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Holiness to the Lords I am going to go on a journey of the mind, and you’re welcome to come along with me. I want to see with the eye of imagination just what makes these Council brethren tick. This is how the blog learnjustice.posthaven.com speaks to me. What can we say of men, who administer the attitudes and ordinances of the Gospel, who do not radiate the confirming energy of the Holy Spirit? I think I’ve figured them out. They think God is one of them. Their reality is cultural – insular – thoroughly in keeping with the way fundamentalists have had to preserve the way of the Lord. However, this cultural isolation, lack of respect for values upheld by the more righteous inhabitants of this nation (as well as the people who constitute the rank and file of this work, themselves), and sense of elitism has also put into them a sense of entitlement. Humility is a word to them that can be used in place of conformity -or compliance to God or one of his anointed stand-ins. It applies to them in pronouncement and appearance (outward show), but to the membership in fact. They are following the example they saw their fathers do. God (by policy) and in the administration of his people through his true prophets has given a lot of leeway to men in the hopes they – having had their lapses - would return to doing good. This more than fulfills God’s promises made in the Preexistence to those who undertook to serve him in this critical and extraordinary way. The story of Worth Killgrow, however, is a cautionary tale. The folk saying of a bygone age is, “Give ‘em enough rope and they’ll hang themselves.” See Blog 29, page 1, para. 5. In practice, this repenting has not happened with too many of the patriarchal, patrician class. Men have sought a different equilibrium – a different standard, a lower standard in God’s eyes. These men think they have arrived and now they have a key to the executive washroom, they are members of a secret society of privilege in which the rules that govern other men simply don’t apply to them. Their attainment to office has granted them an exemption and now their own judgment, combined with permanent ordinances conferring upon them impeccability gives them the right to rule as they see fit. This is Medieval Catholicism wearing different clothing and using a different vocabulary. They have compartmentalized the preaching and ministerial role, such that it is, and in another compartment they work things out with their peers. As we all know, you don’t have to live what you preach to be an effective preacher. Secret agents are noted for this ability to enter different environments and assume different identities at will. Social rules of their exclusive society have more force with them than scripture, spirit, or anything else. Men dominate men in this forum and the rewards are real. Loyalty to men is rewarded with tenure and a safe way to pay for their big families. Success is a virtue in itself, and its own reward. The exchange of favors further cements the bonds of loyalty and weighs down upon them the fear of discovery. Unhappily in all Mormonism, ours especially, because we’re so small, the concept of advancing one’s own kingdom is all too easy to take precedence over taking into one’s heart the heart of the Savior, the one who came to minister, not to be ministered to. Careerism is what the institutions of men call this self-serving bias. I have observed that in this game, the way to get ahead requires attaching one’s self to a patron and pleasing him. A lifetime of striving with this in mind gradually alters one’s perspective as to who God is and what God wants, so by the time one is chosen to join the confraternity of the Council, one is well conditioned to be one of them. Who should judge worthiness for advancement besides men; how about the Lord manifesting Himself with heightened energy to his servants appointed and worthy to receive his witness? Their days are filled with the business of families, not contemplating what they are doing with the eye of conscience. They’re past that. They have ceased to be influenced by scripture. Scripture is something to be familiar with to provide the material for talks to keep their credentials before the masses. They have graduated out of the school of virtue. They have paid their dues and now it is time to collect. After all, this Work is the “only game in town” and they are running it. They believe their own propaganda. What of scripture they allow to stick in their heads only supports their view. The commandments and teachings about accountability, justice, and regard for others, if they conflict with the reality they live are simply dismissed. It doesn’t register as applying to them. The reality of God for them is the reality of their way of life. They have insulated themselves from the extraneous. So what we have is two different gospels, two different religions, two different standards: one for them by which they ease themselves and one for us which they cheerlessly impose. Equality before God is God’s business to explain and enforce when should his time come. Even the concept of guilt has been altered. The concept of secrecy – inherent in Mormonism is sacred. They have a right to keep secret from others the allowance they make for each other. The club, the conspiracy, the brotherhood must be preserved as the summum bonum. It as though they have become their own gods, because when the real God says nothing - its o.k. The ordinances justify them. The numbers of followers they have justifies them continuing as they are doing things. The shepherd is worthy of his hire. They have developed a different conscience and they are sincerely convinced they are right. They have grown up with this. This is why they can project with such sincerity and men who are solely attuned to social cues will believe them. The big green head had Dorothy and her three unlikely friends convinced. This is why they will not repent and cannot repent of themselves alone. Their god is a different god than the God of the scriptures and the prophets and the One we should pray more attentively to. They have made their own god and it is easy for them to accept. This is why they are entirely comfortable with the disciples of the Other Side and child-devourers. Their philosophies are the same: self above others. If a man is a member of the secret society to which we belong and he is a good friend and he has reinforced me in fellowship and in getting me what I want and protecting me from discovery, that is enough. In the greater Work outside there is ever-present competition, but now I am safe. Those outside are potential enemies to my reputation and my wellbeing. Their hearts are not good. They must be contained and controlled. They can’t manage the truth the way we have to. They can’t understand that the survival of the Work is salvation for everybody. We must keep the Group together, or keeping people in the way of the Gospel will be lost. You can only trust your friends; those who are not “priests to the rite” are unworthy, and that’s why they are outside. We are the only valid human beings. Anybody can use scripture to get their own way. “Truths” are nothing more than tools that people use to move the masses. The only reality is power. Our authority is to rule and the robes of power we wear are to keep everybody away from who we really are, and that especially includes our wives. Keep them in superstitious awe. Pain and fear are just as effective as kindness and love in keeping families in line. (Is this too harsh? It wasn’t for the unholy brethren those who were separated from this Work for cause an outlook that supported these things. ) The ordinances we have kept for God from generation to generation are OURS by right, and we meter them out as we see advantage and safety. Thus we have the Devil’s counterfeit to the order of heaven, a room within a room, a counterfeit, a masonic-style government by conspiracy run by men convinced that God is one of them. This is how they have understood God from childhood. Rulon was simply an obstacle, an exponent of another God and when he died that other God died with him. Putting the last, finishing touches in the new fundamentalism was just a matter of manipulating and hoodwinking Owen. There was a saying among the man-eating natives of New Guinea, whose supreme political achievement was to deceive and overcome a rival thusly: “We have fattened you on friendship for the feast.” False friends indeed, to deceive, mislead, and betray an erstwhile well-meaning prophet of God. Whose skirts of them are clean of these monstrous sins; whose skirts can be made clean? Men in such a condition will either seek the face of the Lord in deep sorrow for what they let themselves become, or they will seek another lord. I don’t want to wait around for the time of refreshing standing in their line behind them. In history men have arrived at this place taking different paths. Aside from some differing methods, they would find themselves to be in agreement with Josef Goebbels, or Vladimir Lenin, or Adam Weishaupt, or Niccolo Machiavelli (all of them apostles of evil) as to the nature of human beings and how to govern them. Who have they qualified themselves and prepared themselves to meet as their “one-mighty-and-strong” in their secret chambers? Submission to these people all begins with separation from God, failing to pray with purpose. Since they see themselves as the legitimate stand-ins for God, applying God’s standard to them is divergent, heretical, and a component of the fright-word “apostasy.” I should rather be afraid of God’s defining of the term as it applies to us, not theirs. When Moses was away, the people found leaders who would make for them a part of their “old-time religion” so they could release tension and have a party. The central figure was Apis, the bull calf, son of Hathor, the cow. Apis didn’t mind what they got up to. It can’t happen here? It has happened here – and all over the world! This is but one field in the Devil’s harvest. Failing to be humble before our God and accept His spirit as the standard by which we will treat others and allow ourselves to be treated has brought us to this place of doubt as to who represents truth. Thinking we’re better than others whose only difference is accepting a lesser portion of God’s plan of salvation, condemns us from the role of ministers of a greater salvation, and fellowship with the Savior. Commanding rather than persuading, driving rather than leading has made us exposed to accepting tyranny upon ourselves, the tyranny that denies to us the right to know God as He is. It’s the blind leading the blind, but we have not forsaken the call of conscience for material reward and the friendship of men, yet, have we? There is precedent for the concern the Council feels about the galling voice of Bro. Steve. It is a human tendency to see others as we, ourselves, are. This is what is behind the craftiness of men. “Since anyone would do what we do to get and keep power, we must be wiser, more resolute and more ruthless than they.” By that reasoning, anyone who calls into question any man of them or any deed that they do or have done is an outsider trying to take their prey away from them – and is their enemy. It was none other than Genghis Khan who had set down his philosophy of accumulating power over his enemies and uniting the Mongols. It was to draw off allies from one’s enemies with the promises of rewards they seek, but cannot get for themselves. This is what splits have typically amounted to in the fundamentalist world. The threat of Luther to Pope Leo X & Co. grew from a matter of doctrine raising up political forces with armies that devastated Central Europe over a century. That’s how men do it. Wouldn’t it be better for all of us to repent, leaders first? God doesn't need to send such men a strong delusion, (2Thes. 2:11) they have proven competent to create their own. He simply isn’t making a personal impression on any one of them that we know of that they need to repent. The question before you is, do you want a share of it? Who will be the leader? Let’s start with the Lord, himself. I give you this warning, though. A change of administration or leadership or seat of authority isn’t going to clean up the mess, or solve the problem of our alienation from God, unless that leadership commits to changing the paradigm by which we understand our duty to God, leaders and led, alike. Bro. Steve Murphy doesn’t need any friends or allies in this Work as long as he has one friend: the Lord Jesus Christ. “It’s a little secret, just the Robinsons’ affair. Most of all, you’ve got to hide it from the kids.” Paul Simon - Mrs. Robinson Thus the journey of imagination ends and the chain of ideas cease. To believe, to believe in part, or not to believe at all I must leave to you.
— A posthaven user