Speling

I am suspicious of people who know how to spell hard words.



*ps.  my scribe castigated me for being uncertain of the title of this blog.

Sophisticated Poison

We believe and are certain the resurrected Christ visited believers in America immediately after his resurrection and taught them His gospel.  He also promised that their children, as descendents of Jacob, would one day hold great power over the gentiles, those of us who would come to this continent at a later time*.   This promise, repeated three times by the Savior⁺, seemed incredible to me as a young man; but not now. 

When we moved to New York City in 1970 I thought of changing my license plates because I feared vandalism against a car from Utah; a place known for its large families.  All the sophisticated thinkers of the day agreed that having kids was bad. Their assault upon even moderate sized families was tireless and intense.  One larger than average woman on a city bus declared right in front of my children that they were eating food off her table.  I wonder if that lady or her friends are presently benefiting from the work of medical doctors, artists, or engineers; all professions that have prospered from the work of my now grown children. To complete the calamity, these sophisticates had no problem promoting government programs that squandered the eventual wealth of the children they were not having.

People will look back and wonder how it was possible we did not see what every other society in history has considered simply apparent—we will eventually depend upon the raising generation.  Because we succumbed to the sophisticated poison of limited reproduction, however, the raising generation in our part of the world will in large part consist of the descendants of those to whom the Lord made His promise of eventual power--native Americans from North and South America.  They have watched from the shadows while we lived large.  Now their numbers grow and we fall behind. Once they become a voting majority in this country, and a vast majority on this continent, are they going to willingly step forward, pay our debts, and take care of us in the style to which we have become accustomed?  I think not.  Fewer children might have worked had we been fiscally responsible. As things are, however, when our financial institutions struggle and they take positions of responsibility, we will see the literal fulfillment of the Lord’s dire predictions. In the end it might be for the best, as they are less likely to be swayed by the type of strange ideas that got us into this predicament.

*Those to whom the Lord spoke immediately after his resurrection came from Jerusalem in 600 BC and are direct descendents of Jacob.  Gentiles are generally considered non-Jewish people who came to this country after Columbus. However, as discussed in the section “What About Joseph” some of these European migrants were also descended from Jacob.

⁺  3 Nephi 16:15; 20:16; 21:12.    

What about Joseph?

Joseph’s promise:  I had a Jewish friend who believed deeply in ancient scripture.  We spoke often, but I regret never asking him an important question, “What about Joseph?”  Joseph was promised to be the leader among his brothers.  This was fulfilled in part when he lead them into Egypt; but the Lord clearly had more in mind for the posterity of this great man.   He was given the sacred birthright; and just before his death Jacob promised him that his posterity would bear the crown and have the blessings of heaven (1). 

Judah’s promise: Yet, at the pinnacle of Israel’s ancient glory the children of Judah ruled.  The tribe of Joseph rebelled and was carried into Assyria before the birth of the Savior.  If the birthright belonged to Joseph, why were his children rejected in favor of Judah?  There are perhaps two answers to this question.  First, Judah was also a noble man, who saved Joseph’s life at the well, and offered himself for Benjamin.  Moreover, before his death Jacob also made a great promise to Judah, that his posterity would be lawgivers and would bear the scepter.   This promise, however, was to last only until a person referred to as Shiloh should come to gather the people (1).  It is not clear how this prophecy relates to the ancient city of Shiloh, but it is now clear that Jacob’s promise of leadership for the children of Judah ended with the coming of our Lord.

Looking forward:  So back to the question, “What about Joseph?”  Clearly his children retain the sacred birthright and all the marvelous promises; even though these remained unfulfilled when Biblical writers fell silent.  The early Jewish Christians believed the Lord would hastily return and establish His Kingdom once again among them.  But Shiloh had come, the scepter had passed from Judah, and the Lord obviously had another plan.  Could anyone be surprised that this plan involves the children of Joseph?     Even if God could forget promises and birthrights, how could He ever forget the man who was Joseph?  To this day Joseph stands as a monument of unflinching faithfulness in the face of crushing adversity.  To anyone who understands and believes in Biblical prophecies, it should be simply apparent that the posterity of Joseph will yet be involved in a great work.  To these believers we say, “Here we are, come and see the promised crown of priesthood keys and authority”.  We, who are numbered among the posterity of Joseph, are diligently working to fulfill the heavenly promises given to Jacob; that his children would be gathered, would bless all nations, and would turn the hearts of the fathers to the children (2).  Moreover, we diligently seek the promised day when the posterity of Judah and of Joseph will be united in their love for one another, and in their service to God (3).

(1) Genesis 49:10-26

(2) Doctrine and Covenants 110:11-16

(3) Isaiah 11: 13

The Ten Tribes

Where are the lost 10 tribes? I hope no one is disappointed to find the answer is simply
apparent.

First the facts: 1) They are not exactly 10 tribes, but remnants of 12 of the 13 tribes,
Judah excluded. 2) They are lost to our knowledge, but not necessarily out of sight. 3) At
least a remnant will yet be reclaimed spiritually and lead home as a group.

Now some history: The northern Kingdom of Israel, lead by the tribe of prideful
Ephraim, was taken to Assyria in 729. They were resettled within Assyria over a
possibly wide area roughly centering in northern Iraq. Their quarrel with Judah included
the fact that the center of worship, the temple in Jerusalem, was under Judah’s control.
Clearly, returning to Palestine was not their priority. In fact, if they did choose to move,
they might well have chosen to go north, away from Jerusalem. The apocrypha says
this is exactly what happened*. It is clear that at least the tribe of Ephraim ended up
in northern Europe and the British Isles, where they were found by missionaries in the
latter-days. Clearly this rebellious yet gifted group, still possessing Jacob’s birth right,
decided to throw off their oppressive yoke and strike out on their own. But what of the
other tribes? Obviously individuals and perhaps clans are likely to have scattered all over
the earth; but we are looking for a core group still hidden yet reclaimable as prophesied.

Hidden where? So we are looking for the 10-11 tribes left of the original 11-12 after
Ephraim took off north. Where did they go and how do they remain hidden? People
have speculated they were hidden on a land mass at the North Pole, or on the North Star-
- Come on, they never went anywhere. Like many other conquered nations of that time
they basically became assimilated and stayed. They heard the original apostles and
many were presumably converted to the gospel and may have come to understand their
heritage. Who knows what spiritual revivals they might have had before being conquered
by Moslem nations and becoming enclosed behind the most spiritually impenetrable
barrier ever known to man-Islam.

The future: So the 10 tribes are most likely lost behind the curtain of Islamic law, which
forbids preaching of or conversion to Christianity. It will be interesting to see how the
Lord breaks down that barrier to allow missionaries to gather the final 10 tribes. This
explains the Lord’s proclamation that the first will be last and the last first. The 10 tribes
of Israel and Judah, chosen first, will be reclaimed only after the gentiles have had ample
chance to receive the truth.

*http://www.gatheringofisrael.com/12tribes.html

History of the Tribes

The apocryphal second book of Esdras, regarded as genuine by many early Christians, gives the following
account of the ten tribes:

'"and whereas thou sawest that he gathered another peaceable people unto him. These are the Ten Tribes
which were carried away captives out of their own land in the time of Oseas, the king, whom Salmanaser,
the king of the Assyrians, took captive and crossed them beyond the river; so were they brought into
another land, but they took this council to themselves, that they would leave the multitude of the heathen
and go forth onto a further country, where never man dwelt, that they might keep the statutes, which
they never kept in their own land. And they entered in at the narrow passages of the river Euphrates, for

the most High then showed them signs and stayed the springs of the flood till they were passed over;
for through the country there was great journey, even of a year and a half, and the same region is called
Arsareth." (2 Esdras 13:39-45.)

See also: Lands of the Dispersion: Britains from Armenia; Picts from Scythia By David Stewart
www.gatheringofisrael.com/12tribes.html

Darwin Fish

I love the "Darwin" car emblems, you know the ones, fish with feet. What do they mean?
Let me try: because Darwin showed that life came spontaneously, why fear God? But
who is God: let's say Someone who made things, watches over things, can control them
to a certain extent, and cares what happens. In short, someone really smart, powerful and
good. Maybe someone like Thomas Jefferson or Benjamin Franklin, if either had been
able to live and keep learning another 10 million years, or 100 billion or something. But
since there is no one around like that, why worry?

But wait, let’s think this through. Darwin says everything happened by chance. OK,
but who says it happened only once, and only recently. If a person really believes it
happened here by chance, how narrow minded to assume it never happened before,
anywhere, in all of time and space we know nothing about. And if it did happen
somewhere else, say 10 million or 100 billion years ago, who are those people? Let's say
they are smart, basically good, and that have been at it for all that time. Now tell me there
is no God.

So there you have it. Those people sporting the footed fish with Darwin's name are
actually the greatest proponents for a God in the Universe, if they could only see the
simply apparent extension of their logic.

Scientists and Global Warming

Science:  I love science; and I admire the scientists whose integrity, work ethics and native talents have made this a better world.  Any criticism of scientists found on this site should be considered in the context of the profound respect I have for my colleagues.

Global Warming:  That said, I do have a grudge.  Scientists love to impress each other: for most the goal is notoriety before wealth.  This is a mixed blessing.  For example, global warming may not be an easily understood environmental phenomenon, but without doubt it creates political heat.  Because so much influence and prestige are at stake, political and even scientific battle lines have been drawn, and separate camps formed.  The most conspicuous casualty of this tumult has been the rigorous culture of unfettered intellectual interchange, a foundation of scientific progress.  For some it almost seems a tool for intellectual bullying, if not scientific bigotry?

The Solution:  In this stifling atmosphere, I believe the basic points have been overlooked by almost everyone.  To find the truth, look for the SIMPLY APPARENT.  First; plant life is composed mostly of carbon dioxide and water.  Second; at one point earth’s foliage was magnificently abundant; so abundant that it piled up too fast to be recycled, resulting in immense buried carbon deposits.  Third, with reduced carbon dioxide available for photosynthesis, to say nothing of the water frozen at the poles, this planet became mostly barren.  So what to do--dredge up the carbon; burn it back into the biosphere; hope the earth heats enough to melt polar ice; and reap a windfall of plant life.  Imagine a rain forest in Saudi Arabia as it once was.  Hunger would vanish even with a world population vastly exceeding the present.  Energy sufficient for all our needs could be directly obtained by gleaning fallen foliage that otherwise would pile up again into carbon deposits.

Paradise:  So, shield your eyes from the political fire, see the apparent, and realize that freeing carbon from its underground prison is the key to turning earth into the paradise many of us believe it is destined to become.