE. TUCKER CARLSON

 Man, I wish this guy were on a Presidential ticket somewhere in 2024.  I just love people who are straight shooters and who cut through the crap.  This was the message Tucker was going to put out the day he was summarily fired.  Is it not amazing that they had a dossier on Tucker ready to go with quotes and a whole bunch of other stuff?   Like a "hush" file; and they used it on him:

Tucker Carlson: The Deep State Removed Nixon, The Most Popular President Ever, To Cover Up CIA's Murder Of JFK

Posted By Tim Hains
On Date January 20, 2023

0 seconds of 30 secondsVolume 90%

 

Fox News host Tucker Carlson talks about the Kennedy assassination and the resignation of Richard Nixon:

TUCKER CARLSON: Joe Biden alone is responsible for this crime. He alone took home classified documents. He didn't have help in doing that, but allowing the country to be invaded, that's not something you can do by yourself. So, if Biden were to be taken down for opening the southern border, a lot of other people would go with them. He had a lot of accomplices. Permanent Washington doesn't want that and ultimately and here's the point: Permanent Washington is in charge. It's not the democracy you imagined. We're seeing that now.

So, if you want to understand, if you really want to understand how the American government actually works at the highest levels, and if you want to know why they don't teach history anymore, one thing you should know is that the most popular president in American history was Richard Nixon. Richard Nixon. Yet somehow, without a single vote being cast by a single American voter, Richard Nixon was kicked out of office and replaced by the only unelected president in American history. So, we went for the most popular president to a president nobody voted for. Wait a minute, you may ask, why didn't I know that? Wasn't Richard Nixon a criminal?

Wasn't he despised by all decent people? No, he wasn't. In fact, if any president could claim to be the people's choice, it was Richard Nixon. Richard Nixon was re-elected in 1972 by the largest margin of the popular vote ever recorded before or since. Nixon got 17 million more votes than his opponent. Less than two years later, he was gone. He was forced to resign and in his place, an obedient servant of the federal agencies called Gerald Ford took over the White House.

How did that happen? Well, it's a long story, but here are the highlights and they tell you a lot. Richard Nixon believes that elements in the federal bureaucracy were working to undermine the American system of government and had been doing that for a long time. He often said that. He was absolutely right. On June 23, 1972, Nixon met with the then–CIA director, Richard Helms, at the White House. During the conversation, which thankfully was tape-recorded, Nixon suggested he knew "who shot John," meaning President John F. Kennedy. Nixon further implied that the CIA was directly involved in Kennedy's assassination, which we now know it was. Helms's telling response? Total silence, but for Nixon, it didn't matter because it was already over. Four days before, on June 19, The Washington Post had published the first of many stories about a break-in at the Watergate office building.

Unbeknownst to Nixon and unreported by The Washington Post, four of the five burglars worked for the CIA. The first of many dishonest Watergate stories was written by a 29-year-old metro reporter called Bob Woodward. Who exactly was Bob Woodward? Well, he wasn't a journalist. Bob Woodward had no background whatsoever in the news business. Instead, Bob Woodward came directly from the classified areas of the federal government. Shortly before Watergate, Woodward was a naval officer at the Pentagon.

He had a top-secret clearance. He worked regularly with the intel agencies. At times, Woodward was even detailed to the Nixon White House, where he interacted with Richard Nixon's top aides. Soon after leaving the Navy, for reasons that have never been clear, Woodward was hired by the most powerful news outlet in Washington and assigned the biggest story in the country. Just to make it crystal clear what was actually happening, Woodward's main source for his Watergate series was the deputy director of the FBI, Mark Felt, and Mark Felt ran — and we're not making this up — the FBI's COINTELPRO program, which was designed to secretly discredit political actors, the federal agencies wanted to destroy — people like Richard Nixon. And at the same time, those same agencies were also working to take down Nixon's elected vice president, Spiro Agnew. In the fall of 1973, Agnew was indicted for tax evasion and forced to resign. His replacement was a colorless congressman from Grand Rapids called Gerald Ford.

What was Ford's qualification for the job? Well, he had served on the Warren Commission, which absolved the CIA of responsibility for President Kennedy's murder. Nixon was strong-armed into accepting Gerald Ford by Democrats in Congress. "We gave Nixon no choice but Ford," Speaker of the House Carl Albert later boasted. Eight months later, Gerald Ford of the Warren Commission was the president of the United States. See how that works? So those are the facts, not speculation. All of that actually happened. None of it's secret. Most of it actually is on Wikipedia, but no mainstream news organization has ever told that story. It's so obvious, yet it's intentionally ignored and as a result, permanent Washington remains in charge of our political system.

Unelected lifers in the federal agencies make the biggest decisions in American government and crush anyone who tries to rein them in and in the process, our democracy becomes a joke. Now, you may have noticed that the very first person in the Trump administration the agencies went after was Gen. Michael Flynn. Why Flynn? Because Mike Flynn was a career Army intel officer who ran the Defense Intelligence Agency. In other words, Mike Flynn knew exactly how the system worked, and as a result, he was capable of fighting back. Four days after Donald Trump's inauguration, the FBI lured Mike Flynn into a meeting without his lawyer, concocted a series of fake crimes and forced him to resign.

So, that's how things actually work in Washington. Let's stop lying about it. Joe Biden, meanwhile, whooped like a hyena when the Justice Department destroyed Mike Flynn. So, there is, we have to say, a certain perverse justice in watching something very similar happen to Joe Biden himself six years later. Joe Biden does not deserve our sympathy. He's being shafted, but don't weep for him, and yet, the rest of us do deserve a better system, an actual democracy. When people nobody voted for run everything, you are not living in a free country.

THE MOST COMMON SENSICAL THING THE US SENATE HAS EVER DONE...

 Wow!  They are starting to think with clarity, for once...:

I am sure they just woke up to the fact that they are playing with fire and that Putin just might not like us riding his arse over there in the Ukraine and that he may just be acting out of indignation for NATO being just minutes from Moscow.

This issuance of satellite phones on the day the USA announces that we will give Ukraine F-16's which can strike Moscow quickly and with conventional or tactical nukes.  This after drawing down Russia's defensive forces to the point that they might not be able to mount a vigorous fight.

Freakin dolts!  I have never seen anything like this.  It is on par with the brainless tourists that go to pet the "nice cows" in Yellowstone NP and find themselves launched 30' from a horn up their backsides for their trouble.

I think it was in "Prophecy: Key to the Future", that Duane S. Crowther hinted that prior to the 13 month war, there would be a hit on our eastern seaboard that shocked the nation.  Of course, the suspicion in the 1960's when this was written would have been Russia.

I would love to have a chat with Duane and see what in scripture prompted him to put that event in his timeline and to later affirm it in the follow-on edition printed in the 1980's (I think).  It is the only one I have seen with this event listed like that, but because I like the guy, I have always gone with it as a "thing".

HOW TO APPROACH SOMEONE WITH MENTAL ILLNESS AND POSSIBLE EVIL SPIRITS

 This is a good question that was in the comments:

How do you approach a family member struggling with mental illness, and you think evil spirits are having their way with her?

Shannon, I do not have a solid answer.  And I wish that this would be addressed by way of a Conference talk or something more authoritative so that we are not just left with speculation and anecdotal case histories to derive a course of action from.  It is a murky and even a sensitive topic; not too different than how to deal with someone with suicidal ideations.  Maybe just a little raw to be dealt with in a public forum like Conference.  But, at the same time, I think it is more common than we think.  It is analgous to what we used to call in the airline industry, a "hidden latent failure mode" (or something hidden that can manifest itself spectacularly and bring down the airframe in a catastrophic manner).  Hidden problems all around that we are largely unaware of that are bringing our children, spouses and others down relatively unbeknownst to us, sometimes in a spectacular manner.  It really does take discernment.  Having dealt with the past mental health symptoms of my wife (and having attempted on multiple counts to cast out of her, with no apparent success), I have been baffled but not deflated over where that "line" is between mental health issues and actual demonic influence, all the way up to full demonic possession.

If you are overt in dealing with it, the evil spirit that prefers to remain entrenched in the person can lash out even violently against your attempt to cast out, as illustrated in the Bible account.  The person who is afflicted with an evil or familiar spirit may be reluctant to have you squelch their "friend" or "friends", as I suspected was the case with what appeared to be a mentally ill guy at the Wendy's in Calgary (previous blog topic), whom I cast out of surreptitiously.  And successfully, I might add.  That was meant to be a learning experience for me, I am sure.  To not give up in my "curiosity" on the topic.  The Lord threw me a bone, so to speak.

The one thing I am sure of is that, as we ease our grip on the Iron Rod (gospel), we begin to open ourselves up to demonic interplay just as we are warned of in the Temple.  Those with a greater knowledge, having an increased measure of responsibility towards this interplay.  The person, having done so, typically can only be rescued by another who can cast the influence away long enough for the person to think clearly enough to repent, begin to read scriptures, pray regularly and to basically keep what they opened themselves up to, at bay.  The path back will be much more difficult than the ascent into the abyss.  BUT, the person who makes it back from something like that (drugs, demonic control, etc) will likely never release that grip again.  They will almost cling to what brought them relief in a maniacal way.  Alice Cooper's revival comes to mind.

So there is the overt way (let them know what you are doing and then just carry it out).  And then there is the covert way (in the same room, commanding in the name of Jesus either under your breath or in your mind).  This probably should be accompanied by fasting and prayer over the course of several days or even weeks.  Especially if you have not done it before.  Doing it as a couple is also a good thing or with other faithful Priesthood holders, or even your Bishop or EQ President.  They must be people who have true faith and not just posers (people who are social Mormons) and the like.  It may take multiple sessions.  It IS dependent on personal worthiness and power in the person's Priesthood as my Brazilian experience demonstrated (previous blog article).  It is possible that it is not the person's time and that they need to experience the buffeting in order to be more humble.  I believe this is the case with my daughter.  She is one of the most stubborn/headstrong/willful people I know with a good case of Oppositional Defiance Disorder (will do the polar opposite of what seems logical, if a person is suggesting the logical course).  She basically has to have her arse soundly kicked before she will proceed to do the right thing (the same rebellious spirit that satan took on when he and 1/3 of the host opposed Father's plan, even though Father kind of had the whole 'being a God' thing down...).  No duh, minions...

In the end, just remember that it is God's design to save everything that will allow themselves to be saved.  Anything with just a flicker of divinity in it.  One thing I have learned is that all of my children have that flicker within them.  Not all are going to act on it.  It was painful to read my daughter's journal where, for the first time in her life as a 16 year old, she was beginning to have spiritual experiences that would have led her to a good place.  But then she back-pedaled and has never looked back.  So sad.  It has been painful to watch.  I find comfort in knowing that a perfected Being has dealt with the loss of 1/3 of His progeny.  It is part of the eternal cycle and those who did not even consent to an existence predicated on Agency, will never have a body, likely to have their matter recycled (we really do not know their end or final state).  Those who did qualify for a body, but have not progressed spiritually, will not qualify to reproduce.  It seems perfectly fair, given you do not want to propagate spiritual mediocrity (survival of the spiritual fittest).  And those who have the spiritual eyes and ears to see and hear will move forward and eventually receive the right and privilege of being as God is, where He is and how He is.  All of the rights, privileges, domains, powers shared co-equally with qualifying children, if only they would look up and live.  I look at what has been recently exposed by the space telescope and am in awe of what He is capable of harnessing and wielding as a Perfected Being.  I pity those who cannot comprehend, who have shunted and stunted themselves by their lack of belief and stubbornness of heart.

So, there you have it, Shannon.  That is my answer.  Hope it helps in some way.

IS UTAH GAY AS A THREE DOLLA BILL?

Apparently so...:

 And in my house shall it begin.  How much longer do we have to wait for the hammer to fall?

When Elizabeth Smart's dad came out as gay (as a nearly 70 year old man), I knew there was trouble in Oz (not ziOn)...

How does a guy who has been an active guy all his life just walk away from a doting wife and kids and further confuse a poor confused girl that went through what Elizabeth went through?  Selfish in the extreme.  I wonder if he was one of those guys who was gay cruising in City Creek Park whose clothes we were picking out of the bushes with the youth group.  So wrong.  If I had not been so clueless 30 years ago, I would have shut things down immediately and left it to the Parks Dept to clean up.  But, we were in Zion, were we not?  Yikes!  I wonder about how bad it has gotten in the last 30 years since that rude introduction to the state of things in Utah.

So yeah.  Just lovely.  Now where is the bleach.  I need a good mind scrubbing...

This is after a good hearty online firefight with some devils incarnate who are attempting to turn Cardston from a dry town to a liquored up hell hole.

I am sure, like Jesus did with the woman's accusers, I started listing all of the carnage I have experienced vicariously from drinking and driving.  I, of course, was accused of fear mongering.  Nope.  Just stating the facts of how some people have had terrible things happen to them at the hands of the alcoholics.  Do we need to encourage any more of that?  Nope!  Not a chance.

People decapitated by the hood of their car, cut in half by the seatbelts, crushed into twisted metal and then roasted alive with those who attempted to rescue having to hear the screams until the boiled body succombed to the heat and pain.  Yep, just lovely.  We WANT MORE OF THAT!!  WOOHOO!!

Freakin malcreants and losers!  NIMBY!  The teetotalers were here first.  We plan to stay.  And the worst part is a gal on the Town Council who used to be in my ward and worked with the Youth is pushing for it.  Damn her...  Freaking wolf in sheep's clothing.  I always thought to myself that she had a wicked look about her.  Confirmed; fighting for the other team.  What an embarrassment for Mormondom.  I don't care if people drink.  I actually pretty firmly believe a little now and again is no big deal if someone decides to do so.  It will not kill themselves nor anyone else around them.  But we all know well too well that it never stops at one.  And it is the judgment that is impaired that causes step dads to predatorily move on a four year old to molest her, for a teen girl to lose enough of her inhibitions that she gets pregnant in a moment of passion on a Friday night, for a kid to go barreling down a road with uninhibited unbuckled passengers to roll and have them crushed as they are ejected from the vehicle, for a divorcee who was in an RS Presidency to turn to the hooch to cope and then drive, crossing a center line and killing herself and almost taking the life of the guy coming the opposite direction.  Yep, this is what I have seen here in Cardston and I am sure that is only half of the story.  As with any small town, the details are swept under the carpet because there are family names to protect and airs to keep up, so no one learns valuable lessons from the rest of the herd's follies.

So yeah, I kept ratcheting up the rhetoric as these "out of towners" who were mostly disaffected who have left the flock long ago, but still want to see it slide to their abased state, pick away at our little haven until it is in a state of mediocrity as their situation is.  It is never enough to leave - they can never leave it alone until it has become as miserable as they are...  So predictably sad.  So wretched.  So much like satan.  A tale as old as time.

And then there are those who declare that "all is well in Zion" and fiddle as it burns to the ground.  We have so far to go until we begin to have leadership with backbone.  That the wicked feared.  Not because they are forceful men, but because the consequences that come upon the wicked for attempting to draw down the strength of those on Zion's Hill, are overpowering.

I long for that day, that city and for the Lord to put all evil under His feet.  It will be glorious!

EVIL SPIRITS CAUSING DISTRESS?

 Man, does this sound all too familiar with my oldest who is struggling with some kind of possession or something along those lines (as well as mental illness - with a possible tie between the two):

1. AnonymousMay 20, 2023 at 5:49 PM

   no one knows who i am so a feel comfortable talking about it. i am certainly not saying it to boast in me. but i have had a person i ve been working with for a while, he has been homeless for years, then came back to church for 3 yrs and was doing ok, but fell off the wagon hard doing meth and alcohol ended up homeless again. well hes been trying to get it together again, when he called me about chest pains and he needed to go to the hospital, i reluctantly went with the encouragement of my wife. when i got to him. he could barely function barely walk, took him to the ER he just kept grasping at his chest crying about all the pain, he could barely communicate. i helped them get his name, they put him in a wheel chair. hooked up all the probes for monitoring his heart, the nurse came in and he was antagonistic and not helpful, and wanting to leave, i tried to tell him they cant check your heart if you leave this went on for awhile and he got progressively worse, he started holding his head with both hands, and was arguing with himself, saying i cant take this over and over, i was by myself and there were others on the other side of the curtain so am reluctant to do anything but the spirit got the best of me, i laid my hands on his head called out all evil spirits, in the name of Jesus Christ. no sooner had i said amen and the doctor walked in. it was like the flick of a switch, night vs day, it was gone, no more pain in his chest, no complaining, he was talking like normal , held a normal conversation with the doctor, truly miraculous, he needed no help walked out of the hospital like a different person. first time anything like this has ever happen to me and im not that young. demons are real and they can possess people

   ReplyDelete
2. 
   AnonymousMay 20, 2023 at 5:49 PM

   btw that happen just a couple weeks ago

   ReplyDelete

COMMAND THE SPIRITS TO MANIFEST THEMSELVES?

 Interesting:

Stories of Casting Out Ev¡l Spirits

“The police had in their custody a man p0ssessed of ev¡l spirits. He was a raving maniac. Elder Woodruff called to see him, and being alone with him, he laid his hands upon the man's head and commanded the dev¡ls to leave him. They obeyed; and the man became instantly sane and begged Elder Woodruff to take him to his home. The latter complied, and the man remained in a sane condition of mind until about one o'clock the following morning, when he again became p0ssessed. Again Elder Woodruff rebuked the ev¡l spirit. The man was relieved and remained quiet until morning. There were some subsequent attacks upon this unfortunate, but through the power of faith, he was healed.”

Wilford Woodruff: History of His Life and Labors , p 445

“We addressed the people several times during this conference, and at its close were called to administer to a woman who was p0ssessed of a dev¡l. At times she was dumb and greatly afflicted with the ev¡l spirits that dwelt in her. She believed in Jesus, and in us as His servants, and wished us to administer to her. Four of us laid our hands upon her head, and in the name of Jesus Christ commanded the dev¡l to depart from her. The ev¡l spirits left immediately, and the woman arose with great joy and gave thanks and praise unto God; for, according to her faith, she was made whole from that hour. A child that was sick was also healed by the laying on of hands, according to the word of God.”

Wilford Woodruff: History of His Life and Labors, p 71

“A conference of the Church was held at Kirtland June 6, 1831, and-all the Elders and Saints that could be gathered together were present. The Holy Ghost was made manifest in its workings upon the Prophet and many of the Elders. The spirit of ev¡l was also shown to be present, but as soon as discerned it was rebuked in the name of the Lord Jesus, and vanished. The High Priesthood, a degree of the Melchizedek higher than the Elder, was conferred for the first time on a number of faithful men.”

The Latter Day Prophet: Young People’s History of Joseph Smith, p 55

Joseph F. Smith said, “‘Of the many gifts of the Spirit which were manifest through my administration, next to my acquirement of the language, the most prominent was perhaps the gift of healing, and by the power of God the casting out of ev¡l spirits which frequently occurred.’ One incident shows how the Lord is with his servants: Joseph was studying the language, being alone with a native family in Wailuku. One night while he sat by a dismal light poring over his books in one corner of the room where dwelt a native and his wife, the woman was suddenly p0ssessed; she arose and looking toward Joseph made the most fearful noises and gestures, accompanied by terrible physical contortions. Her husband came on his bended knees and crouched beside him, frightened to trembling. The fear that our young missionary felt under those circumstances was something indescribable, but presently it all left him, and he stood up facing the maniac woman, exclaiming: ‘In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, I rebuke you.’ Like a flash, the woman fell to the floor like one dead. The husband went to ascertain if she were alive, and pronounced her dead. Then he returned, and set up a perfect howl, which Joseph likewise rebuked. What should Joseph do? His first impression was to get away from the horrid surroundings, but upon reflection he decided that such action would not be wise. His feelings were indescribable, but having rebuked the ev¡l, it was subdued and peace was restored, and he proceeded again with his studies. These are the class of experiences that bring a lone missionary, young as he was, close to the Lord.”

Gospel Doctrine, pp 671-672

“Later Joseph went to Hiram, about thirty miles distant, to organize a branch of the Church there. While he was absent from Kirtland ev¡l spirits molested the inexperienced Saints, and Bishop Partridge could not manage the people. When the Prophet returned and learned the condition he called a meeting in a little school house on Isaac Morley's farm, and those who desired attended. When a crowd was gathered, Joseph arose and said in a powerful voice:

‘Let the spirits be made manifest.’ Immediately, some began to sing, some to shout, some to cry, etc. When Joseph rebuked them, all became quiet except two, whom he rebuked separately.”

The Young Woman’s Journal, Dec 1906, p 538

‘These ev¡l ‘angels’ use deception as their main tool of destruction. They simulate all that is good. They urge the satisfaction of sensual appetites. In the words of Brigham Young, they tell a hundred truths so that the one lie may be accepted. Sometimes they may come as angels of light, in borrowed or stolen raiment. Always they fail to reveal themselves as they are.

Satan and his ev¡l angels are bodiless. That is their heavy punishment. Their power, now and hereafter, is greatly limited by this lack. Therefore, they often seek entrance into human bodies, even bodies of lower animals. Whenever this occurs, the individual thus made to share his body is caused much agonized suffering.

However, one does not really need to fear the angels of ev¡l. They are essentially cowardly. They fear light and truth. Darkness and untruth are their native habitat. Their successes always come when the mind of man is darkened by unbelief or unholy practices. A resolute determination to have nothing to do with them drains their strength. They are mortally afraid of the power of the Priesthood. The command, ‘Get thou behind me,’ coupled with righteous living, is sufficient to drive them away. Yet, one must always be on guard against new forms of temptation in which these messengers from ev¡l and with ev¡l may appear to offer transient satisfactions.”

Elder John A. Widtsoe, Evidences and Reconciliations, p 109