POLYGAMY - A TESTIMONY FROM BEYOND THE VEIL

So, I do not shy away from the controversial on this blog and this topic will prove it....

I just got done reading a thoughtful blog on the topic - I like to read up on this topic that seems to bring out so much human angst and emotion.  In my marriage to my sweetheart, we have shared many a heart-felt hour poring over the topic.  We both are at peace with the doctrine - 18 years later.  BTW - I have no intention of attempting it in this life - way too much difficulty in providing for my small family and meeting all the needs of them and my dear wife.  The challenges of another set of logistics would be daunting - the daily crush of meeting just the basic physical needs of one family unit is just too much.  However, I know it is completely possible to make it happen - especially in a place where temporal matters do not exist.

Clearly, Abraham and most all of the greats of time participated in it and Jesus himself apparently did having at least two, if not three wives that we are aware of.  Jesus put his stamp on it when he declared that he does the works that Abraham did (what else could that mean?) and that Abraham himself was enthroned in heaven as a God.  If Abraham were a vile person, that statement simply would NOT have been made.  So, what does all this mean?

It comes down to personal testimony and a deep and abiding understanding/testimony of the law of consecration and stewardship (simply being asked to take care of something to the full measure of its necessity, and then doing it).  When my wife was struggling with the effects of mental illness tied to the lack of B-12 in her diet and post-partum issues (an earlier post), I was beside myself and wanted to walk away.  It was in my extremity that I had a heavenly intervention and fully learned the concept of consecration and stewardship.  It was at that point that I feel I won the (true) love of my wife and the approbation of God.  I had prayed mightily and asked to be released from that trial - and indeed received permission to walk away, if that were my choice as there is true agency in everything - but I also would have sacrificed ALL blessings tied to enduring to the end and never learned the pivotal lesson of life and Christ-like living.

So what does this have to do with polygamy?  My mother passed away six months after my wife and I lost our 9 month old son.  Before she died, I remember her many times telling my father that he was under no circumstances to marry another woman if she were to go first.  Precisely because she would potentially have another to deal with on the other side - and did not want things to be messy.  One thing my mother was - was the stereotypical jealous woman.  If another woman so much as gave my father a sideways glance, my mother was all over it.  I was intrigued by that human characteristic in my mother as I watched it growing up.  So, the night my kid passed away, I was blessed with a particularly poignant dream in which I was shown what would befall my wife and I for the next three years as we passed through the healing process of losing our little treasure from heaven.  The second part of that dream involved knowing that "everything would be alright" given with a distinct sign.  We puzzled over that until my father gave me a call out of the blue a month after my mother died on Christmas day.  He related that my boy and my mother had visited him in the night in an open (waking) vision and had set the record straight and given him other counsel.  My boy was just there as a bonus or priesthood representative (he had been called over to the other side by my G-g-gfather because "he needed more help attending to family business").  Well, Dallin (my boy) was helping out with that kind of thing obviously in a big way.  The one portion of the message my mother gave to my father was that she was wrong in her desire that he not marry another and that he should proceed as soon as possible and be fulfilled and happy in the remaining years of his life.  My boy in his spirit form and according to my father, was slightly taller and broader shouldered than I was when I was in my prime at around 25 years of age.  He described my mother as in her prime - about how she looked like when she and my father were married in their mid-twenties.  So, for all the people who struggle with that doctrine of God - and I am not aware of too many women that don't - here is my little piece of the puzzle.  I know my dad is not making it up (speaking strictly from a logical standpoint) so that he could run off and immediately get re-married without waiting the requisite 2-3 year period, as some of my female siblings have accused....  I know that, simply because he did not know the details of the second portion of my dream I had the night my kid died and could not have known exactly how those details dovetailed into the impeccable timing of his phone call to me.  A complete improbability.  It simply happened, as stated.

So many people will kick against the pricks - many will leave the Church and allow themselves all kinds of excuses based on that doctrine that seems to be even more divisive than even the hellish practice of abortion.  After what my wife and I have passed thru, it is safe to say that we understand the concept of stewardship as God intended it.  When our child was called over to the other side to accomplish God's purposes, our time of nurturing was over and we had to comply with a heavy heart but with an attitude of "Not my will, but thine be done".  Not quite an Abrahamic test by any means; as our son was not handed over, nor did we have to build an altar and gather the sticks for the ultimate test in obedience, but when it was all said and done, we did have to endure with faith and without angry recrimination at God for having allowed us to pass through such a trial as that one. 

Reading some of the early writings of how the wives of polygamous marriages gained a "testimony" of the principle, I am astounded at their faith.  God did not leave them alone to mourn - but gave most all of them fantastic experiences in order to endure their ordeal in faith and long-suffering; just as my wife and I were given our faith-building experience in the face of tragedy.

Here is the quote from the blog topic on plural marriage that got me going down this bunny trail:

My wife’s ancestor, Sarah Levitt, was present during the early Nauvoo period. She asked her husband if she would have to share him. He encouraged her to pray about it. She had a dream. In the dream she was told that she wouldn’t have to share her husband (he died later). She wrote that she had a vision of the heavenly order and the beauty of it. She also wrote that the practice would be the means of “saving thousands and damning thousands. It was too sacred for fools to handle.”

Truly, the most powerful doctrines of the restored gospel are too powerful for fools to handle - precisely why they are so divisive and are used to separate the wise and foolish virgins in preparation for the glory that may come in the following life, if obedience is the outcome and not the rebellion of the "wise and learned" who think to counsel God and his servants.

JESUS WAS MARRIED? THIS BOOK ARGUES IN THE AFFIRMATIVE....

I got this from a blog reader as a comment on the Jan 30, 2012 post about Genesis 49:10.

This book is now on the bucket list of reading material (when I get some time in the Millennium....).

You can read most of it on Google books: (CLICK LINK)

I have argued (though it is a rather unpopular position) that Jesus was married - and even plurally. See previous post about Jesus railing on people of his day about doing the "works of Abraham". One more thing to ruffle peoples' feathers - should fit in just fine on this blog!

ENJOY!

OH, WOW! WE ARE BECOMING ACCEPTED OF THE WORLD!

You know, the one thing I have never wanted to hear is that the world loves us - especially when it is for the following reasons listed in the results of a recent Pew poll:

For all that, the survey reflected an overall sense of optimism, with 63% of Mormons saying the American public is becoming more accepting of their church, and 56% saying they believe the country is ready for a Mormon president.

The survey was the most extensive ever conducted of American Mormons, according to Allison Pond, deputy editor of the editorial page at the church-owned Deseret News in Salt Lake City and an advisor to Pew on the poll. She said the results largely confirmed what was already known about Mormon beliefs.

Pond said she found it particularly gratifying to see that 86% of respondents said they found polygamy to be morally offensive.

“I’m hopeful that that statistic will start to get some play,” she said. “I think that can tone down a lot of the conversation” about polygamy.

Multiple marriage was condoned in the early days of the Latter-day Saints, but has been prohibited by church doctrine since the late 19th century. Despite that, it still is widely associated in the public mind with the Mormon Church.

Pew surveyed 1,019 self-identified Mormons between Oct. 25 and Nov. 16. The survey had a margin of error of plus or minus 4.5 percentage points.

Polygamy is morally offensive to 86% of the survey respondents??

Not like I am running off to Texas to join one of the polygamous sects (I can't even keep my dear wife's honey-do list down to one page), but hello, folks - you, like Mitt Romney and so many others are repulsed by a doctrine that Abraham, Jesus, Joseph, Brigham and so many other venerables found perfectly fine and even commanded it. I think, if you were standing in front of any of those venerable people, you might be feeling less than happy about your stance..... But that's okay folks, you are in the world - and when you are in the world, you darned well better do what the world wants, now. Wouldn't want to offend any of our neighbors.....

And I am surprised how that so many of my fellow adherents want to vote for a guy whose values change with the wind direction...... We are headed for a crash landing people.... WAKE UP!!

INTERESTING INFO ON THE RED STAR OF SOCIALISM AND SATAN'S KINGDOM

One of my favorite early Church writers, Mosiah Hancock, had many interesting things to say (CLICK ON THE COLORED TEXT FOR THE LINK TO HIS ENTIRE JOURNAL)and I have featured his writings several times on this blog. He had the following to say on the pre-existence and those who chose to follow Father's plan and those who chose to follow satan's plan:

I saw another, who seemed to be a very high military officer who arose and said: 'I will go down to yonder earth and surely I will bring all your children back to you so none of them shall be lost.'

The plan of the first was accepted as being the only sure plan for an exaltation The plan of the second was rejected with great kindness, but the second was not satisfied; and while the first stood in great humility by the side of the Father, the second with many who stood in with him, went about among the Heavenly hosts to advocate the plan, that was put forth as the rights of the second. This one was Lucifer, a son of the morning, for any had been with the Father for countless ages, and learned their lessons well, and he had been no dull scholar. Finally Lucifer openly rebelled against the Father and the Son and six other mighty ones who stood faithful with them and declared, ''I will have it my way." I saw the faithful ones gather around the Father and the Son, and Lucifer's workers gathered around him, when one of the notable ones, who was called Michael, arose and said, 'We will decide the contest' It seemed that a platform was extended into space,. upon which we could operate, by what power I could not tell. We who were faithful to the Father and the Son, had a white star upon us, and the others chose a red star, about one third of the males and females would not accept of either star, but withdrew from the conflict, the females taking the males by the arm, said, "Come, let us not take part with either side. Let us retire-" (When they were cast out after the manner of spiritual warfare,) they had no power to return. When they were all cleared from the platform and Satan and his followers were all cast down, their female companions wept, and we all wept. "

Interesting that before communism was invented, Mosiah accurately described the symbol (red star) of that hateful, usurping doctrine that is permeating and destroying the very fabric of our society - which secret combination will be the downfall of our nation in a few short years.

Here is more on the red star of socialism/communism - which is the devil's forced and coercive "sharing" counterfeit to the Law of Consecration - which will be the Millennial Law which will be in effect when the Messiah establishes his theocratic government on the earth CLICK ON THIS LINK.

May our Lord come quickly and take the trash to the curb.....

FINALLY CLEARING MARY MAGDALENE'S NAME

Mary Magdalene has really gotten a bad rap - first in the early beliefs and writings of the Catholic Church and then perpetuated by many of my teachers as I was growing up. I really could not believe her to be a lady of questionable character to be the case - knowing how highly regarded she was of our Lord. I completely understand repentance and all - but the whole prostitute thing was really a stretch and I think it was a potshot at her by a male-dominated hierarchy attempting to consolidate power and squash the concept of Jesus being married so that they could buy off on the whole contorted unmarried/celibate clergy thing.... because I have a good feeling that Mary was one of the wives of Jesus - and was quite a remarkable woman on order with Eve, Eliza R Snow, etc.... I would much rather go that route than take the lower road and potentially slander the wife of Jesus - that would take some serious back-pedaling....

The following Wikipedia link seems to set the record straight on the matter and I endorse it: CLICK ON LINK HERE

Let me know what your thoughts are - don't be shy; I love feedback and more insights on this kind of thing.

WHAT IS THE SOURCE OF EXTREMISM IN ANY RELIGION?

With the events erupting over in the Middle East (yet another sign of the times), I have been quite concerned with where things are headed. It appears that extremism is the flavor of the day as regimes are toppled.

What is it that root cause of extremism? It is the exact opposite of what one would expect - which would be a group of people deciding to swing the pendulum to strict obedience to a (religious/secular) law. The exact opposite is actually true. Extremism is bred and fostered in an environment where people are living in gross wickedness and treading all over the very (pious) law that they purport to be living. When people are treading over some socially accepted stricture (in private), the tendency is to over-compensate the public personna to account for the private lack of good principle.

For the modern honor killings (for example), that is an extreme form of punishment likely administered by those who are guilty of the same thing or far worse. In Christ's time, it was likely this very thing that caused Him to begin to delineate the misdeeds of those who were stoning the woman taken in adultery. In Brigham's time, it was likely the mistresses that the powerful in Washington DC were keeping on the side that caused them to lash out against the "immoral" sins of the "backward" people in Utah who were engaging in plural marriage. Of course, this generated one of my favorite quotes by Brigham Young - something to the effect that at least the people in Utah were relatively open about it and their other wive(s) sanctioned the union. Another extreme view taken by some religious circles is the belief that by not having physical union between a man and a woman which was ordained by God in the Garden of Eden, one was somehow more pious in their religious observance. Of course, this decrepit and extreme view has led to widespread buggery in the ranks and caused immense embarrassment for those groups. In the case of the extreme view of the Shakers, their extreme practice led to their very extinction as a group. I am sure the list could go on and on if I continued to take a survey of messed up weirdness in various societies.

I am sure this is why Christ told people to focus on the inner workings of the Spirit and let the outer things be an natural outgrowth of the inner transformation. Truly the letter killeth (and leads to extremism) and the spirit of the law giveth life. The devil's plan is a forced, false and manufactured piety - a thin veneer that dulls and crumbles in its art deco glamour. God's plan should produce a simple, self-inflicted happiness that is contagious and causes others to seek it out for its own merits.

May we all find wisdom to do the right thing for the right reasons and let the light shining from us be a natural thing and not a false and manufactured thing of Babylon.

May moderation with eyes fixed firmly on the goal of a Zion society of love and mutual interest be attained by those who love the truth so that we do not have to endure institutional hypocrisy that is the devil's legacy.

INTERESTING INFO ON THE LIFE OF THE MOTHER OF HEBER J. GRANT

My dear wife has, or has read, a book on the lives of the nineteen wives of the Prophet Joseph Smith who did "the works of Abraham". My dear wife really choked on that meaty information, but she has since learned the true principle of stewardship as I have in the past nine years with all that we have been through together.

I digress, that book contained alot more info on Rachel Ivins Grant, the mother of Pres. Heber J. Grant who lived a remarkable life that was filled with twists and turns that most of us would never expect to pass through in our lives. Abrahamic tests of sorts - sacrifices of the heart required of anyone who will make it back to God's presence.

This is a great synopsis of Rachel Grant's life and hope you enjoy it as much as I did. There is as much information implied in her life's story as there is explicitly stated. I suppose the same goes for the reference in John 8:39. The fine, spiritually discerned text written between the lines is often of far more significance than the gray scale that is stamped on the pages.

JOHN TAYLOR VISION FROM WILFORD WOODRUFF'S JOURNAL

SOME BAD JUJU! IT SEEMS COMPLETELY CONSISTENT WITH EVERYTHING ELSE I HAVE SEEN - VERY BAD BIO WARFARE WITH THE RIGHTEOUS SAINTS ( WHO HAVE KEPT THE WORD OF WISDOM) FIGURING OUT HOW TO OVERCOME IT:

John Taylor’s Last Days Vision
This is a vision John Taylor saw of events that are still to come. From the journal of Wilford Woodruff (Dec 16, 1877).
NOTE: There are some that dispute whether or not it was John Taylor that had this vision. The vision does, in fact, come from the journal of Wilford Woodruff. It is verified that it was not Wilford Woodruff that had the vision. Many believe it to be John Taylor’s vision.

I went to bed as usual at about 7:30PM. I had been read­ing a revela­tion in the French lan­guage. My mind was calm, more so than usual if possible, so I composed myself for sleep, but could not. I felt a strange feeling come over me and apparently be­came partially uncon­scious. Still I was not asleep, nor ex­actly awake, with dreary feeling. The first thing that I recognized was that I was in the tabernacle of Ogden, Utah. I was sit­ting in the back part of the build­ing for fear they would call on me to preach, which however they did, for after sing­ing the second time they called me to the stand.

I arose to speak and said that I did­n’t know that I had anything es­pecially to say, ex­cept to bear my tes­timony of the Latter-day work, when all at once it seemed as if I was lifted out of myself and I said, “Yes, I have something to say and that is this: Some of my brethren have been ask­ing, “What is be­coming of us? What is the wind blowing?” I will answer you right here what is coming very shortly.”

I was then in a dream, im­mediately in the city of Salt Lake, and wandering around in the streets and in all parts of the city, and on the doors of the houses I found badges of mourn­ing and I could not find a house but was in mourning. I passed my own house and found the same sign there, and I asked the ques­tion, “Is that me that is dead?” Someone gave me the an­swer, “No, you will get through it all.”
It seemed strange to me that I saw no person in the streets in all my wan­dering around the coun­try. I seemed to be in their houses with the sick, but saw no funeral proces­sion, nor anything of the kind, but the city looking still and as though the people were praying. And it seemed that they had controlled the dis­ease, but what the dis­ease was I did not learn; it was not made known to me. I then looked over the country, north, east, south, and west, and the same mourning was in every land and in every place.

The next thing I knew I was just this side of Omaha. It seemed though I was above the earth, and look­ing down upon it. As I passed along upon my way east I saw the road full of people, mostly women, with just what they could carry in bundles on their backs, trav­eling to the moun­tains on foot (THIS IS THE FREAKY PART!). I won­dered how they would get through with such a small pack on their backs. It was re­markable to us[?] that there were so few men among them. It didn’t seem to me as though the cars were run­ning, the rails looked rusty and the roads aban­doned; and I have no con­ception of how I traveled as I looked down upon the peo­ple.

I continued east by the way of Omaha and Council Bluffs, which were full of disease. There were women every­where. The state of Illinois and Mis­souri were in a tumult, men killing one an­other, women joining the fight­ing, fam­ily against family in the most horrid manner.

I imagined next that I was in Wash­ington and I found desola­tion there. The White House was empty and the Halls of Congress the same, and everything in ru­ins. The people seemed to have left the city and left it to take care of itself.

I was in Baltimore. In the square where the Monument of 1812 stands in front of the Char­les Hotel. I saw dead piled up so as to fill the street square. I saw mothers cutting the throats of their own children for their blood. I saw them suck it from their throats to quench their own thirst and then lie down and die. The water of Che­sapeake Bay was stagnant, and the stench arising from it on ac­count of their throw­ing their bod­ies into it so terrible, that the very smell carried death with it. I saw no man ex­cept they were dead or dying in the streets and very few women. Those I saw were crazy and in an ugly condi­tion. Everywhere I went I beheld the same sights all over the city; it was terrible be­yond description to look upon.

I thought this must be the end; but no, I was seemingly in an instant in the city of Philadel­phia. There eve­rything was still. No living soul was there to greet me. It seemed the whole city was with­out any inhabi­tants. In the south of Chestnut Street and in fact everywhere I went, the putrefaction of the dead caused such a stench that it was impos­sible for any living thing to breathe, nor did I see any living thing in the city.

Next I found myself in Broadway, in the city of New York, and there it seemed the people had done the best they could to overcome the disease, but in wandering down Broad­way I saw the bodies of beautiful women lying, some dead and oth­ers in a dy­ing condition, on the sidewalks. I saw men come out of cellars and ravish the per­sons of some that were yet alive and then kill them and rob their bodies of all the valu­ables they had upon them. Then before they could get back to the cellar they would roll over a time or two and die in ag­ony. In some of the back streets I saw them kill some of their own offspring and eat their raw flesh, and in a few minutes die them­selves. Every­where I went I saw the same scene of horror and de­struction and death and rap­ine.

No car­riages, buggies, or cars were running; but death and de­struc­tion were every­where. Then I saw fire start and just at that moment a mighty East wind sprang up and car­ried the flames over the city and it burned until there was not a sin­gle building left standing there, even down to the waters edge. Wharves and shipping all seemed to burn and follow in common destruction where the “great city” was a short time ago. The stench from the bodies that were burn­ing was so great that it was carried a long dis­tance cross the Hudson Bay and carried death and destruction wherever it pene­trated. I cannot paint in words the horror that seemed to compass me about; it was beyond description of man.

I sup­posed this was the end; but it was not. I was given to understand the same horror was being en­acted all over the coun­try, east, west, north, and south. Few were left alive, still there were some.

Immediately after I seemed to be standing on the left bank of the Mis­souri River, opposite e the City of In­de­pendence, but there was no city. I saw the whole state of Missouri and Illi­nois and all of Iowa, a complete desert with no living being there. A short dis­tance from the river how­ever, I saw twelve men dressed in temple robes, stand­ing in a square or nearly so (and I under­stood it repre­sented the Twelve Gates of the New Jerusa­lem.) Their hands were uplifted in consecration of the ground and lay­ing the corner stone of the tem­ple. I saw myraids of an­gels hovering over them, and saw also an immense pil­lar of clouds over them and heard the angels singing the most heav­enly music. The words were “Now is estab­lished the King­dom of God and his Christ, which shall never more be thrown down.”

I saw people com­ing from the river and from the desert places a long way off to help build the temple and it seemed that hosts of an­gels all helped to get material to build with and I saw some of them who wore temple clothes come and build the tem­ple and the city, and all the time I saw the great pillar of clouds hovering over the place.

Instantly, however, I found my­self again in the taber­nacle at Ogden. And yet, I could still see the building go on and I got quite animated in call­ing on the people in the tabernacle to listen to the beautiful music, for the an­gels were singing the same music I had heard be­fore. “Now is estab­lished the King­dom of God and his Christ, which shall never more be thrown down.”

At this I seemed to stagger back from the pulpit and Brother Francis D. Richards and some others caught my arm and prevented me from falling. Then I fin­ished so abruptly. Still even then I had not fainted, but was simply ex­hausted.

They I rolled over in bed and awoke just as the city clock was strik­ing twelve.

PUTTING OFF BABYLON - BEING IN THE WORLD BUT NOT OF IT

Being a father of four (five) children who have to be in this world - but not immersed in it's sin-laden nature, I like this quote by Brigham Young (quoted from Mosiah Hancock's diary:

In the summer of 1862, President Brigham Young came through Dixie. The people were so glad to see him that they took every means in their power to make everything as comfortable for him as possible. I remember too, when he stopped at Harrisberg at the time Dr. Pridy Meeks, my brother-in-law, and I, with our families were living in willow rooms that joined. The President stopped with us. He sat at the head of the table and had me sit down at his right. The President, when everything was ready, asked a blessing, then all began to eat. He asked for some buttermilk; then crumbed some bread in it and began to eat. He conversed freely on the situation of the Saints in the mountains, and said that he dreaded the time when the Saints would become popular with the world; for he had seen in sorrow, in a dream, or in dreams, this people clothed in the fashions of Babylon and drinking in the spirit of Babylon until one could hardly tell a Saint from a black-leg. And he felt like shouting, "To your tents, Oh Israel!" because it was the only thing that could keep the people pure. "I know that my families court the ways of the world too much," said he, "And our hope lies in the Lamanites. I hope that you brethren who labor among the Indians will be kind to them. Remember that someday they will take their position as the rightful heir to the principles of life and salvation, for they never will give up the principles of this Gospel. Many of this people for the sake of riches and popularity, will sell themselves for that which will canker their souls and lead them down to misery and despair. It would be better for them to dwell in wigwams among the Indians than to dwell with the gentiles and miss the glories which God wishes them to obtain. I wish my families would see the point and come forth before it is too late. For oh, I can see a tendency in my families to hug the moth-eaten customs of Babylon to their bosoms. This is far more hurtful to them than the deadly viper; for the poisons of the viper can be healed by the power of God, but the customs of Babylon will be hard to get rid of."