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As Through a Glass Darkly Truth Magazine 3:20-21 John W. Taylor: A Return to Fundamentals Advised March 3, 1889 “We are getting into such a condition that if we were to meet the Lord, we could not look him in the face, and the way we are going it will soon be impossible to tell what we do believe….” “If we are without Prophets we have no Holy Ghost, save the conscience given to each of us; for the Holy Ghost is the spirit of prophesy.” Deseret Weekly News, April 14, 1889, Vol. 38:525 When you read John Taylor’s statement about the Church of his day, do you think he’s making these statements just to sound important and properly prophetic, or is there an underlying truth revealed that we have to look at. He is saying that when a prophet departs, everybody’s ability to receive heavenly manifestations at the revelatory power level ceases. It follows that when we are without Prophets, there is no revelatory power, either to discern things that need fixing or to direct this people. We are all left with what spiritual powers of communication we have earned, ourselves, and what authority we already possess to minister to our stewardship families. (What else is lost in terms of performing valid ordinances when we are “without Prophets”?) We simply have to know, for the sake of our children if none else, the true from the counterfeit. At this time, the Devil has a great stake in what form the Work takes as it goes forward. You have to know for the sake of your standing with God in the eternities. “Who’s on the Lord’s side, who?” Who, indeed. Remember, he has just received the Savior and Joseph Smith in an eight-hour meeting and the Lord definitely does not “shoot the breeze.” His pronouncement certainly defines what would be happening to the revelatory condition of the church as soon as they voted (church as theo-democracy) the Manifesto and its import upon themselves. He is telling us what lies at the heart of our problems, as well. Do we have a man whom God deems worthy to exercise prophetic gifts? As a practical matter, does it matter whether the attributes of the highest priesthood office held among men are here or not, if they cannot be exercised? Depending on your point of view, this limitation is what we have “agreed” upon ourselves whenever those of us sustained somebody whom God did not endorse to be called. “How long - has this been goin’ on?” I want to look at possible origins of the situation we find ourselves in. In the origins, we can see not only what went wrong, but what is fundamentally, organically wrong with us in our understanding of God and our relationship to Him. “. . . the way we are going it will soon be impossible to tell what we do believe.” Let me remind you (before you remind me), we are not constituted as the Church; we are a priesthood body. It is another mystery to me why a man (Owen) who received the keys to the oracles of God in power, and the keys to sealing and unsealing would not exercise them in administering releases and remarriages. (I’m relying on what is presented in learnjustice.posthaven.com for this.) I understand the keys to sealing and unsealing don’t “work” unless the keys to obtaining the oracles of God have been invoked. They are indivisible. Why ignore the obvious? Could it be that the keys can only be exercised upon principles of righteousness and Owen’s repeated dodging of his patent responsibility to act in the matter of Joe and George when we had clouds of witness, set him up for granting distress releases after the manner of civil divorce using his own judgment? More significant in breaking the eternal covenant is the instigation of remarriage. It is not the pronouncement (unless it comes from God) it’s the act of adultery that breaks the covenant. Let’s look at history. We don’t have direct access to the records, but word of mouth can tell us when the queue started to form for releases. At what point did going to God become no longer a desired option? If we look at it from God’s point of view, He does not look upon the administration and conduct of His marriages casually. Binding on earth and binding in heaven require acting together, and God had better well be the Senior Partner, because that’s how He set it up. When did our leaders stop believing that God answers the phone, or was it: when did they stop caring whether or not God answers the phone? And after the line’s been down for years, we want to believe that somehow it has been restored (or never left us) when the evidence of the presence of unresolved sin and lack of the manifestations of the spirit show it has not? The wreckage of celestial covenant marriages looks like an aerial view of the aftermath of the path of a tornado. It may be very painful to have to look at the performance of the apparently kindly and reverenced Owen, but if we don’t even know what concerns to approach God with, how can we expect to know exactly what is wrong and what we can do about it, if anything? If we’re not going to approach God seeking answers with an intent to fix the problem and establish reconciliation, reconciliation ain’t gonna’ happen. They (and we) weren’t dependent on the Lord when we should have been and now that we should be, we’re still not. The right thing to do as soon as this state of affairs is recognized is to set about fixing it and until it can be fixed, we should fall back on administering the things of God strictly according to the laws he has already given us in the Doctrine and Covenants. (But those who would lead us are well past that, aren’t they?) Men call the process damage control through troubleshooting. A project manager would start remedial actions immediately. The process of troubleshooting is to restore. What gets destroyed is what is defective, broken, unworkable, and unsound. Whose side are we on, anyway? Do we really want to remain in a limbo of the lost? How have we “improved” on what Joseph, Brigham, John, Joseph Musser and Rulon Allred left us? How are we more endowed with the gifts and manifestations of the Spirit? In what way are we ready to receive the additional scriptures that the Lord said He would give when men were ready? “Therefore, seek not to know for whom the bell tools, it tolls for thee.” John Donne From “No Man is An Illand” (17th Century English poem) I believe from the evidence of the blogs it shows that Owen did not have counselors in terms of those who are in duty bound, feel impelled to give God-affirming advice, the better to keep His Spirit, power, and strength among us. These lapses have to be forgiven, I suppose, but not excused or allowed to continue unrecognized for what they are. When you, being in a position to know truth and have the ear of those bearing great responsibility for this whole people and by extension, the fate of the God-seeking people of the world, allow a course of error to proceed, what are you with regard to worthiness to hold or exercise the privileges of your priesthood office? I remind you of the evidenced presence of the two alleged disciples of the Other Side and soul-eating cannibals that made the political climate that shaped the thinking of the rest. Memory tells me that George was considered the scriptural expert and Joe was “always” quoting scripture. It’s not just knowledge of scriptures, but how they are ordered and organized to describe what the portrait of God is and how He will be exemplified and served that establishes whether or not this Work will be the work of God or servants to men or slaves to an imposter god. George, was the authority for scripture guidance? The Devil laughs. Scriptures are like cards; it’s the game, not the cards with which it is played, that decides whether or not the people are bringing forth the Kingdom of God or another’s kingdom, or no kingdom at all. Whose game is it, anymore? If God has, indeed, been dealt out, we are left to our own devices – and temporally to the fate of the world. Without operating in a spirit of love and working with scripture that way, men who otherwise would be drawing close to God are driven further away and without a sense of harmony with God’s intent through accepting His Spirit as their spirit, it is all too easy to start to act independent of God, first as a lapse in judgment, then as an established precedent. The other part of this is accepting the adulation and deference of men and women as validation of one’s personal authority, ignoring that authority held of God involves having God’s spirit indwelling and flowing through one through righteous deeds. “He stuck in his thumb and pulled out a plum, and said, “What a good boy am I.” (16th century English political satire – meaning that Jack Horner took a bribe) The wishful thinking, politically motivated thinking with regard to administering the law of God, comes in when a man has been seduced into thinking that God cannot be approached directly, but can only be understood through finding the right scriptures (when the spirit or intent behind those scriptures is misunderstood or overlooked and prayerful preparation has not been made). Anybody who comes into God’s house by any other way than through the front door (possessing the right attitude and relationship with Christ), he describes as a thief and a robber. See Jn. 10:1 Being conversant with scripture, as important as that is, is only a part of connecting with God. Another indispensible part is sharing in the mind of God in the form of actually taking enjoyment in bringing about the true happiness of man. And that can only be realized by having it be rooted in righteous and godly living. If you aren’t being fed by doing good for others, you do not possess the spirit of charity. If you would grow in the gospel and magnify the callings of your office and not be deceived, take this to heart from an Apostle of the Lord concerning the things that brethren aspire to: Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not charity, I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal. (meaningless noise) And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries, and all knowledge; and though I have all faith, so that I could remove the mountains, and have not charity, I am nothing. (1 Cor. 13:1,2) Again, as the apostle (Paul) says, "And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, and have not charity, it profiteth me nothing." (1 Cor. 13:3) (Charity is a freely-flowing love, after that of God.) Paul goes on to describe the various hallmarks of the presence of charity, but the essence of it, the source from which it comes is the Holy Spirit and it is enjoying service to others. And if you do not cultivate and nourish the spirit of charity in yourself (the drive and sense of joy to bless others), you will be spiritually blind, just as those who covet the privileges of office, but deny the source of its power. Having the caring spirit of the Lord has to be renewed each time it needs to be applied. It’s all too easy to get “in the zone” during a courtship session, and all too easy to let it go afterward. Quoting scripture while not being animated by the spirit of Christ, or by some other spirit becomes a magician’s trick of misdirection: it’s a politician’s trick of obfuscation; it’s the journalist’s trick of filling the attention of the audience with chaff. Owen was influenced through the application of truth in the service of the crafts by men that he loved, but did not understand. Men close to him who should have known better, could be said to have been overcome because they were essentially out for themselves, not for service to God or for the welfare of his “lambs and his sheep.” The leaders who should have exercised leadership as followers of God, became as spiritual followers of other men – and reputed acts of misfeasance and malfeasance followed after that. This is typical of the ways of men in the earth. How do you interpret the contents of the blog? Owen would have been ill-served by men who were out for themselves, not out to bring about God’s love, God’s peace, God’s, impartial justice, or God’s freedom from lies and sin. “We don’t know how to do it.” Of course we don’t; we haven't been doing it God’s way, and with His scriptures, His laws, and the statements of his prophets (who walked among us) as our blueprints sufficiently for generations. When the Lord’s true servants have called upon us to repent, it’s not just an exercise that reminds us in general terms that we need to perfect our personal holiness and make the best better; there have been specific and fundamental things that are in error that need to be discovered through examination of conscience, seeking to gain awareness through mindful observation during daily life, and consulting with God through prayerful, listening inquiry. Rulon did not have free spiritual access to this people, but had to work through a jungle of contrary philosophies and contrary messages. There was an undercurrent that would have “respectfully” undermined his authority if he did not stick to a narrow band of teaching. With the passage of time, even of generations, the sense of self-awareness, or need to examine conscience is lost. A different concept of the gospel and of being right with the invisible, inscrutable, and disassociated God is the reality that has animated the handling of Bro. Steve and the justification for the same that appears in Blog 8. Such men don’t even know they don’t know and can hardly be called to repentance by even a prophet of God, whether through a written legacy or standing in their very midst. They won't tolerate questioning of themselves by others; they won't even question themselves. They are self-referencing, as though entirely separated from the mind and will of God. They attribute to God that which they, themselves are. At the same time, they attribute to themselves that which they think God is. This is what happens when men start to ignore their responsibility as servants of God, to access Him and obey Him. And there will be more error to follow, as this separation from God is a process. Men without God are not righteous in themselves. In a sense, priesthood keys can be turned either way, either exercised or mimed, either to exaltation or to utter damnation. Are this people fit to bring about the kingdom of God, or does God, yet again, have to move in another direction? I believe this matter of the worthiness of Lynn Thompson to hold office is but the first great test of our worthiness to hold our offices and exercise our part in bringing forth the kingdom of God. In order to judge with righteous judgment, we need to get beyond the trees (e.g. don’t betray the brethren,) and see the state of the forest, and then act for the Lord of the forest. In order to do that, we need to connect with the Spirit of the Lord and subsequently be guided by nothing else than that, to include how we will interpret and understand scripture. “13. Every plant, which my heavenly father hath not planted, shall be rooted up. 14. Let them alone: they be blind leaders of the blind. And if the blind lead the blind, both shall fall into the ditch.” (Mt. 15:13, 14) I have to conclude that respect for God (taking God seriously) at the highest level just hasn’t been around since a time unknown. I guess that willful thinking and committing sins that were glossed over has characterized our leaders and that as a consequence they have been operating with just a part of God’s power and authority, since they have only honored God in part. They have retained a sense of majesty around themselves, but the Christ-like nature of humble servant-leadership and respect for how the commandments and laws are supposed to work for our betterment is not yet a part of their universe. During his earthly ministry, Jesus set the example of honoring the laws of Moses, while grafting in a set of rules of conduct that showed the purpose of those laws and that were superior to those laws, what we call higher law. We are not honoring higher law when we forsake law and its intended purpose entirely and apply the wishful thinking and politically-oriented notions of men in their place – without involving God in the process (as He has instructed us to do). Owen was without consistent good counsel, save it be from Bro. Steve Murphy, who could only minister given the rules for his office. The record of how things were actually done speaks louder than any claims as to the exalted nature of the office that cannot be questioned. It is the nature of men to give worship to an office in its own right, rather than honor the God who gave that office by obeying Him through proper conduct of that office. Honoring the creature (something created for a purpose), above its Creator, (Rom. 1:25) is a feature that defines idolatry, and is a favorite tool by which the Devil has deceived mankind since the time of Nimrod. One of the things that’s majorly wrong in this perversion of the gospel we labor under that has been adopted by a few and endorsed by the many, is that men are much too preoccupied with “me” and my kingdom and too little concerned with other people’s welfare, or with the personhood and purposes of God in that regard. When it began to creep in like bread mold among the guardians and standard bearers of our faith and was not challenged by anyone, it became the urim and thummim by which we interpret our religion and our God, and a barrier to the correct understanding of truth. “For behold, this is my work and my glory – to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man.” (Ms. 1:39) God can not bring off the Kingdom triumphant with us, if we will not repent. And He will not.
— A posthaven user