I can see why the people may have needed a code to communicate when Federal Marshals were hunting them down and trying to suppress them. According to a commenter, this was used by the early Saints to communicate when many nationalities were present in the same location.
Could it be that one day, we will need to communicate in code again if we once again find ourselves in dicey circumstances? Or when we find ourselves again mixed as a people in the camps of Zion? It is either this, or the gift of tongues as it was on the day of Pentecost with the early Saints.
http://www.deseretica.com/search?updated-max=2010-12-06T14:01:00-08:00&max-results=7
That wasn't the purpose of the Deseret Alphabet. It was an attempt by Brigham Young and other church leaders to create a new common written language to help non-English speaking Mormon immigrants moving to Utah.
ReplyDeleteThe purpose of the Deseret Alphabet was and is controversial. I explored the subject in my Master's Thesis at Stanford ("Of Two Minds: Language Reform and Millennialism in the Deseret Alphabet," available at the LDS archives and at BYU Library. After looking at primary 1800 documents and subsequent research, I concluded that the ultimate purpose of the Alphabet was to begin the restoration of Adamic Speech.
ReplyDeleteAnonymous (9/29) has explained the true purpose of the "Deseret Alphabet". A source for information is BYU "Church History in the Fullness of Times" on page 398. I have one of the books in my possession and I guarantee - it is not a secret method of communicating. We do a disservice when we go off course on matters such as this to boost other theories.
ReplyDeleteThis obviously is not secret code. Secret code must change at time intervals as once the particular code is broken is no longer useful. Secret Code has to use a time sensitive authentication system.
ReplyDeleteThe code sheet I used had authentication digits every 5 minutes and the sheet was changed every day. The authentication was a random set of 2 digit alpha characters.
For quick messages the code had standard phrases with a 2 digit alpha code... for example - "Mission Complete Successful" might be "SB" one day and then the next day be "XU".
You would give your message code in open communication. If the person didn't recognize you or thought something was wrong would ask you to "Authenticate". You would go to the time table (hour/5 minute) pick the proper interval and respond with the 2 letter alpha code according to the time.
The decode sheet must be in possession of the receiver.