Blog #0 - Why Am I Writing this Blog? What Are My Objectives? What Drives Me?

I am writing this “0” blog, or introduction, after about 90 blogs are already written, and many of them have been entered, or cued into the blog platform, to auto post one at a time - day by day. 

Each of us are very multifaceted and complex.  We are composites of intense feelings, ideas, beliefs, fears, rage, disappointments and hopes for a brighter future - someday.  The concatenation of our experiences of good and evil in this life, sometimes seems to churn within us much as the changing weather of a broad ocean of eternity.   We have inherited partially accurate maps for guides from our ancestors, and our society surrounding us. We make almost every decision in our lives from incomplete and flawed data, always resulting in less than ideal outcomes.  We blame ourselves and others for our less than stellar performances, but we have each been placed into a contradictory matrix of imperfection, while, at the same time given the task of becoming complete like God our Father.  None of us have had perfect parents to start us right, and we sorely lament as we see ourselves also hand off insult and injury to our children and other loved ones, mixed with fallible attempts at love.

We are also each unique beings because of the hand tailored circumstances into which we have been plunged, and the decisions we have made up to now. The degree of correct principle we have understood, how much or how effectively we have been true to the light within us, determines who each of us is - this very moment. Our fallen nature seems to often push us into insisting that everybody around us should be created into our own “perfect” image. Even though we find ourselves doing that again and again, we, in more inspired moments, feebly attempt to direct our loved ones to Someone who has it all together and is complete in all His attributes and nature.

How can I convey in a few words how all those swirling attributes and experiences, a few of which are briefly mentioned above, are culminating, pulsating, and screaming forth into this blog, “Learn Justice”?  The intense pathos that drives me you will catch a glimpse of starting in Blog # 32!  That is about a three weeks away from here.

The first 10 Blogs are more introductory, giving you a window into the problems I see in this Work, and offer some significant areas in which we ought to repent before we suffer a fate similar to Jerusalem of old.

The next 14 Blogs [11-24] are a 101 Course in “What is Justice?” - how to establish it among us as a people, and what will happen to us if we don’t.

Blogs 25- 30 or 31 briefly touch upon some vomit and fecal matter on every table-like specific atrocities among us now, and that must be corrected quickly or we will be destroyed by God as a people!

Blogs 32 – 49 draw from the tragic sacrifice of most of my family to a blindness and evil that is so sinister that 40 years later I still have problems grasping the scope and intensity of it.  Hopefully, the “massacre” of my loved ones will not have been in vain, but will propel you toward the true saving Sacrifice which is at the center of our religion. These blogs will, if you can stomach it, give you some small degree of understanding of how huge the problem is gnawing away in the very vitals of our society.  This corruption ranges from the head to the tail of this people. 

Blogs 50 – 100 approximately, will cover doctrinal mis-beliefs that have almost canceled out this work from being viable and effective in its God mandated mission.

Part of Isaiah’s introductory “blog” states that his purpose was: to help cause his people to put away evil, do good, seek justice, rebuke abusers and to defend the abused.  [1:16-17] That is a good summary for my blog as well.

Specifically:

1)  I want to live among a people who are self-governed by eternal truths and self-policed by a righteous priesthood justice system that is taught and stressed to little children and bears sway among us until we pass from this life.  This heavenly system would cause the wicked to quickly repent or to be expelled for non-repented of sins.

2)  I want to live among a people where there is economic accountability for everybody from the president to the newest member. Where tithing or consecration funds must be strictly accounted for and little secretive entrepreneur-like opportunities will be non-existent; where favoritism and nepotism will be only in the history of a dumb and distant past. I crave to be among a people who have been made righteous through the Blood of the Lamb actually applying the First Principles of the Gospel and not just talking about them!  I long for a society where there are not those who have castles and those that live in shacks but where we have “all things in common … where all are made free and partakers of the heavenly gift!”

3)  I long to be associated with a people who are led by Apostles and Prophets who are full of the gifts and powers of the Holy Ghost.  I plead with God that I might yet sit in meetings where the gifts of the Spirit are joyously poured out beyond mortal comprehension, and where the Saints love to keep the Commandments of God in all things or as Jesus expressed it:  “Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.”
 
Sincerely,
 
Bro. Steve

P.S.  I've heard several reports that the main position of those in "the Work", is that they feel not to get involved in this current crucial conflict.  They are going to just wait on the Lord for Him to set the Work in order - the One Mighty and Strong.  Their cop-out comment has been met with the reminder:  

"Yes I've heard of that position being pushed before.  Wasn't that the position of Lucifer's lukewarm second string followers in the pre-earth contention in heaven?  'We will just sit on the side lines and let Father set everything in order. We are afraid to make a mistake or that we aren't capable to adequately understand the issues.'  Didn't that faithless, non valiant attitude cause them to get the 'reward' of coming down to earth's probation into a compromised lineage?  Weren't they put at the end of the line of all of Father's mortality bound children?  Is that just let God totally handle it position any wiser in this current life or death contest than it was then?"  Hasn't it always been a succession choice between 3 possibilities:  1)  Jesus and the fullness of the Gospel which creates sons and daughters like Him, 2)  Lucifer and his - I think my "new,"  improved, slightly modified gospel is better which created the devils which are now tempting us to compromise correct principle as well, and 3)  those who are spiritually lazy and too busy with other concerns to get confirmation from the Holy Spirit, of which doctrinal position is the strait path to life everlasting, and not just rely on shallow emotional testimonies based on family loyalties alone?

Remember that:  "it is by grace that we are saved [by the One Mighty and Strong], after all we can do!"   2 Ne 25:23





3 responses
ϹАМИЦДАТЬ* I am writing these comments not because I feel impressed to, but because I feel impelled to. For a long time I have felt a sense of unease, even toxicity in the household of faith. It’s like the on-again, off-again of an aching tooth. Only a pilgrimage to the dentist and his X-ray vision reveals the abscess beneath the root, nesting comfortably in the bone, seeping its poison to escape by imperceptible degrees throughout the jaw and entering the blood stream, straight to the heart. Bro. Steve has slapped the X-ray films full on the lighted plate for all to contemplate. The title of my comments, SAMISDAT, is given in the Cyrillic alphabet of the Russians, named for the Greek Christian apostle, St. Cyril, who first taught their peoples the gospel. It means: *“from the self.” This expression has been used by Russian dissidents to the soviet regime who circulated their comments like chain letters from individual typewriters making typescript copies over and over again (carbon paper was controlled). I have accepted the persuasion that testimonies are at stake, and, of course, lineages of posterities. I was importuned not to delay to be overmuch concerned about making a body of thoughts ready for publication, without repetitions and restatements, or completing the reference data. It is sufficient in me not to use my birth name. The comments, although they will reflect my opinions, are not about me. Let the deniers contend with the establishment of facts and the weighing of ideas, not with what label to assign to him who presents them. “A man keepeth best a secret when no man knoweth he hath a secret to keep.” Sir Francis Walsingham, spymaster to Elizabeth I. It is well for us all at this time to take stock of ourselves, and if we have among us sins of the magnitude of those decried, to step back from them, for Christ’s sake (as well as our own). What applies to a man or men of any rank or distinction among us must needs apply to us, as well, or God is neither just nor holy. Bro. Steve, as Bro. Rulon, Bro. Musser, and Bro. Brigham before him has spoken from the point- of-view of a model of Christian governance and community that has unhappily become foreign to our ways and even to the understanding of too many of our people. Now we are at the threshold of international and geographic cataclysm that Jesus likened to birth pains that will select who will shepherd their living lineage, Christ’s lineage, through the increasingly narrowing way until it becomes, “as it was in the days of Noah.” It is not just the people of the world and the other inheritors of Joseph Smith’s ministry who are walking in darkness at noonday, but we as well. The fundamentals we must restore to our understanding are more basic than living the higher laws and principles. How can we live those principles acceptably before the Father if we are not grounded in the basic principles of Christian decency and regard for the value of each of the Father’s children, even extending to whether they are a part with us, nor not? The notion that by living our version of laws that others have forsaken is sufficient to cover our sins and make us immune from temporal and eternal judgment is a lie from the depths of hell. God wants good people. We can’t be saved in ignorance, we are told. Here it is, right before us. Will we persist in tolerating, even submitting to men of words, who forsake the spiritual essence? If we do, having been shown the higher council of Bro. Musser’s Truth Magazine, and Bro. Brigham’s discourses, and the Doctrine and Covenants, then we will be found to be of no more use to the Lord than the men whom we would sustain in willful ignorance and fear while yet remaining in their sins. Amicus Finch Postscript. Today, I watched a television program about the heroes of D-Day, specifically the 29th Infantry Division that landed on Omaha Beach along with the 1st Infantry Division. These members of what fewer and fewer Americans are left to call the “greatest generation” sacrificed their lives, their bodies, and their peace of soul so that one socialist tyranny would not rule this world. Of the four divisions that landed on Omaha and Utah and the Pointe du Hoc, wave after wave, until the sea was dyed red, over 2,500 from that day are buried within sight of the Channel at Veuville and an additional 1,000 were never found, blasted into butcher’s meat and fish food. One veteran told of how his life was saved by a comrade who, suddenly aware of the advancing sweep of machine gun strikes, fell on him - one life given for another. Their stories include their prayers for deliverance. One man looked up at the cloud-shrouded sky and promised God to do whatever He wanted, so he could live – and a smoke screen rolled across the beach where he lay. Survivors of Utah Beach the first day gathered for Catholic Mass in the shattered hull of the church of Ste. Marie Du Mont, their first objective. Those who lived through the succeeding months to go home returned to take up their lives as husbands and fathers, most not even speaking of what they saw in the first “wood-chipper hours” on Normandy beach, until at the closing of their lives. * * * And here we are the beneficiaries of their sacrifice, faced with the issue of worthiness to represent God and the unacknowledged secret exploitation of those a man should protect with his life. We, who are supposed to be preparing ourselves to extend the hand of God, as angels, to add to them a more full measure of reward, are preoccupied with our own prosperity and maintaining the appearance of righteousness in the presence of disgusting sin, unrelieved by basic honesty. It would be more appropriate for the sinners among us to receive an uplifting hand from them. The tutored disdain with which some hold those not of our community is yet another offense to truth. How many times have we heard it repeated that God is no respecter of persons? The opposite of love, I am told, is not hate; it is not even indifference. It is in using someone, and that using contains within it, both denial of gospel principle and indifference to another’s life. The hatred emerges when the light of truth exposes the sin and those who make it part of their gospel. If anyone thinks God is indifferent to our departure from the privilege of knowing Him and building up His kingdom in holiness, they will be disabused in this lifetime. God is not mocked, nor will His righteousness be denied by the imaginings of men. Why must we wait along with the Church and the world to experience the fulfillment of God’s will to sweep away all uncleanliness ahead of the Savior’s establishing his Millennial Kingdom? What honors await us, who fail to sustain justice and truth in our time and in our sphere? “And there shall be weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth.” Mt. 8:12 (Read the context.) This is an opportunity for us to rediscover the gospel in plainness and in truth. Let’s not waste it. I have no personal knowledge of any of this, nor do I claim to know those who have been placed under suspicion by the witnesses, but for purposes of stimulating discussion with a view to making reforms I am assuming the allegations, for want of adjudication as well as the way in which Bro. Steve has been calumniated and ostracized (Blog 8 of learnjustice.posthaven.com), have sufficient validity to warrant consideration as reasonably to be true. The effects, such as unwillingness to refute the allegations point-by-point before us all, strongly suggest an underlying cause that we ignore at peril to our eternal salvation. “We don’t have to be accountable to you,” is scary, especially since the trials have witnesses who were not among the aggrieved. If we sustain unrighteousness, we, ourselves are implicated as accessories, for we can be no better than that which we sustain. See Mt. 10:24, 25. The LDS are in that position now. Who says and by what authority that the priesthood holders and their counselors (wives) in all degrees are not worthy to receive a clear and unambiguous accounting, of these moral and financial matters? Persons having no precedent by which to compare the response of the deniers with that of a known prophet of God, namely Rulon, to similar charges are hard put to recognize what is reflective of righteous indignation, and what is feigned righteousness offended. How does the response of those who know they are in the right differ from those who know they are deficient, or don’t know and nevertheless feel constrained to act as though they were whole? I know enough about the temptations that attract the nature of males in this world and how men communicate truths and half-truths, as well as lies, so that the course of these allegations has sufficient corroboration from my experience to be aroused to grave concern. I know enough about our religion and the nature of God as revealed in scripture and the testimony of experiencers to realize the danger we are exposing ourselves to by remaining ignorant or by leaning predominantly on the arm of flesh, or by letting emotional reactions overwhelm willingness to be quiet and listen to the still small voice. It’s a very bad thing to be outside the counsels of God, alienated and unsure because of unfamiliarity and sin. It is likewise a bad thing to be cocooned in traditions and folkways, and let them take the place of alignment with God as He reveals Himself in scripture. Does God misspeak, or do His words only apply to bygone centuries? Are we so special such that disquieting scriptures do not apply to us? These matters are of sufficient gravity and the way they have been handled so far arouses sufficient suspicion as to call into question what is our standing before our God. I cannot here proclaim what is true as to specific crimes and offenders that are hidden from my mortal eyes. I am merely a reader of the allegations and the testimonies of those who claim to be witnesses. So as not to taint the judgment of those who have a tendency to be swayed or repelled by the convictions of others, I shall say no more than I have prayed about these matters, not for an outcome willed by me, but for a determination of where the truth lies. I have promptly received an answer. How much I believe in it is a matter of time. I recommend the same course to those who read Bro. Steve’s blog, in fact the whole burden that has impelled me to write this is not to judge unrighteously or to condemn outside the law, but to get others to ask the Lord, line upon line, if necessary. Gods’ people are a praying people, not only in supplication but in acquiring wisdom and direction. Where forthright judgment is wanting in Israel, the people must assume the role within the purview of their respective spheres. Amicus Finch “If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him.” James 1:5 and JS 2:11 (I’ve tried it; it works!)
Blog-Specific Comments Comments learnjustice.posthaven.com Blog -O-. Introduction and Summary 1. My impression is Bro. Steve feels the burden of what our departures from the way of the Lord have done, are doing, and will do to deny to us the fullness of eternal reward we have been taught to expect. 2. The promises made to the people of the Lord depend upon our remaining faithful, clean, honest and honorable in how we conduct ourselves with each other and before the Lord our Judge in deed, word and even thought. 3. Willful failure to honor the covenants in worthiness will separate those persons from the actual living presence of He who would be our Friend (Jn. 15:14, 15) as well as our Savior. 4. Supporting the insupportable in ignorance, having failed to apply the gift of the still, small voice we have been given at baptism to be our constant companion, amounts to turning away from the Lord and his gift of counsel and discernment. 5. Study of this blog sequence, even a casual reading, will show the chain of consequences when men who are governed by sin, which must protect itself through further impositions, have the government of others. 6. The evidence here assembled calls for examination, reflection and decision. To decline to even examine it is to place one’s self on the side of the deniers. If they are revealed at the judgment seat of Heaven to be in the wrong, those who have chosen their side, even by default, will be found to have perpetuated their sin and its consequences upon themselves, their posterity, and the world’s people Jesus Christ would have be saved. 7. Failing to exercise due diligence in examining what is presented here in evidence by the standard of living scripture before approaching the Lord in prayer, represents unwillingness to sustain the Savior’s plan of salvation, or uphold order in the House of the Lord, or champion the Honor of God. 8. In gaining light and knowledge, I assume that one should be building a mature, discerning and active conscience, as well. Joseph Smith said that he did not govern men; rather he taught them how to govern themselves. Should his spiritual successors do any different? Are we about control or empowerment? (We should be about both in a God-honoring proportion that respects each.) Are the proportions correct with us? 9. Dividé et Impera is a Devil’s motto. He seeks to divide people from each other as well as from God. Should persons arrogate to themselves privileges such as an unjust share of communal wealth or immunity from accountability for sin, they separate themselves from God, as well. Such men re-create and promulgate a concept of God after their own imaging and become laws unto themselves. 10. As fundamentalists we stand against all arguments to the contrary that would deny the truth of our stand. The greatest defense of our beliefs we can make is to present a spotless garment before those who hold other views and in so doing avoid the very appearance of evil. How can a seventy-apostle perform the duties of his office when those whom he represents are reputed to be stained? The remedy is not to silence the messenger, but to remove the stain.
Critias In Classical Golden-Age Athens (the life span of an unusually old man in the fifth century B.C.) a form of democracy existed (in the rule of qualified citizens, approximately 1/10th of its population) and one of its features was a public place in which any citizen could say whatever he liked, including ridicule and slander, even concerning the leading citizens that constituted the executive portion of the government. That place was an open colonnaded hall called the stoa. One was minded, however, not to speak so critically by way of examining issues that would give offense to those endowed with power in any other place. The stoa was a place where ideas about any subject could be explored, and thus the strength of many minds could be combined. The outlook on how to conduct one’s life called stoicism comes from this place wherein it was shared. The thinker, Socrates (470-399 B.C.) made use of the public license to freely speak as he pursued the understanding of the essence of good and evil. By relentless questioning of onlookers, he made them see that their understanding of right and wrong was a social construct and not connected to any intrinsic or immutable standard, as they had thought and had been taught. His rationale was in direct reaction to the sophists, the “men of wisdom,” who prepared their followers for public life, their central credo being that truth is relative and subordinate to circumstance and can be molded by those having the will and interest to do so. The ability to manipulate public perception in the interest of the crafty few was prized at the perihelion of Athenian civilization. He awakened his hearers to look within themselves and adopt a standard that could not be swayed by the politicians or apparent circumstance. The oligarchs (the few who rule) who managed to gain and retain public favor by making agreeable proposals in the wake of subjugation by Sparta after an ill-advised and unjust war, were offended that he should steer the youth away from manageable following and condemned him, in the name of sedition and corrupting the youth, to take poison. This he did, and by so doing, sealed his testimony with his life. As it is absorbed, the water hemlock kills by putting the blood vessels through which it passes into painful spasm that gradually intensifies to cut off circulation to the hands and feet, progressing to the trunk. The end of life comes when it reaches the beating heart. Brother Murphy is experiencing a psychological analog as social circulation would be denied to him and to what he represents. So our situation in this Work has its parallels with ancient Athens. Some would say we have our “men of wisdom.” Some would say we are judged by a movable standard to suit men, not an absolute standard to suit truth. Therefore, our stoa must be outside the precincts of our places of assembly. The internet must be the refuge of the exiles, and if the nature of truth must be sought, it shall be before a wider audience in the highways and byways of the world. “Know thyself.” Socrates “Critias” is the title of one of the dialogues of Plato, a disciple of Socrates.