CHOOSING SIDES IN DESPERATE BATTLES OF AGENCY - BLACKS AND THE PRIESTHOOD

I apologize that I do not have the time to comment on most all comments and publish most all those that are posted other than those that are personal attack in nature or that I agree with, but do not want to create a firestorm on the blog.....  I cannot edit them, as well, so if they contain any personal info on myself or the poster, I will often delete them to make this thing stalker proof, where possible unless it is clear that the person wants to draw attention to their own blog, writeup, or good compatible cause.

In some of the comments about the previous piece on euthanasia and the valiant spirits of the pre-mortal realm who just need a body in order to progress to the next sphere, someone said that there were no fence sitters in the pre-existence and had a quote to back it up.  I have ranked all people that I have met on this earth - based on what I hear come from their mouths.  I have even ranked my wife - and it did not go so well.  Quick story - she was taking a class at BYU on women in the Church and polygamy.  Her progressive female professor presented material (on polyandry) which I am not so sure about the validity of - but I am open minded enough to consider it as I do not know all things and consider God's ways well above my own.  You get way ahead of the curve when you finally realize you are spittle in the sea of the eternities.  Self-importance will kill any chance for true growth.  Period.  Well, my wife did not take the info very well and started to question Joseph's motives and character.  I basically told her to "get thee hence" and told her, I am stickin' with the man and his character and his life before I self-excise from the body over some milk strippings that my wife was upset over......

Most people will say, "Dude - not a smart move."  I say you rank people and stick with your top picks and you will be just fine when all of them come into agreement with the conclusion you have arrived at (or vis a versa).  My wife has since, over many difficult years of learning, come to a conclusion that I feel would not grieve the Spirit.  She is one of the wisest and best people that I know, but there is enough "duh factor" in her (that she gets from her mom/mom's father who was an amazing repeat graduate from the school of hard knocks), that she still has to tread this sphere and learn a few lessons the hard way as they have had to/still are.....  Unfortunately, many of the qualities of the natural man are passed from one generation to the next via this tabernacle of clay.  The spirits that we are endowed with, then have to struggle against these tendencies to be stubborn or just flat stupid until they are either in agreement with our Father - or not.

Now, before the hating comments start flying, yes - I have plenty more of my own flaws I am equally aware of and will openly state that in almost every category, I married up.  Where I didn't, my wife and I complement each other pretty well.  Her ability to not offend people easily is where I do not excel.....  Diplomacy is her stronger suit - definitely not mine as you are about to find out.

So, back on track.  This person who commented earlier said that some of the fence sitting may have happened because a loved one chose a bad path and they were not sure they could leave them or that the "soon to be devil minion" held a strong argument and power over them such that they were not strongly committed to the Savior's commitment to full agency.  We have it today in spades - just as it was then - but things are quickly shaping up to where there will leave little doubt as to which side we are on.  I am watching Steve Young closely.  I used to walk past him clad in sunglasses in the middle of winter as he walked to and from the Clark Law Building as he got his degree there.  I always wondered how hard it would be to find a woman who was not just attracted to his fame or his money.  Well, he did eventually.  She was a non-member who joined up and since has been very vocal about the whole Cali Prop 8 mess. (CLICK LINK TO READ ABOUT BARBARA YOUNG'S ESCAPADES....)   I have watched his opinion change from one that most would expect from a descendant of Brigham to one kind of against the Church's stance to more like that of his wife.....  Sad to see, really.  I guess Steve never read about Solomon's wives that distracted him to the point that he became a useless tool in the Lord's hands.  So, as we have children and other loved ones that have gone astray, the best thing we can do for them is to love them and clearly state where the line in the sand is - and invite them to come back to that line.  One of the greatest coups the devil can have is to bear sway on a weak member of a family unit and then pull the rest into the swirling mess and suck them under.  My function in a sea of dysfunction, is to be a steadying influence.  Whether it be from an ethics standpoint in the workplace, or from a values standpoint in the home - my job is to determine truth and be a rock - immoveable from correct principle.  The courage and ability to stand strong comes from scriptures and my ranking system.

I just had a team-teacher in GD stand up and lay down a progressive view on BY last Sunday.  Like Denver Snuffer, he was jumping on the bandwagon of trashing on BY.  I understand fully that BY was a mere mortal - but I found myself ranking this GD teacher and all the other "progressives" who are trying to re-write the historical record as of late in the Church as we try to blow away our association and belief in polygamy and anti-homosexual behavior stance as we subtly hold BY's head under the water til no more bubbles rise to the surface.....  BY came out roses - not perfect, but well ahead of the pack.  Trust me.  I simply look at fruits and start my ranking just as I did with my wife those 22 years ago.  She and I have had five children together, lost one and buried him together, and had many amazing experiences together and I expect we will jointly navigate the eternities together with her at the head of an amazing entourage of posterity - but she, just as I, will always rank well behind the Father of our Spirits, the Savior of this world and our spiritual destinies, the head of most dispensations, the Holy Mother of God (the Son) and the head of this final Dispensation that brought all things together in one and who will most likely yet play additional roles in the wrapping up scenes.  We will, most likely navigate those eternities well behind Brother Brigham, as well.  No matter how PC it sounds, as he said, there were many who were less valiant.  God had to rank us.  He gave the best roles in this earthly drama to the greats like Abraham and Jesus and Moses and lesser and lesser roles until he got down to my inconsequential act in this big complex play we call life.  I have no doubt my role is as a leader (as a rock in my extended family and my immediate family) to stick to my guns.  Because I have some wicked siblings, my role has been tested - but I have always stuck to my guns, hoping that they will come around.  If they do not, I can only vouch for myself that I have tried my best.  I will not compromise my values for them.  Period.  I will not compromise them for my own children.  Nor for my own wife.  I am dogmatic and immutable to this end.  I have seen the results when people begin to sway and deviate and its not good.

There are many good ones who have been sent to all families and family groups of the earth to be a leaven within those groups.  But there are elevated family groups among the family groups - and they got their placement based on previous valiancy.  This is a fact in my mind.  It simply is how a Father has to do it in order to give all of His children the best shot at a successful life in a fallen world where we are given our moral agency.  I do the same amongst my own children in our home.  I taught a black couple in Anaheim, CA who had a testimony of the Book of Mormon and would have joined the Church but could not get past the whole blacks and the priesthood issue.  These both were extremely educated professionals.  I could not give them a "blow off" answer.  They needed to be satisfied in order to move forward to the waters of baptism.  I prayed hard that night for guidance.  The next morning, I read the revelation that Paul received where the gospel was taken from the Jews to the Gentiles.  Jesus strictly forbade the teaching of the Gentiles while He was alive.  In the end, the Jews rejected Him, strung him up for teaching truth and one of His successors was allowed to open the work to those who would listen; the former "unclean" Gentiles (of which I - and most of you are classed as).  Am I insulted or angry that Jesus was some kind of bigot who was unfair and hypocritical for teaching love while simultaneously excluding some from those same teachings?  Nope - not in the least.  After reading Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith and other early works, I got the concept that God works through those who are a higher order to teach those of lesser capacity.  I am not insulted in the least that a GA shows up at a Stake Conference and gives me instruction - using this exact concept.  I do not have the same capacity for learning and understanding, so the Lord sends messengers from a group that was likely less of a "fence sitting" group, to one of my capacity who was just a tad more tepid than the other group.  Its so easy for me to get.  Maybe I am just a simpleton....  Often, in family groupings, God will put people of extremely high stature in to act as a leaven.  After I got my visa and left for Brazil to serve my mission, I had the privilege to serve under one of the greats who was later to become the first black Quorum of the 70 in this final dispensation.  I, most likely, will never attain the stature that this man had in this life.  He was well above me in capacity - even though I was able to tutor him on his english pronunciation before he went off to April Gen Conf to give his first Conference Talk.  As one of his Assistants, I was able to assist him giving several blessings to sick missionaries and investigators in hospitals and see and feel the power of his spirit.  I was able to hear him teach by the Spirit with great power and conviction - even though, after his conversion in the early 70's, he had to go nearly a decade without having the privilege of being sealed to his family - even working on the building committee of the Sao Paulo Temple that he could never legally enter - but personally implored Spencer W. Kimball for the privilege of being able to (you might say that he was key in helping move forward the bestowing of that long-awaited privilege for many who were valiantly waiting).  This man was a giant - a bright spot among a people who came from Africa where the people are not doing/have never historically done anything of amazing human accomplishment - in the big picture of things.  Most of those amazing things were left to the direct descendants of the House of Israel/children of Abraham and also Japheth (Asians), with the Blood of Israel mixed in there (see previous very old post of how the Japanese Samurai are lost members of the 12 Tribes).  There are even spear-carrying African tribes who have the distinct blood marker of the Kohanim in them.

Much else in Africa is a wasteland - largely devoid of accomplishment and growth with rampant AIDS, crime, poverty and hopelessness.  Where there have been pockets of lost Israel, famine and war has caused them to be gathered out to other areas where a remnant can be saved.  One of my good friends here at work (from the Sudan) just told me his amazing tale of how he made it to America to be one of our brightest stars here at my company.   Many other valiant ones like my mission president are being adopted in daily and Africa is a bright spot in Church growth and Temple building.  They are having a blossoming of sorts, just as the prophesied blossoming of Manasseh is occurring.  One day, the survivors there of what is coming to wipe the wicked off of that continent, will thrive just as the Lamanites will, precisely because they have lived simple lives, close to the land.  While ourselves, the proud, haughty and technologically gifted Gentiles, will die like flies because we have rejected the inner voice and good reason that we previously fought for in the battle over our agency in another realm.

So, does God favor one people over another?  Yes and no.  At times, some are given privilege over others simply to be a beacon of light and hope - and when that salt savor is lost - they are cast out to be trodden upon (often by foreign armies) and another rises to take their place.  The Jews had their chance and will get their time once again (a second chance, of sorts) in a few short years after the Gentiles are trodden and Manasseh rises up to her destiny.  Was Brigham wrong in his assessment on Plural Marriage or on giving the Priesthood to Blacks in the day?  I say the best way to know that is whether he did anything extra-ordinary or of note.  I challenge you to find anyone who made a statement shortly before they died about a tower on a temple and then was able to effect his will from the grave by having the tower burnt down to the board so it could be re-built to his specifications by Truman O. Angell who clearly got the message (previous post).  If he were so wicked as to have falsely committed so many people to an unjust end of a life without the full blessings of the Gospel - and was raising his head up in hell - subservient to the righteous among the descendents of Egyptus who would have been above him for such a great sin, then there is no way he could have effected that change - nor had the power to do so.  It is circumstantial - but highly suspect that it was nothing other than Brigham pulling strings from over there because he had power and authority and dominion.  No one who accuses him has been able to produce a fruit such as this since then - so I rank them all.   Below Brigham.  Until their fruits show otherwise, that is the way it is in my mind - and Brigham did the will of the Lord.  Perfect?  No.  Horribly flawed?  No.

Horribly flawed people do not accomplish what he did.  Period.

Let the disparaging comments begin - I dare you to convincingly argue that I am wrong if you disagree here.  Yeah, yeah, I know.  I will not bow to the PC crowd at any level in the Church or out of it......  Truth is truth.  It stands on its own and the fruits of those who possess it bear simple witness to who is the possessor of it.  Show me the money - and I will bend an ear.  Otherwise, fuggedaboutit.