FORNICATION AND MONEY - A LOOK INTO WHERE THE TWO PILLARS OF OUR MODERN DEPRAVED SOCIETY COME FROM

Well, my friend Darin the Linguist comes through yet one more time in a fascinating little jaunt down the historical lane. He ties where the Romans got the seed money for their empire from and how the (unholy...) Roman empire became the more modern incarnation of the whore of all the earth, Babylon.

I love how this guy puts it all together into a neat little package. I hope you enjoy this as much as I did - and hope that your focus is not on the pursuit of either of these two things as the train the great whore has been riding is about to derail and make an end to quite the long run she has had....:

And, now, for the Main Horrible Crime Against Mankind, that was committed by those who began the City of Rome.

Those Founders of Rome came to understand that they could collect a Multiple of the Gold Coins that they collected in the Forum if, after the Western European Merchants, with their Cargoes, had exited out from the Forum, under the Fornix Exit Gate, they could have a Large Hotel, that they built, on the west side of the Apian Way Road, just after those Merchants had exited out from under the Fornix Exit Gate, where, on the many balconies of that Large Hotel they could have large numbers of women, calling down to those Merchants, that they had the best Hotel Accommodations in Italy, there, with the Finest Food, the Finest Most Comfortable Furniture, the Best Entertainment, etc., etc., in Italy, to get those Merchants to stop, and to rest there, before continuing on for the rest of their long journey to the South End of the Italian Peninsula.

That large “Hotel” was built there. And, since it was there, right next to the Fornix Exit Gate, it too was given the name of it being, “the Fornix.” And, it did become the source of a Multiple of the Gold Coins that the Romans collected in the Forum, which became the Main Source of that Large Volume of Income of the Gold Coins from Babylon that enabled those “Founders of Rome” to establish their “Roman Empire,” that has had the dominating effect that it has had on the Culture of the People of Europe and of the World until this time.

But, now, for the terrible Evil against Mankind, that was done there.

If a person looks up, in most Dictionaries, the origin of the word for the “sin” of “fornication,” most Dictionaries will give the origin of that word from the name, “the Fornix,” of that large Main “Hotel,” that the Ancient Romans built. That is, it might have been the Largest House of Prostitution that had ever been built, in the History of the World, maybe, even, down until the present time.

In The Revelation, Chapters 17 and 18, the word, “fornication,” which word came from those Romans’ Largest House of Prostitution in History, till that time, is used 6 times in those two Chapters.]


However, THE ENTIRE CONCEPT OF THE WORLD’S “MONEY,” COMES TO THE PEOPLE OF THE WORLD, TODAY, FROM THE WAY THAT THE ANCIENT ROMANS, WHO ESTABLISHED THEIR CITY OF ROME, WERE ALSO THE ESTABLISHERS OF THE WAY THAT ALMOST ALL OF THE WORLD HAS COME TO HAVE ALMOST ALL OF THEIR POLITICS OPERATE, AT THIS TIME.

The question can come up of, “What was it that the Apostle, John the Revelator, meant, when he wrote, in The Revelation 17:5,

And upon her forehead was a name written, MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH?”

and in 18:19, where he said:

“for in one hour is she made desolate?”


It has seemed, to Commentators on this, throughout History, that an identification of that “MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH,” is made, in relation to the City of the Ancient Romans, in The Revelation 17:9, with:

9 And here is the mind that hath wisdom. The seven heads are seven mountains, on which the woman sitteth.

and in 17:18,where it is said:

18 And the woman which thou sawest is that great city, which reigneth over the kings of the earth.


[One thing that is obvious to everyone in the World, about one “ignorance” that the Founders of Ancient Rome had, is that they thought that there were only 10 “Months” in a year. The word, “Month,” is an expression for how long it takes for the “Moon” to “spin around” the Planet Earth. It does that 12 times a year, each time of which is called a, “Month,” in Modern English, perhaps, a “Moonth,” in our Ancestral Anglo-Saxon.

So, to the Ancient Romans their word, “December,” meant the “10th” Month, “November,” meant the “9th” Month, “October,” meant the “8th” Month, and, “September,” meant the “7th” Month. When the Ancient Roman Emperors realized that they could not operate successfully, militarily, in Italy, against the Superior Military Operations of the North Europeans, and that those Roman Military Dictators needed to move their Military Headquarters out of Italy and over to Byzantium, they copied so many of the things that the North Europeans did, including the utilization among them of the fact that there are 12 Months in a year, by naming two of the Summer Months for those first Roman Emperors, Julius Caesar, and Augustus Caesar, the origin of the names, “July” and “August,” for those two Summer Months.]

The name of the Ancient Romans for the First Month, in the Summer, was for the primary ancient pagan goddess of the Romans, for which they used the name, “Juno,” the origin of the English word for the name of that Month, “June.”

The Ancient Roman Military Dictators operated their Military by the practice that, if a man would risk his life to go out to kill, according to the dictates of that Military Dictator, in exchange for a small “solid” Gold Coin, that man was given the name that he was a “solid-ier” of that Military Dictator, (the origin of the English word, “soldier”).

The Ancient Pagan Romans had ancient pagan Idols that they worshipped, in relation to their ancient pagan god and goddesses. One place where they worshipped an Idol of their pagan goddess Juno was near to the Fortress, on the north side of Rome, where the Solid-iers of Rome were stationed, to protect Rome against attackers.

So many in the populations of the Northern Europeans were so terribly offended at the Filthiness of the Lives of the Romans, that they destroyed the Decency of Life for so many of the male Merchants that were involved in that “Gold-Coin-Source Trade,” between Northern Europe and the South of Italy, that went through Rome, that so many of the People of Northern Europe wished so much that it would be possible, somehow, to destroy Rome. However, Rome was a long way away from Northern Europe; and, if the North Europeans were ever going to be able to get a large enough Military Force to the vicinity of Rome, so that it would be able to destroy Rome’s horrible Large House of Prostitution, it was understood that that attacking Army was going to need to be most clever in order to be able to get near enough to that horrible Large House of Prostitution in order to be able to do that.

However, eventually, one large Attacking Army had been able to secretly sneak up so close to that Fortress, that was there to stop Attacks against Rome, that it was almost ready to attack and destroy that Fortress and the “Army of Guards” that were in it, that they would have, then, been able to go to the south side of Rome and also destroy Rome’s horrible Large House of Prostitution.

However, just as that large attacking Army was sneaking though the last open space, before getting to that Fortress, it happened that that open space was a yard that was next to the place where the ancient pagan Romans worshipped their ancient pagan goddess, for which they used the name, Juno. And, it just happened that in the yard, that was in that final open space, there were a large flock of geese that had been put there. Then it happened that as that large attacking Army was trying so silently to sneak up close enough to that Fortress, so that they could attack it, while its Army of Guards were still mostly asleep, that flock of geese started cackling, at that those who in that Army of those Attackers. When that happened that cackling sound woke up some of those Guards, who, then, woke up all of the rest of that Army of Guards, who, from their Fortress, threw spears and shot down arrows, etc. at those Attackers. in such a way that they were able to stop that Attack.

After that Attack was defeated the talking began that, “That yard where those Geese are is the yard of the place where we worship our pagan goddess Juno. Those are the geese of our pagan goddess, Juno. Therefore, it was our pagan goddess, Juno, who ‘WARNED’ our Guards, through her geeses’ cackling, that woke up our Guards and stopped that Attack on the way that we do things here in Rome. THEREFORE, FROM NOW ON, LET’S CALL OUR PAGAN GODDESS JUNO, ‘JUNO THE WARNER.’”

One sees the basis of the Ancient Latin word for, “warn,” in the English word, “ad-monit-ion.” The, “monit” part of that word is the basis of the Ancient Latin word for, “warn.” Therefore, the Ancient Romans began calling their ancient pagan goddess, Juno, by the longer name, “Juno Moneta,” Ancient Latin for, “Juno the Warner.”

The point of this is that when the Romans began using some of all of that Babylonian Gold that they had, for them to begin “minting” their own Gold Coins, they did a lot of that minting in a place where they had a huge Idol of their pagan goddess, Juno Moneta. So, they began calling that place, that was their, “Mint,” their, “Moneta.” And, then, also, they began calling the Gold Coins that they “minted” there by that same name. And, those two names have continued in the Modern Latin Language of Spanish as, “una moneda,” which is the way that, “a coin,” is said in modern Spanish, and “la moneda,” which is the way that the expression, “the mint,” is said, in modern Spanish.

The French Language was different enough from Ancient Latin that the word, “moneda,” in Latin, came out as, “moneie,” in French. And, that French word, “moneie,” is the origin of our English word, “money.”

“What is a name that could be used for the ancient pagan ‘Culture” of Rome?” As they developed their “Ancient Roman Empire,” based upon the way that they “controlled life,” with the “monetas” (coins) of the Ancient Romans, among the populations of Southwest Europe, which area they made into their “Empire,” they did that with what most of the World would designate as a number of “evils.” One of what most people would call, “evils,” is that, when they so extended that Ancient Empire of theirs, it was estimated that about ½ of the people that made up the population that were the Subjects of those Roman Emperors were, “Slaves.” A “slave woman” has no ability to refuse when the Master who owns her decides that she will be sold to do prostitution services, at the behest of that Roman Master of hers.

And, so, since the “Culture of Money” of the Ancient Pagan Romans, that spread throughout the World, came from the Ancient Pagan Romans, and that Roman name for it continues, from the name of the main Ancient Pagan Goddess of the Ancient Romans, and since so much of the ancient Culture of the Ancient Pagan Romans came from the way that those Ancient Pagan Romans dealt with Mankind, through that which was named for their Ancient Pagan Goddess, Juno Moneta, it seems that the Apostle, John the Revelator, is speaking about that “continuation,” until this time, of that Culture of Rome, the Culture of Rome’s Main Pagan Goddess, Juno Moneta, “Money,” as he speaks about, “MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH,” that, “in one hour is she made desolate.”

It will literally take one hour (not 22 years in Kolob's reckoning) to wipe it all out. CAN'T WAIT..... I would like God's Millennial economy to take over and to finish raising my kids and grand kids in a society not centered on that garbage. There is almost no way to escape it now - EVEN IN THE CHURCH, WE HAVE RUN NEARLY 100% AMOK - but when it all comes crashing down, some of our Lamanite brothers and folks from the 10 Tribes who have lived without the constraints of our greed-centered world will be part of the solution in showing the way. I suspect that the Sealed Portion of the Book of Mormon will hold the rest of the key. They did something right to make it last for over 300 years.

OUR TREASURE HAS BECOME SLIPPERY

When people will not adhere to good principle (such as the Zion belief in consecration), what they cling tightest to, will begin to fade and slide into obscurity. I have felt this in my own life when I am not centered on a Zion life.

Interesting words - I had to share:

Slippery Treasures--A Prophecy
By Larry Barkdull

When I first read the Book of Mormon as a boy, I encountered Samuel the Lamanite’s prophecy of “slippery treasures.” After discounting the notion that the treasures were greased, I wondered how they had slipped away. Did the treasures simply vanish? Did the Nephites experience widespread thievery? Over the years, knowing the Book of Mormon was written for us in the last days, I have pondered how the slippery-treasures scenario might play out again.

I need not speculate any longer. The event is upon us. The Book of Mormon story is more than account; it is a prophecy!

Mormon had the ability to foresee our day and marry latter-day troubles with Nephite events. One intriguing entry is Samuel the Lamanite’s prophecy of “slippery treasures.”

That Mormon would record Samuel’s words in such detail should signal to us their latter-day import. That Samuel delivered his message only years before the advent of the Savior, listing attendant destruction should add more weight to our latter-day consideration. That the resurrected Jesus would draw attention to Samuel and insist that his missing prophecies be recorded accurately should draw us into Mormon’s account and cause us to dissect and apply the principles.

Let us consider Samuel’s denunciation of the Nephites’ Babylon as that denunciation parallels Babylon today.

Samuel the Lamanite’s Denunciation of the Nephites’ Babylon

A few years before the birth of Christ, Samuel, a Lamanite prophet, entered the land of the Nephites to warn the people, cry repentance and prophesy of simultaneously glorious and catastrophic events. To set the stage, Mormon describes the Nephite world as one of “great wickedness.” Only a few “did observe strictly to keep the commandments of God.” The Nephites’ reaction to the prophet’s preaching ranged from disregard to violence.[i] Immediately, we see our latter-day condition mirroring that of the Nephites.

Frighteningly, Samuel warned that “the sword of justice hangeth over this people…. Yea, heavy destruction awaiteth this people, and it surely cometh unto this people, and nothing can save this people save it be repentance and faith on the Lord Jesus Christ.” The Nephites’ condition had resulted from “the hardness of the hearts of the people.” That hardness of heart was being manifested in a variety of ways:

The misuse of money that the Lord had given them.
Setting their hearts on acquiring riches.
Not hearkening unto the Lord or his prophets.
Neither remembering the Lord nor his blessings nor thanking him for them.
Always thinking about their riches and how to acquire more of them.
Their hearts were not “drawn out unto the Lord.”
“Great pride, unto boasting, and unto great swelling, envyings, strifes, malice, persecutions, and murders, and all manner of iniquities.”
Mocking and rejecting the prophets.[ii]

Following “Blind Guides”

Another sinful condition of the Nephites was their willingness to follow, idolize and uphold people who flattered their egos—“blind guides,”[iii] Samuel called these deceivers. The Nephites were more interested in the philosophies of these smooth-tongued “guides” than the prophets. The Nephites would enrich these people and canonize their words as if they were scripture.

“But behold, if a man shall come among you and shall say: Do this, and there is no iniquity; do that and ye shall not suffer; yea, he will say: Walk after the pride of your own hearts; yea, walk after the pride of your eyes, and do whatsoever your heart desireth--and if a man shall come among you and say this, ye will receive him, and say that he is a prophet. Yea, ye will lift him up, and ye will give unto him of your substance; ye will give unto him of your gold, and of your silver, and ye will clothe him with costly apparel; and because he speaketh flattering words unto you, and he saith that all is well, then ye will not find fault with him.”[iv]

“Blind guides” are those people who receive our support and adoration for flattering us with their mouth, but more often with their life-style. We give them riches for what they do not produce or contribute; we give them riches for being famous. These blind guides flatter us by parading the rewards that come from a lifestyle that glamorizes Babylon, and we applaud them for their having legitimized a life of wealth, self-indulgence, power, recognition, and excess.

Ripe for Destruction

The Lord’s spirit cannot abide in such wickedness. In Samuel’s day, only the presence of a few righteous individuals was holding back the judgments. But the clock was ticking. The gathering of the righteous was taking place. Soon the faithful few would be called out (or cast out). Then the wicked would be ripe for destruction,[v] and only the repentant would be spared.

The word ripe is intriguing. A fruit that is ripe will separate itself and fall from its mother tree. Ripeness is an interesting analogy for separating one’s self and falling away from the Tree of Life. In its insistence for a sinful, independent life from the tree, the ripe and fallen fruit can ultimately do nothing on its own except lie on the ground and rot.

Curses

Speaking for the Lord, Samuel pronounced a series of curses:

“I will take away my word from them.”
“I will withdraw my spirit.”
“I will suffer them no longer,” that is, I will not allow them to continue living this way.
“I will turn the hearts of their [enemies] against them.”
“I will cause that they shall be smitten…with the sword and with famine and with pestilence….I will visit them in my fierce anger.”
“Whoso shall hide up treasures in the earth shall find them no more…save he be a righteous man.”[vi]


Slippery Treasures

If the people cared little about the first five curses, the last one was sure to get their attention. This curse was aimed at what they loved most: their treasures. The curse stipulated that a righteous person was exempt; he could “hide up” his treasure unto the Lord—consecrate it—and he and the treasure would remain safe.

But a wicked person or a good person who still trusted in Babylon would not be so fortunate. Because he was in the selfish habit of hiding his treasure unto himself and not unto the Lord, he would soon discover to his horror that his treasure had become “slippery.”[vii]

Consequently, the fortunes of those who were wicked or those good people who still trusted in Babylon would slip away from them; the economy would collapse, and financial ruin would result: “And behold, the time cometh that he curseth your riches, that they become slippery, that ye cannot hold them; and in the days of your poverty ye cannot retain them.”[viii]

Vulnerability to Enemies

Then things would go from bad to worse. In the people’s impoverished situation, they would be vulnerable to attack from their enemies, particularly those enemies who constituted secret combinations. We note here that Samuel’s prophecies were followed by the near destruction of the nation by the Gadianton robbers.[ix] Samuel foretold that following the economic collapse the people would “flee before their enemies”[x] Their lamentations should strike fear in every person who trusts in his riches and adores Babylon:

And in the days of your poverty ye shall cry unto the Lord; and in vain shall ye cry, for your desolation is already come upon you, and your destruction is made sure; and then shall ye weep and howl in that day, saith the Lord of Hosts. And then shall ye lament, and say:

O that I had repented, and had not killed the prophets, and stoned them, and cast them out. Yea, in that day ye shall say: O that we had remembered the Lord our God in the day that he gave us our riches, and then they would not have become slippery that we should lose them; for behold, our riches are gone from us.

Behold, we lay a tool here and on the morrow it is gone; and behold, our swords are taken from us in the day we have sought them for battle.

Yea, we have hid up our treasures and they have slipped away from us, because of the curse of the land.

O that we had repented in the day that the word of the Lord came unto us; for behold the land is cursed, and all things are become slippery, and we cannot hold them.

Behold, we are surrounded by demons, yea, we are encircled about by the angels of him who hath sought to destroy our souls. Behold, our iniquities are great. O Lord, canst thou not turn away thine anger from us? And this shall be your language in those days.

But behold, your days of probation are past; ye have procrastinated the day of your salvation until it is everlastingly too late, and your destruction is made sure; yea, for ye have sought all the days of your lives for that which ye could not obtain; and ye have sought for happiness in doing iniquity, which thing is contrary to the nature of that righteousness which is in our great and Eternal Head.

O ye people of the land, that ye would hear my words! And I pray that the anger of the Lord be turned away from you, and that ye would repent and be saved.[xi]

First economic collapse then vulnerability to attacks from our enemies!

Failure to Repent

After Samuel’s martyrdom, his prophecies began to be fulfilled. But the Nephites did not repent. Mormon reported that “there was but little alteration in the affairs of the people, save it were the people began to be more hardened in iniquity.” Neither economic cataclysms and vicious attacks from terrorists within their borders prodded them from their insanity.

Even when “great signs [were] given unto the people, and wonders; and the words of the prophets began to be fulfilled,” the Nephites hardened their hearts.”[xii] They simply would not believe the signs or respond to the Lord’s warning to repent.

Mormon identified four reasons why the people did not repent:

1) Prophecies are nothing more than good guesses: “Some things they [the prophets] may have guessed right, among so many; but behold, we know that all these great and marvelous works cannot come to pass, of which has been spoken.”

2) Prophecies do not make sense: “And they began to reason and to contend among themselves, saying: That it is not reasonable that such a being as a Christ shall come.

3) Prophecies are false traditions: “But behold, we know that this is a wicked tradition, which has been handed down unto us by our fathers, to cause us that we should believe in some great and marvelous thing which should come to pass… therefore they can keep us in ignorance.”

4) Prophets deceive us to keep us bound to them: “And they [the prophets] will, by the cunning and the mysterious arts of the evil one, work some great mystery which we cannot understand, which will keep us down to be servants to their words, and also servants unto them, for we depend upon them to teach us the word; and thus will they keep us in ignorance if we will yield ourselves unto them, all the days of our lives.”

Satan’s Great Hold on the People’s Hearts

Mormon informed us that the Nephites “began to depend upon their own strength and upon their own wisdom.” They “imagine[d] up in their hearts” “many more things” “which were foolish and vain.”

Mormon said that the people “were much disturbed, for Satan did stir them up to do iniquity continually; yea, he did go about spreading rumors and contentions upon all the face of the land, that he might harden the hearts of the people against that which was good and against that which should come. And notwithstanding the signs and the wonders which were wrought among the people of the Lord, and the many miracles which they did, Satan did get great hold upon the hearts of the people upon all the face of the land.”[xiii]

Latter-day Application

It is difficult to read this account and not see the condition of Babylon today.Clearly, we are mere years away from the Savior’s advent. The prophets are widely mocked, ignored, and often soundly rejected. Only a few Zion people practice righteousness, and perhaps for their sake the Lord is holding back the prophesied destruction.

The condition of Babylon’s citizens is defined by their hardness of heart.

They love their money and selfishly misuse it.
They always think about their riches and how to acquire more.
They will not hearken unto the Lord or his words.
They will not remember or thank the Lord for their blessings.
Their hearts are not “drawn out unto the Lord.”
Their lives are marked with “great pride,” boastings, envyings, strifes, malice, persecutions, and murders, and all manner of iniquities.”
They follow “blind guides,” who use flattering words to stroke their egos and legitimize a lifestyle that glamorizes wealth, self-indulgence, popularity, power and excess.

Now the curses of the Lord are becoming apparent and the prophecy of the slippery treasures is being fulfilled. Personal treasures are becoming unstable; economies are lying in ruins. In this condition, the people of Babylon are vulnerable to their enemies, especially those of secret combinations. Despite devastating events, they will not repent and return to the Lord. Rather, they find all sorts of reasons not to repent, and they grow in wickedness. Samuel might as well have been warning and prophesying to us today!

Go ye out from Babylon

Knowing the condition and future of Babylon, why do we try so hard to embrace her? The Lord has instructed us implicitly:

Go ye out from Babylon. Be ye clean that bear the vessels of the Lord…. Yea, verily I say unto you again, the time has come when the voice of the Lord is unto you: Go ye out of Babylon; gather ye out from among the nations, from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other…. Go ye out from among the nations, even from Babylon, from the midst of wickedness, which is spiritual Babylon.[xiv]

As we know, Babylon is simultaneously a location, the sum of false philosophies and doctrines, and a vile condition of the heart. While our present circumstances might not involve moving away from physical Babylon, we nevertheless must flee from spiritual Babylon. In unmistakable language, the Lord has commanded us to “forsake the world,”[xv] and “lay aside the things of this world, and seek for the things of a better.”[xvi] He charges us to escape for our own safety:

For after today cometh the burning--this is speaking after the manner of the Lord--for verily I say, tomorrow all the proud and they that do wickedly shall be as stubble; and I will burn them up, for I am the Lord of Hosts; and I will not spare any that remain in Babylon.[xvii]

If we choose to remain in spiritual Babylon, we do so at our own risk. Most certainly, we will be caught up in the destructions: “…that great whore, who hath perverted the right ways of the Lord, yea, that great and abominable church, shall tumble to the dust and great shall be the fall of it.”[xviii]

Come to Zion

The Lord’s command to leave Babylon is also an invitation to come to Zion with the Lord’s offer to help us arrive safely. Still, there is nothing easy about leaving Babylon and converting to a Zionlike way of life founded on celestial doctrines. Occasionally, we must be “stirred up” so that we might see the truth about Babylon and decide once and for all to leave. Blaine Yorgason writes:

Whether we think we need to give up [the things of Babylon] or not, it seems that the Lord is frequently willing to help us in the giving up of worldly things. He might do this by allowing financial reversals to occur, bringing loss of homes, cars, boats, and incomes; personal or corporate bankruptcy; and so forth. We might also experience a severe loss of health or death of a loved one, which can do the same thing by making worldly things unattractive or meaningless….

This is called being stirred up unto repentance. In this case, however, I will substitute the word humility, which always strikes at the heart of pride, vanity, and worldliness! ‘Behold, the world is ripening in iniquity; and it must needs be that the children of men are stirred up unto humility, both the Gentiles and also the house of Israel’ (D&C 18:6); and, ‘The kingdom of the devil must shake, and they which belong to it must needs be stirred up unto repentance, or the devil will grasp them with his everlasting chains, and they…perish’ (2 Nephi 28:19). When we experience this divine assistance in leaving behind the things of the world—and to some degree we will all experience it—then above all else we ought to be filled with joy and rejoicing in the Lord’s goodness and mercy (D&C 52:43).”[xix]

Zion is and always has been the safety and security of the Saints. However, having one foot in Babylon and the other in Zion will never work. We simply cannot choose both ways, because Zion and Babylon are mutually exclusive—exact opposites.

Samuel warned the Nephites that they had to choose, and we need only read the account to see the consequences of those who chose Babylon over Zion. The Book of Mormon testifies that the few who chose a Zion way of life were kept safe from the calamities, and shortly thereafter, the Lord came and established Zion among them. And, depending on our choice, so it shall be with us.

SETTING THE STAGE FOR THE COLLAPSE OF THE KIRKLAND SAFETY SOCIETY

I had never really gotten into the history of the American banking system. I generally oppose interest charging entities as parasites that feed off the mis-fortune and desperation of others, which will not be in existence during the Millennium. We have to have banks to stimulate trade and commerce - but a fee-based system is the way to go; not our current system that sucks the life blood and energy out of people and, by their own system's rules and operations, allows unwitting people and the uneducated to become voluntary slaves.

I am not a big fan of the Muslim religion - though they have many good points of doctrine that I subscribe to - but they have nailed the financial thing down perfectly. Maybe that will be the system used in the 1000 years of peace and prosperity that the survivors will enjoy.

Reading this was an eye-opener:

Money in North American History
From Wampum to Electronic Funds Transfer
See also Money in Fiction Financial Scandals

How did the United States develop into the world's richest and most powerful nation from an inauspicious beginning as a collection of colonies where currency was in such chronically short supply that all sorts of substitutes, e.g. tobacco and wampum, had to be used as money?
Apart from its intrinsic interest, history can often shed light on current political controversies. Many political disputes revolve around questions of economics and of all the matters that fall under the purview of economic history there is one that has had, and still has, a profound impact on many aspects of everyone's daily life, and that is money. This essay is based on a book on monetary history by Glyn Davies which contains a considerable amount of material on the financial development of the United States.

The reference is:

Davies, Glyn. A history of money from ancient times to the present day, 3rd ed. Cardiff: University of Wales Press, 2002. 720 pages. Paperback: ISBN 0 7083 1717 0.
The Potlatch, Gift Exchange and Barter

Money is often, mistakenly, thought to have been invented simply because of the inconvenience of barter. In fact the development of money was due to many causes and even barter itself often had important social functions in addition to its purely economic purposes.

The potlatch ceremonies of Native Americans were a form of barter that had social and ceremonial functions that were at least as important as its economic functions. Consequently when the potlatch was outlawed in Canada (by an act that was later repealed) some of the most powerful work incentives were removed - to the detriment of the younger sections of the Indian communities. This form of barter was not unique to North America. Glyn Davies points out that the most celebrated example of competitive gift exchange was the encounter, around 950 BC, of Solomon and the Queen of Sheba. "Extravagant ostentation, the attempt to outdo each other in the splendour of the exchanges, and above all, the obligations of reciprocity, were just as typical in this celebrated encounter, though at a fittingly princely level, as with the more mundane types of barter in other parts of the world." (page 13).
Wampum - Monetary Uses by Native Americans and Settlers

Since the use of primitive forms of money in North America (as in the Third World) is more recent and better documented than in Europe, the American experience is discussed in the introductory chapter on the origins of money. Whereas the Incas in Peru had reached a high level of civilization without the use of money, in Mexico the Aztecs and Mayas used gold dust (kept in transparent quills) and cocoa beans (kept for large payments in sacks of 24,000) as money. The best known form of money among the native Americans north of Mexico was wampum, made out of the shells of a type of clam. However its use was not confined to the coastal states but spread far inland, e.g. the powerful Iroquois amassed large quantities by way of tribute. Wampum's use as money undoubtedly came about as an extension of its desirability for ornamentation. Beads of it were strung together in short lengths of about 18 inches or much longer ones of about 6 feet.

Wampum came to be used extensively for trade by the colonists as well as the natives, e.g. in 1664 Stuyvesant arranged a loan in wampum worth over 5,000 guilders for paying the wages of workers constructing the New York citadel (page 458). Like more modern forms of money, wampum could be affected by inflation. Some tribes such as the Narragansetts specialized in manufacturing wampum (by drilling holes in the shells so that the beads could be strung together) but their original craft skills were made redundant when the spread of steel drills enabled unskilled workers, including the colonists themselves, to increase the supply of wampum a hundredfold thus causing a massive decrease in its value. A factory for drilling and assembling wampum was started by J.W. Campbell in New Jersey in 1760 and remained in production for a hundred years.
Forms of Money in use in the American Colonies

The British colonies in north America suffered a chronic shortage of official coins with which to carry out their normal, everyday commercial activities. An indication of the severity of this shortage and of the resultant wide variety of substitutes is given by the fact that during 1775 in North Carolina alone as many as seventeen different forms of money were declared to be legal tender. However, it should be remembered that all these numerous forms of means of payment had a common accounting basis in the pounds, shillings and pence of the imperial system.

The main sources which provided the colonists with their essential money supplies fall into five groups.

1. Traditional native currencies such as furs and wampum which were essential for frontier trading with the indigenous population but thereafter were widely adopted by the colonists themselves, e.g. in 1637 Massachusetts declared white wampum legal tender for sums up to one shilling, a limit raised substantially in 1643.
2. The so-called "Country Pay" or "Country Money" such as tobacco, rice, indigo, wheat, maize, etc. - "cash crops" in more than one sense. Like the traditional Indian currencies these were mostly natural commodities. Tobacco was used as money in and around Virginia for nearly 200 years, so lasting about twice as long as the US gold standard.
3. Unofficial coinages, mostly foreign, and especially Spanish and Portuguese coins. These played an important role in distant as well as local trade. Not all the unofficial coins were foreign. John Hall set up a private mint in Massachusetts in 1652 and his popular "pine-tree" shillings and other coins circulated widely until the mint was forced to close down in 1684.
4. The scarce but official British coinage.
5. Paper currency of various kinds, particularly in the colonies' later years.

The first State issue of notes (in north America) was made in 1690 by the Massachusetts Bay Colony. These notes, or "bills of credit". were issued to pay soldiers returning from an expedition to Quebec. The notes promised eventual redemption in gold or silver and could be used immediately to pay taxes and were accepted as legal tender. The example of Massachusetts was followed by other colonies who thought that by printing money they could avoid the necessity to raise taxes.

Another early form of paper money used in north America was "tobacco notes". These were certificates attesting to the quality and quantity of tobacco deposited in public warehouses. These certificates circulated much more conveniently than the actual leaf and were authorized as legal tender in Virginia in 1727 and regularly accepted as such throughout most of the eighteenth century.

In addition to the State issues, a number of public banks began issuing loans in the form of paper money secured by mortgages on the property of the borrowers. In these early cases the term "bank" meant simply the collection or batch of bills of credit issued for a temporary period. If successful, reissues would lead to a permanent institution or bank in the more modern sense of the term. One of the best examples was the Pennsylvania Land Bank which authorized three series of note issues between 1723 and 1729. This bank received the enthusiastic support of Benjamin Franklin who in 1729 published his Modest Enquiry into the Nature and Necessity of a Paper Currency. His advocacy did not go unrewarded as the Pennsylvania Land Bank awarded Franklin the contract for printing its third issue of notes.

Gradually the British government began to restrict the rights of the colonies to issue paper money. In 1740 a dispute arose involving a "Land Bank or Manufactury Scheme" in Boston, and the following year the British parliament ruled that the bank was illegal in that it transgressed the provisions of the Bubble Act of 1720 (passed after the collapse of the South Sea Bubble - one of the most notorious outbreaks of financial speculation in history). Restrictions were subsequently tightened because some colonies, including Massachusetts and especially Rhode Island, issued excessive quantities of paper money thus causing inflation. Finally, in 1764 a complete ban on paper money (except when needed for military purposes) was extended to all the colonies.
The American Revolution and the War of 1812

When he was in London in 1766 Benjamin Franklin tried in vain to convince Parliament of the need for a general issue of colonial paper money, but to no avail. The constitutional struggle between Britain and the colonies over the right to issue paper money was a significant factor in provoking the American Revolution.

When the war broke out the monetary brakes were released completely and the revolution was financed overwhelmingly with an expansionary flood of paper money and so the American Congress financed its first war with hyperinflation. By the end of the war the Continentals had fallen to one-thousandth of their nominal value. Yet although the phrase not worth a Continental has subsequently symbolized utter worthlessness, in the perspective of economic history such notes should be counted as invaluable as being the only major practical means then available for financing the successful revolution.

During the Revolution the Bank of Pennsylvania was established (with the support of Thomas Paine) in June 1780 but it was little more than a temporary means of raising funds to pay for the desperate needs of a practically starving army. The Bank of North America was a more permanent institution, granted a charter by Congress (by a narrow margin of votes) in 1781 and beginning its operations in Pennsylvania on 1 January 1782. It was followed after the war by the Bank of New York and the Bank of Massachusetts, which both opened in 1784, and the Bank of Maryland in 1790.

The financial chaos of the aftermath of the revolution and outbreaks of violent conflict between debtors and creditors led to the establishment of the dollar as the new national currency replacing those of individual states. However, owing to shortages of gold and silver bullion and the rapid disappearance of coins from circulation legal tender was restored to Spanish dollars in 1797 and it was not until 1857 that the federal government felt able to repeal all former acts authorizing the currency of foreign gold or silver coins, but by then coins were merely the small change of commerce.

After the revolution one might have expected the newly independent Americans to have welcomed with enthusiasm their freedom to set up banks but in fact there was a great deal of opposition to banking in general. The first true American bank, the Bank of North America had its congressional charter repealed in 1785. The first national bank, the Bank of the United States, though a financial success, was forced to close when its charter was not renewed. As a result, when the 1812 War broke out there was no government bank to exert a restraining hand on the commercial banks which issued far too many notes backed by far too little specie and the American financial scene reverted to its familiar inflationary pattern.

After the 1812 War the Second Bank of the United States was set up but once one of the heroes of that war, General Jackson, became president it was doomed to failure. Jackson admitted to Nicholas Biddle, the last president of the Bank, "ever since I read the history of the South Sea Bubble I have been afraid of banks." By killing the Second Bank Jackson delayed the establishment of a sensibly regulated banking system for eighty years. During this period the Treasury was left to carry out the increasingly difficult task of being its own banker. There was a divergence between the more settled areas of the country, such as New England where opinion veered towards sounder money, and the frontier states which tended to welcome easy credit but following the Californian gold discoveries in 1848 even the sound-money men became expansionist.
A Banking free-for-all, 1833-1861

The Second Bank of the United States was the only bank whose notes circulated at face value throughout the country. All other banknotes circulated at a discount, if not locally, then at a distance from the issuing bank. The death notice of the Second Bank was a green light to the States to charter their own banks or to encourage their citizens the set up banks for themselves. A "Free Banking" movement sprang up which claimed that citizens had a right to set up banks rather than be dependent on seeking a privilege granted by the State. Banks varied from worthless "wild-catters" that profited from making quick note issues and then quickly moving on, to the opposite example of prudently managed institutions. Some large islands of sanity and security were to be found in the general sea of financial chaos. The total number of banks rose from 330 in 1830 to a pre-Civil War peak of 1,601 in 1861. They poured out a flood of notes most of which were accepted only at a discount from their face value.

Not only every banker but every trader of any importance had to make constant reference in the course of his everyday business to one or other of a series of banknote guides. Thus Hodges Genuine Bank Notes of America, 1859 listed 9,916 notes issued by 1,365 banks, and even then around 200 genuine banknotes had been omitted. In addition there were, according to the Nicholas Bank Note Reporter, counterfeit notes of 5,400 different kinds in circulation, and this dispite the best efforts of the banks themselves, which had set up in 1853 their Association for the Prevention of Counterfeiting.

RANT AGAINST OUR TELESTIAL BANKING SYSTEM

THIS IS FROM A LETTER TO MY SISTER (WHO WORKS IN THE BANKING INDUSTRY) ABOUT THE STATUS OF OUR IMPENDING FORECLOSURE. I AM NOT A BIG FAN OF BANKS, LATELY - BUT THIS GOES BACK FOR YEARS AS I HAVE PLAYED ALONG WITH THE SYSTEM LOOKING FOR A NICE WAY TO EXIT IT. PRETTY MUCH GREEDY BLOOD-SUCKING PARASITES IN OUR SOCIETY. IN THE SAME CATEGORY WITH MOST LAWYERS AND OTHERS WHO MAKE THEIR LIVINGS OFF THE MIS-FORTUNES OF OTHERS WITH THE GUISE OF BEING YOUR BEST FRIEND AND HAVING YOUR BEST INTEREST IN MIND..... HERE GOES.

We are grinding thru the process of foreclosure. Not sure how long its going to take - but we can't pay for both places so we had to dump one. Lets just consider it re-taking my fair share (of any possible inheritance) of what the banks (in general - not People's) ripped off from Dad when they gave him that loan at 24% for $250,000 and then snagged and sold the place for over $450,000 and pocketed a cool $200K for their "risk" during the 6 months not including all the fees and stuff they collected when he closed on the loan..... Still miffed at that. Kelly P. just took it in the shorts and probably was the final straw in his divorce that just happened a few months ago. A place that still was worth $400K when they took it and sold it (probably for what it was worth) to cover the remaining (just over) $200K note on it. That was right around $200K in their pocket, as well. They would not work with him to reverse mortgage up to the value of the home until he could get his business back on its feet again. Makes me boil. Grrrrrr...... That place was perfect for his kid in the wheelchair - all one level with custom doors and bathrooms so he could get around the entire house. Now I thinks its a double-wide - so he will be relegated to a few rooms in the house where his chair can get around. Not cool, man..... These chumps that say "its just business man" are getting the same response from me..... During good times when things were above water, if I could not make payments, its three months and I am out on the curb - just as Dad found out. With me on the S______ house, I gave them the same response - we are under water and they are scrambling to get me to work with them. Sorry, the deal was three months and I am out on the curb; it was always that way in my mind. I am going along with the original conditions I have been living under for the last 20 years and not asking for any special favors or reconsideration. Those were the rules, right? They held all the cards for all that time - and now want to try and give me their king of spades. Well, I am not a joker.....the hypocrisy and double-handed tactics are appalling and I am no longer playing. Considering the average length of home ownership is 7 years and all the interest payments are stacked up front during those seven years - we have nothing to show for our $125K investment in the last 6+ years other than a nifty little tax writeoff - no doubt set up by the big bank lobby to keep stupid people (like myself) on the treadmill for as long as they can squeeze more out of me. Its all rigged, man. We are truly either stupid, or good little obedient minions. "Just do as you are told - and it will all be fine." The number of people who think I am immoral is amazing - they cannot see through the smokey colored glasses they have been wearing their entire lives. IF YOU CANNOT PAY AFTER THREE MONTHS, HOUSE GOES BACK TO BANK..... SIMPLE..... No double set of rules, if I remember right. Also, the Private Mortgage Insurance I was forced to pay - that's what its for..... Also, the nearly $5000 I was asked to pay up front (out of pocket) on closing on this loan as an insurance against default - you gonna need it baby! Hope you didn't pay it out to some bankster as a bonus to help salve the former conscience against all the mayhem you have done in the name of "its just business, baby....".

From here on out its pretty much cash only or zero percent or I do not play. I know it sounds very rebel and Montana'ish, but that's how I feel.

In the Millennium, there will be no inflation/deflation or even interest charged on mediums of exchange. Those tactics are not in God's economy. Our supply/demand economy will no longer exist in that scenario - even though its gets the job done in a telestial world. The Law of Consecration and the Councils of 50 will regulate the monetary concerns and I think it will do quite well with people of a terrestrial nature who do not take advantage of others due to their lack. The culture in that day will be much like the Mennonite or Amish or kibbutz groups. I look forward to it - with the wicked purged, people will just help each other because it is the right thing to do. Money (as it now stands) will be gone - and the armies and false priests (and lobbyists/lawyers/blood-suckers) who its bought with, who oppress and create havoc and unholy terror on this earth will be cleansed because those who remain will no longer support it as a bloc. I for one, cannot wait for it. This may be very offensive to some in the industry (Roger P. was pissed when I wrote a treatise on this on FB - and I was promptly de-friended), but it is God's will and it will be revealed in its entirety when we finally get the sealed portion of the Book of Mormon translated just prior to the Millennial light bursting on the scene. In it (I suppose) are all the secrets and descriptions of how the people were able to pull off a millennial existence for 300+ years without the cultural crap we currently have here in America. Ponder on it, though. You will find its all good stuff. As I dig up and place the quotes on my blog that back this, I think the picture will be pretty clear.

IT IS FOR THIS REASON I AM WILLING TO GO THRU THE TRAVAIL OF THE PRE-MILLENNIAL STUFF. WHEN IT DOES BURST ON THE SCENE, IT WILL BE A BEAUTIFUL THING. ARE YOU PRAYING FOR IT?

THE NATURE OF THE BEAST

I have "wondered after" what this thing really is (LINK TO REVELATIONS 13:3). A person, a government, an institution?? I have always thought it would be a person based largely on the world's interpretation of the signs given in Revelations Ch 13.

Lately, I have been wondering about the institution angle and wonder if it is not the banking/stock market/money institutions. We truly worship it as a people and hang our lives and our futures on it. I am trying to disconnect myself from that world because I think the pursuit and the interconnectedness of money and our relentless pursuit of it is toxic in our lives and truly is at the root of most of the evils out there. If we would like to participate in these markets (and survive in today's world) you will have to submit to the mark of this thing (probably some kind of electronic chip), etc. Right now, you cannot fly, rent a car, buy gas after hours, pretty much do anything without the plastic and participating in this thing. So much for self-sufficiency and the autonomy and self-determination that is required of all free men so that they may be judged for themselves. We have virtually no freedoms left - and most of this promulgated from (the former) "most free nation on the face of the earth". People are beginning to wake up to their awful situation that they find themselves "occupied" with. Good people will not remain slaves forever....

Here is a graphic and headlines that caught my attention on the Drudge report this morning....

Do you worship? Or are you extracting yourself from the teat of this thing from which you have been taught to suck since you were a child?

I can't wait until the Lord comes again. These institutions that seek to get gain from the fortunes and misfortunes of others will come to naught and man will once again live organically off the land relying only on God and His power and goodness to make it through their lives.

A DEFINITIVE WORK ON THE WORD OF WISDOM

There is nothing in this article that I would retract or argue with. We wonder why our health is not any better than that of the people of the world when we have modern revelation. Its because we are following after the ways of the world. When I teach on this subject, I always hit this bent - just not this in-depth. My hat is off to this thoughtful, excellent researcher in his work:

CLICK LINK

Here is the article copied and pasted in case the site ever goes down. I will use this info for the rest of my life to promote the true law. As with all laws we were originally given, we are living a lesser version of them - or a perverted version of them. Law of Consecration/Tithing; Celestial Marriage (plurality)/Monogamy; the Lord's Law of Health(Word of Wisdom)/the world's base and corrupt diet. Folks, maybe it is just me, but not only have we fallen off the wagon, but the wagon is being dragged along some incorrect path; and its upside down with the wheels spinning in the air as its being dragged along..... We are in a state of apostasy as a people - and I think the Bretheren just are at a loss as to what to do with us. If you taught most of this stuff in EQ, you would be run out on a rail.....

I hope you enjoy this article as much as I did:



A fresh take on the Word of Wisdom

Posted by Steven Reed // October 5, 2011 // Health

The Word of Wisdom is a revelation that includes many instructions from the Lord pertaining to the substances we consume that therefore make up our bodies. The promised blessings for obedience to the principles revealed to us are priceless and varied. But before getting to this modern dietary law, let’s start with a few examples of instructions concerning diet that God has given to man since the beginning.

A brief history of divinely mandated dietary laws
The Garden of Eden

We read, there was a garden eastward in Eden where Adam and Eve were counseled concerning that which they took into their bodies for nourishment:

And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat: But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die. (Genesis 2:16-17)

Since they were allowed to eat of every tree of the garden, we can assume that their diet in this case was strictly limited to vegetation. There is no evidence of man consuming flesh for food at this point. The only thing they were counseled to not partake of was the fruit of the tree of knowledge.

Now the interesting thing about these dietary restrictions is that they had a specific purpose; to facilitate the fall, create a state whereby redemption was necessary and allow for the eternal progression and posterity of man. Have you ever thought about what other purposes God might have in mind for the other dietary laws he has instituted over time?
Post Garden of Eden Counsel

After partaking of the fruit of the tree of knowledge, Adam is given new counsel as to what he will eat from this time forward.

And unto Adam he said, Because thou hast…eaten of the tree, of which I commanded thee, saying, Thou shalt not eat of it: cursed is the ground for thy sake; in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life;…and thou shalt eat the herb of the field; In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground;…Therefore the Lord God sent him forth from the garden of Eden, to till the ground from whence he was taken.(Genesis 3:17-18,23)

This is all that we read about diet at this point. In the next chapter we read that Abel kept flocks and we can assume at least two or three things that they were used for:

1. Sacrifices (Adam and his posterity offered sacrifices to the Lord)
2. Clothing (think of the coats of skins the Lord provided for Adam and Eve)
3. Food? (It doesn’t appear clear one way or the other but it is certainly possible)

Noah and his people

We begin to get a little more information as we see the Lord teaching Noah what is acceptable to him in terms of what he may eat.

And the fear of you and the dread of you shall be upon every beast of the earth, and upon every fowl of the air, upon all that moveth upon the earth, and upon all the fishes of the sea; into your hand are they delivered. Every moving thing that liveth shall be meat for you; even as the green herb have I given you all things. (Genesis 9:2-4)

They are told that every moving thing that liveth is ok to eat, just as the green herbs are ok to eat. But interestingly, the Joseph Smith Translation of Genesis 9:11 reads:

And surely, blood shall not be shed, only for meat, to save your lives; and the blood of every beast will I require at your hands.

This seems to indicate that while the Lord approved of his people eating flesh for food, that it was to only be in circumstances where you needed to do so to “save” your life. He further indicated that we would be accountable for the blood of every beast that we slay.
The Law of Moses

The Law of Moses contains, perhaps, the most rigorous set of dietary restrictions and laws that has ever been revealed. These may be found in Leviticus chapter 11 and Deuteronomy chapter 14. The Lord begins saying “These are the beasts which ye shall eat among all the beasts that are on the earth (Lev 11:2)” So it is clear that God has ordained animals for the use of man, for food and for raiment.
The Restoration’s Word of Wisdom

In March, 1831 a revelation was given to Joseph Smith mainly to counteract the ideas being promoted by Ann Lee who claimed to be the embodied Jesus Christ who had returned to the earth. One of the things she and her followers taught was abstention from the eating of meats to which the Lord replied:

And whoso forbiddeth to abstain from meats, that man should not eat the same, is not ordained of God; For, behold, the beasts of the field and the fowls of the air, and that which cometh of the earth, is ordained for the use of man for food and for raiment, and that he might have in abundance. (D&C 49:18-19)

This goes right in line with the previous instructions that we have read about in the Old Testament. But just in case one might assume that “abundance” means “open season” on the shedding of blood, the Lord adds a caveat in the next verse:

And wo be unto man that sheddeth blood or that wasteth flesh and hath no need.

Well, when exactly does one “need” to shed blood for food? Thus far, we have read that it should be done to “save your lives”.

A few months later August of 1831 we get further guidance from the Lord in:

Verily I say, that inasmuch as ye do this, the fulness of the earth is yours, the beasts of the field and the fowls of the air, and that which climbeth upon the trees and walketh upon the earth; Yea, and the herb, and the good things which come of the earth, whether for food or for raiment, or for houses, or for barns, or for orchards, or for gardens, or for vineyards; Yea, all things which come of the earth, in the season thereof, are made for the benefit and the use of man, both to please the eye and to gladden the heart; Yea, for food and for raiment, for taste and for smell, to strengthen the body and to enliven the soul. And it pleaseth God that he hath given all these things unto man; for unto this end were they made to be used, with judgment, not to excess, neither by extortion. (D&C 59:16-20)

These verses instruct us that all things are made for the benefit and use of man, both plant and animal alike. This sounds very much like the counsel given to both Noah and Moses and is consistent with what the Lord has said in other places. It seems to be an established fact that all these things are for us to use, but with judgment and not to excess.

In 1833, a new revelation was given concerning these things and is perhaps the clearest of all revelations on the matter. However, there is something uniquely different about this revelation, it was given as a unique set of instructions to the people of the last days for important key purposes. In the beginning of the revelation the Lord states:

In consequence of evils and designs which do and will exist in the hearts of conspiring men in the last days, I have warned you, and forewarn you, by giving unto you this word of wisdom by revelation— (D&C 89:4)

The Lord in his infinite foreknowledge is aware of “evils and designs” that could be dangerous to us, so he is seeking to warn His people by giving a clear set of instructions. The Lord then goes on to list a set of things to beware of along with a set of things TO partake of. Now I think it is common for people to concern themselves with the negative items on the list, after all, we are being warned of danger are we not?
Perspective on caffeine

I think we drastically misinterpret the Word of Wisdom in many ways, one of which can be illustrated by our dreadful fear of the insidiously evil additive caffeine (yes my tongue is a bit in cheek here).

Yes, many Mormons will avoid caffeine as if it were an illegal street drug, but where did this aversion to caffeine come from?

I have a theory that is rooted in the fact that we are always wanting to know the exact reasons why the Lord has banned certain things in the Word of Wisdom. Somewhere along the lines, we figured that some of the “don’ts” in the Word of Wisdom are addictive in nature. The Lord has given us agency and doesn’t want us addicted to things to he counsels us to avoid them; makes sense. So what is addictive about some of these items? Alcohol can be addictive as well as tobacco for certain reasons, but what about Coffee and Tea? Ah, they have caffeine in them.

So maybe caffeine in these beverages is one of the main culprits for these drinks being banned by the Lord. We assume that caffeine, since it is addictive, must be avoided anywhere it can be found, but this is where the hypocrisy sets in.

A can of Coca-cola harbors 35 milligrams of caffeine and is on most Mormon’s “no-no list”, yet many of these Mormons may still enjoy a Hershey’s dark chocolate candy bar that harbors 31 milligrams of caffeine. Eat a Hershey’s kiss, and you’re eating 1 milligram of caffeine and I’ve seen these given to primary children – oh the horror! Caffeine is found plentifully in chocolate, which can be found regularly in treats consumed at home and at church activities.

Now I have heard people claim that they have “withdrawals” when they stop drinking their favorite caffeinated beverage. They attribute this to the addictive qualities of caffeine, but is it the caffeine that is causing the withdrawals or is it something far less obvious?

What if there was something else in those fizzy drinks and many other things that we ingest that was discovered to be more addictive than caffeine and even more addictive than crack cocaine? Wouldn’t you want to know immediately what this horrifying substance was so that you could adjust your eating habits accordingly?

Sure, that can of Coke has 35 milligrams of caffeine, but did you ever consider that the 39,000 milligrams of SUGAR might have anything to do with your withdrawal headaches? Yes, sugar is, in fact, a highly addictive substance.

In a recent French study, scientists found data that led them to conclude:

Our findings clearly demonstrate that intense sweetness can surpass cocaine reward, even in drug-sensitized and -addicted individuals. We speculate that the addictive potential of intense sweetness results from an inborn hypersensitivity to sweet tastants. In most mammals, including rats and humans, sweet receptors evolved in ancestral environments poor in sugars and are thus not adapted to high concentrations of sweet tastants. The supranormal stimulation of these receptors by sugar-rich diets, such as those now widely available in modern societies, would generate a supranormal reward signal in the brain, with the potential to override self-control mechanisms and thus to lead to addiction.

Are we so focused on “evil and conspiring men” putting caffeine in our beverages that we are blind to the astronomical increase in added sugars being put into virtually EVERYTHING we consume! What else is there that we take into our bodies regularly that shouldn’t be there? These conspiring men are good at what they do and you’ll remember how good they are every time you participate in a ward function where “refreshments” are served. Instead of donuts, how about some fruit? Call me crazy, I guess.
Statements from general authorities of the church concerning eating meats

I was surprised to find very little said concerning the eating of meats in recent years. Most of the quotes that I found were all very similar and not very specific, they just say “sparingly” and leave you to interpret what that means. I think this make sense given that the church is a global one now and they are speaking to people in many circumstances, some of which live in famine-ridden countries; so I think they are more careful about what they say.

As we look backwards in time to when the church was centered mostly in the United States, we see leaders of the church speaking more specifically on the matter.

President George Q. Cannon (This one starts off talking mostly about hunting):

We should by every means in our power impress upon the rising generation the value of life and how dreadful a sin it is to take life. The lives of animals even should be held far more sacred than they are. Young people should be taught to be very merciful to the brute creation and not to take life wantonly or for sport. The practice of hunting and killing game merely for sport should be frowned upon and not encouraged among us. God has created the fowls and the beasts for man’s convenience and comfort and for his consumption at proper times and under proper circumstances; but he does not justify men in wantonly killing those creatures which He has made and with which He has supplied the earth. SOURCE

George Q. Cannon of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, 7 April 1868:

We are told that swine’s flesh is not good, and that we should dispense with it; and we are told that flesh of any kind is not suitable to man in the summer time, and ought to be eaten sparingly in the winter. [“Word of Wisdom—Fish Culture—Dietetics,” reported by David W. Evans, Journal of Discourses, vol. 12 (Liverpool: Albert Carrington, 1869), pp. 221–22.]

Brigham Young, President of the Church, 19 July 1877

Mothers, keep the children from eating meat…Now, sisters, will you take notice, and instruct those who are not here today, to adopt this rule—stop your children from eating meat, and especially fat meat. [“Relief Societies—Talk to Mothers—Improvement Societies—Domestic Matters—Training Children—Home Production—Silk Interests,” reported by James Taylor, Journal of Discourses, vol. 19 (Liverpool: William Budge, 1878), pp. 67–68; spelling modernized.]

Lorenzo Snow, President of the Quorum of the Twelve, 11 March 1897:

[President Lorenzo Snow] introduced the subject of the Word of Wisdom, expressing the opinion that it was violated as much or more in the improper use of meat as in other things, and thought the time was near at hand when the Latter-day Saints should be taught to refrain from meat eating and the shedding of animal blood. [in Journal History of the Church, 11 March 1897, LDS Archives; see also Leonard J. Arrington, “An Economic Interpretation of the ‘Word of Wisdom,’ ” Brigham Young University Studies, vol. 1, no. 1 (Provo, Utah: Brigham Young University Press, Winter 1959), p. 47.]

Joseph Fielding Smith, President of the Twelve, 30 Dec. 1966

This is my answer to you in relation to President Brigham Young’s statement that mothers should not feed their small children meat. Yes! Small children do not need the flesh of animals. May I add also that adults would be better if they would refrain from too much eating of meat. As far as I am concerned the eating of meat should be very sparingly. In fact I will be contented if the Millennium was to be ushered in next week. When it is, we will learn that the eating of meat is not good for us. Why do we feel that we do not have a square meal unless it is based largely on meat. Let the dumb animals live. They enjoy life as well as we do.

In the beginning the Lord granted man the use of the flesh of certain animals. See Genesis 9:1-6, but with so many fruits of the soil and from the trees of the earth, why cannot man be content? Naturally in times of famine the flesh of animals was perhaps a necessity, but in my judgment when the Millennium reaches us, we will live above the need of killing dumb innocent animals and eating them. If we will take this stand in my judgment we may live longer. [In a letter to a member sister in El Paso, Texas, dated 30 Dec. 1966, quoted in Health Is A Blessing: A Guide to the Scriptural Laws of Good Health, by Steven H. Horne, advance publication copy (Springville, Utah: Nature’s Field, 1994), p. 34.]

Heber J. Grant, President of the Church, 4 April 1937 said:

I think that another reason why I have very splendid strength for an old man is that during the years we have had a cafeteria in the Utah Hotel, I have not, with the exception of not more than a dozen times, ordered meat of any kind. On these special occasions I have mentioned I have perhaps had a small, tender lamb chop. I have endeavored to live the Word of Wisdom, and that, in my opinion, is one reason for my good health. [in Conference Report, April 1937, p. 15.]

Heber J. Grant, President of the Church, 1 October 1937

It is no hardship to me to eat meat sparingly. I lived for several years, during the winter time, in the Utah Hotel and I am sure that not more than ten or a dozen times did I order meat, and then it was some small lamb chops; no pork, no turkey, no chicken, no veal of any kind did I ever eat during that time at the cafeteria. [in Conference Report, October 1937, p. 14.]

John A. Widstoe speaking of the Word of Wisdom in his 1937 book “The Word of Wisdom, A Modern Interpretation” wrote:

The revelation deals only with grains, fruits, vegetables– nature’s products– and with meat to be used sparingly in cold or famine, but it does not follow that foods not specifically mentioned in the Word of Wisdom are prohibited…It is believed by many that grains, fruits and vegetables are chiefly valuable as foods for other than their protein content. This is incorrect, for a properly selected low meat or wholly vegetarian diet, if supplemented with milk, cheese and eggs, will support life completely. The above conclusion is fully borne out by experiments carried out by men of the highest professional training and integrity. SOURCE

Jessie E. Smith, Wife of Joseph Fielding Smith, President of the Church said:

My husband doesn’t eat meat [but rather] lots of fruit and vegetables. [in Gerald E. Jones, PhD Dissertation entitled Concern for Animals as Manifest in Five American Churches: Bible Christian, Shaker, Latter-day Saint, Christian Scientist, and Seventh-Day Adventist (Provo, Utah: Brigham Young University, 1972), p. 118.]

Elder Joseph F. Merrill of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles said in a General Conference of the church:

The foods to be used most sparingly are those which contain a great excess of protein, such as meat, eggs, cheese, and beans. On this account, there are many authorities who think that it would be safer to discard the use of meat altogether than to continue to use it so freely as many Americans are doing. [He goes on to quote a USDA bulletin which states:] ”meat may be omitted from the diet altogether, for it has been determined that all necessary protein and energy may be obtained from other materials.” …Americans eat too much meat, a non-essential in human diet, because all the proteins needed are available in the other foods just named.” SOURCE

Joseph Fielding Smith said concerning the use of flesh:

While it is ordained that the flesh of animals is for man’s food, yet this should be used sparingly. The wording of this revelation is perfectly clear in relation to this subject, but we do not always heed it. The designated grains for the use of man, beasts and fowls, is scientifically correct. (CHMR, 1948, 2:148.)

Spencer W. Kimball in 1978 quoted Joseph F. Smith who said:

“I do not believe any man should kill animals or birds unless he needs them for food, and then he should not kill innocent little birds that are not intended for food for man. I think it is wicked for men to thirst in their souls to kill almost everything which possesses animal life. It is wrong, and I have been surprised at prominent men whom I have seen whose very souls seemed to be athirst for the shedding of animal blood.” (Gospel Doctrine, 5th ed., Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 1939, pp. 265-66.)

Elder Harold G. Hillam of the seventy said in October 2001:

The scriptures tell us that all grains are good for us (see D&C 89:14) and that meat is “ordained for the use of man” but should be “used sparingly” SOURCE

L. Tom Perry said in 1996:

The Word of Wisdom contains some very positive aspects. It encourages us to use grains, particularly wheat, and to use fruits and vegetables and the sparing use of meat. SOURCE

Since recently we are left to determine what the meaning of the word “sparingly” means in relation to the Word of Wisdom, it becomes necessary to examine the scriptures further for additional clarification.
The laws concerning man’s core diet and the consuming of flesh

In Doctrine & Covenants 89, we are introduced to a simple outline of what God has ordained for man to eat:

And again, verily I say unto you, all wholesome herbs God hath ordained for the constitution, nature, and use of man—Every herb in the season thereof, and every fruit in the season thereof; all these to be used with prudence and thanksgiving. (D&C 89:10-11)

So all wholesome herbs and fruit are ordained, or set apart, for the constitution, nature and use of man. Now it is important to analyze some of the words in these verses. Going by the trusty Webster’s 1828 Dictionary, we learn that herbs are defined as “A plant or vegetable with a soft or succulent stalk or stem, which dies to the root every year, and is thus distinguished from a tree and a shrub, which have ligneous or hard woody stems.” Further, “The word herb comprehends all the grasses, and numerous plants used for culinary purposes.”

Fruits are defined as “the produce of a tree or other plant; the last production for the propagation or multiplication of its kind; the seed of plants, or the part that contains the seeds; as wheat, rye, oats, apples, quinces, pears, cherries, acorns, melons, &c.”

Now what does it mean that these things are to be for the “constitution” and “nature” of man? Constitution in this instance means:

“The state of being; that form of being or peculiar structure and connection of parts which makes or characterizes a system or body. Hence the particular frame or temperament of the human body is called its constitution. We speak of a robust or feeble constitution; a cold, phlegmatic, sanguine or irritable constitution. We speak of the constitution of the air, or other substance; the constitution of the solar system; the constitution of things.”

So herbs and fruit are ordained to be the things that constitute the human body; you are what you eat, right? What about “nature”? Nature is “The essence, essential qualities or attributes of a thing, which constitute it what it is” and there you have the word “constitute” again.

Continuing with the revelation we read:

Yea, flesh also of beasts and of the fowls of the air, I, the Lord, have ordained for the use of man with thanksgiving; nevertheless they are to be used sparingly; (D&C 89:12)

Read the language very carefully, the Lord says that he has also “ordained” the flesh of beasts and fowls for the USE of man, with thanksgiving and that they are to be used sparingly. Note that herbs and fruits were ordained for the “constitution, nature and use of man” but when speaking of the flesh of beasts the words “constitution” and “nature” are NOT used, furthermore, it is emphasized that they are to be used sparingly. Sparingly means:

“Not abundantly. Frugally; parsimoniously; not lavishly. Abstinently; moderately.”

If we take a deeper look at the word “abstinently” we read that it means:

“in general, the act or practice of voluntarily refraining from, or forbearing any action. More appropriately, The refraining from an indulgence of appetite, or from customary gratifications of animal propensities. It denotes a total forbearance, as in fasting, or a forbearance of the usual quantity. In the latter sense, it may coincide with temperance, but in general, it denotes a more sparing use of enjoyments than temperance. Besides, abstinence implies previous free indulgence; temperance does not.”

In verse 13 the Lord elaborates by saying:

And it is pleasing unto me that they should not be used, only in times of winter, or of cold, or famine.

The Lord is pleased when the flesh of animals is not used as food with the exceptions being, only in times of winter, cold or famine, or in the words of Genesis 9:11, “to save your lives”.

In verse 14 the Lord indicates what the staff of life should be:

All grain is ordained for the use of man and of beasts, to be the staff of life, not only for man but for the beasts of the field, and the fowls of heaven, and all wild animals that run or creep on the earth;

The Lord indicates that all grain is ordained to be the staff or support of life for man and the animals as well; and speaking of the animals, he refers to their use yet again:

And these hath God made for the use of man only in times of famine and excess of hunger.

So it isn’t just winter time that the Lord is concerned about, he prefers it seems, that the flesh of animals is only to be consumed when we do not have access to the herbs, fruits and grains that he has ordained for our constitution and nature. The Lord continues in verses 16 and 17 to emphasize this point to us:

All grain is good for the food of man; as also the fruit of the vine; that which yieldeth fruit, whether in the ground or above the ground—Nevertheless, wheat for man, and corn for the ox, and oats for the horse, and rye for the fowls and for swine, and for all beasts of the field, and barley for all useful animals, and for mild drinks, as also other grain.

Animal protein as an addictive and carcinogenic substance

Casein is a protein found in animal products such as meat, milk and cheese. While unprocessed and unseasoned fruits and vegetables are naturally casein-free. So what’s the big deal about casein? Well, many people are allergic to it along with gluten for instance, but here’s were it gets interesting; what if you knew that it was also an addictive substance?

The Orlando Sentinel July 13, 2003, published an article that revealed some interesting information about cheese:

Why is cheese so addicting? Certainly not because of its aroma, which is perilously close to old socks. The first hint of a biochemical explanation came in 1981, when scientists at Wellcome Research Laboratories in Research Triangle Park, N.C., found a substance in dairy products that looked remarkably like morphine. After a complex series of tests, they determined that, surprisingly enough, it actually was morphine. By a fluke of nature, the enzymes that produce opiates are not confined to poppies — they also hide inside cows’ livers. So traces of morphine can pass into the animal’s bloodstream and end up in milk and milk products. The amounts are far too small to explain cheese’s appeal. But nonetheless, the discovery led scientists on their search for opiate compounds in dairy products.

And they found them. Opiates hide inside casein, the main dairy protein. As casein molecules are digested, they break apart to release tiny opiate molecules, called casomorphins. One of these compounds has about one-tenth the opiate strength of morphine.The especially addicting power of cheese may be due to the fact that the process of cheese-making removes water,lactose and whey proteins so that casein is concentrated. Scientists are now trying to tease out whether these opiate molecules work strictly within the digestive tract or whether they pass into the bloodstream and reach the brain directly…

The cheese industry is miles ahead of them, having gone to great lengths to identify people who are most vulnerable to addiction. It dubs them “cheese cravers,” and tracks their age, educational level and other demographics so as to target them with marketing strategies that are tough to ignore. With a $200 million annual research and marketing budget, the dairy industry is not content to have you just sprinkling a little mozzarella on your salad. It is looking for those Americans who will eat it straight out of the package, whatever the cost to their waistlines or cholesterol levels.

At a “Cheese Forum” held Dec. 5, 2000, Dick Cooper, the vice president of Cheese Marketing for Dairy Management Inc., laid out the industry’s scheme for identifying potential addicts and keeping them hooked. In his slide presentation, which was released to our organization under the Freedom of Information Act, he asked the question, “What do we want our marketing program to do?” and then gave the answer: “Trigger the cheese craving.” He described how, in a partnership with the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the dairy industry launched Wendy’s Cheddar Lover’s Bacon Cheeseburger, which single-handedly pushed 2.25 million pounds of cheese during the promotion period. That works out to 380 tons of fat and 1.2 tons of pure cholesterol in the cheese alone. A similar promotion with Pizza Hut launched the “Ultimate Cheese Pizza,” which added an entire pound of cheese to a single pizza and sold five million pounds of it during a six-week promotion in 2000. The presentation concluded with a cartoon of a playground slide with a large spider web woven to trap children as they reached the bottom. The caption had one spider saying to another, “If we pull this off, we’ll eat like kings.”

So I guess we can see direct fulfillment in this case of the Word of Wisdom’s warning:

“In consequence of evils and designs which do and will exist in the hearts of conspiring men in the last days, I have warned you, and forewarn you, by giving unto you this word of wisdom by revelation—” (D&C 89:4)

Here are some quotes regarding the addictive properties of casein starting with a brief statement from the Great Plains Laboratory:

The peptides from gluten and casein are important because they can react with opiate receptors in the brain, thus mimicking the effects of opiate drugs like heroin and morphine. – Great Plains Laboratory

Dr. Neal Barnard, in an interview with the Washington Post had this to say:

Certain foods appear to stimulate the release of opiate chemicals within the brain. These are chemical cousins of morphine and heroin. The are not as strong as illegal drugs, but appear to be strong enough to keep us coming back, especially when we are stressed, tire, angry, or alone.

Not every food does this. The groups that do are sugar (and sugar-fat mixtures, such as butter cookies, as well as foods that produce sugar rapidly), chocolate, cheese, and meat. Let me share some of the evidence for this. In emergency rooms, doctors use the drug naloxone to block opiate receptors. So when a person has overdosed on heroin, naloxone can save their life. If we give it to a seriously addicted chocoholic–a person who really binges on it–chocolate is much less attractive. This suggests that chocolate’s attraction is not just its taste, but rather its effect on the brain. The same has been found for sugary foods, cheese, and meat…It is odd to think of meat as “addicting” but there are many people who feel they really cannot give it up, even after they have had a heart attack or a relative has developed colon or breast cancer (two forms of the disease linked to meat consumption).” - Dr. Neal Barnard is a nutrition expert, an adjunct associate professor of medicine at the George Washington University School of Medicine and the president of the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine. SOURCE

Caldwell B. Esselstyn, Jr., M.D. in an interview said concerning casein:

“With dairy products you’ve got the whole problem of animal protein which is known to contribute to [heart disease], and you have casein, and that’s where Dr. T. Colin Campbell has really gotten four stars — he’s shown absolutely how horrifically powerful casein is as a tumor promoter, not to mention the IGF, which is the “Insulin-like Growth Factor” in milk, which is another tumor promoter.” SOURCE

Dr. T. Colin Campbell, whose name you might recognize from the now famous “China Study” produced some amazing research that found links between animal protein and cancer:

When Campbell and his colleagues looked at the connection between animal protein and late cancer, they discovered they were able to trigger and then shut down the formation of cancerous tumors by adjusting the amount of animal protein. In the study, the lab animals were expected to be at the end of their lives within 100 weeks. All 58 animals with diets consisting of 20 percent proteins were dead at the end of the 100-week period. All 60 at the 5 percent level of protein were living after the 100 weeks. SOURCE

Dr. Campbell has also said:

…the nutrients from animal based foods, especially the protein, promote the development of the cancer whereas the nutrients from plant-based foods, especially the antioxidants, reverse the promotion stage. This is a very promising observation because cancer proceeds forward or backward as a function of the balance of promoting and anti-promoting factors found in the diet, thus consuming anti-promoting plant-based foods tend to keep the cancer from going forward, perhaps even reversing the promotion.

…Our work showed that casein is the most relevant cancer promoter ever discovered. SOURCE

The addictive effects of animal protein are known and skillfully manipulated to bind us to them for profit. In my opinion, I believe that this more than fulfills the Lord’s words in the Word of Wisdom concerning “conspiring men in the last days” and considering the dangerous, carcinogenic effects of animal protein, I would say that we have direct evidence that “evils and designs” are certainly used by the companies that promote these products in our diets.

But what about fish? When asked this question in an interview, Dr. Caldwell B. Esselstyn, Jr., M.D. said this:

“For the question about whether or not you want to eat fish, here I refer to my friend and colleague Dr.John McDougall, a kindred spirit, John has explained it this way: that a piece of muscle, whether with claws with a hoof, whether it flaps a wing, whether it wiggles a fin, all animal muscle is made of animal protein,animal fat, and animal cholesterol, none of what you want. Now you do get some Omega-3s from fish, but you also get a lot of PCBs and mercury, and other things you don’t want. But you can get Omega-3 through flax seed meal, which is what I prefer.” SOURCE

Does the Word of Wisdom preach Vegetarianism or Veganism?

A Vegetarian is defined as “A person who does not eat meat, and sometimes other animal products, esp. for moral, religious, or health reasons.” and a Vegan is defined as “A person who does not eat or use animal products.”

Now we approach the fine line.

I personally believe that according to scripture, both Vegetarianism and Veganism are not in line with the teachings of the Lord. Therefore, I would never refer to myself as a Vegetarian or a Vegan or any other such label. I also believe that, according to scripture, the modern practice of consuming animal flesh on a daily, regular basis, while we live in times of prosperity and plenty is in violation of the Lord’s instructions.

I have sought out further instruction from modern prophets on the subject of consuming of meat and there isn’t much detailed information. They always point back to D&C 89 and almost always mention “sparingly”. It seems that the revelation itself is plain enough to not warrant a more in-depth analysis.

The clear facts are that God has ordained herbs, fruits and grains for the constitution and nature of the bodies of man and that he has also ordained the flesh of animals for the use of man in times of famine, excess hunger and when it becomes necessary in order for survival.

So what does that mean for us today?

Well, it may mean some incredibly difficult dietary changes for each one of us. It’s taken me years, to adjust the eating habits of my family to be more along the lines of what the Lord has revealed and I am still working on it. It has meant giving up things I used to eat abundantly, things I used to and still do savor. I have a freezer full of beef which I will gratefully maintain in case I ever need it. However, on my journey, I have discovered a wealth of incredibly delicious and nutritious things to eat that are in line with the principles of the Word of Wisdom.

As I have been feasting upon herbs, fruits, grains and nuts, my tastes have adapted and now crave these items. I’ve dramatically reduced my sugar intake and am continuing to drop weight. I’m just beginning to realize that these changes have significantly affected my life concerning the promised revelatory treasures of knowledge and hidden knowledge. I’m not completely there yet; I’m still learning about this subject more and more, but I can say that as I have tried to pattern my life closer to the Lord’s instructions, I have been blessed.

I am sensitive to the fact that in many nations around the earth, people do not have very much choice in what they get to eat. Many of these people live in a state of constant famine and in these cases, I believe that they are fully authorized to utilize the flesh of animals for sustenance. I also support the Church in its maintaining of vast herds of livestock for the feeding of the needy, just as Abel was a keeper of flocks. But are WE, justified in partaking of the same where we are literally surrounded by stores where we can purchase any food we want at any time?
The Promise of living the principle

In 2003, at a Church Educational System (CES) Fireside for Young Adults, President Boyd K. Packer of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles said some extremely significant things concerning the Word of Wisdom:

The “Word of Wisdom [was] given for a principle with promise” (D&C 89:1, 3). But what is the promise? The promise, of course, is personal revelation…Now, the Word of Wisdom is, I think, only incidentally to keep us healthy, if we will observe it. But that matter of physical health is a losing battle. You know, no matter what you do to take care of your body, in due course, it begins to weaken! We are not going to live forever in this life…The point is, if you want to move on spiritually and do as you ought to do in this life, the principle outlined in the Word of Wisdom shows you the requirements. You cannot just toy with it…And so, like it or not! If you are tampering, if there is any mischief, you have got to quit it! It is not that you are going to be a healthy athlete all of your life, and it is not that you are going to avoid old age. It is that you will have the key to revelation. When your body begins to deteriorate, the patterns of revelation will be augmented and magnified. (Boyd K. Packer, The Instrument of Your Mind and the Foundation of Your Character, LINK)

So the Word of Wisdom is only incidentally about health and wellness. The key purpose is to guide us in the management of the constitution and nature of our bodies so they they can be an “instrument of [our] mind”, existing in a state whereby they will not be obstacles to our ability to receive revelation.

President Packer clearly states “the Word of Wisdom shows you the requirements. You cannot just toy with it”. Are we willing to follow the Word of Wisdom as revealed to us? Or will we continue to follow the diet of the average American citizen? Remember, the Word of Wisdom (yes, the entire thing) was given to warn and forewarn us “In consequence of evils and designs which do and will exist in the hearts of conspiring men in the last days.”
Conclusion

Why should we think that these evils are limited only to dangerous drugs and not to the very foods that we consume regularly? Do we not see the rampant cancers, obesity and disease even among members of the church who abstain from illegal drugs, alcohol and tobacco?

If we do not change, we will continue to see more of the same. In a world where science is as fickle as the weather when determining what we should or should not eat, the Word of Wisdom is a rock of safety and consistency. If we have found ourselves in a state where we are not healthy physically or spiritually or worry about our future health, perhaps the best counsel is summed up in the three words offered by the Old Testament prophet Haggai: “Consider your ways” (Haggai 1:5)

——-

Updates:

* Added section “Animal protein as an addictive and carcinogenic substance” – October 11, 2011
* Added section “Statements from general authorities of the church concerning eating meats” - October 11, 2011
* Added several quotes to the “Statements from general authorities…” section (Special thanks to Brian from LatterDayConservative.com) – October 11, 2011

About the Author

I grew up in South Texas, served a mission for the Church in the Idaho Boise Mission, have a degree in Management and background in Graphic Design. I thoroughly enjoy the study of any subject I can get my hands on. I particularly enjoy topics relating to religion, symbolism and government.

by Steven Reed

THE EARTH WILL BE RENEWED AND RECIEVE ITS PARADISAICAL GLORY

AOF 10 We believe in the literal gathering of Israel and in the restoration of the Ten Tribes; that Zion (the New Jerusalem) will be built upon the American continent; that Christ will reign personally upon the earth; and, that the earth will be renewed and receive its paradisiacal glory.

Wow - what a mouthful. I love the conciseness of the 13 Articles of Faith - a boatload of doctrine is carefully jammed into so few words. When dissected, I think there is alot of merit to what we have coming (this Fall) and what is jammed into that one run-on sentence. First, we have to have something that brings the 10 Tribes back - and they are not on this planet (previous blog piece). The New Jerusalem has to be built in an area that will not have so much as a yellow dog left to wag its tail (see previous blog piece about Heber C Kimball prophecy and how the docking of a large planet in our northern regions will cause all waters to rush north. There is ALOT of water in the Gulf of Mexico.... I have tried to convince folks in the midwest region to head for higher ground (min 2500 feet) so that they don't become a statistic when this all goes down - but then, who will be counting when the body count goes that high? There aren't enough body bags to go around. They will stack the bodies (of beast and man) in huge piles and burn them in order to make the wasted areas habitable once again.

The last thing is that the earth will receive its paradisaical glory and we will cruise joyously through the millennium in balmy bliss (clothing not optional this time around in paradise). Now, that presents a problem. We will continue to have our current regimen of seasons every year, so long as this earth remains on its current axis tilt. No axis tilt, and the entire earth's surface becomes arable year round - enough to make grain futures drop precipitously. But then, there will be no speculative markets in the Millennium - that hellish practice will be taken to the curb. If it lines someone's pocket at the expense of another, then; bye-bye (can't wait!!). There will be no axis tilt until there is massive bad juju - picture drunken man reeling to and fro with massive accelerations and land mass movements. During the last Elenin-induced Japanese EQ, we saw a M9.0 energy release which caused the land mass to move 8 feet. The Chile 8.8 caused the axis to move by several inches - just fractions of a degree. Changing the tilt by 15 degrees will be off the charts.... I went thru a M7+ EQ here in Western Washington that caused our Puget Sound rift to widen by approx 3 inches. That much energy boggled my mind then. We are in for some amazing things shortly. If survived, people will have awesome stories to tell their kids and grandkids. Its all about the great story for me. What are you doing to prepare so you have a story of your own - other than, "the last thing I remember before the tunnel of light was this massive shaking that threw me out of bed - and then here I was with you, great Aunt Gertrude. By the way - you look great!"? And that is a viable option; we should all be ready to meet Great Aunt Gertrude - but the story is so lame..... Writer's block really stinks. Get inspiration for a cooler ending and then buckle up....