Blog # 10 - The Babylonian Matrix Has You!

What is the Matrix you are held captive by? 

“Neo”, or the new man emerged into his new life, by first having to unplug from the advanced, technological, all-encompassing sensory system that feed his spectator occupied body, housed in a cradle to grave pod of security.  He actively and instinctively freed himself one feeding tube at a time.  He began to see where he really was - what his status was before God.  “No, it can’t be true!”  He began to awaken to a sense of his awful situation.  (Ether 8:24)  He could barely believe what his eyes were beginning to see.  Could it really be that bad?  He had trouble letting go of his traditional emotional reactions, even while grasping where he actually was in God's universe.  His beloved life in Babylon was all an illusion, an artificial world, not the real world God intended him to live and grow in.  But with his seeing came consequences as payment.  He was moving from a “lost and fallen state” more and more into the process of becoming a new creation.  He was becoming responsible for his choices and learning how to act and not just be acted upon as a battery being placed in a flashlight. 

Then, in quick succession, the foundation of his world dropped out from under him literally, and it was as if he was being flushed down the Babylonian toilet as a punishment for wanting to live life more abundantly.  He hoped it would get better but almost immediately he was drowning, engulfed with experiences that he was not trained or equipped to handle even a little bit.  Within only a few minutes of clearly discerning, by revelatory experience, the difference between good and evil, he was ready to quit, being totally overwhelmed as he desperately cried out for saving.  At the last possible moment before he was absolutely destroyed, he was lifted out of the all encompassing despair of feeling utterly abandoned as he was drowning.  Next he became aware of his being snagged and gently lifted into the air and delivered to experience God's reality.  Again there was a price for gaining wisdom.  After paying the price again and again, he sometimes was not fully sure how much he liked being aware of what was real compared to what was an easy to swallow life of illusions and lies.  He was born anew, but the struggles of birth trauma, he soon learned, are just the beginning of powerful data and sensory input. He grew to realize that growth, if we choose, can keep accelerating from birth, on and on, can’t it?  His real purpose, his personal journey and mission for this life, were being gradually realized and courageously he raced forth valiantly developing into that new (Neo) man. 

Anyway that’s how I interpreted the movie.  Another way to look at our situation currently, in the Work, is to use the comparison of the maps or traditions we inherit, to the reality of truth from God’s perspective.  “The map is not the territory” metaphorically illustrates the differences between belief and reality. The phrase was coined by Alfred Korzybski a genius linguist. 

We are searching for a clear, accurate view of what has been prophesied about this Work by somebody who was a great and gifted seer. Nephi fits those prerequisites doesn’t he, as well as Jesus, of course?  One of Nephi’s mentors was Isaiah and he literally loved the words of Isaiah because they are so yummy and full of the Spirit of God.

“I did rehearse unto them the words of Isaiah, who spake concerning the restoration of the … house of Israel; and after they were restored they should no more be confounded, neither should they be scattered again.”   1 Ne 15:20

We see the house of Israel is being restored in our day but evidently the fulfillment of this prophecy is also in our future because we were scattered or driven out of the U.S. to Utah, were confounded by the US government and finally made “a covenant with death and hell” or our government, to surrender part of the Gospel in its fulness.  So between now and the second coming, we understand, is the time frame for the words of Isaiah to be fulfilled.

When Jesus appeared to the Nephites, He pinned down the time frame even more.

Jesus prophesied:  “then the words of the prophet Isaiah shall be fulfilled, which say:  Thy watchmen shall lift up the voice; with the voice together shall they sing, for they shall see eye to eye when the Lord shall bring again Zion.”     3 Ne 16:17-18

Again that is in our future for this very day we do not yet see eye to eye in the group nor are we singing the same song together.  Thus between now and when the Lord establishes Zion is the time frame for this prophecy to be fulfilled.  Also we might inquire just how important are the things that Isaiah has prophesied?  Are they talking about us as a people along with the Church and our nation? 

Yes.

Jesus said:  “Behold now I finish the commandment which the Father hath commanded me concerning this people, who are a remnant of the house of Israel.  Ye remember that I spake unto you, and said that when the words of Isaiah should be fulfilled – behold they are written, ye have them before you, therefore search them”    

Since the Father specifically commanded Jesus to speak to that remnant of Israel (which could include us if we repent), about the scriptures of Isaiah, He compassionately commanded us to search them to save our souls.  Searching them is more than reading them once a year, isn't it?  Because one of the main purposes of the Book of Mormon is to help us prepare just before the Second Coming, then these words must be very important indeed!     3 Ne 20:10-11

Jesus said:  “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.”     3 Ne 23:1

Are we like Neo, still caught in the matrix, thinking that we, as a people, are marching on to glory living celestial law, and all the while, from God’s exalted perspective we actually live on a steady diet of vomit and fecal matter and are drunkards in the spirit and customs of babylon?  Isaiah 28:7-8 in Gileadi’s translation and commentary says of us:

We may not want to believe Isaiah, Nephi, or Jesus' prophecy about us, but if we trust them and experiment by taking their words and seeing if they do apply to us, then can't we begin to change things for the good and repent? But if we prefer the spirit of superficial solutions found in many "soap operas," the babylonian vision of how our lives should be to make us fulfilled and happy, then we may only be trained to accept truth in 8 second sound bytes.  Then the famous line from another movie might scream out in our faces as well:  "You can't handle the truth!"

"Without prophetic vision, the people cast off restraint," don't they?  They throw it over.  They quit and break their covenants justifying themselves with whatever excuse is close at hand.

Let's briefly expand on an analogy Pres. Young offered on many occasions called "the Old Ship Zion."  I will modernize and embellish it just a bit.  By virtue of our baptisms, we booked passage on "the Old Ship Zion."  After baptism we all quickly made decisions that caused us to be placed on one of the four decks of the ship.  You guessed it, those following the Scriptures precisely are on the top deck or we could call them celestial prep candidates.  Those who dry up and wither when opposition and the gory details of others sins scorch them, consequently seek one of the lower decks away from such a heavy burden of light and responsibility, don't they?

Others, after receiving ordinances, are choked by the deceitfulness of money, out of bounds s.ex and desires for lording it "legally" over others finding themselves almost automatically exploring the lower decks of the ship where they find themselves very comfortable indeed.  Outright evil persons on "the Old Ship Zion" virtual wolves sometimes in presiding priesthood offices, like Bro. Cain, like the very stable bottom of the ship where they are hardly even aware of the sun, weather and of course the character building storms on the top deck.

The ship belongs to the King and He checks in frequently by Telepathy to his captains and stewards, those that are in-tune with Him directing the course of the Ship.  Everybody on board has a terminal sickness that sometimes seems almost like demon possession in its more advanced stages.  When they haven't got enough of the healing frequency inside of them, they make mistakes, become sharp with each other and display frequent stupid behavior.  If the head Captain and the sub leaders all "go down" at the same time, the "the Old Ship Zion" quickly veers off course away from the Port of Zion.  At times when the pilots were off course and out of tune for extended periods of time, they sometimes docked in the most evil of places participating in soul tarnishing behaviors. 

The only known medicine that slows down the stupor of spiritual sight and the coming of the fatal day, is prayer to the King, frequently studying and pondering during the day His teachings, and service to fellow passengers.  These duties greatly increase the passengers vitality, clarity of judgment, and overall well being.

As we look in on "the Old Ship Zion" we view her and her crew in one of those times of great crisis when the leaders arbitrary decisions have caused the rest of the servants on board to have lost almost all respect and confidence for the captains.  Simultaneously and dead ahead, this wonderful old ship is dangerously heading, off course, once again but toward a category 5 hurricane.  The unity and trust is at an all time low and the discipline and confidence in each other is virtually non existent.  Even the darker decks down below hear about what is coming and a feeling of dread fills the entire multitude on board.  It looks hopeless.  No one has been in tune enough to get direct word from the King and the pretending have clearly been shown to be possessed by a spirit of subterfuge, manipulation and self exaltation.  No one can read the compass, or steer the rudder toward the Celestial City, and people are so afraid, that myriads of the undisciplined panic and dive overboard into shark infested waters below, and are lost forever through surrendering to their fears. 

These first 10 Blogs have been at least PG-13 rated, I know, because it has been deemed necessary to apply some pretty strong conscience pressure to get the council to do the right thing even when it hurts.  They are the successors to the momentum of lots of cover-up of wrong among us, or doings which most of them have not had a hand in originating.

Bro. Ly.nn will be brought to trial and found guilty of serious wrong doing because there are more than 3 credible witnesses.  He will be dropped from the council and excommunicated much as I am now for only shinning a light on his doings.  I want to believe that he will begin his repentance process by confessing his sins, and will manfully step down from the illusion of presiding, and will take responsibility upon himself by paying the price for his wrongs.  The council, plus his friends and loved ones, because they can no longer condone what he has done, will, none the less, pray for him to have strength to be able to repent.  This will start a long process within the rest of us provoking us to repent more completely of our sins and spiritual deadness as well.  

Soon the infestation of "infallibility" and trusting the the fallen flesh of our leaders will be rooted out from among us as a dangerous virus and a polluting aberration of truth. We will begin to more fully resonate with the prophetic words of the head of this dispensation. 

"This morning . . . I visited with a brother and sister from Michigan, who thought that ‘a prophet is always a prophet'; but I told them that a prophet is a prophet only when he was acting as such" (Joseph Smith, History of the Church, 5:265).

People will begin to take much more responsibility for their "own salvation with fear and trembling."  The elect among us will step up craving spiritual maturity, and to qualify for the realization of actually being "partakers of the heavenly gift." 

The question will gradually be answered, how could such abominations be allowed by our shepherds who were supposed to be protecting us and leading us aright?  Also why were almost all the rest of us so dull and unaware of such great evil in our midst or, at least, lacked sufficient courage to do something about it, including the council?  If the other 11 wouldn't have resolutely stepped up and loudly proclaimed that iniquity will no longer be allowed to continue among us, they too would, of course, would have also become criminally prosecutable, for being accomplices.  They, obviously realize that they will need to work very hard to increase our confidence in them, and to help restore their image of being just or righteous men.  They will also need to aid us in understanding why it took them about a half year to get around to even beginning to establish justice and accountability among us.  Would they have done it if some would not have been pushing them - is a haunting question, isn’t it?

Because establishing a righteous and equitable priesthood justice system is our next task, the next two weeks I will be blogging on the rudiments of that system.  If there is a chance that you might be called to sit in on the courts that will be convened, you will want to spend a great deal of time and effort in mastering what I will be presenting as well as going beyond my elementary insights into more advanced understanding.  If you don't seriously and prayerfully invest quality time, you may be found guilty of helping to fulfill Isaiah's charge of evil against us, that there is no justice among this people.  Elders, Sisters, and the rising generation would also do well to master this material to lend your council, prayers and assistance to those who will bear that crucial burden of properly establishing righteous judgment among us, being powerfully propelled by the Spirit of the Living God.  Sunday school teachers, religion teachers, conductors of meetings might also be well advised to add their light and conviction to help all within this group to establish and to learn how to judge a righteous judgment.

We do believe in resurrection of dead bodies, like Lazarus's, the 2 Witnesses in the streets of Jerusalem, especially that of Jesus and also the apparently dead carcass of this Work.  Brave and spirit filled eagles will continue to gather around her dead and lifeless forms, while the yellow backed canaries will loudly chirp and most of them will fly away before they can be transformed into eagles by the power of God.  Which are you, an eagle, valiant in the testimony of Jesus, or a weak spined yellow canary?  We will soon see which kind you are, won’t we?

Now given the outside chance that the great temptation to “bury the garbage” without really solving our problems, again surfaces and begins to reign in this Work, then we will move from PG-13 rated content to the R and X rated documents and information about our leadership that will truly bring these “works of men” down to its knees in humility and repentance, hopefully propelling us back toward that which we are really here to do - the Work of God, or else the destructions decreed will bellow out the last blogs from God Himself.

To ensure that economic accountability is soundly established among us, checking the easy borrowing and gross misappropriation of tithing funds, it may become necessarily to tell more of the true story of how the VA Hill fiasco really started and who was really the pusher of that 6 million dollar deal.  It would also be right to clear up who took the fall for that huge mistake or who became the scapegoat and has quietly, and meekly born the onerous burden of that serious error in sound judgment, and he is still among us in the land of the living - an eagle.

The "Shortcrick" like marriage traditions among us are also confusing and polluting us at an alarming rate, and so that unsavory subject will have to be addressed in the future as well.  Too many of you, I am sad to say, will want to avoid those blogs if you are in the ranks of those who have ignorantly or knowingly committed adultery by re-marriage with someone else's God-joined covenant spouse.  Please prayerfully ponder 3 Ne 12:31-32.

Who does God really want to preside is even a stickier question yet to be answered.  It will be answered, and made manifest for all the righteous to see by the power of God.  The fact that the last two presidents fell into the temptation of using their “authority” or so called “keys” to illegally take other men’s wives, and then, later, both admitted that they were wrong and had been deceived, may also need to be addressed in some detail. If one can be deceived in using the “keys” contrary to correct principle then it is obvious that priesthood appointments and succession "revelations" are likewise subject to careful inspection.  May God have mercy on our sin bound souls, for those who choose to fully repent, is my sincere prayer for each of us.

Bro. Steve






















1 response
How Far from Babylon are we? Comments, Blog 10 Page 2 para. 1. I have found that it is harder to maintain one’s attraction to sin and desire for it when by one’s conduct, one has “inculcated a celestial portion of that spirit.” In addition to a firmer sense of justice, one also gains a greater awareness and enthusiasm for valuing other people and a desire to minister to them as the opportunity presents. “And whosoever of you will be the chiefest, shall be servant of all.” (Mk 10:44) This is a celestial principle and it applies within the home, as well as in public discourse. What is presented here is what the psychiatric profession would call a problem of gestalt, or shifting perception. One of the principles implied in living the Christian life is separating one’s inner directedness from that which presents itself as external reality. We are so deeply imbedded in our world, we can become easily distracted by it to the extent of tuning out the aids to character building and becoming converted to the Lord’s standard of conduct in favor of the comforting aspects found in our environment. For centuries, up to the twentieth, this was not so. By far, most people were leading miserable lives of deprivation and uncertainty, assailed by disease and burdened by the unceasing demands for exhausting work. It was easier to look to the promised rewards of heaven than the wretched conditions on earth, where the life expectancy was seldom beyond the fourth decade (thirties). This phrase from a song of that era says it in their own words, and this is from members of the privileged class able to attend university: “Ex jocundam juventutem, ad malignam senectutem, nos habebis humus.” “Out of joyous youth to malignant old age, [then] the earth will have us.” Page 2 para. 2. The way we prepare ourselves to receive of its fullness is to make the effort to open ourselves by acting according to the promptings of our conscience, which is the light of Christ given to us with birth. When we pray on a matter to receive advice and instruction and then act on it, our grasp on celestial principle adds one strand of strength, knowledge, and confidence to our lifetime store of virtue that will rise with us in our resurrection. Page 2 para. 3. Justice and righteousness both relate to the concept of correct decision-making on moral issues and how we will conduct ourselves as priesthood actors in behalf of God. To get a correct representation of what the gospel really is, Bro. Steve is telling us to go to the unchanging source: scripture. Our version of reality in terms of the saving gospel and what are the founding principles upon which our religion is based is badly distorted. The way we have been living our version of the fullness of the gospel is not in harmony with what was laid out through Joseph Smith in the D&C and TPJS. The missing ingredient is the spirit in which we are to treat one another and reverence our Savior. We have been living according to custom and tradition in which patriarchs have arrogated to themselves powers over their families that the Savior never intended them to exercise in the manner they have done. This (deviance) has approached perversion in terms of how the council practices governance and has asserted their self-serving will over and above the law of priesthood authority, responsible steward, and legitimacy in the eyes of God. There is another reality out there and God has it scheduled to shake our dust from off His feet if we don’t make a big course correction starting now. Because it isn’t fair, useful, or in keeping with the way God does things: give admonition without a pathway to their accomplishment, here are some aspects of the reforms we, as a Work need to make on a scale of the repentance of Nineveh before Jonah. • For instance, “I will have mercy, not sacrifice,” in the last book of the Old Testament is a clue. • God doesn’t want conformity – that was always just the beginning of acquiring virtue. God wants Character, integrity, the Christian values that stem from an inner conversion. A Celestial Character is holy of himself and by his own choice, not just to conform to what his Father wants. • God wants people who enjoy raising others. It ought to be fun to bring people closer to God. • God wants integrity in His people, not compartmentalization, compromise, or concealment. • God wants everyday Christians, not just Sunday Christians. • God wants core-centered fundamentalists, not cultural or social fundamentalists. • God wants his people living a religion that empowers each person to be a mini-prophet in his own sphere, not a religion that holds people down, whose leaders harbor selfishly inspired suspicion, not a religion headed by nicolaitanes. • God wants a people taught, encouraged, and shown by example the operation of the gifts of the spirit. He wants those gifts able to be exercised among us through our repentance. • God wants leaders who respect the laws by which priesthood and the ordinances are exercised and the covenants are lived. • “If you love me, keep my commandments.” What could be more plain than that from the Savior about to endure an ordeal that nearly broke him for all our sakes that we could be where he is and be as he is, in agreement from the heart – converted, he called it. A commandment is a law unto us, people! • God wants justice kept among His people through open participation and respect for all. God wants all the aggrieved to be heard and upheld by a fair process. • God wants mistreatment of others and the will to mistreat and exploit put away from us. • God wants the nature of sinners corrected and cleansed through a process of repentance that has meaning and effect, appropriate to the magnitude of the offense. • God wants His temple and His priesthood defended from the taint of secret unrepented sin. • God wants one law and one standard for all, not one for the council and one for the rest. • God wants servant-leaders, not masters of men. • God wants every person to defend His way, personally and publicly, not passive, supine, uncritical, unaware followers. The voice of the Holy Spirit speaking to each one of you represents the emergency back-up system, when the main system and source has shut down. It runs on solar power, naturally. There isn’t another, until the seven thunders shake the earth. How can love be more than a word inserted in the appropriate places, when it is not a part of who we are before the Lord and our fellow human beings? Love should affect us like the cry of a baby. Page 2 para. 4. Righteousness can be understood as God-aligned decision making. It applies to every aspect of our lives and our dealings with others. It is the main line by which we advance in light and knowledge and by which we organize our experiences and understand them. Page 2 para. 5. Being a just or righteous people is a statement of how we are to collaborate with others, be in agreement with them and act together with them. Being a just people is another way of showing the inner light of the gospel we have acquired through our personal strivings in life with God and our relationship with God. Page 2 para. 6. The words of scripture and teachings can just bounce off us without being understood if we haven’t invested ourselves in our relationship with God through seeking right, heeding, right and doing right in daily cycles repeated over and over again throughout our lifetime. The paradox here is when men are separated from God through ignorance and sin, either personal or absorbed from the radiating influence of others, they do not have confidence in God, or His righteousness. Look into your own hearts. Look around you. This defines the poisonous effects of our problem, of which the origin is secret sin, like an abscessed tooth. Which is it, allegiance to God’s authority by all in all degrees, or allegiance to man’s authority in the name of God? Page 2 para. 7. The movie referenced here is “A Few Good Men.” The speaker is Jack Nickelson. Page 2 para. 8. “You done said a mouthful, Steve.” And where is prophetic vision supposed to come from? Why from the prophet, of course. I think part of the problem is that in this Work too many people take no joy in contemplating the future. I believe too many people look askance at anybody who is playful or humorous. Without a sense of joy and abundant, shared good-will, the stresses will drive people to forbidden pleasures or selfish self-gratification as a drug. Joyless, loveless, hopeless, clueless is what too many of us have become living man’s version of celestial law. There are always consequences for what we do. People who reach out for comforting sins are leading broken lives to begin with. We should have our own Matrix to hold each other up, to find solutions to the faults we find, to bring healing to troubled hearts. Page 3 para. 2. It is necessary for justice to be established among us that we root out of our thinking a false concept of justice taught in the world. The false concept is a thief’s view of justice, a criminal’s view of justice. To a criminal, justice is the machinery of punishment, a sort of sleeping dragon that awakens to detect crime, locate it, and inflict suffering on whoever falls into its path. To a criminal, justice is synonymous with punishment, nothing more. This is why people flee from justice and hope it doesn't find them. God’s justice and the justice of those who follow after him involves protecting the right of the weak and the despised and anyone victimized by anyone else. If we do not have justice among us, then we are sheep in the stockyards waiting for our turn to be herded up the stainless-steel chute. And the fate of another does not concern us because there is no one who will listen to us. The bystander syndrome takes over when people do not feel they have a stake in justice for another, or that the authority will vindicate them. Crime is rampant in our ethnic communities because in part they don’t feel they have a stake in justice or that it will be carried out swiftly or fairly. (From memory) here’s a famous quote from pastor Reinhold Niemoeller, a German protester imprisoned against National Socialism. “First they came for the socialists, but I was not one of them, so I said nothing. Then they came for the trade-unionists, but I wasn’t one of them, so I said nothing. Then they came for the communists, but I wasn’t a communist, so I said nothing. Then they came for the Jews, but I wasn’t a Jew, so I said nothing. Then they came for me, and there was no one left to speak up for me.” Organized evil has it this way. It has within it the desire to bring all down to its level so they can be complicit, or be subject to their vices, or be willfully and fearfully blind. Prayer and study have to have a purpose. It all has to fit in to something that is experienced as worthwhile, otherwise it is just another chore, an obligation to “get good.” The “clarity of judgment, vitality, and overall well being” mentioned in blog 10 are the result when one has a balanced diet of experience, of which prayer-guided and reinforced scripture exploration is a part. You develop a sense of purpose by accepting that God is as much on your side as you are on His. Again and again, I come back to it. “If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God who giveth liberally to all men and upbraideth not.” from James, chapter 1, verse 5. Suspend contrary judgment and accept that God is going to reveal himself as your friend, if you will extend yourself in friendship to Him. Things may take time because God has to sure that you are sure of Him. “Whatever principle of intelligence we attain to in this life, it will rise with us in the resurrection.” (D&C 130:18) Studying scripture is like any other study. You have to have some interest and some plan. In writing to these blogs, I have stained and smudged my concordances. I wouldn’t have gotten curious if I hadn’t become aware of the need to understand this religion by default of those who at present hold it in trust. We do matter. We do need to understand not only our branch of the gospel, but the foundation, the mainstream from which it comes. The time is going to come in which every one who has a knowledge of the saving gospel is going to have to stand alone as an example to others, who may have no religion at all. Many of us will find ourselves alone, with just our prayer muscles and our confident assurance we have built into us that we are the Lord’s and we know how to be about the Lord’s work on this earth. We are going to have to be islands of virtue, rocks of courage upon which others can steady themselves. We were not intended by God to be subjects of wrath and vessels of punishment. We are to be ministers of the good news, centers of miracles and oracles that will draw others to the Savior. It will be again just as it was in World War II when the saints and other practicing Christians found themselves among profane men, loaded to the limits of their courage and endurance. These same Christians, because of their strength of faith were able to act as temporal, even spiritual saviors to their comrades. We are going to be living witnesses of God’s love and God’s power to deliver, but we must do our part now, and not depend on others to feed us exactly to our need. We each are unique and have a unique mission and calling on his earth, and scripture study is a part of our preparation. When we combine our will to search with our reading, certain scriptures that are of importance to us will stick, if they have a prepared place to stick to. In writing to these blogs, I will have scriptures appear to my mind and then have to look them up to find the correct wording, usually different from that which I have memorized. Express thankfulness, get in that habit. Ask for God to help you word your prayers and intentions. Men, even high-ranking ones, are co-laborers in the dark and dreary world. Masters who lived in the big house went out with Gone With the Wind. You are working for God, and that is true for marrieds, also. Page 3 para. 3. Along with justice to be established, there has to be openness so all understand how justice has been conducted. Thoughtfully applied, justice is not complete if it is only applied to one social class and the justiciars are held immune. Unequally applied justice is not justice at all, but tyranny. The governments of men soon overturn equitable, universally applied justice for all -in favor of a privileged class. You can tell, if you open your eyes, that a government of men is in operation (whatever it calls itself) when justice is concealed and only selectively applied to cases and only to the class of those who are demarked to be the ruled. Jesus’ anger against the nikolaitanes in the Book of Revelation, chapter two comes to mind, the nikolaitanes being those who are “conquerors of the people.” We are not immune from conquest. When God’s law and God’s justice would be conquered, as it appears with Bro. Steve and the victims of sexual and soul-abuse among us, then no one is safe from the extension of the power to coerce and exact servitude. When a person rejects injustice and their only alternative is to leave, upon whose head falls the responsibility for the apostasy? Is it not the better way to act within bounds and by so doing, sustain the testimonies of all? The Mormon way, all too often, is to blame the departed and look no further. “Am I my brother’s keeper,” (Gen. 4:9) is no more valid today for us, than it was for Cain. Some are not by definition more righteous than others. The way to godhood is everybody is treated equally so that all may rise. Applying a system that promotes equal justice assists to make this so. I don’t know exactly what Bro. Steve is referring to when he alludes to the open decks crowded with panicky jumpers. It does sound dire, and it is another indicator of how poorly we are prepared as an organization and as individual people to deal with those experiencing a crisis of faith. The typical way this is handled in Mormondom as I understand it is along the lines of “whoever isn’t for us is against us,” and let them go. Mormons have a reputation in the outside world of being hard-hearted this way. Individual Christians among us, of course, will offer aid. I’m really torn about this one. It’s a bad time to teach somebody how to swim when they’re already in the water over their heads. Wherever we place ourselves, we should keep the flame of our faith in God safe. On board ship in the age of sail there was the institution of the smoking lamp. This was a light in a shielding enclosure hung conveniently so the men who were tobacco addicts could light their pipes by removing the candle or metal encased wick from its receptacle. They had to congregate there in relative safety from accident-ally touching off flammables, such as tar and (tow) rope fibers. Typically, it was kept by the cook in the galley, where there was water close by. In the more modern Navy, there were times when the loudspeaker would broadcast the warning, “Smoking lamp is out,” meaning that no-one could smoke because coal dust or later aviation fuel fumes or smokeless powder fumes were in the ship’s atmosphere. I don’t see a lack of faith in the Work as the problem so much as a lack of faith in God. Faith in God must be retained. If the Work were oriented to serve God, rather than itself in the form of a few privileged souls, the mindfulness for the welfare of each member would be stronger and more insightful and more compassionate. The one thing that even modern mariners dread is the cry of “Fire!” The Work is indeed on fire and souls flee from its pain. It’s not either the Work or nothing; its either God or nothing. The ship’s Division Officers of this Work want the crew and the passengers, i.e. the children, to stay on board, but fires produce even more deadly gasses that spread far beyond the source of combustion. Save your faith above all else. God knows His own. If the Work cannot organize rescue parties, and it is not noted for that, then self-rescue is your last resort. I can't tell you it’s going to get better in the Work. What I do tell you is that it will get better for you if you will strengthen your connection with God. On submarines of recent vintage, an emergency atmospheric distribution system was fitted. In case of a fire, the crew could reach into conveniently placed cabinets, take out face masks and plug them into feeder lines and with long hoses continue the work of saving the boat. Before that, at the beginning of the submarine as a transoceanic weapon, they carried individual breathing apparatus consisting of a bag that fitted close to the chest with a small oxygen cylinder underneath, the so-called Draeger apparatus of the Germans, the D.S.E.A set of the British and the Momsen Lung for the Americans. This gave the submariners a few minutes of breathable oxygen in which to solve the problem. The success of this Work depends on you, if you have enough integral resources and strength to hold fast to the principles you were taught from scripture concerning this Work. Your faith ought to be in God, not in predominantly in men, because men are the source of this fire at sea. You have to listen to God to guide you through the smoke-filled passageways onto the deck. Unlike the elitists who think only they know all the answers, who shall believe in you to do the right thing? The Savior believes until you prove otherwise. In times of crisis when it matters most, this is when God will strengthen His signal to you directly or lead your thought process to scripture, or you can combine your strength and concerns with a trusted friend. God may not intend the Work to fail, but that doesn’t mean it is proof from fire. The Work will not fail if you do not fail. You are the Work if you will remain faithful to the foundational principles upon which it is organized, and that is love of God and fellow man starting by being mindful of them. Have faith and confidence in God and be willing to seek and listen and be guided by the still, small voice. God is the answer to this, not men, and it’s high time you learned this lesson, not to lean exclusively on the arm of flesh, even if its anointed flesh. It’s time we had started to have confidence in God and on ourselves as followers of God, first and foremost, and not man. A covenant, a key, an office all belong to God, and it is in God we trust for every good thing and to make all things right in his time while He works out His purposes among men. Our intent and our good will means so much to God, more than the form we take to express them. Jesus describes prayers of the saints rising up to God like incense in the book of Revelation. (Rev 8:4) As it is with death, even if the earthly portion is lost, the spirit remains. God intends to bless his children, but they have to do as Adam of old did, call upon the name of the Lord, and serve Him to the best of our ability in righteousness and in truth. If a thousand should fall at thy right and ten thousand should fall at thy left, be you not moved. The love of God will assure you of his will and power to protect you from all fears, spiritually. Even when faced with the impending atonement Jesus told the disciples, “let not your heart be troubled.” (Jn. 14:1 & 27) If we are following in our hearts the spirit, the pillar of fire of Jesus Christ, we shall in no way lose our reward we covenanted in the preexistence to receive. The failings of men are not our failings, unless we choose them to be. "Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins and that ye receive not of her plagues." (Rev. 18:4) What is Babylon, the subject of this blog? Babylon is the works of men. If your place is to stand amid the fallen and the wreckage of this crisis, then stand in the smoke cloud in your place. The Lord will have him a Work, but it will be a Work he calls made of people who seek him, to do his will, not the will of men, and not the gospel according to men. God wants people who will exert themselves to discern for themselves, not assume. Come out of Babylon spiritually. If the righteousness of God cannot come to you through men as it did when Rulon was alive, then let it come to you directly by your trusting, confident asking. “Who is my mother? and my brethren [who are my Work]? For whosoever shall do the will of my Father which is in heaven, the same is my brother, and sister, and mother.” (Mt. 12:48,50) Page 3 para. 4. When the weight of unrighteousness is so great as it is among us, you are left with what I call the mustard seed method. Tiny seeds in the cracks of a paved surface will propagate themselves and generation by generation the pressure of absorbed water as they grow will make the cracks wider. Blades will stop dust and trap new seeds. Within a few years, the pavement is tilted, cracked, and channels and islands form, lined and bonded by phalanxes of sprouts and shoots. In time, trees arrive to take hold in the places prepared by the humble grasses and weeds. Within the privacy and sanctity of your own family, a place where justice is nourished, all have a hearing in disputes to clear up misunderstandings and mistakes. Seek clarity where there are differences of opinion. Next, like the tendrils of a grape vine, seek out likeminded people and get agreement among yourselves in how to support just dealings among yourselves. If you would live through what is coming, know who your friends are and make islands of righteousness. Friendship, built up by shared experiences and gathering confidence in trustworthiness and willingness to extend for the friend, is what will save you when systems, authorities, and other tools of men will not. “I call you my friends,” Jesus said. This was the simplest model of organizing a society. Don’t wait to be forced back to that; start now. Be worthy of another’s trust. Test your associates and acquaintances. If you wait for orders from fallen men, they won’t come, either as appropriate. or in time. Blog 10 pg. 3. If you can't persuade others of the necessity for justice held in righteousness, then be aware and make it a part of your family. Teach it and live by it at home. How many miles to Babylon? Full three score and ten. Shall I get there by candlelight? Yes, and back again!
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