Tag Archives: Zion

Isaiah: Archetypes and Ascension

06 Friday Mar 2020

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Decades ago, a professor named William Brownlee discovered in the Dead Sea Scroll of Isaiah a seven part division of Isaiah’s book in two parallel blocks of chapters. At that time, scholars barely determined that biblical books even had literary structures. So Brownlee’s discovery was mostly passed over. Another professor, a colleague of Brownlee by the name of Roland Harrison, a mentor of Avraham Gileadi, suggested that Gileadi explore this structure for his doctoral thesis. And so a chiasmus of history was examined that became what Gileadi describes as Seven Spiritual Categories or Isaiah’s Ladder, which looks like this:

Isaiah 1-33
1a-2a-3a-4a-5a-6a-7a

Isaiah 34-66
1b-2b-3b-4b-5b-6b-7b

It is reminiscent of Jacob’s ladder as described in the book of Genesis:

Genesis 28:12 And he dreamed, and behold a ladder set up on the earth, and the top of it reached to heaven: and behold the angels of God ascending and descending on it.
13 And, behold, the Lord stood above it, and said, I am the Lord God of Abraham thy father, and the God of Isaac: the land whereon thou liest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed;
14 And thy seed shall be as the dust of the earth, and thou shalt spread abroad to the west, and to the east, and to the north, and to the south: and in thee and in thy seed shall all the families of the earth be blessed.
15 And, behold, I am with thee, and will keep thee in all places whither thou goest, and will bring thee again into this land; for I will not leave thee, until I have done that which I have spoken to thee of.
16 ¶And Jacob awaked out of his sleep, and he said, Surely the Lord is in this place; and I knew it not.
17 And he was afraid, and said, How dreadful is this place! this is none other but the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven.

Isaiah seems to codify his own ladder, which symbolizes the different ways of living that people choose, which either move them up the ladder to God or down the ladder toward destruction.

So using the code above (1a corresponding with 1b, etc), we have the following structure in categories corresponding with chapters:

-Ruin and Rebirth (1-5, 34-35)
–Rebellion and Compliance (6-8, 36-40)
—Punishment and Deliverance (9-12, 41-46)
—-Humiliation and Exaltation (13-23, 47)
—Suffering and Salvation (24-27,48-54)
–Disloyalty and Loyalty (28-31, 55-59)
-Disinheritance and Inheritance (32-33, 60-66)

There are distinctions within each level or set of choices we make that brings covenant blessings or covenant cursings. A ladder appears when we recognize these categories of people as an ascending order, from the lowest (or farthest from being like God) to the highest (most like Him). John made it clear in one of his epistles when we obtain the highest rung:

1 John 3:2 Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is.

We find ourselves at any given time on one rung or another depending on the choices we make; or in other words, what spiritual laws we live or choose not to live. We are either ascending or descending. And if we are idle, well that isn’t good either. You gotta climb. We gain God’s presence when we enter heaven. Some people attain this state in this life.

This seven part structure presents models on each level, or on each rung. We participate in the role of each model as we ascend or descend. Isaiah’s “ladder” looks like this:

Jehovah-God of Israel
Seraphim-Angelic Emissaries
Sons/Daughters-Servants of God
Zion/Jerusalem-God’s Covenant People
Jacob/Israel-Believers in a Creator-God
Babylon-The Wicked of the World
King of Assyria/Babylon-Perdition

At the bottom is depicted the archtyrant who conquers and destroys. People on the lowest rungs resemble the archtyrant as they follow his example of despotism. The more we resemble him, the lower we descend. Conversely, the more we become like Jesus Christ, the higher we ascend. By looking at Israels’ history and its people we can compare ourselves to them and see where we are on the ladder. Isaiah provides that yardstick for us. We don’t need to wait until we die to ascend or descend. Knowing exactly where we stand NOW puts to rest any false “notions of grandeur” that we have about ourselves. I believe some of us are in the Jacob/Israel rung, some with one foot on the Babylon rung and others with one foot in the Zion/Jerusalem rung. Some of us are on the Zion/Jerusalem rung. Most of us are in the Babylon rung. A careful reading of chapter six of Isaiah indicates that he became a type of angelic emissary. God tends to call those in higher rungs to minister to those in lower rungs. For example, Jehovah ministers to Isaiah, Isaiah ministers to King Hezekiah, and King Hezekiah ministers to his servants who minister to the people of Israel. The higher one ascends, the more like angels they become.

Such archetypes can be found in many literary works and fiction. It’s kind of fun to plug in these archetypes into familiar stories, though not all types are always utilized.

The Matrix
Neo
The Oracle
Morpheus, Trinity
Zion, the last and only human city on Earth
People asleep in the Matrix
Agent Smith
The Architect

Star Wars
Luke Skywalker
Yoda
Obi-wan Kenobi, Princess Leia
The Rebellion, Biggs, Wedge, etc
The people in the Galaxy far, far away
The Empire, Darth Vader, stormtroopers, etc
Emperor Palpatine

The more a covenant people (ten tribes of Israel) resembles Zion, the less they have to do with Babylon, Mammon, and all materialism. Buying things where moth and rust corrupt is no longer part of their lives and money is used to liberate and elevate the poor and needy, the widows and fatherless. As such, idols and figures, no matter how ornate and beautiful are abandoned.

Sale

The less a covenant people resembles Zion, the more they resemble Babylon and all things worldly. Commerce and materialism abounds. Vanity is a commonplace and self indulgence becomes the doctrine.

brand

In this fallen world, it’s not difficult to tell where Israel ends and Babylon begins when money changers are exalted as mankind’s saviors.

SLC

Years ago, I watched a few videos in the series, How The Universe Works. I really enjoy watching these documentaries periodically to remind me how certain laws of physics must be obeyed. One example is gravity. While on a mission in space, an astronaut put some left-over salt and other food debris in a plastic bag filled with water for a fun experiment. Low and behold, these granules, as they randomly bumped into each other, stuck together. Before long, more and more of these granules and food stuffs began clumping. This discovery and the point of the experiment is that in the vacuum of space, matter tends to clump together due to gravity.

Because of the “Big Bang,” which sent into space unimaginable amounts of debris, gravity caused a lot of this debris to begin to attract other debris. Bits and pieces of elements begin to clump, forming larger clumps and so on. Eventually, as enough hydrogen and helium elements find each other and clump together because of gravity, they accumulate so much mass that fusion occurs. When fusion occurs there is an explosion. But because gravity is so powerful in this new mass, it holds the fusion back. So you have this constant struggle between fusion and gravity. And this tug of war creates a star just like our own sun. Meanwhile around the sun, more and more debris continues to collide and clump together, forming planets and moons. As the momentum of the Big Bang continues, all things continue moving outward into space, becoming organized into swirls of bodies. Moons settle into orbits around planets, planets settle into orbits around stars like our sun and more still, our solar system travels around what is called a singularity, which is at the center of our galaxy. All of this happens because of gravity.

It is gravity that has caused this “organization” of matter (stars, planets, moons, gases, debris) to swirl around a singularity (also known as a black hole). Vast arms of debris swirl around the center of the galaxy in a giant disc. This has all been happening for billions of years. But time is appointed only to man. Time is irrelevant to God who exists outside of time. In our Milky Way Galaxy, our tiny solar system lies a certain distance from the singularity in the center. If we were too close to this singularity, we’d suffer from the radiation of the many giant stars which orbit the singularity. We are located in just the right spot in one of the galaxy’s arm known as Orion’s Arm. Anyway, we are all still experiencing the after effects of the Big Bang, or as we like to call it, creation. It’s all slowing down, but it’s happening in terms of millions of years, even though we’re traveling through space at unimaginable speed from the momentum of creation.

Back to gravity. The closer to the center of the galaxy we look, the more we see giant stars orbiting the singularity at tremendous speeds. All these giant stars towards the center of the galaxy give off tons of radiation. The farther out the stars orbit the singularity, the slower the orbit around the singularity, like our sun. As such, there is allowance for planets and moons to do their thing, forming solar systems. And of course at the edge of our galaxy, everything is moving the slowest, but all are still held together by what is called dark matter, or else, we’d all be flung outward into space, with the galaxy dissipating into nothing.

An analogy can be made that each time we ascend, we must first descend (Jesus Christ descended below us all so that he could lift us all). We must first experience sacrifice/humility in order to grow spiritually to the next level. For example, each season a tree grows by shedding its leaves, then becomes dormant and then comes alive again the next season with new life, new leaves, etc. A cross section of a tree reveals rings, indicating how many seasons the tree has grown. The tree obeys certain laws of nature. It experiences cycles of death and cycles of rebirth just as Jesus Christ descended from His throne to be born and then die that a new creation (us) might come forth because of His own resurrection. The same analogy can be made with the universe. All matter must obey laws, too. Smaller bodies obey laws of larger bodies. Moons obey the law of gravity of planets. Planets obey the law of gravity of their suns. Suns obey the law of gravity of the singularity at the center of the galaxy. I find it fascinating that scientists have mathematically concluded that time cannot exist in a singularity. Just as with God, time does not exist. It is only appointed to us, who progress by obeying laws to those higher than us (Jesus Christ) who also obeyed laws higher than Him (the Father). We exit this temporal (time) existence when we ascend to where God is outside the confines of this massive vacuum.

In the above ladder, we also observe the descent into the Babylon level and also Perdition. Likewise in the universe there are rogue bodies such as asteroids and comets and other random debris, all of which are much smaller by comparison to planets and suns. These rogue bodies do not obey laws. They are lost without a pattern to follow. Such symbolism in creation testifies to the beauty and intelligence of a Supreme Creator who knows all things and does all things. And like the body of the sun, which we compare to the celestial glory, (in contrast with the terrestrial glory, 1 Corinthians 15:40), when fusion occurs, light and glory is manifested. The more we understand the profound writings of Isiah, the better we will understand our place in the grand scheme of creation.

You are here.

 

Great Are the Words of Isaiah

19 Wednesday Feb 2020

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It was about 2012 when I decided to make a serious study of the book of Isaiah in the Old Testament and for about two years, I focused on this book alone.

3 Nephi 23:1 And now, behold, I say unto you, that ye ought to search these things. Yea, a commandment I give unto you that ye search these things diligently; for great are the words of Isaiah.
2 For surely he spake as touching all things concerning my people which are of the house of Israel; therefore it must needs be that he must speak also to the Gentiles.
3 And all things that he spake have been and shall be, even according to the words which he spake.

Those are the very words out of the mouth of our Savior, Jesus Christ when He visited the people in the land Bountiful. I no longer wanted to skip over the Isaiah chapters in Second Nephi and because of my intensive studies of Isaiah’s words, I no longer wade through these Isaiah chapters with weariness, but rather, I relish reading them today.  There are four remarkable commentaries on Isaiah’s writings found in the Book of Mormon. They are given by Nephi, Jacob, Abinadi, and our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ when He visited the people at Bountiful.

(Background) In a nutshell

The Assyrians occupied the upper Mesopotamia. For centuries they killed and conquered nations from Egypt to Persia and built their mighty empire on their ruins. Once conquered, the enemies were brutally tortured in order to make an example of any who would rebel. Walls and stone carvings depicted images of people being skinned alive, burned to death, children being blinded before their parents and many more violent and unthinkable barbaric brutalities.

It is no wonder that Jonah fled rather than accept his divine assignment to preach repentance to them at Niniveh. But the terror of his stay inside the belly of a whale caused him to finally humble himself sufficiently to fulfill his mission. And to his amazement, they did repent. But this only lasted about forty years before they were spilling blood again.

During the height of its power, Assyria made a continuous assault on the northern kingdoms of Israel and in 721 BC, succeeded in its conquest, carrying off of to Assyria the last major segment of the Israelites. After Assyria’s fall, however, these people migrated northward and became known as the “lost tribes of Israel.”

The fall of this empire was prophecied by Isaiah, but so strong was this empire and huge and vast, was the capital of Niniveh, that people laughed and scoffed at him. Where once, Assyria was a small northern province of Babylon, it had become a super power. By the time that Lehi would have been born, Assyria would have ascended to the height of its power. But by the time Lehi had married and raising a family, the tide of history shifted. Babylon became increasingly agitated and an uprising was soon at hand.

The fact that hordes of barbarians from the north began descending to loot the mighty Assyrians enabled Egypt to break away. Then Media began to rebel. The Babylonians to the South mobilized, demanding independence. About a decade before Lehi left Jerusalem, the great battle for Ninevah was fought. All dissident factions stormed the city, breaching its might walls.

The Assyrians regrouped, setting up a temporary capital at Haran, where Abraham formerly lived and attempted to create a counter-offensive. It was at this time that Egypt’s ruler, Necho II realized that as much as he despised Assyrian rule, he hated the thought of Babylonian conquest more. He mobilized his armies up the highway along the Mediterranean coast of Palestine and found a surprise at the narrow pass near Megiddo. They found Josiah, king of Judah, commanding an army and blocking the way. Obviously the mountain kingdom of Judah did not want the Egyptians to succeed.

Necho had nothing against them because they were among Egypt’s best customers. But Necho was not about to let them stop him. He sent ambassadors to Josiah, saying, “What have I to do with thee, thou king of Judah? I come not against thee this day, but against the house wherewith I have war: for God commanded me to make hast: forebear thee from meddling with God, who is with me, that he destroy thee not.”–2 Chronicles 35:21

To make the long story short (trying to, anyway), Josiah refused and was killed in battle. This was about 609 BC and when Lehi was well on his way to achieving status as a prosperous citizen at Jerusalem. The fact that he lived down from the city in the land of his inheritance might have contributed to his safety while it is conceivable that Laban, with his “ten thousand” fought in the battle with Josiah.

The next few years war raged between Babylon and Assyria, supported by Egypt. Babylon had gained major traction when it’s king died and Nebuchadnezzar was crowned in his father’s place. In the process of mopping up and sweeping toward Egypt, Babylon swallowed up the tiny kingdom of Judah like a tiny crumb. He ordered his ministers to take some of the promising young Jews to be trained in the language, culture and governmental procedures of Babylon. One of the young men was Daniel and three other young Jewish men accompanied him. Eventually, through miraculous events, they proved themselves to be outstanding. Daniel ended up being the king’s top adviser and the others, administrators of Babylon.

What the Jews at Jerusalem did not know was that the Lord was setting up a series of circumstances, which would be most favorable to them. But the apostate king, Jehoiakim, despised the prophets. During the siege, he had to stop paying tribute to Egypt and begin paying Babylon, which he despised. Soon, though, he stopped paying tribute to Nebuchadnezzar. Before long, he was under attack and died. Nebuchadnezzar raided and looted the temple, then rounded up and carried away captive ten thousand people, including craftsmen and smiths. (See map below).

assyrianempire

With this historical background aside, here are some verses to ponder:

Isaiah 1:3 The ox knoweth his owner, and the ass his master’s crib: but Israel doth not know, my people doth not consider.
4 Ah sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity, a seed of evildoers, children that are corrupters: they have forsaken the Lord, they have provoked the Holy One of Israel unto anger, they are gone away backward…
10 ¶ Hear the word of the Lord, ye rulers of Sodom; give ear unto the law of our God, ye people of Gomorrah.
11 To what purpose is the multitude of your sacrifices unto me? saith the Lord: I am full of the burnt offerings of rams, and the fat of fed beasts; and I delight not in the blood of bullocks, or of lambs, or of he goats…
13 Bring no more vain oblations; incense is an abomination unto me; the new moons and sabbaths, the calling of assemblies, I cannot away with; it is iniquity, even the solemn meeting.

The ox and the ass are arguably the least intelligent of domesticated animals and yet they are both described as knowing their owner or master. Isaiah is speaking to a nation of idolaters. These are His children, His “covenant people.” Yet they do not know Him. The ox is a clean/kosher animal, which could be likened to the Israelites. The ass is an unclean animal and could be likened to all the gentiles (not of the ethnic lineage of Abraham). Both dumb animals know their owners and masters. Yet the Lord’s covenant people do not know Jehovah. The Master’s own covenant people are considered with a covenant curse. To “know” the Lord is a covenant relationship, but to NOT know Him is a covenant curse. In this passage, the Lord is exasperated by the vain temple ceremonies, which were supposed to teach His people how to come to know Him. The ancient temple ceremonies were supposed to keep the people of Israel in remembrance of the Savior’s coming sacrifice. Both ancient and latter-day rituals are symbolic of something else, but as such, they become stumbling blocks to those who are asleep.

As a side note, there is no graven image that is not a product of one’s hands. Idolatry results from consumer demand. The Hebrew word Abad means both to work  and worship. People worship the work of their hands. In this world, there is no economy without an exchange of products resulting from consumer demand. You can buy anything in this world with money. Mammon is the driving force behind the world’s economy. Babylon is the archetype of this system in the book of Isaiah. On the other hand, Zion does not require money. In Zion, all things are given and received freely. The Lord gave to us this earth and all things therein to be used freely and not by extortion or excess. Extortion and excess is exactly how the world operates. They take ownership of the things God has ordained for their use freely and charge a price for them. Excess is the result of one exalting oneself above another or others, thereby creating inequality in a society driven by an economy where money is the medium of exchange. In Zion, there are no rich because there are no poor because there is no money, there being no need for money. In Babylon, however, such behavior is the iniquity of a people. Idols, idolatry and commerce (economy) are all tools of Mammon.

Jehovah compares the ruling priests to Sodom and the laymen to Gomorrah. Sodom and Gomorrah set the precedent for a condemned people and so Isaiah uses it as an archetype to compare His covenant people to. They were abusers and ripe for destruction. And yet the Lord saved Lot and his family. Whenever the Lord is about to destroy a people, He tends to “gather” those few who have not forsaken Him, even by angels. Angels came to take Lot and his family out, even prodding him to leave before they destroyed the city. Likewise did the Lord bring out Lehi from Jerusalem and his family. Lot’s wife probably could not believe that her beautiful city could be destroyed. She was not attuned to the Spirit and couldn’t feel the warning to flee. Her heart was set upon the world in which she lived. So she turned around and was turned into a pillar of salt, good for nothing but to be trodden underfoot. Laman and Lemuel were the same as Lot’s wife. And so will all be whose hearts are set upon their riches–their idols.

And this is only the first half of chapter one. Chapter one is quite an indictment of the filthiness of Israel. She is a harlot whoring after her lusts, forsaking her bridegroom, who is quick to forgive and mighty to save. And though, as we read later in the chapter, though her sins be red like crimson, they shall become white as snow.

If we as disciples of Jesus Christ spend time in reflection and introspection, how do we compare to these ancient people of the Lord? We might be surprised to discover that we are just like they were.

The Economics of Gifting

29 Wednesday May 2019

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As one who speaks three languages, I find it interesting that the word gift is almost never used as a verb, though gift giving isn’t uncommon among friends. It is less common among acquaintances and even less so with strangers. I have heard it more commonly used in Spanish (regalar) and also in German (schenken) in daily use. But gift giving is detrimental to economics. How can you get people to pay you for what others give away for free? This also applies to religion and it’s why the Pharisees hated Jesus; He was bad for their business. Why pay ministers when the Son of God offers salvation for free? He gave the earth to Adam and Eve to cultivate freely without price.

Matthew 6:25 Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on. Is not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment?
26 Behold the fowls of the air: for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are ye not much better than they?
27 Which of you by taking thought can add one cubit unto his stature?
28 And why take ye thought for raiment? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin:
29 And yet I say unto you, That even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.
30 Wherefore, if God so clothe the grass of the field, which to day is, and to morrow is cast into the oven, shall he not much more clothe you, O ye of little faith?

But fallen man exacts a price and he over exacts much. Modern economics deals with the production, consumption, and transfer of wealth, or in other words, money. You can buy anything in this world with money. But you must first get gain. This cannot happen except by extortion. Man robs God, takes ownership of the earth, then with his ill gotten gain, he does not transfer it unless he profits thereby. God has forbidden this or as we read in Matthew 6:24, you cannot serve God and Mammon (Hebrew Mamonut=finance, Mamonai=financier, Mamoni=monetary, etc.). This is the way of the world, or in other words, Babylon. It is the continual exchange of substance. But God has something else in mind:

D&C 59:18 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;
19 Yea, for food and for raiment, for taste and for smell, to strengthen the body and to enliven the soul.
20 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.

It is by such extortion that  makes thieves of beggars like Jean Valjean and harlots like Fantine who after selling her hair and her two front teeth in order to provide for her child, resorts in desperation to surrender her virtue by prostituting herself so that she might survive.

A young man who wanted to follow Jesus, having kept all the statutes from his youth up lacked just one thing to become the Lord’s disciple. He needed only sell all his possessions in order to give of all his worldly wealth thereof to the poor. But the young man coveted his own substance and abandoned the Lord because his heart was set upon his worldly treasures. Such can never hope to become pure in heart for it is the pure in heart that constitute Zion. The pure in heart are pure, that is, unmixed, unadulterated, unalloyed by any other substance or material.

D&C 101:18 They that remain, and are pure in heart, shall return, and come to their inheritances, they and their children, with songs of everlasting joy, to build up the waste places of Zion.

And who are the pure in heart that constitute Zion?

Moses 7:18 And the Lord called his people Zion, because they were of one heart and one mind, and dwelt in righteousness; and there was no poor among them.

“There was no poor among them.”

Isaiah 14:32 What shall one then answer the messengers of the nation? That the Lord hath founded Zion, and the poor of his people shall trust in it.

And why does nobody suffer poverty in Zion? Because they are one. One heart and one mind. They are righteous, or in other words just. There is no injustice and there is no injustice because there is no excess and no extortion. Like the saints in the first  few chapters of Acts, they have all things “common” among them. All of it is God’s who multiplies and gives freely.

Acts 2:44 And all that believed were together, and had all things common…

Acts 4:32 And the multitude of them that believed were of one heart and of one soul: neither said any of them that ought of the things which he possessed was his own; but they had all things common.

They embodied the two great commandments for they loved God and also one another as themselves. The same discipleship was found in the Book of Mormon after Jesus Christ’s visitation:

4 Nephi 1:3 And they had all things common among them; therefore there were not rich and poor, bond and free, but they were all made free, and partakers of the heavenly gift.

Gift giving is kind. It is brotherly and selfless. It is faithful. Gift giving is Godly. Of such is the true disciple of Jesus Christ.

 

 

 

 

To All Mormons: An Open Letter

13 Saturday Oct 2018

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Recently members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints around the world learned that President Nelson announced the building of twelve temples. That seemed like a very impressive list. But missing from that list is the temple yet to be built in Independence, Missouri. There in Jackson county sits an empty lot today waiting for Lamanites to build it, assisted by repentant Gentiles. In 1975, During General Conference, President Spencer W. Kimball, giving his First Presidency message said:

“When I was a young man living among the Lamanites more than seventy years ago, the destruction of the Lamanites was a stark reality. It seemed impossible to me that this broken people could ever rise from the destruction and become a mighty people once more, as the Lord had promised. I remember reading the words of President Wilford Woodruff, spoken in a day when the Lamanites were literally the “vanishing Americans”:

“The Lamanites will blossom as the rose on the mountains. I am willing to say here that, though I believe this, when I see the power of the nation destroying them from the face of the earth, the fulfillment of that prophecy is perhaps harder for me to believe than any revelation of God that I ever read. It looks as though there would not be enough left to receive the Gospel.” (Journal of Discourses 15:282.)

For a thousand years after the closing of the Book of Mormon record, these people wandered in spiritual darkness and were scattered upon the American continents and the isles of the sea. They lost their written language, their high culture, and, worst of all, their knowledge of the living God and his work. Faith was replaced by fear, rich language by crippled dialects, and an understanding of God and his ways by idolatry, even human sacrifice. Since the coming of the white man to the Americas, they have been driven mercilessly, killed, and degraded…Someone said, “If my pen might have the gift of tears I would write a book and call it ‘The Indian,’ and I would make the whole world weep,” Only the most brazen soul could fail to weep when contemplating the fall of this people, and yet it was the decree of the Lord that the Lamanites should be preserved in the land, that this remnant of Joseph should again come into their promised inheritance.”–Our Paths Have Met Again

In 1963, while an apostle, Spencer W. Kimball said:

“I’ve known people who have been promised in their patriarchal blessings that they would live to see the temple built and some of them are dying and haven’t seen the temple built. Do you know why? In my estimation, the Lord’s time table is directed a good deal by us. We speed up the clock or we slow the hands down and we turn them back by our activities or our procrastinations. And do you know why I think people who are actually promised that they would live to see the temple built are dying before the completion of the temple? Because we haven’t converted the Indians in large enough numbers; never shall we go to Jackson County until we have converted and brought into this church great numbers of Lamanites. Now you just as well set that down as a basic fact.”–From a copy of the December 1963 talk obtained from President Kimball’s secretary as quoted in Book of Mormon Student Manual (Salt Lake City: The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 2nd ed., 1981), 427-28

I have spent a great deal of time studying and writing about the Lamanites of the last days, which resulted in two recent blog entries, which I hope everyone reads or will have read:

To The Lamanites
To The Lamanites, Part 2

Nephi and other Book of Mormon prophets concerned themselves with two distinct categories of people:

1: Jews
2: Gentiles

There is a subset of Jews, which dissented from the covenant people:

3: Lamanites

If you read the title page, it becomes clear. By the end of their civilization, Moroni acknowledges and writes concerning them in his title page:

“Written to the Lamanites, who are a remnant of the house of Israel; and also to Jew and Gentile…”

He knew that it would be a Gentile who brought forth their record:

“…Sealed by the hand of Moroni, and hid up unto the Lord, to come forth in due time by way of the Gentile…”

The Hebrew word for repent is “teshuvah” which literally translated means to return. This is the fulcrum of the message of the prophets of the Book of Mormon. They are calling us to repentance. Ultimately those who will “return” and build the New Jerusalem are:

1: Lamanite remnant
2: Repentant Gentiles

The Book of Mormon did come by way of repentant Gentiles when Joseph Smith and the early saints ushered in the restoration of the gospel of Jesus Christ. They were tasked to take the gospel to the Lamanites, which they attempted briefly, but instead they took the gospel to the rest of the Gentile world. To reiterate what Orson Pratt said, which I quoted in an earlier blog entry:

“We can pray to the Father, in the name of Jesus, to convert these Indian tribes around us, and bring them to a knowledge of the truth, that they may fulfill the things contained in the Book of Mormon. And then when we do return, taking them with us, that they shall be instructed not only in relation to their fathers and the Gospel contained in the record of their fathers, but also in the arts and sciences. They will also be instructed to cultivate the earth, to build buildings as we do, instructed how to build Temples and in the various branches of industry practiced by us; and then, after having received this information and instruction, we shall have the privilege of helping them to build the New Jerusalem. The Lord says—“They,” the Gentiles, who believe in the Book of Mormon, “shall assist my people, the remnant of Jacob, that they may build a city, which shall be called the New Jerusalem.”

Now, a great many, without reading these things, have flattered themselves that we are the ones who are going to do all this work. It is not so; we have got to be helpers, we have got to be those who cooperate with the remnants of Joseph in accomplishing this great work; for the Lord will have respect unto them, because they are of the blood of Israel, and the promises of their fathers extend to them, and they will have the privilege of building that city, according to the pattern that the Lord shall give…We have got to be sent forth as missionaries to all parts of this American continent. Not to the Gentiles, for their times will be fulfilled; but we must go to all those tribes that roam through the cold regions of the north—British America, to all the tribes that dwell in the Territories of the United States, also to all those who are scattered through Mexico, and Central and South America, and the object of our going will be to declare the principles of the Gospel unto them, and bring them to a knowledge of the truth…

These are some few things pertaining to the redemption of Zion. I would to the Lord that we were righteous enough to know a few more! There are a great many things that I would like to know about the redemption of Zion that I do not know, and I presume that you also would like to know them. But what the Lord has revealed is very plain when connected together; and when we reflect upon it, it is astonishing to us to think that in our day the Lord has decreed to perform such a great work in the midst of the earth. It will be astonishing to us when the time comes for the Lord to gather in, from every part of this great continent, these poor, miserable, degraded Lamanites, that his servants may have power over them in order to bring them to civilization. It looks impossible to us, but remember that that is the day of the Lord’s power, and that then will be fulfilled the saying in the Book of Doctrine and Covenants, that the Spirit of the Lord shall be shed forth upon the hearts of those who are ordained to that power; that every man among these remnants of Joseph will hear the Gospel in his own tongue, by the power of the Holy Ghost shed forth upon those who are ordained unto this power. There is such a saying as that in the Book of Covenants, and when that day comes the Lord God will work mightily by signs, wonders and miracles in various ways that will have an influence over these remnants of Joseph to convert them and bring them to a knowledge of the truth, that the prayers of their ancient fathers, and of the Prophets and Elders who once dwelt on this American continent, may be fulfilled upon their heads.” –(source: http://jod.mrm.org/17/289)

We read about this succinctly in some of Moroni’s final words to us:

Ether 13:6 And that a New Jerusalem should be built up upon this land, unto the remnant of the seed of Joseph, for which things there has been a type.
7 For as Joseph brought his father down into the land of Egypt, even so he died there; wherefore, the Lord brought a remnant of the seed of Joseph out of the land of Jerusalem, that he might be merciful unto the seed of Joseph that they should perish not, even as he was merciful unto the father of Joseph that he should perish not.
8 Wherefore, the remnant of the house of Joseph shall be built upon this land; and it shall be a land of their inheritance; and they shall build up a holy city unto the Lord, like unto the Jerusalem of old; and they shall no more be confounded, until the end come when the earth shall pass away.

New Jerusalem will never be built until the Lamanites in the latter days have been gathered up to accomplish their duty. The world may become dotted with temples and yet if this temple in Independence, Missouri (or be it somewhere else) is not built up and the New Jerusalem established, the Lord will not come. The world will continue to languish in corruption and decay. As I mentioned in my previous blog entry, a corrupt tree cannot bring forth good fruit until all the fruit is equal. The master of the vineyard labors tirelessly that perhaps the tree might bring forth fruit equally. So if you have wondered, like I have, why the Lord delays His coming, it is not He who delays, it is we who delay it.

D&C 49:24 But before the great day of the Lord shall come, Jacob shall flourish in the wilderness, and the Lamanites shall blossom as the rose.

The Lamanites cannot do it without the Gentiles. And the Gentiles will never do it without the Lamanites.

Moroni Timbimboo

Moroni Timbimboo, 1888-1975 “Service Is A Way of Life For First Indian Bishop,” Deseret News, March 28, 1970

 

Peaceable followers of Christ

28 Thursday Dec 2017

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Is it more important to be right or to be one?

John 13:34 A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another.
35 By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another.

And

1 John 4:18 There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear: because fear hath torment. He that feareth is not made perfect in love.
19 We love him, because he first loved us.
20 If a man say, I love God, and hateth his brother, he is a liar: for he that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen?
21 And this commandment have we from him, That he who loveth God love his brother also.

The Pharisees, excelling in contention, continually sought to challenge Jesus Christ’s authority.

Matthew 22:34 ¶ But when the Pharisees had heard that he had put the Sadducees to silence, they were gathered together.
35 Then one of them, which was a lawyer, asked him a question, tempting him, and saying,
36 Master, which is the great commandment in the law?
37 Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.
38 This is the first and great commandment.
39 And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.
40 On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.

Pharisees had no love for “publicans” and “sinners.” They took it upon themselves to exercise authority over the people over whom they presided, teaching for commandments the doctrines of men, or in other words, imposing traditions upon the masses, and meting punishments rather than extending “mercy” and “judgment,” the weightier matters, thus instilling fear upon the people of God. Then came the time when a variety of such “sinners,” outcasts, and undesirables converted unto Christ gathered to become one, apart from the authority of those who presided over and yet threatened them.

Acts 4:29 And now, Lord, behold their threatenings: and grant unto thy servants, that with all boldness they may speak thy word,
30 By stretching forth thine hand to heal; and that signs and wonders may be done by the name of thy holy child Jesus.
31 ¶ And when they had prayed, the place was shaken where they were assembled together; and they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and they spake the word of God with boldness.
32 And the multitude of them that believed were of one heart and of one soul: neither said any of them that ought of the things which he possessed was his own; but they had all things common.
33 And with great power gave the apostles witness of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus: and great grace was upon them all.
34 Neither was there any among them that lacked: for as many as were possessors of lands or houses sold them, and brought the prices of the things that were sold…

These true disciples of Jesus Christ loved one another as they loved God and as themselves. They imparted their substance among themselves equally, having none among them that were poor and none were rich, for all had been equally rich in Christ.

By the time Jesus Christ had visited His “other sheep” (John 10:16), the wicked had been destroyed and all they that had been spared were they who did not stone the prophets and were “more righteous” (3 Nephi 7:7, 3 Nephi 9:13, 3 Nephi 10:12).

And like the people at Jerusalem who had been converted, the people at Bountiful had been converted.

3 Nephi 26:17 And it came to pass that the disciples whom Jesus had chosen began from that time forth to baptize and to teach as many as did come unto them; and as many as were baptized in the name of Jesus were filled with the Holy Ghost.
18 And many of them saw and heard unspeakable things, which are not lawful to be written.
19 And they taught, and did minister one to another; and they had all things common among them, every man dealing justly, one with another.

Such are the true disciples of Jesus Christ. They are filled with the Holy Ghost and they love one another as they love God and themselves. They suffer none to be poor among them, but have all things common among them.

NOTE: It is not the same thing to “have all things common” and to “have all things in common.”

True followers of Jesus Christ have stripped themselves of all worldliness, having no more desire to enrich themselves at the expense of another. They have “all things common” and “deal justly, one with another.” Futhermore, as the title I chose for this entry indicates, they are “peaceable” followers of Christ.

3 Nephi 11:28 And according as I have commanded you thus shall ye baptize. And there shall be no disputations among you, as there have hitherto been; neither shall there be disputations among you concerning the points of my doctrine, as there have hitherto been.
29 For verily, verily I say unto you, he that hath the spirit of contention is not of me, but is of the devil, who is the father of contention, and he stirreth up the hearts of men to contend with anger, one with another.

Is it more important to be right or to be one? How simple is it to inquire of the Lord what His will is rather than to engage in disputations over one matter?

3 Nephi 27:1 And it came to pass that as the disciples of Jesus were journeying and were preaching the things which they had both heard and seen, and were baptizing in the name of Jesus, it came to pass that the disciples were gathered together and were united in mighty prayer and fasting.
2 And Jesus again showed himself unto them, for they were praying unto the Father in his name; and Jesus came and stood in the midst of them, and said unto them: What will ye that I shall give unto you?
3 And they said unto him: Lord, we will that thou wouldst tell us the name whereby we shall call this church; for there are disputations among the people concerning this matter.
4 And the Lord said unto them: Verily, verily, I say unto you, why is it that the people should murmur and dispute because of this thing?

The people could not mutually agree on what to name their church. The Lord was not only displeased with their disputations, but also of their murmuring, which is to express discontent, engaging in petty grousing. And so Jesus gently corrected them:

5 Have they not read the scriptures, which say ye must take upon you the name of Christ, which is my name? For by this name shall ye be called at the last day;
6 And whoso taketh upon him my name, and endurethto the end, the same shall be saved at the last day.
7 Therefore, whatsoever ye shall do, ye shall do it in my name; therefore ye shall call the church in my name; and ye shall call upon the Father in my name that he will bless the church for my sake.
8 And how be it my church save it be called in my name? For if a church be called in Moses’ name then it be Moses’ church; or if it be called in the name of a man then it be the church of a man; but if it be called in my name then it is my church, if it so be that they are built upon my gospel.

If the people had erred in calling the name of their church after a man by mutual agreement, they could just as easily and effortlessly have been corrected by the Lord without having expressed disfavor over their disagreements. A child could have named the church, and that incorrectly, and still have been gently corrected by the Lord without reproving them for their discord.

We then get an account of the progress of the Lord’s people at Bountiful for a period of time:

4 Nephi 1:1 And it came to pass that the thirty and fourth year passed away, and also the thirty and fifth, and behold the disciples of Jesus had formed a church of Christ in all the lands round about. And as many as did come unto them, and did truly repent of their sins, were baptized in the name of Jesus; and they did also receive the Holy Ghost.
2 And it came to pass in the thirty and sixth year, the people were all converted unto the Lord, upon all the face of the land, both Nephites and Lamanites, and there were no contentions and disputations among them, and every man did deal justly one with another.
3 And they had all things common among them; therefore there were not rich and poor, bond and free, but they were all made free, and partakers of the heavenly gift.
4 And it came to pass that the thirty and seventh year passed away also, and there still continued to be peace in the land.

And so on in “all” the land:

13 And it came to pass that there was no contention among all the people, in all the land; but there were mighty miracles wrought among the disciples of Jesus.
14 And it came to pass that the seventy and first year passed away, and also the seventy and second year, yea, and in fine, till the seventy and ninth year had passed away; yea, even an hundred years had passed away, and the disciples of Jesus, whom he had chosen, had all gone to the paradise of God, save it were the three who should tarry; and there were other disciples ordained in their stead; and also many of that generation had passed away.
15 And it came to pass that there was no contention in the land, because of the love of God which did dwell in the hearts of the people.
16 And there were no envyings, nor strifes, nor tumults, nor whoredoms, nor lyings, nor murders, nor any manner of lasciviousness; and surely there could not be a happier people among all the people who had been created by the hand of God.
17 There were no robbers, nor murderers, neither were there Lamanites, nor any manner of -ites; but they were in one, the children of Christ, and heirs to the kingdom of God.
18 And how blessed were they! For the Lord did bless them in all their doings; yea, even they were blessed and prospered until an hundred and ten years had passed away; and the first generation from Christ had passed away, and there was no contention in all the land.

For about seven decades, they were one. They were the “children” of Christ (Matthew 5:9), partakers of the heavenly gift, or in other words, the heirs to the kingdom of God. Such peaceable followers of Christ are they who Mormon addresses in an epistle to his son, Moroni:

Moroni 7:3 Wherefore, I would speak unto you that are of the church, that are the peaceable followers of Christ, and that have obtained a sufficient hope by which ye can enter into the rest of the Lord, from this time henceforth until ye shall rest with him in heaven.
4 And now my brethren, I judge these things of you because of your peaceable walk with the children of men.

Peaceable followers of Christ are the “children of Christ.” They do not feel the need to contend or dispute or murmur with the “children of men” to prove a point or just to be right, even if they are right. They allow the children of men to learn by their own experiences just as the children of Christ had to learn by their own experiences to become one. The meek who inherit the earth are the quiet. They are gentle and easily imposed upon. It is their acquiescent nature, which makes smoother transitions from a fallen state to an exalted one. They are flexible, pliant, cooperative, willing, obliging, agreeable, persuadable. It is the peacemakers and the peaceable followers of Christ who endure and become Zion. They become one heart before they become one mind. I believe it is this way on purpose.

Moses 7:18 And the Lord called his people Zion, because they were of one heart and one mind, and dwelt in righteousness; and there was no poor among them.

Until then, the world will continue with competing theologies, religions, creeds, ideologies, organizations, and so on.