Have you ever wondered what the actual voice of the Savior sounds like? I have. I expect that it is firm, yet exudes love - much like that old Stake President I had growing up.
I also have wondered what Joseph Smith's voice sounds like - and even Brigham Young's voice. I think Arrington may have nailed it.
When I was a 12 or 13 year old boy, I read the triple within a few months time frame. After reading it all the way through, I was able to make the connection at that young age that it had all been put down on paper by one individual - and that that one individual has a specific writing style. I had done enough English papers by that point to realize I had a specific writing style that was hard to deviate from - even though I may have been given specific assignments designed to break me out of my writing "rut". When I finished the Pearl of Great Price, I concluded there were three very distinct writing styles in each of the four works I had read (and the sub-works within those works - such as D&C138 not being from the hand of Joseph, etc) I also noted that the style of Moroni writing was slightly different than the words of Nephi. As an adult, I recognize that it would take a literary genius greater than Steinbeck or some other great author, to switch styles like that. While Joseph was very intelligent - he was not that intelligent.
Recently, while looking over various forums, I noticed a certain person had a style and wording that was reminiscent of the words on another forum (my wife actually picked up on it first) and I was able to make a positive ID of that person. I recognized their words and their manner of speaking.
Why does this matter? Quite simply because we MUST read the scriptures and internalize not only the doctrines, but the manner of speech and speaking of the greats of religious history. We MUST develop a sense of discernment so that we understand the voice of the Master when we have opportunity to hear it. From what I can see, there will be a division and there will be those clamoring for the right to following. We have to recognize the correct "voice" of the Shepherd when the time comes. He may come incognito as He did on the road to Emmaus - leaving only the signature calling card of the "burning" within. During the coming tumult, many will be deceived - possibly even the very elect, if that were possible. Those who have the Holy Spirit as their guide will beckon the true call - and be able to dismiss the voices that distract from the correct path. Vanity and pride will reveal those of sin while humility combined with firmness will accompany the voice of the Master.
Times will be interesting. Will you be ready?
Thursday, August 30, 2012
Monday, August 27, 2012
THE ROLE OF WOMEN - A SNAG FROM DENVER SNUFFER'S BLOG
I really like what Denver has to say. He is a lawyer - so I could be busted down for plagiarism, but oh-well.... Plagiarism is the best form of flattery.
I maintain that many of the questions he has asked will occur (be asked) in the Judgment. So, if you have any guile (males out there) and seek to dominate or subjugate the women in your lives due to the false traditions of men (I am still working on completely rooting them out of who I am), then you had better get cracking. Time is short to balance out the male/female relationships in your lives and put them in a Godly perspective. I agree that the best person (other than God) who can judge me would be my wife. I would not want her to be my judge - because I do not think her assessment of me is nearly completely accurate enough to fit the bill - she will never fully understand my heart - nor I hers, but she has access to my inner-most thoughts and a few demons I have kicking around this tabernacle of clay. That intimacy of thought, mind and will is what makes my relationship to her special. We hold nothing back from each other. Any relationship that does ultimately begins a journey down a path to isolation and failure somewhere in the future. In theory, no matter how much of a failure of a person I could be, she would stick by me, and vice a versa. That is the principle of stewardship and charity.
Here is Denver's article:
I maintain that many of the questions he has asked will occur (be asked) in the Judgment. So, if you have any guile (males out there) and seek to dominate or subjugate the women in your lives due to the false traditions of men (I am still working on completely rooting them out of who I am), then you had better get cracking. Time is short to balance out the male/female relationships in your lives and put them in a Godly perspective. I agree that the best person (other than God) who can judge me would be my wife. I would not want her to be my judge - because I do not think her assessment of me is nearly completely accurate enough to fit the bill - she will never fully understand my heart - nor I hers, but she has access to my inner-most thoughts and a few demons I have kicking around this tabernacle of clay. That intimacy of thought, mind and will is what makes my relationship to her special. We hold nothing back from each other. Any relationship that does ultimately begins a journey down a path to isolation and failure somewhere in the future. In theory, no matter how much of a failure of a person I could be, she would stick by me, and vice a versa. That is the principle of stewardship and charity.
Here is Denver's article:
Monday, August 27, 2012
Role of Women
First, and foremost, the questions about the role of women arise from a misunderstanding of God's will and nature, and from mistrust of God's intentions. The first is because we teach poorly. The second is because we make the mistake of identifying God's intentions with men's behavior. The failure of men to live the ideals required by God do not alter God's intention. Therefore, you should not conflate these. You can overcome both without ever listening to anything I have to say. It is, or ought to be, between you and God. I loathe to put myself between you and Him. The understanding of these two principles is all you need to go forward and get an answer directly from Him. To overcome the second, you will need to repent of your idolatry. Do not make the church an idol, and do not judge God by that idol. Realize the church is an organization staffed by frail men trying hard, but with very difficult circumstances facing them in this fallen world. Be charitable.
With that in mind, your questions should not be viewed as a problem, but as an opportunity to learn more about (and from) God. These are wonderful concerns, and they deserve an answer. God does have answers. I cheat people when I say too much about a given subject. Particularly when the topic is so important and the answer ought to be given by God.
Ponder these questions:
-What if the "role" you occupy is not just your test, but also a test of your husband (and Mormon men generally)?
-What if the Lord has only allowed you and your husband to "suppose" he has "a little authority" when, in fact, he has nothing more than an invitation to arise and receive it from heaven? (D&C 121: 39.)
-What if the Lord intends to judge your husband (and all Mormon men) on the basis of how the man conducts himself to see if he uses the wrong kind of "authority" to impose and control and exercise dominion? (D&C 121: 37.)
-What if no authority can be claimed by virtue of the priesthood? (D&C 121: 41.)
-What if to prove the heart of the man, it is necessary to put you and your husband into this probationary relationship to see if he follows the Lord or is blinded by the craftiness of men who deceive among all sects, including our own? (D&C 123: 12.)
-What if the man chooses to ignore the Holy Spirit and proceed ahead on his own desire for patriarchal supremacy?
-What if the Lord intends for you to ultimately be his "judge" because you are now apparently "subject to" him and will learn best what is in his heart?
-What if, whether you want to show all the compassion of a saint toward mormon leaders (including your husband), you are nevertheless subjugated, controlled and exploited? Will they be left in such a position after this life when greater things are underway?
-What if the conditions for the salvation of man are different than the conditions for the salvation of women?
-What if the primary obligation of the man is to preserve correct doctrine, God's approval to bestow ordinances, and practice correct faith? If it is, how well have men performed this obligation throughout history? How well do men perform this today?
-What if women have a primary (not exclusive) obligation to bring children into the world, care for and nurture them, and live chaste lives? In other words, what if women will be judged primarily in their role as mothers? How well have women performed this obligation throughout history? Unlike men, has there ever been a worldwide "apostasy" by women where children were no longer born or cared for in this world?
The illusion of man's patriarchal and priesthood power allows them to put on display what is in their hearts. (D&C 121: 35.) When they begin to "exercise a little authority, as they suppose" in a way which gratifies their pride, or exercises control, dominion and compulsion over the soul of another, they "prove" who and what they are. The one most immediately affected (the wife) would be the one most able to judge the man's performance. Therefore a wise man will seek to elevate his wife, and a fool will abuse and dominate her. A wise woman will trust in the Lord and know that He is the judge of the living and the dead, and He will always restore only what is right, pure, merciful, just, true and worthy. (Alma 41: 13.)
The focus of the question is wrong. It takes a topic which should be unifying and changes the it into something competitive. I do not fault anyone for having these questions. They are a product of the environment. However, marriage as intended by God should be cooperative. The relationship is intended to make of the two "one flesh." (Gen. 2: 24; see also Matt. 19: 4-6.) It is in becoming "one" that both the man and woman become like God. In a very real way, everything I said above, even if entirely appropriate and justified, is merely adding to the problem. The real value of the man and the woman is to be found in their unity, not in their disunity. Therefore, we must look to what the unity should include to know the real answer to the questions that alienate, divide spouses from one another, and make women feel subjugated.
INTERESTING DREAM BY BRENDA SHAUNAMAN
READ AT YOUR OWN PERIL. I HAVE NOT VERIFIED THIS.
INTERESTING, NONE-THE-LESS....
Brenda Schaunaman - 10/12/08
I have been holding off on telling this dream for about a year, but I know that it is time for me to send it to you NOW.
It all started after I woke one morning. I went into the library and pulled out a plain piece of paper and began to "draw" out what I had seen. It was as if I was looking down from space at the United States of America.
Right up the middle of the continent I saw a great split. It looked as if a huge bolt of lightning had broken the earth open from the east coast of Texas all the way up through the Midwest. Then I looked over toward New York and surrounding states and saw a great area of darkness. Everything there seemed as if there was no light and no communication. I looked over toward California and saw a large area of land fall into the ocean there between California and New Mexico. It was like a great landslide and a great wave took off toward the islands and Hawaii and they were covered with water and completely destroyed. The water was traveling in a direction that was totally against the usual current. Up around the areas of Colorado, Utah and Wyoming things were silent and still; it seemed to be a "safe" zone!
Then I looked back up the middle of the continent where that great split was in the earth. It had smoke and fire rising up out of it and it was as if an earthquake had torn the continent right up the middle. There were volcanoes erupting in the north and great clouds of suffocating smoke were covering everything in their path. America was devastated!
Then I saw a helicopter with the President on board and they were taking him to another "safe" area that had not been destroyed. This is where the President set up headquarters to run the country. Communications coming from Washington or the Pentagon were bleak and not working properly. Business was NOT as usual because of the darkness in that area.
The President set up meetings with Canada, Alaska and Mexico for immediate communication of what to do with the millions of people who had been affected by the earthquake, shaking-type catastrophe. The problem was that there were very few places found that could handle the influx of homeless and wounded. The destruction was too wide! People were helping their neighbors and trying to deal with what was happening as best as possible. I knew that this was the end! For a moment I thought, what am I still doing here?
I saw great tent cities being erected to house those who had been displaced. Curfews were set all across America. Families from city to city and state to state were unable to communicate with each other because there were no communication devices working. No one knew if their family members in other states were dead or alive. If people tried to go to downtown or to the next community they were sent back to their homes. Barriers were at all main intersections with checkpoints in place. Military and police were at the checkpoints and going through neighborhoods. There were complete restrictions on any travel to work, school or church.
Military were going from block to block and house to house to look for weapons, food and water. They were going to put it in one place and give it out as they saw fit! People were locking themselves in their homes and trying to hide from the military in fear of having everything that they had stored taken away. It did no good to try and keep anything from them. They would break the doors down on homes. And then they beat up the people for trying to hide. There were large trucks that were taking families and splitting them up and taking the people to the tent cities. People wanted to stay in their homes but the military would not let them. If you would not leave then they forced you to! There was no compassion!
The public began to rebel and then the local police were called to get involved with the military. They were still short of force. Then I witnessed as gang-type militia began to develop among groups of young people -- young men and women who were armed with guns; and I witnessed as these young people took control over areas and even shot and killed people who wouldn't do what they ordered. Many old people were simply shot. It was like watching exterminators kill roaches or rats. There was such a shortage of everything and such fear that these people were completely out of control. Everything was looted and people were hurting other people in ways that was indescribable.
I saw friend sneaking over to houses and comforting old people and those who were in great fear and lacking understanding of what to do. They PRAYED with those people and many began to repent and turned their hearts to Jesus Christ. The only part that perplexed me was that I don't remember seeing any children! None, with the exception of one little girl who led me through the whole dream! She was at every position of the dream and watched everything with me. She never spoke. She was simply present and her face was covered with ash and she was in sackcloth. Her countenance was sorrowful.
I did see torture. The Christians were being mocked, as if it were God's fault that this had happened and the masses wanted them tortured and made a spectacle. I was dragged out of my house and stripped naked and marched down my street in front of all my neighbors while they shouted and spit on me and threw things at me. I was embarrassed, but only for a moment. I remembered that GOD was still on the throne and that this would soon be over. My children were not with me. I think the boys had been taken away! I was beaten and hit repeatedly and then I woke up.
So ... why am I sharing this now? Because I feel that we should take serious the pending possibility of a massive time of darkness here in America. I have not told people about this dream because maybe it was just for me. I don't know, but I do feel that it was a WARNING to me and whoever I tell. I AM NOT an ALARMIST! I have faith in GOD and still hold to the fact that I had always believed in the church being out of here BEFORE the Tribulation period. I "do" question this now.
I feel that we should prepare our homes for the possibility of needing water and non-perishable food and have some cash in small bills on hand. Plenty of flashlights and batteries and even a plan to decide where to meet your family members and gather together the moment the darkness strikes. If you have made plans to go to another place like Colorado or Utah, then you would have to go before the roads were closed.
I pray that this would NEVER happen. However, I also know that GOD will not do anything until He has revealed it to His prophets. I have never called myself a prophet, nor will I begin now. However, I can't tell you how many things I have dreamed about and have now seen them come to pass repeatedly. The track record on what He shows me has been on target so far.
I don't know if you will listen to what I have written here, but I believe that there will come a day if the Lord tarries and we are here at the beginning of the tribulation that many people will not be able to get to their church family, and they will become fearful if they haven't at least prepared their hearts. Those who know the truth and know the "signs of the time" that we are in must reach those who are still unaware of how near we are to the end of this age.
INTERESTING, NONE-THE-LESS....
Brenda Schaunaman - 10/12/08
I have been holding off on telling this dream for about a year, but I know that it is time for me to send it to you NOW.
It all started after I woke one morning. I went into the library and pulled out a plain piece of paper and began to "draw" out what I had seen. It was as if I was looking down from space at the United States of America.
Right up the middle of the continent I saw a great split. It looked as if a huge bolt of lightning had broken the earth open from the east coast of Texas all the way up through the Midwest. Then I looked over toward New York and surrounding states and saw a great area of darkness. Everything there seemed as if there was no light and no communication. I looked over toward California and saw a large area of land fall into the ocean there between California and New Mexico. It was like a great landslide and a great wave took off toward the islands and Hawaii and they were covered with water and completely destroyed. The water was traveling in a direction that was totally against the usual current. Up around the areas of Colorado, Utah and Wyoming things were silent and still; it seemed to be a "safe" zone!
Then I looked back up the middle of the continent where that great split was in the earth. It had smoke and fire rising up out of it and it was as if an earthquake had torn the continent right up the middle. There were volcanoes erupting in the north and great clouds of suffocating smoke were covering everything in their path. America was devastated!
Then I saw a helicopter with the President on board and they were taking him to another "safe" area that had not been destroyed. This is where the President set up headquarters to run the country. Communications coming from Washington or the Pentagon were bleak and not working properly. Business was NOT as usual because of the darkness in that area.
The President set up meetings with Canada, Alaska and Mexico for immediate communication of what to do with the millions of people who had been affected by the earthquake, shaking-type catastrophe. The problem was that there were very few places found that could handle the influx of homeless and wounded. The destruction was too wide! People were helping their neighbors and trying to deal with what was happening as best as possible. I knew that this was the end! For a moment I thought, what am I still doing here?
I saw great tent cities being erected to house those who had been displaced. Curfews were set all across America. Families from city to city and state to state were unable to communicate with each other because there were no communication devices working. No one knew if their family members in other states were dead or alive. If people tried to go to downtown or to the next community they were sent back to their homes. Barriers were at all main intersections with checkpoints in place. Military and police were at the checkpoints and going through neighborhoods. There were complete restrictions on any travel to work, school or church.
Military were going from block to block and house to house to look for weapons, food and water. They were going to put it in one place and give it out as they saw fit! People were locking themselves in their homes and trying to hide from the military in fear of having everything that they had stored taken away. It did no good to try and keep anything from them. They would break the doors down on homes. And then they beat up the people for trying to hide. There were large trucks that were taking families and splitting them up and taking the people to the tent cities. People wanted to stay in their homes but the military would not let them. If you would not leave then they forced you to! There was no compassion!
The public began to rebel and then the local police were called to get involved with the military. They were still short of force. Then I witnessed as gang-type militia began to develop among groups of young people -- young men and women who were armed with guns; and I witnessed as these young people took control over areas and even shot and killed people who wouldn't do what they ordered. Many old people were simply shot. It was like watching exterminators kill roaches or rats. There was such a shortage of everything and such fear that these people were completely out of control. Everything was looted and people were hurting other people in ways that was indescribable.
I saw friend sneaking over to houses and comforting old people and those who were in great fear and lacking understanding of what to do. They PRAYED with those people and many began to repent and turned their hearts to Jesus Christ. The only part that perplexed me was that I don't remember seeing any children! None, with the exception of one little girl who led me through the whole dream! She was at every position of the dream and watched everything with me. She never spoke. She was simply present and her face was covered with ash and she was in sackcloth. Her countenance was sorrowful.
I did see torture. The Christians were being mocked, as if it were God's fault that this had happened and the masses wanted them tortured and made a spectacle. I was dragged out of my house and stripped naked and marched down my street in front of all my neighbors while they shouted and spit on me and threw things at me. I was embarrassed, but only for a moment. I remembered that GOD was still on the throne and that this would soon be over. My children were not with me. I think the boys had been taken away! I was beaten and hit repeatedly and then I woke up.
So ... why am I sharing this now? Because I feel that we should take serious the pending possibility of a massive time of darkness here in America. I have not told people about this dream because maybe it was just for me. I don't know, but I do feel that it was a WARNING to me and whoever I tell. I AM NOT an ALARMIST! I have faith in GOD and still hold to the fact that I had always believed in the church being out of here BEFORE the Tribulation period. I "do" question this now.
I feel that we should prepare our homes for the possibility of needing water and non-perishable food and have some cash in small bills on hand. Plenty of flashlights and batteries and even a plan to decide where to meet your family members and gather together the moment the darkness strikes. If you have made plans to go to another place like Colorado or Utah, then you would have to go before the roads were closed.
I pray that this would NEVER happen. However, I also know that GOD will not do anything until He has revealed it to His prophets. I have never called myself a prophet, nor will I begin now. However, I can't tell you how many things I have dreamed about and have now seen them come to pass repeatedly. The track record on what He shows me has been on target so far.
I don't know if you will listen to what I have written here, but I believe that there will come a day if the Lord tarries and we are here at the beginning of the tribulation that many people will not be able to get to their church family, and they will become fearful if they haven't at least prepared their hearts. Those who know the truth and know the "signs of the time" that we are in must reach those who are still unaware of how near we are to the end of this age.
VISION OF HEBER Q. HALE - BOISE STAKE PRESIDENT
A Vision Given to
Heber Q. Hale
President of the Boise Stake
A heavenly manifestation given to Heber Q. Hale, President of the Boise Stake of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, as related by him at the Genealogical Conference held in the Auditorium of the Bishops' Building, Salt Lake City, Utah, October, 1920. (Requested by the Presidency of the Church in 1920.)
It is with a very humble and grateful spirit that I attempt to relate on this occasion, by request, a personal experience which is very sacred to me. I must of necessity be brief. Furthermore, there were certain things made known to me which I don't feel at liberty to relate here. Let me say by way of preface that between the hours of 12 and 7:30 in the night of January 20, 1920, while alone in a room at the home of W.F. Raween in Carey, Idaho, the glorious manifestation was vouchsafed to me.
I was not conscious of anything that transpired during the hours mentioned, except what I experienced in this manifestation. I did not turn over in bed, nor was I disturbed by any sound, which indeed is unusual for me. Whether it be called a dream, an apparition, a vision or a pilgrimage of my spirit into the world of sprits, I know not. I care not. I know that I actually saw and experienced the things related in this heavenly manifestation, and they are as real to me as any experience of my life. For me, at least, this is sufficient.
Of all the doctrines and practices of the Church, the principle of vicarious work for the dead has been the most difficult for me to comprehend and wholeheartedly accept. I consider this vision is the Lord's answer to the prayer of my soul on this and certain other questions.
I passed but a short distance from my body through a film into the world of spirits. This was my first experience after going to sleep. I seemed to realize that I had passed through the change called death and I so referred to it in my conversation with the immortal beings with whom I immediately came into contact. I readily observed their displeasure at our use of the word death and the fear which we attach to it. They use there another word in referring to the transition from mortality to immortality, which word I don't recall and I can only approach its meaning and the impression which was left upon my mind, by calling it “the New Birth.”
My first visual impression was the nearness of the world of sprits to the world of mortality. The vastness of this heavenly sphere was bewildering to the eyes of the spirit-novice. Many enjoyed unrestricted vision, and unimpeded action, while many others were visibly restricted as to both vision and action. The vegetation and landscape were beautiful beyond description; not all green as here, but gold with varying shades of pink, orange, and lavender as the rainbow. A sweet calmness pervaded everything. The people I met there I did not think of as spirits, but as men and women, self-thinking and self-acting individuals, going about important business in a most orderly manner. There was perfect order there and everybody had something to do and seemed to be about their business.
That the inhabitants of the spirit world are classified according to their lives of purity, and their subservience to the Father's will, was subsequently made apparent. Particularly was it observed that the wicked and unrepentant are confined to a certain district by themselves, the confines of which are as definitely determined and impassable as the line marking the division of the physical from the spiritual world. A mere film, but impassable until the person himself was changed. The world of spirit is the temporary abode of all sprits pending the resurrection from the dead and the judgment. There was much activity within the different spheres, and appointed ministers of salvation were seen coming from the higher to the lower spheres in pursuit of their missionary appointments.
I had a very pronounced desire to meet certain of my kinsfolk and friends, but I was at once impressed with the fact that I had entered a tremendously great and extensive world, even greater than our earth and more abundantly inhabited. I could be in only one place at a time, could do only one thing at a time, could look only in one direction at a time, and accordingly it would require many, many years to search out and converse with all those I had known and those whom I desired to meet unless they were especially summoned to receive men.
All men and women were appointed to special and regular service under a well organized plan of action, directed principally toward preaching the gospel to the unconverted, teaching those who seek knowledge and establishing family relationships and gathering genealogies for the use and benefit of mortal survivors of their respective families, that the work of baptism and the sealing ordinances may be vicariously performed for the departed in the temples of God upon the earth. The authorized representatives of families in the world of sprits have access to our temple records and are kept fully advised of the work done therein, but the vicarious work done here does not become automatically effective.
The recipients must first believe, repent and accept baptism and confirmation; then certain consummating ordinances are performed effectualizing these saving principles in the lives of those regenerated beings. And so the great work is going on—they are doing a work there which we cannot do here, and we a work here which they cannot do there, for the salvation of all God's children who will be saved.
I was surprised to find there no babies in arms. I met the infant son of Orson W. Rawlings, my first counselor. I immediately recognized him as the baby who died a few years ago, and yet he seemed to have the intelligence and, in certain respect, the appearance of an adult, and was engaged in matters pertaining to his family and its genealogy. My mind was quite contented upon the point that mothers will again receive into their arms their children who died in infancy and will be fully satisfied, but the fact remains that entrance into the world of spirits is not an inhibition of growth but the greatest opportunity of development. Babies are adult spirits in infant bodies.
I presently beheld a mighty multitude of men, the largest I had ever seen gathered in one place, who I immediately recognized as soldiers, the millions who had been slaughtered and rushed so savagely into the world of spirits during the great world war [WWI]. Among them moved, calmly and majestically, a great general in supreme command. As I drew nearer, I received the kingly smile and generous welcome of a great loving man, General Richard W. Young. Then came the positive conviction to my soul, that of all the men living or dead, there is not one who is so perfectly fitted for the great mission unto which he had been called. He commands immediately the attention and respect of all the soldiers. He is at once a great general and a great High Priest of God. No earthly field of labor to which he could have been assigned, could compare with it in importance and extent. I passed from this scene to return later when I found General Young had this vast army of men completely organized with officers over successive divisions, and all were seated, and he was preaching the gospel in great earnestness to them.
As I passed forward, I soon met my beloved mother. She greeted me most affectionately and expressed surprise at seeing me there, and reminded me that I had not completed my allotted mission on earth. She seemed to be going somewhere and was in a hurry and, accordingly, took her leave with saying that she would see me soon again.
I moved forward covering an appreciable distance and consuming considerable time, viewing the wonderful sights of landscape, parks, trees and flowers and meeting people, some of whom I knew, but many thousands of whom I did not recognize as acquaintances. I presently approached a small group of men, standing in a path lined with spacious stretches of flowers, grasses, and shrubbery, all of a golden hue, marking the approach of a beautiful building. The group was engaged in earnest conversation. One of their number parted from the rest and came walking down the path. I at once recognized my esteemed President Joseph F. Smith. He embraced me as a father would his son and after a few words of greeting, quickly remarked: “You have not come to stay,” which remark I understood more as a declaration than an interrogation. For the first time I became fully conscious of my uncompleted mission on earth and, as much as I would have liked to remain, I at once asked President Smith if I might return. “You have expressed a righteous desire” he replied, “and I shall take the matter up with the authorities and let you know later.”
We then returned and he led me toward the little group of men from whom he had just separated. I immediately recognized President Brigham Young and the Prophet Joseph Smith. I was surprised to find the former a shorter and heavier built man than I had pictured him in my mind to be. On the other hand I found the latter to be taller than I had expected to find him. Both they and President Smith were possessed of a calm and holy majesty which was at once kind and kingly. We then retraced our steps and President Smith took his leave, saying he would see me again.
From a certain point of vantage I was permitted to view this earth and what was going on here. There was no limitation of my vision and I was astounded at this. I saw my wife and children at home. I saw President Heber J. Grant at the head of the Great Church and Kingdom of God and felt the divine power that radiates from God giving it light and truth and guiding its destiny. I beheld this nation founded as it is on correct principles and designed to endure, but beset by evil and sinister forces that seek to lead men to thwart the purposes of God. I saw towns and cities; the sins and wickedness of men and women. I saw vessels sailing the oceans and scanned the battle-scarred fields of France and Belgium. In a word, I beheld the whole world as if it were but a panorama passing before my eyes.
Then there came to me the unmistakable impression that this earth and scenes and persons upon it are open to the vision of the spirits only when special permission is given or when they are assigned to special service here. This is particularly true of the righteous who are busily engaged in two fields of activity at the same time.
The wicked and unrepentant have still, like the rest, their free agency, and applying themselves to no useful or wholesome undertaking, seek pleasure about their old haunts and exalt in the sin and wickedness of degenerated humanity. To this extent they are still the tools of Satan. It is these idle, mischievous and deceptive spirits who appear as miserable counterfeits at spiritualist seances, table dancing and ouija board operation. The noble and great ones do not respond to the call of the mediums and to every curious group of meddlesome inquirers. They would not do it in the world of mortality, certainly they would not do it in their increased state of knowledge in the world of immortality. These wicked and unrepentant spirits are [tools] of Satan and his host, operating through willing mediums in the flesh. These three forces constitute an unholy trinity upon the earth and are responsible for all the sin, wickedness, distress and misery among men and nations.
I moved forward feasting my eyes upon the beauty of everything about me and glorying in the indescribable peace and happiness that abounded in everybody and through everything. The further I went, the more glorious things appeared. While standing at a certain vantage point, I beheld a short distance away a wonderful beautiful temple, capped with golden domes, from which emerged a small group of men dressed in white robes who paused for a brief conversation. They were the first I had seen thus clad. The million that I had previously seen were in uniforms. In this little group of holy men, my eyes centered upon one more splendid and holy than the rest. While I thus gazed, President Joseph F. Smith parted from the others and came to my side. “Do you know him?” he inquired. I quietly answered, “Yes, I know him. My eyes behold my Lord and Savior.” “It is true,” said President Smith. And, oh, how my soul thrilled with rapture, and unspeakable joy filled my heart!
President Smith informed me that I had been given permission to return and complete the mission upon the earth which the Lord had appointed to me to fulfill, and then with his hand upon my shoulder, uttered these memorable and significant words, “Brother Heber, you have a great work to do. Go forward with a prayerful heart and thou shall be blessed in your ministry. From this time on, never doubt that God lives, that Jesus Christ is the Son, the Savior of the World, that The Holy Ghost is a god of spirit and the messenger of the Father and Son; never doubt the resurrection of the dead, the immortality of the soul; that the destiny of man is eternal progress. Never again doubt that the mission of the Latter-day Saints is to all mankind, both the living and the dead; and that the great work in the holy temples for the living and the dead had only begun. Know this, that Joseph Smith was sent of God to usher in the gospel dispensation of the fullness of times, which is the last unto mortals upon the earth. His successors have all been called of and approved of God. President Heber J. Grant is at this time the recognized and ordained head of the Church of Jesus Christ upon the earth. Give him your confidence and support. Much you have seen and heard here you will not be permitted to repeat when you return.” Thus saying he bade me “Good bye, and God bless you.”
Quite a distance, through various scenes and passing innumerable people, I traveled before I reached the sphere which I had first entered. On my way I was greeted by many friends and relatives, certain of whom sent words of greeting and counsel to their dear ones here—my mother being one of them.
One other I will mention. I met brother John Adamson, his wife, his son James and their daughter Isabelle, all of whom were killed by the hand of a foul assassin in their home, at Carey, Idaho, in the evening of October 29, 1915. They seemed to define that I was on my way back to mortality and immediately said, (Brother Adamson was speaking) “Tell the children that we are very happy and very busy and they should not mourn our departure, nor worry their minds over the manner by which we were taken. There is purpose in it, and we have a work to do here which required our collective efforts, and which we could not do individually.” I was at once made to know that the work referred to was that of genealogy on which they are working in England and Scotland.
One of the grandest and most sacred things of heaven is the family relationship. The establishment of the complete chain without any broken links brings a fullness of joy. Links wholly bad will be dropped out and either new links put in or the two adjoining links welded together. Men and women everywhere throughout the world are being moved upon by their departed ancestors to gather genealogies. These are the links for the chain. The ordinances of baptism, endowments, and sealings performed in the temples of God by the living for the dead are the welding of the links. Ordinances are performed in the spirit world effectualizing the individual recipient for their receiving the saving principles of the gospel vicariously performed here.
As I was approaching the place where I entered, my attention was attracted towards a number of small groups of women, preparing what appeared to me wearing apparel. Observing my inquiring countenance one of the women remarked, “We are preparing to receive Brother Phillip Worthington very soon.” As I grasped his name in repetition I was admonished, “If you knew the joy and the glorious mission that awaits him here you would not ask to have him longer detained upon the earth.” Then came flooding my consciousness this awful truth, that the will of the Lord can be done on earth as it in is heaven, only when we resign completely to His will and let His will be done in and through us. On account of the selfishness of many, persons who might have otherwise been taken in innocence and peace, have been permitted to live, and have lived to their own peril, men and the assertion of the personal will as against the will of God. Phillip Worthington died January 22, 1920, for which I was advised by telegram, and returning to Boise, preached his funeral sermon on January 25, 1920.
Men, women and children are often called to missions of great importance on the other side, and some respond gladly while others refuse to go and their loved ones will not give them up. Also, many die because they have not the faith to be healed. Others live and pass out of the world of mortals without any special manifestation of action of the divine will. When a man is stricken ill, the question of prime importance is not “Is he going to live, or Is he going to die?” What matter is it whether he lives or dies, so long as the will of the Father is done? Surely we can trust him with God. Herein lies the special duty and privilege of administration by the right and authority of the Holy Priesthood, namely: it is given the elders of the Church of Jesus Christ to divine the will of the Father concerning the one upon whose head their hands are laid. If for any reason they are unable to presage the Father's will, then they should continue to pray in faith for the afflicted one, humbly conceding supremacy to do the will of God, that His will may be done in earth as it in done in heaven.
To the righteous person, birth into the world of sprits is a glorious privilege and blessing. The greatest spirits in the family of the Father have not usually been permitted to tarry longer in the flesh than to perform a certain mission; then they are called to the world o f spirits where the field is greater and the workers fewer. This earthly mission, may therefore, be long or short, as the Father wills.
I passed quietly out where I had entered the world of spirits and immediately my body was quickened, and I was to ponder over and record the many wonderful things I had seen and heard.
Let me here and now declare to the world that irrespective of the opinion of others, I do know of my own positive knowledge and from my own personal experiences that God in the Father of the spirits of all men and that He lives; that Jesus Christ is his son and the Savior of the world, that the spirit of man does not die, but survives the change called death and goes to the world of spirits; that the world of spirit is upon or near this earth; that the principles of salvation are now being taught to the spirits and the great work of saving the Father's family among the living and dead is now in progress, and that but comparatively few will ultimately be lost; that spirits will literally take up their bodies again in the resurrection and that the gospel of Jesus Christ has again been established upon the earth with all of the keys, powers, authority, and blessings, through the instrumentality of the Prophet Joseph Smith; that His is the power that will not only save and exalt every one who yields obedience to its principles, but will ultimately save the world; that the burden of our mission is to save souls unto God, and that the work for the salvation of the dead is no less of importance than the work for the living.
Heber Q. Hale
President of the Boise Stake
A heavenly manifestation given to Heber Q. Hale, President of the Boise Stake of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, as related by him at the Genealogical Conference held in the Auditorium of the Bishops' Building, Salt Lake City, Utah, October, 1920. (Requested by the Presidency of the Church in 1920.)
It is with a very humble and grateful spirit that I attempt to relate on this occasion, by request, a personal experience which is very sacred to me. I must of necessity be brief. Furthermore, there were certain things made known to me which I don't feel at liberty to relate here. Let me say by way of preface that between the hours of 12 and 7:30 in the night of January 20, 1920, while alone in a room at the home of W.F. Raween in Carey, Idaho, the glorious manifestation was vouchsafed to me.
I was not conscious of anything that transpired during the hours mentioned, except what I experienced in this manifestation. I did not turn over in bed, nor was I disturbed by any sound, which indeed is unusual for me. Whether it be called a dream, an apparition, a vision or a pilgrimage of my spirit into the world of sprits, I know not. I care not. I know that I actually saw and experienced the things related in this heavenly manifestation, and they are as real to me as any experience of my life. For me, at least, this is sufficient.
Of all the doctrines and practices of the Church, the principle of vicarious work for the dead has been the most difficult for me to comprehend and wholeheartedly accept. I consider this vision is the Lord's answer to the prayer of my soul on this and certain other questions.
I passed but a short distance from my body through a film into the world of spirits. This was my first experience after going to sleep. I seemed to realize that I had passed through the change called death and I so referred to it in my conversation with the immortal beings with whom I immediately came into contact. I readily observed their displeasure at our use of the word death and the fear which we attach to it. They use there another word in referring to the transition from mortality to immortality, which word I don't recall and I can only approach its meaning and the impression which was left upon my mind, by calling it “the New Birth.”
My first visual impression was the nearness of the world of sprits to the world of mortality. The vastness of this heavenly sphere was bewildering to the eyes of the spirit-novice. Many enjoyed unrestricted vision, and unimpeded action, while many others were visibly restricted as to both vision and action. The vegetation and landscape were beautiful beyond description; not all green as here, but gold with varying shades of pink, orange, and lavender as the rainbow. A sweet calmness pervaded everything. The people I met there I did not think of as spirits, but as men and women, self-thinking and self-acting individuals, going about important business in a most orderly manner. There was perfect order there and everybody had something to do and seemed to be about their business.
That the inhabitants of the spirit world are classified according to their lives of purity, and their subservience to the Father's will, was subsequently made apparent. Particularly was it observed that the wicked and unrepentant are confined to a certain district by themselves, the confines of which are as definitely determined and impassable as the line marking the division of the physical from the spiritual world. A mere film, but impassable until the person himself was changed. The world of spirit is the temporary abode of all sprits pending the resurrection from the dead and the judgment. There was much activity within the different spheres, and appointed ministers of salvation were seen coming from the higher to the lower spheres in pursuit of their missionary appointments.
I had a very pronounced desire to meet certain of my kinsfolk and friends, but I was at once impressed with the fact that I had entered a tremendously great and extensive world, even greater than our earth and more abundantly inhabited. I could be in only one place at a time, could do only one thing at a time, could look only in one direction at a time, and accordingly it would require many, many years to search out and converse with all those I had known and those whom I desired to meet unless they were especially summoned to receive men.
All men and women were appointed to special and regular service under a well organized plan of action, directed principally toward preaching the gospel to the unconverted, teaching those who seek knowledge and establishing family relationships and gathering genealogies for the use and benefit of mortal survivors of their respective families, that the work of baptism and the sealing ordinances may be vicariously performed for the departed in the temples of God upon the earth. The authorized representatives of families in the world of sprits have access to our temple records and are kept fully advised of the work done therein, but the vicarious work done here does not become automatically effective.
The recipients must first believe, repent and accept baptism and confirmation; then certain consummating ordinances are performed effectualizing these saving principles in the lives of those regenerated beings. And so the great work is going on—they are doing a work there which we cannot do here, and we a work here which they cannot do there, for the salvation of all God's children who will be saved.
I was surprised to find there no babies in arms. I met the infant son of Orson W. Rawlings, my first counselor. I immediately recognized him as the baby who died a few years ago, and yet he seemed to have the intelligence and, in certain respect, the appearance of an adult, and was engaged in matters pertaining to his family and its genealogy. My mind was quite contented upon the point that mothers will again receive into their arms their children who died in infancy and will be fully satisfied, but the fact remains that entrance into the world of spirits is not an inhibition of growth but the greatest opportunity of development. Babies are adult spirits in infant bodies.
I presently beheld a mighty multitude of men, the largest I had ever seen gathered in one place, who I immediately recognized as soldiers, the millions who had been slaughtered and rushed so savagely into the world of spirits during the great world war [WWI]. Among them moved, calmly and majestically, a great general in supreme command. As I drew nearer, I received the kingly smile and generous welcome of a great loving man, General Richard W. Young. Then came the positive conviction to my soul, that of all the men living or dead, there is not one who is so perfectly fitted for the great mission unto which he had been called. He commands immediately the attention and respect of all the soldiers. He is at once a great general and a great High Priest of God. No earthly field of labor to which he could have been assigned, could compare with it in importance and extent. I passed from this scene to return later when I found General Young had this vast army of men completely organized with officers over successive divisions, and all were seated, and he was preaching the gospel in great earnestness to them.
As I passed forward, I soon met my beloved mother. She greeted me most affectionately and expressed surprise at seeing me there, and reminded me that I had not completed my allotted mission on earth. She seemed to be going somewhere and was in a hurry and, accordingly, took her leave with saying that she would see me soon again.
I moved forward covering an appreciable distance and consuming considerable time, viewing the wonderful sights of landscape, parks, trees and flowers and meeting people, some of whom I knew, but many thousands of whom I did not recognize as acquaintances. I presently approached a small group of men, standing in a path lined with spacious stretches of flowers, grasses, and shrubbery, all of a golden hue, marking the approach of a beautiful building. The group was engaged in earnest conversation. One of their number parted from the rest and came walking down the path. I at once recognized my esteemed President Joseph F. Smith. He embraced me as a father would his son and after a few words of greeting, quickly remarked: “You have not come to stay,” which remark I understood more as a declaration than an interrogation. For the first time I became fully conscious of my uncompleted mission on earth and, as much as I would have liked to remain, I at once asked President Smith if I might return. “You have expressed a righteous desire” he replied, “and I shall take the matter up with the authorities and let you know later.”
We then returned and he led me toward the little group of men from whom he had just separated. I immediately recognized President Brigham Young and the Prophet Joseph Smith. I was surprised to find the former a shorter and heavier built man than I had pictured him in my mind to be. On the other hand I found the latter to be taller than I had expected to find him. Both they and President Smith were possessed of a calm and holy majesty which was at once kind and kingly. We then retraced our steps and President Smith took his leave, saying he would see me again.
From a certain point of vantage I was permitted to view this earth and what was going on here. There was no limitation of my vision and I was astounded at this. I saw my wife and children at home. I saw President Heber J. Grant at the head of the Great Church and Kingdom of God and felt the divine power that radiates from God giving it light and truth and guiding its destiny. I beheld this nation founded as it is on correct principles and designed to endure, but beset by evil and sinister forces that seek to lead men to thwart the purposes of God. I saw towns and cities; the sins and wickedness of men and women. I saw vessels sailing the oceans and scanned the battle-scarred fields of France and Belgium. In a word, I beheld the whole world as if it were but a panorama passing before my eyes.
Then there came to me the unmistakable impression that this earth and scenes and persons upon it are open to the vision of the spirits only when special permission is given or when they are assigned to special service here. This is particularly true of the righteous who are busily engaged in two fields of activity at the same time.
The wicked and unrepentant have still, like the rest, their free agency, and applying themselves to no useful or wholesome undertaking, seek pleasure about their old haunts and exalt in the sin and wickedness of degenerated humanity. To this extent they are still the tools of Satan. It is these idle, mischievous and deceptive spirits who appear as miserable counterfeits at spiritualist seances, table dancing and ouija board operation. The noble and great ones do not respond to the call of the mediums and to every curious group of meddlesome inquirers. They would not do it in the world of mortality, certainly they would not do it in their increased state of knowledge in the world of immortality. These wicked and unrepentant spirits are [tools] of Satan and his host, operating through willing mediums in the flesh. These three forces constitute an unholy trinity upon the earth and are responsible for all the sin, wickedness, distress and misery among men and nations.
I moved forward feasting my eyes upon the beauty of everything about me and glorying in the indescribable peace and happiness that abounded in everybody and through everything. The further I went, the more glorious things appeared. While standing at a certain vantage point, I beheld a short distance away a wonderful beautiful temple, capped with golden domes, from which emerged a small group of men dressed in white robes who paused for a brief conversation. They were the first I had seen thus clad. The million that I had previously seen were in uniforms. In this little group of holy men, my eyes centered upon one more splendid and holy than the rest. While I thus gazed, President Joseph F. Smith parted from the others and came to my side. “Do you know him?” he inquired. I quietly answered, “Yes, I know him. My eyes behold my Lord and Savior.” “It is true,” said President Smith. And, oh, how my soul thrilled with rapture, and unspeakable joy filled my heart!
President Smith informed me that I had been given permission to return and complete the mission upon the earth which the Lord had appointed to me to fulfill, and then with his hand upon my shoulder, uttered these memorable and significant words, “Brother Heber, you have a great work to do. Go forward with a prayerful heart and thou shall be blessed in your ministry. From this time on, never doubt that God lives, that Jesus Christ is the Son, the Savior of the World, that The Holy Ghost is a god of spirit and the messenger of the Father and Son; never doubt the resurrection of the dead, the immortality of the soul; that the destiny of man is eternal progress. Never again doubt that the mission of the Latter-day Saints is to all mankind, both the living and the dead; and that the great work in the holy temples for the living and the dead had only begun. Know this, that Joseph Smith was sent of God to usher in the gospel dispensation of the fullness of times, which is the last unto mortals upon the earth. His successors have all been called of and approved of God. President Heber J. Grant is at this time the recognized and ordained head of the Church of Jesus Christ upon the earth. Give him your confidence and support. Much you have seen and heard here you will not be permitted to repeat when you return.” Thus saying he bade me “Good bye, and God bless you.”
Quite a distance, through various scenes and passing innumerable people, I traveled before I reached the sphere which I had first entered. On my way I was greeted by many friends and relatives, certain of whom sent words of greeting and counsel to their dear ones here—my mother being one of them.
One other I will mention. I met brother John Adamson, his wife, his son James and their daughter Isabelle, all of whom were killed by the hand of a foul assassin in their home, at Carey, Idaho, in the evening of October 29, 1915. They seemed to define that I was on my way back to mortality and immediately said, (Brother Adamson was speaking) “Tell the children that we are very happy and very busy and they should not mourn our departure, nor worry their minds over the manner by which we were taken. There is purpose in it, and we have a work to do here which required our collective efforts, and which we could not do individually.” I was at once made to know that the work referred to was that of genealogy on which they are working in England and Scotland.
One of the grandest and most sacred things of heaven is the family relationship. The establishment of the complete chain without any broken links brings a fullness of joy. Links wholly bad will be dropped out and either new links put in or the two adjoining links welded together. Men and women everywhere throughout the world are being moved upon by their departed ancestors to gather genealogies. These are the links for the chain. The ordinances of baptism, endowments, and sealings performed in the temples of God by the living for the dead are the welding of the links. Ordinances are performed in the spirit world effectualizing the individual recipient for their receiving the saving principles of the gospel vicariously performed here.
As I was approaching the place where I entered, my attention was attracted towards a number of small groups of women, preparing what appeared to me wearing apparel. Observing my inquiring countenance one of the women remarked, “We are preparing to receive Brother Phillip Worthington very soon.” As I grasped his name in repetition I was admonished, “If you knew the joy and the glorious mission that awaits him here you would not ask to have him longer detained upon the earth.” Then came flooding my consciousness this awful truth, that the will of the Lord can be done on earth as it in is heaven, only when we resign completely to His will and let His will be done in and through us. On account of the selfishness of many, persons who might have otherwise been taken in innocence and peace, have been permitted to live, and have lived to their own peril, men and the assertion of the personal will as against the will of God. Phillip Worthington died January 22, 1920, for which I was advised by telegram, and returning to Boise, preached his funeral sermon on January 25, 1920.
Men, women and children are often called to missions of great importance on the other side, and some respond gladly while others refuse to go and their loved ones will not give them up. Also, many die because they have not the faith to be healed. Others live and pass out of the world of mortals without any special manifestation of action of the divine will. When a man is stricken ill, the question of prime importance is not “Is he going to live, or Is he going to die?” What matter is it whether he lives or dies, so long as the will of the Father is done? Surely we can trust him with God. Herein lies the special duty and privilege of administration by the right and authority of the Holy Priesthood, namely: it is given the elders of the Church of Jesus Christ to divine the will of the Father concerning the one upon whose head their hands are laid. If for any reason they are unable to presage the Father's will, then they should continue to pray in faith for the afflicted one, humbly conceding supremacy to do the will of God, that His will may be done in earth as it in done in heaven.
To the righteous person, birth into the world of sprits is a glorious privilege and blessing. The greatest spirits in the family of the Father have not usually been permitted to tarry longer in the flesh than to perform a certain mission; then they are called to the world o f spirits where the field is greater and the workers fewer. This earthly mission, may therefore, be long or short, as the Father wills.
I passed quietly out where I had entered the world of spirits and immediately my body was quickened, and I was to ponder over and record the many wonderful things I had seen and heard.
Let me here and now declare to the world that irrespective of the opinion of others, I do know of my own positive knowledge and from my own personal experiences that God in the Father of the spirits of all men and that He lives; that Jesus Christ is his son and the Savior of the world, that the spirit of man does not die, but survives the change called death and goes to the world of spirits; that the world of spirit is upon or near this earth; that the principles of salvation are now being taught to the spirits and the great work of saving the Father's family among the living and dead is now in progress, and that but comparatively few will ultimately be lost; that spirits will literally take up their bodies again in the resurrection and that the gospel of Jesus Christ has again been established upon the earth with all of the keys, powers, authority, and blessings, through the instrumentality of the Prophet Joseph Smith; that His is the power that will not only save and exalt every one who yields obedience to its principles, but will ultimately save the world; that the burden of our mission is to save souls unto God, and that the work for the salvation of the dead is no less of importance than the work for the living.
Sunday, August 26, 2012
LIMITING POSTERITY OUTSIDE THE ABRAHAMIC COVENANT
Well, I have always said its "survival of the spiritual fittest". This article would tend to corroborate that viewpoint.
There is a far greater reduction in STDs and general sexual health in males without foreskins. Many of these STDs, when transmitted to female partners, result in a massive increase in problems conceiving and bearing children. So, if you want to ensure that your chosen and covenant people want to be numbered greater than the sands of the seas, one way to ensure it is to add a foreskin as part of the male sexual organs and then require that a certain group remove it as a sign that they are the covenant people - OUCH! My two sons had theirs lobbed off at birth - and my wife refused to let it happen to any succeeding sons because she did not like to see them cry. I have very faint memories of my experience (as in NONE), so I leaned the other way. Why not? It is a useless accessory - and it might just NOT make God angry. We ended up having two girls after that, so marital discord was avoided over the issue. My wife had the heels pretty dug in on that one....
So, if you want your name to continue on and continue through the annals of history (what heathen would opt for that - especially as an adult??), keep lobbin' them off. This article explains why its a good thing:
There is a far greater reduction in STDs and general sexual health in males without foreskins. Many of these STDs, when transmitted to female partners, result in a massive increase in problems conceiving and bearing children. So, if you want to ensure that your chosen and covenant people want to be numbered greater than the sands of the seas, one way to ensure it is to add a foreskin as part of the male sexual organs and then require that a certain group remove it as a sign that they are the covenant people - OUCH! My two sons had theirs lobbed off at birth - and my wife refused to let it happen to any succeeding sons because she did not like to see them cry. I have very faint memories of my experience (as in NONE), so I leaned the other way. Why not? It is a useless accessory - and it might just NOT make God angry. We ended up having two girls after that, so marital discord was avoided over the issue. My wife had the heels pretty dug in on that one....
So, if you want your name to continue on and continue through the annals of history (what heathen would opt for that - especially as an adult??), keep lobbin' them off. This article explains why its a good thing:
ATLANTA (CBS Atlanta) -- A new study claims that the decline in male circumcisions performed on newborn males could lead to a $4 billion increase in health care costs for American men and women.
The study, published in the Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine on Aug. 20, found that male circumcisions played an integral role in reducing infections for men and their sexual partners.
Male circumcision is a surgical procedure, usually performed at birth, that removes a portion of – or the entirety of – the foreskin from the penis.
However, over the past 20 years, the rate at which the procedure is performed has declined from 79 percent to 55 percent, according to research conducted by a team including Drs. Kevin D. Frick, Charlotte A. Gaydos and Aaron A. R. Tobian, as well as Seema Kacker, BS.
“Our economic evidence is backing up what our medical evidence has already shown to be perfectly clear,” Tobian, the author’s study and an assistant professor of epidemiology and pathology at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, said in a written statement, according to CBS News. “There are health benefits to infant male circumcision in guarding against illness and disease, and declining male circumcision rates come at a severe price, not just in human suffering, but in billions of health care dollars as well.”
The results could lead to an increased need for medical care.
“Reducing the [male circumcision] rate to 10 percent will increase lifetime health care costs by $407 per male and $43 per female,” a summary of the study indicated. “Continued decreases in [male circumcision] rates are associated with increased infection prevalence, thereby increasing medical expenditures for men and women.”
Specific viruses and infections were of concern to those conducting the study.
“Lifetime prevalence of [HIV] infection among males is expected to increase by 12.2 percent, …high- and low-risk human papillomavirus by 29.1 percent, … herpes simplex virus type 2 by 19.8 percent, … and infant urinary tract infections by 211.8 percent,” researchers discovered.
Similar spikes in HPV are anticipated in women, as well as an increase in the number of reported cases of bacterial vaginosis.
The study utilized a Monte Carlo simulation – algorithms that draw from random sampling of data to compile results – to analyze the effects of decreased circumcisions throughout the lifetimes of both men and women.
Saturday, August 25, 2012
NOAH HAD MORE THAN ONE WIFE??
I had never before caught this in Moses 8:
Very interesting. I note that Joseph Smith declared the descendants of Japheth to be the Asiatics and those of Shem to be the Semitic peoples (Middle Eastern).
Ham married Egyptus whose descendants became the Africans and those further south of the Ark landing spot. Incidentally, that was a great landing spot - right in the middle of everything, geographically speaking, in order for the greatest dispersion to occur quickly in order to re-populate and fill the earth.
If the landing zone had been in the mountains of England or France - it would have taken forever with water on one side. I am picturing a curve on natural population growth and dispersion I have seen previously - too lazy to look it up for you. With a bound on that dispersion, the curve is heavily skewed.
If you have not been following the earlier posts in the blog - the ark was found in the "mountains of Ararat". I grew up having watched those mis-leading documentaries on them finding timbers on the glaciers of the volcanic peak Ararat. Wrong answer. It was always in the "mountains of Ararat" - ie; the foothills of that volcanic peak. Sure enough, Ron Wyatt found it (proven to my satisfaction, at least). He also found the Ark of the Covenant to my satisfaction. Really - its in the archives. All you have to do is look it up if you really have the intellectual curiosity to do so.
11 And all the days of Lamech were seven hundred and seventy-seven years, and he died.Verse 12 makes note of the fact that Japheth and Shem were of the same mother. It does not say specifically whose mother Ham was. Did the mother of the other two die in child birth or leave Moses or some other end, so that there was another wife who bore Ham? Or was there polygamy in those days (other than Cain and other people who may have deviated from the norm?)? We know that there were only 8 humans on the ark - so if there was another mother, she did not make it on the ark.
Very interesting. I note that Joseph Smith declared the descendants of Japheth to be the Asiatics and those of Shem to be the Semitic peoples (Middle Eastern).
Ham married Egyptus whose descendants became the Africans and those further south of the Ark landing spot. Incidentally, that was a great landing spot - right in the middle of everything, geographically speaking, in order for the greatest dispersion to occur quickly in order to re-populate and fill the earth.
If the landing zone had been in the mountains of England or France - it would have taken forever with water on one side. I am picturing a curve on natural population growth and dispersion I have seen previously - too lazy to look it up for you. With a bound on that dispersion, the curve is heavily skewed.
If you have not been following the earlier posts in the blog - the ark was found in the "mountains of Ararat". I grew up having watched those mis-leading documentaries on them finding timbers on the glaciers of the volcanic peak Ararat. Wrong answer. It was always in the "mountains of Ararat" - ie; the foothills of that volcanic peak. Sure enough, Ron Wyatt found it (proven to my satisfaction, at least). He also found the Ark of the Covenant to my satisfaction. Really - its in the archives. All you have to do is look it up if you really have the intellectual curiosity to do so.
THE THIRD TEMPLE IN JERUSALEM
Here is some great info I bumped into off LDSFF on the Temple Mount. Hope you enjoy it:
by pritchet1 » Tue Feb 10, 2009 5:10 pm
When Cleon Skousen was alive and prior to his
frequent guided tours of Israel, he said that the materials for building
the temple in Jerusalem were in warehouses ready to go.
The Cohens have been identified. As the sons of Levi, they would be administering in the Jerusalem Temple, using the Levitical priesthood of Aaron.
The Temple Mount Faithful continue their vigil and actively attempt to get prophecy fulfilled.
http://www.templemountfaithful.org/
Not too long ago, the evangelist sites had webcams showing water flowing from the Mount and the Arabs were trying desperately to stop the flow. Meanwhile, they built another mosque on the Mount and stopped excavation activities under it, but continue destroying the rest of the Temple Mount themselves.
Geophysics And The Temple Mount
http://ldolphin.org/tempgeophy.html
From 1999 we read the following anti-water on the mount page -
http://www.cdn-friends-icej.ca/isreport ... water.html
But clean your tear ducts with this -
http://www.geocities.com/theseder2/waterChannels.html
"Th Western Wall is Weeping"
http://thetemplemountfaithful.org/News/20020704.htm
"The Arabs on the Temple Mount deny this and have tried to stop the flow by many means but have not succeeded. What we now know is that they are trying to bring in special pumps to stop the flow. In any case, the water continues to flow. Nothing can stop it. This special news has caused much excitement in Israel."
Temple wall collapses in 2004 -
http://www.templemountfaithful.org/News/20040204.htm
The hidden secrets of the Temple Mount -
http://www.templemount.org/tempmt.html
Video from January 2009
http://www.infolive.tv/en/infolive.tv-1 ... ird-temple
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Temple_of_Jerusalem
Re:Beit HaMikdash - Courtesy of WWIII
by pritchet1 » Tue Feb 10, 2009 5:10 pm The Cohens have been identified. As the sons of Levi, they would be administering in the Jerusalem Temple, using the Levitical priesthood of Aaron.
The Temple Mount Faithful continue their vigil and actively attempt to get prophecy fulfilled.
http://www.templemountfaithful.org/
Not too long ago, the evangelist sites had webcams showing water flowing from the Mount and the Arabs were trying desperately to stop the flow. Meanwhile, they built another mosque on the Mount and stopped excavation activities under it, but continue destroying the rest of the Temple Mount themselves.
Geophysics And The Temple Mount
http://ldolphin.org/tempgeophy.html
From 1999 we read the following anti-water on the mount page -
http://www.cdn-friends-icej.ca/isreport ... water.html
But clean your tear ducts with this -
http://www.geocities.com/theseder2/waterChannels.html
"Th Western Wall is Weeping"
http://thetemplemountfaithful.org/News/20020704.htm
"The Arabs on the Temple Mount deny this and have tried to stop the flow by many means but have not succeeded. What we now know is that they are trying to bring in special pumps to stop the flow. In any case, the water continues to flow. Nothing can stop it. This special news has caused much excitement in Israel."
Temple wall collapses in 2004 -
http://www.templemountfaithful.org/News/20040204.htm
The hidden secrets of the Temple Mount -
http://www.templemount.org/tempmt.html
Video from January 2009
http://www.infolive.tv/en/infolive.tv-1 ... ird-temple
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Temple_of_Jerusalem
WHITE SKINNED INDIANS OF GUATEMALA
Every once in a while I will run across an interesting book on this subject. Here is one from Google books that addresses the fair-skinned ones who used to inhabit the northern part of the Americas before their destruction:
http://books.google.com/books?id=Obgdz8auwkMC&pg=PA13&lpg=PA13&dq=white+skinned+indians+Guatemala&source=web&ots=c45IyUyY13&sig=9DE0eyWBJCbJaWvr5wtCvrCmKfo&hl=en&sa=X&oi=book_result&resnum=7&ct=result#v=onepage&q=white%20skinned%20indians%20Guatemala&f=false
http://books.google.com/books?id=Obgdz8auwkMC&pg=PA13&lpg=PA13&dq=white+skinned+indians+Guatemala&source=web&ots=c45IyUyY13&sig=9DE0eyWBJCbJaWvr5wtCvrCmKfo&hl=en&sa=X&oi=book_result&resnum=7&ct=result#v=onepage&q=white%20skinned%20indians%20Guatemala&f=false
Friday, August 24, 2012
ANOTHER NEAR DEATH EXPERIENCE
http://video.today.msnbc.msn.com/today/48229599#48229599
THIS IS A FANTASTIC TESTIMONY OF WHAT IS OVER THERE.
GO DEEP, YOUNG MAN. GO DEEP
Well, we just finished plinking and gassing our gophers that had set up shop in the horse pasture. It was quite an effort. As it turns out, they may have been onto something. According to John Koyle and the Alberta Temple prophecy by Sols Guardisto, there may be a need to get underground after some point - after the great earthquake. Here is a quote in the notes on the Dream Mine in Spanish Fork, Utah:
According to Guardisto, the mining district in the Crows Nest Pass area north and west of Cardston will be developed for purposes of underground storage and preservation. I would not be caught dead underground during the great earthquake. That will be the means of killing off the "elite" who were prepared against that event - but there will be another time after that when the underground refuges will be required. People will be guided to know when those times are.
"During that time this dugway will serve as a means to refuge for many of our people with their supplies. We take cover in the safety of the tunnels until that army is destroyed together with all who surrender.
"Following this, we will also have the Russians to fight, and they will get half way across this country before they are put down." (--To the Missouri River.)
I noticed that he was somewhat shaken by this experience, and that he had to sit down to recover his strength. Later when I had discovered the Bulkley and Farnsworth visions about the U.S. Army coming against Zion, I learned that Bishop Koyle had never heard of them, and that he had no previous knowledge of the "U.S. Army worse than Johnston's coming against Utah."
When he had recovered enough to talk about it, I then pointed out that the tunnels would not offer much protection against an army. He then told me that the importance of the tunnels would be understood when this time came. Of course, I did not know in 1934, as I know today, that we would be taking refuge from the wrath of God upon the army and all who would surrender to it, when "the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat." (II Peter, 3:12) And "the light of the moon shall be as the light of the sun, and the light of the sun shall be sevenfold." (See Isaiah, 30:26.)
According to Guardisto, the mining district in the Crows Nest Pass area north and west of Cardston will be developed for purposes of underground storage and preservation. I would not be caught dead underground during the great earthquake. That will be the means of killing off the "elite" who were prepared against that event - but there will be another time after that when the underground refuges will be required. People will be guided to know when those times are.
Thursday, August 23, 2012
REASON FOR ROMNEY'S FUTURE ASSASSINATION
Well, folks. Just reading the tea leaves here - not trying to provoke a response by the secret service.....
Lets see. Every major attempt to change our monetary system from the existing fiat paper currency has resulted in the sitting president either being assassinated or an attempt made on his life - except the attempt on President Reagan's life didn't fit my pattern when I was taking stock of the kill list.
According to this article, Reagan DID initiate a Gold Commission (probably in order to get the 70's runaway inflation under wraps) - so he now falls under that rule that was applied to the data. He fell under the sub-set of assassination attempt, but survived. Jackson did not receive the two balls during the attempt on his life. Lincoln, McKinley and Kennedy were all taken out successfully for their challenge of the status quo of the international banksters.
Now, we have an article that says that Romney plans on challenging the system in order to head off (what will become) runaway inflation off at the pass. We also have several (prophetic) intersecting data points that indicate that the next prez will be killed between the first and the third years in office. Things will be so bad that there will be no one who will step up to the reigns after the assassination and the national government will be most likely operating out of Colorado due to the three great shakings that will occur in DC around the same time (whatever was meant by that statement....). All this stuff is contained in the blog archives (search box in the upper left corner).
Things are shaping up to be very interesting indeed...... Very interesting indeed......
Here is the article that got me spun up:
Lets see. Every major attempt to change our monetary system from the existing fiat paper currency has resulted in the sitting president either being assassinated or an attempt made on his life - except the attempt on President Reagan's life didn't fit my pattern when I was taking stock of the kill list.
According to this article, Reagan DID initiate a Gold Commission (probably in order to get the 70's runaway inflation under wraps) - so he now falls under that rule that was applied to the data. He fell under the sub-set of assassination attempt, but survived. Jackson did not receive the two balls during the attempt on his life. Lincoln, McKinley and Kennedy were all taken out successfully for their challenge of the status quo of the international banksters.
Now, we have an article that says that Romney plans on challenging the system in order to head off (what will become) runaway inflation off at the pass. We also have several (prophetic) intersecting data points that indicate that the next prez will be killed between the first and the third years in office. Things will be so bad that there will be no one who will step up to the reigns after the assassination and the national government will be most likely operating out of Colorado due to the three great shakings that will occur in DC around the same time (whatever was meant by that statement....). All this stuff is contained in the blog archives (search box in the upper left corner).
Things are shaping up to be very interesting indeed...... Very interesting indeed......
Here is the article that got me spun up:
The gold standard has returned to mainstream U.S. politics for the first time in 30 years, with a “gold commission” set to become part of official Republican party policy.
Drafts of the party platform, which it will adopt at a convention in Tampa Bay, Florida, next week, call for an audit of Federal Reserve monetary policy and a commission to look at restoring the link between the dollar and gold.
The move shows how five years of easy monetary policy — and the efforts of congressman Ron Paul — have made the once-fringe idea of returning to gold-as-money a legitimate part of Republican debate.Marsha Blackburn, a Republican congresswoman from Tennessee and co-chair of the platform committee, said the issues were not adopted merely to placate Paul and the delegates that he picked up during his campaign for the party’s nomination.“These were adopted because they are things that Republicans agree on,” Blackburn told the Financial Times. “The House recently passed a bill on this, and this is something that we think needs to be done.”The proposal is reminiscent of the Gold Commission created by former president Ronald Reagan in 1981, 10 years after Richard Nixon broke the link between gold and the dollar during the 1971 oil crisis. That commission ultimately supported the status quo.“There is a growing recognition within the Republican party and in America more generally that we’re not going to be able to print our way to prosperity,” said Sean Fieler, chairman of the American Principles Project, a conservative group that has pushed for a return to the gold standard.A commission would have no power except to make recommendations, but Fieler said it would provide a chance to educate politicians and the public about the merits of a return to gold. “We’re not going to go from a standing start to the gold standard,” he said.The Republican platform in 1980 referred to “restoration of a dependable monetary standard," while the 1984 platform said that “the gold standard may be a useful mechanism”. More recent platforms did not mention.Any commission on a return to the gold standard would have to address a host of theoretical, empirical and practical issues.Inflation has remained under control in recent years, despite claims that expansion of the Fed’s balance sheet would lead to runaway price rises, while gold has been highly volatile. The price of the metal is up by more than 500 per cent in dollar terms over the past decade.A return to a fixed money supply would also remove the central bank’s ability to offset demand shocks by varying interest rates. That could mean a more volatile economy and higher average unemployment over time.Copyright 2011 The Financial Times Limited
Wednesday, August 22, 2012
DUAL TRACK THINKING
As previously mentioned, I am starting to devote more time to my thought processes on preparedness. Many of you will have had some event in your past that will have prepared you to begin preparing - such as a job loss, observing someone close to you going thru it, or another spiritual warning. The first thing preparedness-minded people should do is seek to obtain the Spirit. Once you have the Spirit, you will have that Heavenly help in order to properly prioritize. Also, it will lead you to seek that Spirit of Prophecy and personal revelation - which all faithful members of Christ's church should have - as it is the Testimony of Jesus. This is not taught openly along with many other crucial doctrines - such as seeking the Second Comforter once we have received our Baptism by Fire in a post-Baptism by Water setting. Truly, few be that find that gate and enter in at it......in my assessment; because they are not even looking for that gate, not because its hard to find. In fact, if I were the Father, I would have flashing neon signs and all sorts of signs steering people to it - if they would but open their eyes and see it. I have to throw a few things in here and a plug for a guy who is awake to our awful situation - the realization that we (members of the Church) are the ones who are astray (as taught in the final chapters of 2 Nephi), finally occurred to me about two years ago. We are the ones that Nephi was shredding and warning over - not the Catholics, or the Baptists, or anyone else - its you and I, silly!! Shortly after the Spirit witnessed that to me, I began to open my eyes and then read Denver Snuffer (after I originally ordered his book on receiving my calling and election from Amazon), then stalked him (did a Google scour on him - to see if I could find fault with the man) and then bumped into his blog - which propounded the same thing the Spirit had independently witnessed to me. In doing the Google search, I found a picture of him and his countenance was radiant - mortal, but radiant, and I knew I had a genuine article who was on the right path. You can't photoshop a radiant countenance- nor imitate one in real life. The eyes are truly the window to the soul.
So off the rambling and back on topic. You will need to have dual path line of thinking in order to move forward effectively. You will need to prepare as if the big event were tomorrow - but live for today and enjoy life. Not in an "EAT, DRINK, BE MERRY" kind of way - but, do get out and smell the roses.
So, for those of you who have a bunch of cash just sitting around in the bank, wouldn't that give you so much more comfort if it were converted to food and sitting on your shelves and under your beds in boxes, buckets and cans? With all that is going on in the world financially speaking, I always ask myself, could I eat that ten dollar bill? The answer is NO. So I do the right thing. If I have the food and need the money, I can always begin eating my food storage now, can I not? Not spending the money I would have spent on food, can I not free up cash at that time to meet my other hard cash obligations? I think YES. If I had alot, could I not pray over where a good place to live to weather the storms would be - and begin preparing for that and maybe have a nice vacation home to boot that could be used by the entire family and taxed couples (your children) for a weekend getaway for just the two of them? I am an engineer in aerospace, so my job is to forecast down to the 1x10 to the eighth probabilities that something will, or will not go wrong. That is my world, professionally. It does not take a rocket scientist to know that things are now on the order of probabilities of failure of 1 in 10 or 1 in100 when we compare our awful situation against other failed societies and scenarios found in scripture. Those odds are not good to me. When the failure does occur, its usually gradual; then catastrophic when initially undetected. I have been in a class all week and will have spent 40 hours in training; just scratching the surface on the mechanics of crack growth in aluminum. Once a crack nucleates about an existing or introduced defect (in our case, society degrading due to sin and lack of attention to things of God), it starts very slow - could be hidden or non-observable for years, and then wham. The stresses that accumulate from failures in various areas congregate upon each other, worsening the existing problem until a sudden, massive failure occurs. Most of the time - you do not see it coming unless you are looking for it. So it is with our failure - we should be hyper vigilant and even studying the existing manuals looking for ways that the cracks will be initiated in our own lives, in our families, and in our society. When we see the problems, we must act immediately to avoid the inevitable catastrophic failure.
As a side note, for the flying public - know that you are in good hands - a part failure can be predicted while an airplane is still on the drawing board to a 95% reliability and confidence factor, twenty years before failure is predicted to occur. Its mind boggling - really it is. If we desire a 100% confidence factor (which we design some parts to such as landing gear, etc), we just design to that level of confidence and take the hit on total airframe weight, build and design cost and fuel inefficiency while in service.
So back on topic - have a dual track in your thinking. Prepare (and I say, with some level of urgency) and may you have the Holy Spirit as your guide. You will be led aright. If you have not done a deep dive into the archives, I recommend doing so. I have about one person a day doing that according to the blog stats - and I cannot recommend it enough. It will paint a picture of many brushstrokes that each article provides. You can act based on what picture emerges from the data in your mind.
So off the rambling and back on topic. You will need to have dual path line of thinking in order to move forward effectively. You will need to prepare as if the big event were tomorrow - but live for today and enjoy life. Not in an "EAT, DRINK, BE MERRY" kind of way - but, do get out and smell the roses.
So, for those of you who have a bunch of cash just sitting around in the bank, wouldn't that give you so much more comfort if it were converted to food and sitting on your shelves and under your beds in boxes, buckets and cans? With all that is going on in the world financially speaking, I always ask myself, could I eat that ten dollar bill? The answer is NO. So I do the right thing. If I have the food and need the money, I can always begin eating my food storage now, can I not? Not spending the money I would have spent on food, can I not free up cash at that time to meet my other hard cash obligations? I think YES. If I had alot, could I not pray over where a good place to live to weather the storms would be - and begin preparing for that and maybe have a nice vacation home to boot that could be used by the entire family and taxed couples (your children) for a weekend getaway for just the two of them? I am an engineer in aerospace, so my job is to forecast down to the 1x10 to the eighth probabilities that something will, or will not go wrong. That is my world, professionally. It does not take a rocket scientist to know that things are now on the order of probabilities of failure of 1 in 10 or 1 in100 when we compare our awful situation against other failed societies and scenarios found in scripture. Those odds are not good to me. When the failure does occur, its usually gradual; then catastrophic when initially undetected. I have been in a class all week and will have spent 40 hours in training; just scratching the surface on the mechanics of crack growth in aluminum. Once a crack nucleates about an existing or introduced defect (in our case, society degrading due to sin and lack of attention to things of God), it starts very slow - could be hidden or non-observable for years, and then wham. The stresses that accumulate from failures in various areas congregate upon each other, worsening the existing problem until a sudden, massive failure occurs. Most of the time - you do not see it coming unless you are looking for it. So it is with our failure - we should be hyper vigilant and even studying the existing manuals looking for ways that the cracks will be initiated in our own lives, in our families, and in our society. When we see the problems, we must act immediately to avoid the inevitable catastrophic failure.
As a side note, for the flying public - know that you are in good hands - a part failure can be predicted while an airplane is still on the drawing board to a 95% reliability and confidence factor, twenty years before failure is predicted to occur. Its mind boggling - really it is. If we desire a 100% confidence factor (which we design some parts to such as landing gear, etc), we just design to that level of confidence and take the hit on total airframe weight, build and design cost and fuel inefficiency while in service.
So back on topic - have a dual track in your thinking. Prepare (and I say, with some level of urgency) and may you have the Holy Spirit as your guide. You will be led aright. If you have not done a deep dive into the archives, I recommend doing so. I have about one person a day doing that according to the blog stats - and I cannot recommend it enough. It will paint a picture of many brushstrokes that each article provides. You can act based on what picture emerges from the data in your mind.
Monday, August 20, 2012
A GREAT DIVISION IS COMING
I posted this over a year ago and its in the archives - and I sometimes feel impressed to break stuff back out for consideration or for review if you are new. When the great cleansing and division (they are related) come about, there literally will be a line in the sand, armies, and a heavenly salvation right at the exciting conclusion - very similar to what will happen in Jerusalem with Judah. Our destinies are tied to theirs with crazy similarities - including a freshwater lake draining through the Jordan River into a salty sea with no outlet.
Some day, I feel like the puss is coming to the surface and the boil is about to erupt at the surface when I look around at the contention, division and apostasy. Lord come quickly!
I hope you enjoy this as much as I did:
Some day, I feel like the puss is coming to the surface and the boil is about to erupt at the surface when I look around at the contention, division and apostasy. Lord come quickly!
I hope you enjoy this as much as I did:
A VISION
A VISION by Bro Thomas Caidon of Logan 7 or 8 years ago which he reported and Bro. B Riches wrote down March 28, 1885.
I seemed to stand away north beyond all the settlements that have since been made and looking towards the south, I saw many settlements that had been made even as far as the vision of my mind could gage.
The people seemed to be in trouble and many were leaving their homes to get out of the way of being persecuted. After this had been going on for sometime I saw a small thread like line lying on the ground and it was drawn from the north to the south, beyond any of the settlements that were then made. I also saw many of the settlements of the saints that have since been made and the line extended south beyond them all.
It seemed that but few persons noticed it at the time, but as the thread grew larger more persons began to see it and began to choose for themselves on which side of the line they chose to live. Some preferred the east and others the west, and others preferred standing over the line with one foot on each side and seemed undecided as to which side they would go. As they seemed to want to wait to see which would be the safest side to be on. While others again would stand on one side for awhile and then cross over back and forth for some time and seemed to want to keep friends with both sides in order to insure their safety.
As the trouble increased and the people were looking for more difficulty to come along as though they expected some great calamity to come upon them. The line constantly increased in size until it was difficult to cross and then they who stood with a foot on each side found it impossible to remain so. The most part seemed to go to the east side. I then wondered why this separation took place and found those who stood on the west side were those who chose to keep all the Commandments of God. While those on the east side were those who had been accustomed to finding fault with the brethren and the presiding officers of the Church. Those who did not have a testimony for themselves that this was the work of God, and were afraid of the finger of scorn and the words of Calumny* of the unbelieving world. They seemed to wonder if this was the work of God, why He did not come and deliver them from the destruction that seemed to await them.
Those on the west side seemed to stand further away from the line than those on the east side and they also seemed to anticipate danger and retreated further away into the mountains and other places of safety.
I then heard a great noise and looked to the southeast and saw great black clouds that rested upon the earth. Under the clouds there appeared to be an immense mob like army and they seemed to be rolling west toward the line. They came with the clashing of arms and other war like demonstrations, and with great threatening against the people on the west side of the line with full determination to destroy them. When they were within a few miles of the line those people who were on the east side with a hope of saving themselves from being destroyed started towards the army and even a few who were on the west side came up to the line and threw themselves over and started towards the army also. When they met the army they were all utterly destroyed by their advancing columns. This scene seemed to cause me much trouble of mind to see so much suffering and destruction of lives of men, women and children who had once identified themselves with the people of God. I prayed to the Lord that he would stay this great army lest the LDS would be destroyed also.
After much prayer and supplication I saw a bright light in the heavens in a southeasterly direction. Under the light was a beautiful white cloud and the light and cloud moved towards the earth. Then I saw two personages on top of the cloud who were surrounded by the light. These came down and stopped within about 20 feet of the line. One of them seemed much older than the other and pointed to the one on His right hand side, then I knew it was our Heavenly Father and His Son Jesus Christ.
Then I looked towards the army and I saw the black clouds entirely gone and those who composed the army fought with each other until they were utterly destroyed. After which, I looked towards the west and saw the saints coming toward the personages who still remained above the line with cheerful countenances. I felt to rejoice at the deliverance and I cried out with my heart full of gratitude for this deliverance. I wondered if I was asleep or awake, I stretched out my hand to pinch my arm to make sure which it was, but this I know, my eyes were open. I was much fatigued in body but buoyant in spirit.
Copied from J H ? Nov 3, 1892
G Windous
*Calumny The act of uttering false charges or misrepresentations maliciciously calculated to damage another's reputation.
Websters Ninth New Collegiate Dictionary
BEING PREPARED IN ADVANCE
In a recent post, I mentioned how a fire in an apartment in Brazil was somewhat instrumental in preparing me for fighting a small house fire just a week ago. No life or limb was in danger during the recent episode, but the quick thinking (due to the previous experience) may well have preserved a structure a saved alot of hassle.
The opposite was true of a very serious event that occurred in Brazil that I am certain would have taken my life. I was prepared to react to that one by a previous non-life threatening event that occurred a year before my mission.
I was working in Belllingham, WA for the local city water and sewer department as a summer job reserved for those who were attending college. I had just finished my first year in engineering and was actually saving and preparing for my mission. It was the best paying job in the entire town - nearly double minimum wage. I was working three jobs (one full, two part-time) and was just wiped out most days. My job for the city was to paint and maintain all sorts of equipment and infrastructure. I really enjoyed that job. Every day was different and new. I have to have new experiences or I get bored easily and my mind wanders to other engaging pursuits. My favorite day was going up to a pipeline area where our potable water came from, high up near Mt Baker, and deconstructed a beaver dam that was threatening the pipeline. Other fun chores were going to the fresh water intake on a large lake that supplied the potable filtration plant and looking for dead bodies of water skiers, etc that would die, submerge, bloat, surface and then float to the intake at the lake's outflow. Gross! The veteran employees called them DBs. Thankfully, I was never a witness to one of those that summer although they averaged around 1 a year that they would find there. One thing that was close to that - but never left me in danger was one of the few days when I did not make it out with the rest of the crew. I was asked to stay behind and accomplish some task for the manager. It was just he and I behind that day besides a few other folks managing the computers for plant systems. All of a sudden we had a code red (probably should have been a code yellow or brown, now that I think of it...) - one of the sewage pump stations was down. That might not seem like a big deal, but it was. If we did not get out there in the next 30 mins and get it back on line, there would be black goo bubbling out of peoples' basement toilets - or overflowing into a waterway - and bad publicity for the city. We hopped in the nearest truck and headed out to the pump 20 mins away. When we got there, we noticed the fiberglass lid was open. We put in our CO/CO2 meter and got some bad readings so we put down our air pumps and evacuated the area - giving it a fresh charge of air. It soon was safe to enter. My manager went down the hole, with me on watch (radio with direct contact to emergency personnel if things went bad and we needed a rescue). I was under strict orders and training to not attempt a one man rescue - those situations often end in two DB's when the responders are finally called in to haul corpses out. As my manager headed down to the bottom of the 30 foot shaft, he noticed the rungs had soot on them near the bottom. He got to the pump chamber at the bottom and noticed some of the glass on the guage faces had been broken out. I had zero previous experience in this situation, but I yelled down the hole, "Bomb!! Get out of there now! My manager must have believed me or was just coming to the conclusion himself. He didn't say anything to me - he just came flying up the shaft in about 3 seconds without a rest on the way up. He asked me what I meant - I did not know why I had said what I said and convinced him this was serious. He was shaking while he radioed on our emergency equipment for Fire and Bomb Squad. Later, over the next couple of weeks, there was one or two other similar incidents that we did not even respond to and we just sent the emergency services out to investigate - and they had their suspect on a watch. They caught him and put him away for felony vandalism - a former city employee who had been let loose for anger management issues.... The black residue was a partially combusted explosive device that he had dropped down the hole attempting to make the city look bad. Nobody's lives were ever in any real danger - we followed protocol.
Fast forward to Natal, Brazil in 1988. I had been there about four months and was just made a District Leader in a remote area outside the city. Every Monday night, after P-day, we would phone the ZLs to let them know of our District's weekly activities. We had no phone in our house, so we walked to the phone down at the corner store. They were called an "orelhao" or "big ear" that provided a place for the phone to be out of the elements - but were not enclosed like our North American phone booths are. We used little lead tokens called fichas (kind of like our "Forever" stamps that do not change value) in the telephone, since inflation was always changing the value of the money. You would buy the fichas at the current exchange rate and you always had a few on you for emergencies since money did not work in the phones. As we approached the phone, I noticed someone loitering and frantically doing something by it in the dusk - but I paid no particular attention to what it was. I was talking to my companion, Elder Pereira. Elder Pereira was my Companion for around 4 months. There is nothing remarkable about that - other than Elder Pereira had 19 or 20 companions during the 23 months he was in the field. His average tenure with a companion was around 3 weeks. Sometimes it was just days. Other tenures were on the order of several weeks. I did not know about his history until later when word got around that I had survived that long - beyond the odds. I always say this is what led the President to call me as an assistant in the Mission Office - I just took whatever difficult situation was thrown at me and just dealt with it....
This Elder was unusual. Very diminuitive build - he ate like a mouse and the other Elders' food would often go missing - not that I cared other than for planning purposes and it was hard to keep the peace when a filcher was afoot. Twelve eggs divided by six days = 2 eggs per day in our fridge. Some days my breakfast would come up short. I really don't care about that kind of stuff. If someone is truly hungry, they can have whatever is mine. We will go hungry together if there is really a need. Elder Pereira raised himself on the streets of Rio - and as a young kid would sniff model glue to get high and escape the horror and pain of not having parents and a loving support structure. It really put any of my own problems in perspective - which were virtually nil compared. He joined the Church a few years before his mission and had no real depth of gospel experience - although I thought he was fine enough. He had emotions and needs just like everyone else - but it was hard relating to him. I was patient - just as I always am when people get weird on me. I just slog on when others would walk away or complain (oddly I am far less patient on far less important things....). Anyway, the thing that would drive his comps crazy about him, were falling asleep in the middle of discussions, food disappearing, just general lack of engagement in the work that we were engaged in. I am a very driven person - so we were on opposite ends of the spectrum. When I began to understand his story - and that he was not buying food in order to send the saved money home to support his indigent family - I had much compassion for him and I was able to stay my tongue much more. His home ward was sending the $110/month stipend to him so he could be on the mission.
Back on track - so we got to the phone as the person that had been there previously was disappearing around the darkened side of the store. I walked up to the phone, picked up the receiver and, as I was raising it to my ear, I noticed something glistening in the light from the street lamp. I immediately went to put the receiver back on the catch it rested on and stepped back and out of the way as I announced to my companion, "Its a bomb - step back". I had no comprehension of what I was saying - but placing the phone back on the catch (and not dropping it - or pulling it fully up to my ear), saved my life. I am certain of it. I had never heard of a bomb being attached to a phone, had not thought about the experience the summer before in Bellingham - it was not my thought and impulse. I am sure there was an intervention from heaven - an impulse that was not from me. After I settled down - we approached it and examined it from the side. It was a device that used a 4" diameter speaker magnet to attach it to the steel base of the phone. A 2" pipe was brazed to a 1/8" thick plate that the magnet was dually glued and magnetized to. One end of the 2" pipe was threaded and capped. In the capped end of the pipe was drilled a 1/4" hole with a short thin-wall pipe attached. On the end of the short piece of pipe was attached a blasting cap. On the base plate, a rat trap had been brazed.
When the phone receiver was picked up, there was some heavy duty fishing line that went to an exacto blade that was on a pivot. When the exacto grazed the line that held the rat trap back (resisted the strong spring), the line would fail, sending the rat trap (that had a 1/2" square plate brazed onto it) smashing into the blasting cap. That explosion would then ignite (through the short tube) about 1/2 cup of blasting powder that was in the end of the 2" capped pipe. That was behind some tamped/waxed toilet paper that acted as some wadding. Directly forward of the wadding were 7, 1/2" diameter ball bearings, followed by some more waxed wadding. Had I not had that impulse to call it a bomb and not raise it to my ear fully - it most likely would have ignited and send those balls ripping through my lower abdomen. It would have taken around 1 hour to get to the nearest hospital in downtown Natal which probably would not have had the resources to treat me - and I expect I would have died. At that point (a month previous) - I had just gone through a week of hell where I had lost 35 pounds as my body slowly succombed to e-coli (I will blog that one later). This was the second serious attempt on my life in Brazil - and I began to wonder if I would make it back alive. This was a raw, mysterious land where life was not as valued as it was back in the worst of conditions in the States. I had to learn to operate on faith or I would never know the joys of being a married man - or of having kids and all those adventures. I HAD to survive this experience in order to accomplish the rest of my non-mission, mission.
So how did we find out how the bomb was constructed - and what the guts of the bomb contained? Well, Elder Pereira was enthralled with it and decided to put his fingerprints on it. Brazil was then a police state - everyone is fingerprinted including Elders (like me and Elder Pereira). If it were not dismantled properly and disposed of, he might be implicated as the one who had built it. I was very irritated with him for not listening to me to leave it alone. As dumb 19 year olds go, we did the best we could and removed it from the phone and I took it back to the house and we carefully took it apart and buried the remains in the back yard - after we ignited the powder on the kitchen floor and smashed the blasting cap between two large rocks, of course..... Redneck fireworks! We locked our slatted shutters the best we could for weeks after that - in an area where we had had garments and t-shirts stolen off our drying lines by people who had penetrated our fenced compound - we did not want whoever it was trying to do further mayhem. We never did come to a firm conclusion as to whether that was intended for us (by a pastor of a church we had shut down by baptizing all their members) or whether it was intended for a drug dealer or someone that used this phone regularly. Or for us - who used that phone religiously around 9:30pm every Monday night. Was that person I saw working on it frantically trying to get it hooked up for us - or was he trying to frantically remove it when he saw we were coming and its intended victim was not the next one to use the phone. I saw no evidence that it was in a partially discombobulated state and it appeared fully functional - so I lean towards it being for me or my companion in order to stop the work in that area. We were building a new chapel across the neighborhood for Ramo Potengi - so there was some opposition to the "new guys".
No doubt, some dog will confuse the stuffing out of his owner when he digs the rusting bomb remains up in the back yard sometime in the future.....
So the moral of this wild (and true) tale is: God will sometimes prepare you in unusual ways for future events in life so that you are able to react properly and avert disaster. That includes physical, as well as spiritual events.
The opposite was true of a very serious event that occurred in Brazil that I am certain would have taken my life. I was prepared to react to that one by a previous non-life threatening event that occurred a year before my mission.
I was working in Belllingham, WA for the local city water and sewer department as a summer job reserved for those who were attending college. I had just finished my first year in engineering and was actually saving and preparing for my mission. It was the best paying job in the entire town - nearly double minimum wage. I was working three jobs (one full, two part-time) and was just wiped out most days. My job for the city was to paint and maintain all sorts of equipment and infrastructure. I really enjoyed that job. Every day was different and new. I have to have new experiences or I get bored easily and my mind wanders to other engaging pursuits. My favorite day was going up to a pipeline area where our potable water came from, high up near Mt Baker, and deconstructed a beaver dam that was threatening the pipeline. Other fun chores were going to the fresh water intake on a large lake that supplied the potable filtration plant and looking for dead bodies of water skiers, etc that would die, submerge, bloat, surface and then float to the intake at the lake's outflow. Gross! The veteran employees called them DBs. Thankfully, I was never a witness to one of those that summer although they averaged around 1 a year that they would find there. One thing that was close to that - but never left me in danger was one of the few days when I did not make it out with the rest of the crew. I was asked to stay behind and accomplish some task for the manager. It was just he and I behind that day besides a few other folks managing the computers for plant systems. All of a sudden we had a code red (probably should have been a code yellow or brown, now that I think of it...) - one of the sewage pump stations was down. That might not seem like a big deal, but it was. If we did not get out there in the next 30 mins and get it back on line, there would be black goo bubbling out of peoples' basement toilets - or overflowing into a waterway - and bad publicity for the city. We hopped in the nearest truck and headed out to the pump 20 mins away. When we got there, we noticed the fiberglass lid was open. We put in our CO/CO2 meter and got some bad readings so we put down our air pumps and evacuated the area - giving it a fresh charge of air. It soon was safe to enter. My manager went down the hole, with me on watch (radio with direct contact to emergency personnel if things went bad and we needed a rescue). I was under strict orders and training to not attempt a one man rescue - those situations often end in two DB's when the responders are finally called in to haul corpses out. As my manager headed down to the bottom of the 30 foot shaft, he noticed the rungs had soot on them near the bottom. He got to the pump chamber at the bottom and noticed some of the glass on the guage faces had been broken out. I had zero previous experience in this situation, but I yelled down the hole, "Bomb!! Get out of there now! My manager must have believed me or was just coming to the conclusion himself. He didn't say anything to me - he just came flying up the shaft in about 3 seconds without a rest on the way up. He asked me what I meant - I did not know why I had said what I said and convinced him this was serious. He was shaking while he radioed on our emergency equipment for Fire and Bomb Squad. Later, over the next couple of weeks, there was one or two other similar incidents that we did not even respond to and we just sent the emergency services out to investigate - and they had their suspect on a watch. They caught him and put him away for felony vandalism - a former city employee who had been let loose for anger management issues.... The black residue was a partially combusted explosive device that he had dropped down the hole attempting to make the city look bad. Nobody's lives were ever in any real danger - we followed protocol.
Fast forward to Natal, Brazil in 1988. I had been there about four months and was just made a District Leader in a remote area outside the city. Every Monday night, after P-day, we would phone the ZLs to let them know of our District's weekly activities. We had no phone in our house, so we walked to the phone down at the corner store. They were called an "orelhao" or "big ear" that provided a place for the phone to be out of the elements - but were not enclosed like our North American phone booths are. We used little lead tokens called fichas (kind of like our "Forever" stamps that do not change value) in the telephone, since inflation was always changing the value of the money. You would buy the fichas at the current exchange rate and you always had a few on you for emergencies since money did not work in the phones. As we approached the phone, I noticed someone loitering and frantically doing something by it in the dusk - but I paid no particular attention to what it was. I was talking to my companion, Elder Pereira. Elder Pereira was my Companion for around 4 months. There is nothing remarkable about that - other than Elder Pereira had 19 or 20 companions during the 23 months he was in the field. His average tenure with a companion was around 3 weeks. Sometimes it was just days. Other tenures were on the order of several weeks. I did not know about his history until later when word got around that I had survived that long - beyond the odds. I always say this is what led the President to call me as an assistant in the Mission Office - I just took whatever difficult situation was thrown at me and just dealt with it....
This Elder was unusual. Very diminuitive build - he ate like a mouse and the other Elders' food would often go missing - not that I cared other than for planning purposes and it was hard to keep the peace when a filcher was afoot. Twelve eggs divided by six days = 2 eggs per day in our fridge. Some days my breakfast would come up short. I really don't care about that kind of stuff. If someone is truly hungry, they can have whatever is mine. We will go hungry together if there is really a need. Elder Pereira raised himself on the streets of Rio - and as a young kid would sniff model glue to get high and escape the horror and pain of not having parents and a loving support structure. It really put any of my own problems in perspective - which were virtually nil compared. He joined the Church a few years before his mission and had no real depth of gospel experience - although I thought he was fine enough. He had emotions and needs just like everyone else - but it was hard relating to him. I was patient - just as I always am when people get weird on me. I just slog on when others would walk away or complain (oddly I am far less patient on far less important things....). Anyway, the thing that would drive his comps crazy about him, were falling asleep in the middle of discussions, food disappearing, just general lack of engagement in the work that we were engaged in. I am a very driven person - so we were on opposite ends of the spectrum. When I began to understand his story - and that he was not buying food in order to send the saved money home to support his indigent family - I had much compassion for him and I was able to stay my tongue much more. His home ward was sending the $110/month stipend to him so he could be on the mission.
Back on track - so we got to the phone as the person that had been there previously was disappearing around the darkened side of the store. I walked up to the phone, picked up the receiver and, as I was raising it to my ear, I noticed something glistening in the light from the street lamp. I immediately went to put the receiver back on the catch it rested on and stepped back and out of the way as I announced to my companion, "Its a bomb - step back". I had no comprehension of what I was saying - but placing the phone back on the catch (and not dropping it - or pulling it fully up to my ear), saved my life. I am certain of it. I had never heard of a bomb being attached to a phone, had not thought about the experience the summer before in Bellingham - it was not my thought and impulse. I am sure there was an intervention from heaven - an impulse that was not from me. After I settled down - we approached it and examined it from the side. It was a device that used a 4" diameter speaker magnet to attach it to the steel base of the phone. A 2" pipe was brazed to a 1/8" thick plate that the magnet was dually glued and magnetized to. One end of the 2" pipe was threaded and capped. In the capped end of the pipe was drilled a 1/4" hole with a short thin-wall pipe attached. On the end of the short piece of pipe was attached a blasting cap. On the base plate, a rat trap had been brazed.
When the phone receiver was picked up, there was some heavy duty fishing line that went to an exacto blade that was on a pivot. When the exacto grazed the line that held the rat trap back (resisted the strong spring), the line would fail, sending the rat trap (that had a 1/2" square plate brazed onto it) smashing into the blasting cap. That explosion would then ignite (through the short tube) about 1/2 cup of blasting powder that was in the end of the 2" capped pipe. That was behind some tamped/waxed toilet paper that acted as some wadding. Directly forward of the wadding were 7, 1/2" diameter ball bearings, followed by some more waxed wadding. Had I not had that impulse to call it a bomb and not raise it to my ear fully - it most likely would have ignited and send those balls ripping through my lower abdomen. It would have taken around 1 hour to get to the nearest hospital in downtown Natal which probably would not have had the resources to treat me - and I expect I would have died. At that point (a month previous) - I had just gone through a week of hell where I had lost 35 pounds as my body slowly succombed to e-coli (I will blog that one later). This was the second serious attempt on my life in Brazil - and I began to wonder if I would make it back alive. This was a raw, mysterious land where life was not as valued as it was back in the worst of conditions in the States. I had to learn to operate on faith or I would never know the joys of being a married man - or of having kids and all those adventures. I HAD to survive this experience in order to accomplish the rest of my non-mission, mission.
So how did we find out how the bomb was constructed - and what the guts of the bomb contained? Well, Elder Pereira was enthralled with it and decided to put his fingerprints on it. Brazil was then a police state - everyone is fingerprinted including Elders (like me and Elder Pereira). If it were not dismantled properly and disposed of, he might be implicated as the one who had built it. I was very irritated with him for not listening to me to leave it alone. As dumb 19 year olds go, we did the best we could and removed it from the phone and I took it back to the house and we carefully took it apart and buried the remains in the back yard - after we ignited the powder on the kitchen floor and smashed the blasting cap between two large rocks, of course..... Redneck fireworks! We locked our slatted shutters the best we could for weeks after that - in an area where we had had garments and t-shirts stolen off our drying lines by people who had penetrated our fenced compound - we did not want whoever it was trying to do further mayhem. We never did come to a firm conclusion as to whether that was intended for us (by a pastor of a church we had shut down by baptizing all their members) or whether it was intended for a drug dealer or someone that used this phone regularly. Or for us - who used that phone religiously around 9:30pm every Monday night. Was that person I saw working on it frantically trying to get it hooked up for us - or was he trying to frantically remove it when he saw we were coming and its intended victim was not the next one to use the phone. I saw no evidence that it was in a partially discombobulated state and it appeared fully functional - so I lean towards it being for me or my companion in order to stop the work in that area. We were building a new chapel across the neighborhood for Ramo Potengi - so there was some opposition to the "new guys".
No doubt, some dog will confuse the stuffing out of his owner when he digs the rusting bomb remains up in the back yard sometime in the future.....
So the moral of this wild (and true) tale is: God will sometimes prepare you in unusual ways for future events in life so that you are able to react properly and avert disaster. That includes physical, as well as spiritual events.
Saturday, August 18, 2012
TEMPLE IMAGERY
Wow - some people are just crazy smart and have amassed huge amounts of information.
Here is a site that specializes in Temple Imagery. VERY WELL DONE!
Here is a taste of what is one this site:
“And I saw seven men in white clothing, who were saying to me, "Arise, put on the vestments of the priesthood, the crown of righteousness, the oracle of understanding, the robe of truth, the breastplate of faith, the miter for the head, and the apron for prophetic power." Each carried one of these and put them on me and said, "From now on be a priest, you and all your posterity." The first anointed me with holy oil and gave me a staff. The second washed me with pure water, fed me by hand with bread and holy wine, and put on me a holy and glorious vestment. The third put on me something made of linen, like an ephod. The fourth placed . . . around me a girdle which was like purple. The fifth gave me a branch of rich olive wood. The sixth placed a wreath on my head. The seventh placed the priestly diadem on me and filled my hands with incense, in order that I might serve as priest for the Lord God.” (Testament of Levi 8:2-10)
ENJOY!!:
http://washings-anointings.blogspot.com/
Here is a site that specializes in Temple Imagery. VERY WELL DONE!
Here is a taste of what is one this site:
“And I saw seven men in white clothing, who were saying to me, "Arise, put on the vestments of the priesthood, the crown of righteousness, the oracle of understanding, the robe of truth, the breastplate of faith, the miter for the head, and the apron for prophetic power." Each carried one of these and put them on me and said, "From now on be a priest, you and all your posterity." The first anointed me with holy oil and gave me a staff. The second washed me with pure water, fed me by hand with bread and holy wine, and put on me a holy and glorious vestment. The third put on me something made of linen, like an ephod. The fourth placed . . . around me a girdle which was like purple. The fifth gave me a branch of rich olive wood. The sixth placed a wreath on my head. The seventh placed the priestly diadem on me and filled my hands with incense, in order that I might serve as priest for the Lord God.” (Testament of Levi 8:2-10)
ENJOY!!:
http://washings-anointings.blogspot.com/
CHURCH FILM ON YOUTUBE
I just watched this while posting. I thought you might like this, as well:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F9-2vPFtL_c&NR=1&feature=endscreen
THE TESTAMENTS: ONE FOLD, ONE SHEPHERD
Sure beats watching "the game" on the Sabbath.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F9-2vPFtL_c&NR=1&feature=endscreen
THE TESTAMENTS: ONE FOLD, ONE SHEPHERD
Sure beats watching "the game" on the Sabbath.
SCATTERED UPON THE ISLANDS OF THE SEA
There are some who deny that ancient Israel existed. Some, though there is overwhelming physical proof to the contrary, would deny that the Temple once existed on Mt Moriah (I have attempted to display the physical evidence supporting that in this blog). For this, they will be heavily scourged as a people - for oppressing the covenant people of God, who also will be scourged prior to their receiving their gospel blessings at the hand of Ephraim/Judah and the Savior himself.
God's objective is not to punish or harm His children - but to save as many as He can; who will save themselves. Sometimes that is accomplished by difficult means. So when horrible things happen in our lives, each juncture is an opportunity to ponder and reflect on the state of standing before our Maker. What can I learn from this tragedy? How can I grow from this? Is this a growth experience that builds faith - or is this a chastisement given in order that I can make a course correction? <<< Which is also a form of growth - which takes you back to the null point - the place you were at before you departed the path God would have had you on originally.
One of my favorite people on this earth that I have had the joy of meeting is Elkanah Reuben. I always find the most fascinating people I can (then I stalk them....) and then mine them for all that they know. I usually will tell them up front my intentions..... Most everyone has a fascinating story - but I like to go for the best-sellers when I detect that I have stumbled across one. I first saw Elkan's name on a group roster at the large company that I work for - and, because of that exotic name, knew immediately that he was Jewish - and then inquired after him and found that he was from India. A Jewish guy from India - and I had heard about the lost Jews of India. Could he be one of that group? I was immediately excited to know his story - I knew there was something for me to learn. The Spirit let me know that I would have opportunity to interview him extensively - and I just needed to be patient. The Lord who works all things saw to it that we were directed to the same program, then to the same group two years later. We now sit across from each other - and have for the last several years. Because the role of our jobs is like that of a firefighter; some down-time when production is humming along with some periods of intense activity, we have time to discuss really cool things. We have become good friends and have broken bread together - literally (as I learned that it was common for those who lived in Lehi's time to prepare and partake of the emblems of the blood and body of Christ - and that ritual (cleansing) baptism was common in that day). How would I know such a thing? Personal revelation - no, but that would be cool. I went over to Elkan's house for Friday prayers and one week and witnessed it as we went through the family prayers. In a previous post, I described how a few hundred thousand Jews ended up over in India - intact as a people a few thousand years later. When his ancestors saw the writing on the wall in ~589BC, they hired two merchant ships to spirit several families away from the approaching destruction - very Lehi-esque. As was the custom of sea-faring peoples of the day, they hugged the coasts as they sailed eastward. A massive storm arose and drove both ships onto the shore about 70 miles apart. The survivors became two separate settlements of Nogauker and one other town that slips my mind (near modern-day Bombay). They have managed to remain relatively stable as a group practicing their customs in their banished state and recently applying to return to Israel as one of the lost tribes. In finding these lost pockets of God's chosen ones, many have perverted their original customs depending on how faithful they have been. Ephraim and his fellows, with their back-sliding ways was virtually unrecognizable as one of the groups who once practiced the faith in the Holy Land before their departure. In fact, sometimes the only way to recognize some of those folks is to look for signs of their barbarity - such as the sacrificing of children to idols as the Northern tribes did in the groves of Molech before they were cleansed from the land for their insolence. I have found an interesting person on LDSFF named Darren who propounds and successfully argues that many of the customs of the Israelites are imbedded in northern European culture, even today. So I am always fascinated with the journeys and epic sagas of these groups (see my previous post on Tamara Tephi - Irish princess and direct descendant of Hezekiah and Judah). God did a mighty work in hiding these folks up in various parts of the vineyard in preparation for the final grafting, nurturing and harvest.
The reason I like to get Elkanah's perspective is that he is a direct descendant of Aaron - and currently flies out to Toronto on all of the high holy days in order to blow the shofar and read from the Torah at a small congregation that he is the priest over there. Their style of worship is more like what you would see in the Book of Mormon, or more like that of that of Adam's day (patriarchal) with a more loose construct (family-based devotion) with larger group gatherings on important religious holidays. I have a feeling that our style of worship will mirror that patriarchal system once the wicked have been purged during the millennial glory.
He recently shared with me the custom of that prayer box that Jews wear above their forehead and I thought I would share this interesting information:
God's objective is not to punish or harm His children - but to save as many as He can; who will save themselves. Sometimes that is accomplished by difficult means. So when horrible things happen in our lives, each juncture is an opportunity to ponder and reflect on the state of standing before our Maker. What can I learn from this tragedy? How can I grow from this? Is this a growth experience that builds faith - or is this a chastisement given in order that I can make a course correction? <<< Which is also a form of growth - which takes you back to the null point - the place you were at before you departed the path God would have had you on originally.
One of my favorite people on this earth that I have had the joy of meeting is Elkanah Reuben. I always find the most fascinating people I can (then I stalk them....) and then mine them for all that they know. I usually will tell them up front my intentions..... Most everyone has a fascinating story - but I like to go for the best-sellers when I detect that I have stumbled across one. I first saw Elkan's name on a group roster at the large company that I work for - and, because of that exotic name, knew immediately that he was Jewish - and then inquired after him and found that he was from India. A Jewish guy from India - and I had heard about the lost Jews of India. Could he be one of that group? I was immediately excited to know his story - I knew there was something for me to learn. The Spirit let me know that I would have opportunity to interview him extensively - and I just needed to be patient. The Lord who works all things saw to it that we were directed to the same program, then to the same group two years later. We now sit across from each other - and have for the last several years. Because the role of our jobs is like that of a firefighter; some down-time when production is humming along with some periods of intense activity, we have time to discuss really cool things. We have become good friends and have broken bread together - literally (as I learned that it was common for those who lived in Lehi's time to prepare and partake of the emblems of the blood and body of Christ - and that ritual (cleansing) baptism was common in that day). How would I know such a thing? Personal revelation - no, but that would be cool. I went over to Elkan's house for Friday prayers and one week and witnessed it as we went through the family prayers. In a previous post, I described how a few hundred thousand Jews ended up over in India - intact as a people a few thousand years later. When his ancestors saw the writing on the wall in ~589BC, they hired two merchant ships to spirit several families away from the approaching destruction - very Lehi-esque. As was the custom of sea-faring peoples of the day, they hugged the coasts as they sailed eastward. A massive storm arose and drove both ships onto the shore about 70 miles apart. The survivors became two separate settlements of Nogauker and one other town that slips my mind (near modern-day Bombay). They have managed to remain relatively stable as a group practicing their customs in their banished state and recently applying to return to Israel as one of the lost tribes. In finding these lost pockets of God's chosen ones, many have perverted their original customs depending on how faithful they have been. Ephraim and his fellows, with their back-sliding ways was virtually unrecognizable as one of the groups who once practiced the faith in the Holy Land before their departure. In fact, sometimes the only way to recognize some of those folks is to look for signs of their barbarity - such as the sacrificing of children to idols as the Northern tribes did in the groves of Molech before they were cleansed from the land for their insolence. I have found an interesting person on LDSFF named Darren who propounds and successfully argues that many of the customs of the Israelites are imbedded in northern European culture, even today. So I am always fascinated with the journeys and epic sagas of these groups (see my previous post on Tamara Tephi - Irish princess and direct descendant of Hezekiah and Judah). God did a mighty work in hiding these folks up in various parts of the vineyard in preparation for the final grafting, nurturing and harvest.
The reason I like to get Elkanah's perspective is that he is a direct descendant of Aaron - and currently flies out to Toronto on all of the high holy days in order to blow the shofar and read from the Torah at a small congregation that he is the priest over there. Their style of worship is more like what you would see in the Book of Mormon, or more like that of that of Adam's day (patriarchal) with a more loose construct (family-based devotion) with larger group gatherings on important religious holidays. I have a feeling that our style of worship will mirror that patriarchal system once the wicked have been purged during the millennial glory.
He recently shared with me the custom of that prayer box that Jews wear above their forehead and I thought I would share this interesting information:
The Torah tells us "And you shall bind them as a sign on your arm, and they shall be as frontlets on your head between your eyes" (Deuteronomy 6:8). This is the Mitzvah of Tefillin, though of course the details are much more complex than that.The Mitzvah of Tefillin
The Torah tells us in four places that we should put on tefillin. (The four places are: Deut.6:4-9; Deut. 11:13-21; Exodus 13:1-10; and Exodus 13:11-16.) Each of these places is a separate chapter in the Torah (according to the original chapter and paragraph system, not according to the more popular one now in use, which was created by Christians and bears no relation or similarity to the original system).
Therefore, each of these chapters are written on small pieces of parchment and placed into leather housings, which a man places on the arm and the head, along with special leather straps.
The Rabbis say many great things about the Mitzvah of Tefillin. The Sefer Hachinuch (Book of Jewish Education) says that it is one of the Mitzvos that helps protects us against sin.
I think that the best way to understand the Mitzvah of Tefillin is to read the prayer that we recite each day before putting them on.
My intention in putting on tefillin is to fulfill the will of my Creator, Who has commanded us to put on tefillin, as it says in His Torah, "And you shall bind them as a sign on your arm, and they shall be as frontlets on your head between your eyes."We put tefillin on once a day, usually for the morning prayers.
They contain the four chapters from the Torah in which the Mitzvah of tefillin is stated....
Those chapters discuss how Hashem, Whose Name is blessed, is One, and only One, in the entire universe. Those chapters also discuss the miracles and wonders that Hashem did for us when He took us out of Egypt. They discuss how Hashem alone has the power and the dominion to do whatever He wants in the physical world and in the spiritual world.
Hashem commanded us to put tefillin on our arms to remember the "strong arm" (which refers to the powerful and cataclysmic changes in nature that Hashem performed for us when He took us out of Egypt).
The tefillin on our arms is near the heart to control the lusts and thoughts of our hearts and redirect them towards performing the Service we are commanded to perform for Hashem, Whose Name is blessed.
The tefillin on our heads is near the brain, so that the spiritual elements in our brains, as well as our senses and all our abilities, should should all be controlled and redirected towards performing the Service we are commanded to perform for Hashem, Whose Name is blessed.
May the performance of the Mitzvah of tefillin influence me and bestow upon me long life, Holy Influence, holy thoughts -- without even a moment's consideration of any sin or bad thing whatsoever -- and that our Evil Inclination should not be aroused, nor should it seduce us, and should let us serve Hashem the way our hearts truly desire to.
May it be Your will, Hashem our G-d, and G-d of our forefathers, that You value our performance of this Mitzvah of putting on tefillin as if we had done it absolutely perfectly, with every detail accurate, and with all the correct thoughts and intentions....
We may not wear tefillin at night.
The Laws of creating tefillin are very complex. It is impossible for a layperson to make them. They must be written with Halachically acceptable ink, on Halachically acceptable parchment. Each letter must be formed according to specific and exacting details. If only one point on one letter is slightly rounded off when it should be pointed, the entire pair of tefillin is invalid. The housings must be perfectly square when viewed from the top. Even the stitches that keep the housing closed must be square when viewed from above, and may be done only with Halachically acceptable kosher animal sinews.
The letters must all be written in order. If a letter has been written incorrectly, it cannot be fixed out of sequence. Sometimes one bad letter can invalidate an entire pair of tefillin.
Since there are so many Laws about tefillin, one should buy them only from an honest Jew who knows the Laws, and can be trusted to make them correctly. A dishonest man might find a problem, and fix it incorrectly, just to save money. Therefore we must be very careful from whom we buy our tefillin.
When you go to buy tefillin, be aware that there are various levels of quality in tefillin. This is not a scam. The more expensive ones are actually better, and they will also last longer. They are also more preferred, the Talmud says, because they are created with a greater adherence to various spiritual concepts. But you should get what you are ready, willing and able to buy.
Get your tefillin checked periodically -- at least once every four years, preferably once a year if possible. Any other time, if you see something wrong, such as the housings bending slightly, or paint chipping or cracking, get your tefillinchecked immediately.
Here are some of the Laws you should know about wearing tefillin.
If for some reason you have only one half of the set, whether it be only the one for the head, or only the one for the arm, put that one on and recite only the blessing for that one.
When putting on tefillin it is very important to have a clean body. In addition to general cleanliness, one must be especially careful to be clean after going to the bathroom.
Someone who has no control over what comes out of his body is forbidden to wear tefillin. Anyone in that situation should discuss it with his Rabbi to find out when and how he may wear tefillin.
One should go to the bathroom before putting on tefillin, or at least be absolutely sure he will not have to go while wearing the tefillin. If while wearing tefillin you feel the need to go to the bathroom, you must immediately remove the tefillin and go.
If you feel the need to pass gas while wearing tefillin, you must first remove your tefillin.
Never take tefillin or any holy item into a bathroom.
While wearing tefillin, one should think no thoughts at all except thoughts of Hashem, Torah or prayer. All the more so should he be careful about what he says out loud.
We may wear tefillin only during the day.
We do not put on tefillin on Shabbos.
Tefillin should be put on your weaker hand. If you are right-handed, use your right hand to put your tefillin on your left hand. If you are left-handed, use your left hand to put tefillin on your right hand. If you are ambidextrous, you must ask your Rabbi, because each case is different. If you are unable to contact a Rabbi for some reason, assume in the interim that the hand with which you write is your stronger hand (for this purpose, at least).
Always treat your tefillin with the greatest of respect and reverence. Do not remove them from the bag by shaking them out of the bag, for example. Always take them out carefully, and put them back carefully.
To show our love for the Mitzvah, we use our stronger hand to put the tefillin onto our weaker hand. We also use our stronger hand to put the tefillin on our head. When taking off the tefillin, we use our weaker hand, to show our reluctance to take off the Mitzvah.
Tefillin are made of leather. That means that you must keep them safe from things that hurt leather, like moisture and extreme temperatures.
This is a brief guide to putting on tefillin, but it will be much easier if you have a live person showing you and helping you your first time. Words and pictures cannot equal the real thing. You should be standing when putting on or taking off tefillin. While wearing them you may sit, but while putting them on or taking them off you should be standing.
How to Put on Your Tefillin
We start with the hand. We never start with the head, so if you accidentally take out the shel rosh (the one for the head) first, you must put it back and take out the shel yad (the one for the hand).
Unwrap the straps and take the shel yad out of the box.
Open the loop very wide, and slide back the shel yad until the bayis (the housing -- i.e., the black box) sits on the center of your biceps.
The knot should be tightly touching the bayis, and should be between you and the bayis.
Recite the first blessing:
Blessed are You, Hashem our G-d, King of the universe, Who has made us holy through His commandments, and commanded us to put on tefillin.
Tighten the loop, and begin wrapping the strap around your hand. There are different customs about some of the minor details of the wrapping, so I will explain the custom that is shown in the pictures. In the picture I have included on this page, the man is wrapping the strap towards himself, but some have the custom to wrap away from themselves.
Wrap at least once around your biceps, and seven times around your lower arm. Stop at the palm, and wrap the remainder of the strap around your palm. Do not wrap the strap around your fingers just yet.
Remove the shel rosh from the bag, unwrap the straps, and take it out of the box.
Place the shel rosh on your head, with the bayis on your head just before the hairline.
The knot should be behind your head, just above your neck, and the strap should be lying loosely on your head.
Recite the blessing:
Blessed are You, Hashem our G-d, King of the universe, Who has made us holy through His commandments, and commanded us concerning the Mitzvah of tefillin.
Tighten the straps around your head by pulling them down at the sides, front and back, as necessary.
This is how it should look.
This is wrong. The shel rosh is too far forward.
Recite:
Now resume wrapping the strap of the shel yad. Unwind the strap from your palm, and wrap the strap around your middle finger. There are various customs concerning this. If you have no one there to guide you, do it this way:Shine upon me some of Your wisdom, Hashem Who is supreme, and give me understanding from Your understanding. Do great things for me out of Your kindness. Destroy, with your power, my enemies and adversaries. Let the good oil pour down on the seven branches of the menorah, to influence all Your creation with Your goodness. You open Your hand to satisfy the desires of all living things.
As the strap comes from the wrist, pass it over the back of your hand. Wrapping around to the other side, pass it between your thumb and your first finger and take the strap down to the middle finger.
Wrap it once around the base of the middle finger, then once around the middle section of the middle finger. Then wrap it once around the base of the middle finger again. This should create something resembling an X around your finger.
Next, pass it again under your finger, over to the next finger down, and around that finger, and back and over the back of your hand to the area between your thumb and fingers again.
Now take the strap down under your hand across the palm, and around and over again to the area between your thumb and fingers. If there is any strap left, continue to wrap it around your palm and hand.
Tuck the end of the strap into the palm of your hand, around and beneath some of the strap that is already there. Do this at least twice, and pass the end of the strap through the final tuck to make a loop, and tighten it, to sort of tie off the end.
Look at the picture above to see how your hand should look when you you are finished. You will see that the straps sort of spell out the Three-Letter Name of Hashem, with a "shin," a "daled," and a "yud."
Now recite:
Now say the prayers.
I will betroth you to Me forever, and I will betroth you to Me with righteousness, justice, kindness, and mercy. I will betroth you to Me with faithfulness, and you shall know Me, Hashem.
When you take off the tefillin, first unwrap the strap from your fingers, wrapping it around your palm. Then take off the shel rosh. Wrap it up and put it away. then take off your shel yad, wrap it up and put it away.
When you wrap your tefillin to put them away, do not pull the straps tightly around the boxes. Leather can stretch a little, but the paint on the straps cannot stretch without cracking. The straps must be entirely black, according to Halachah, and if the paint on them cracks the straps could become invalid.
To buy a pair of tefillin, visit Tiferes Stam Judaica. Ask them also for a good beginner's book on tefillin. One good source is Rabbi Aryeh Kaplan's booklet on Tefillin.
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