He said, “The most glaring evidence against JS is that we know he did not translate the Book of Abraham correctly. There is rock solid evidence of this, and while there are apologetics, none of them claim correct translation; they just make excuses for why it is OK that it was not translated correctly.”

And you know what, he’s right. The Book of Abraham is not an Egyptian-English translation of characters on the papyri. I’ve known this for a while and part of that is what prompted me to get the book, “The Joseph Smith Egyptian Papers” which was complied by H. Michael Marquardt. This book contains images of the pages of the Egyptian Alphabet and Grammar that was written by the scribes of Joseph Smith. The intent of this book is yet another attack on the Book of Abraham. It seems to focus on the claims the Joseph Smith had nothing to do with the Grammar and it was the scribes that wrote it.

The book is fascinating. However the images of the pages are fairly poor quality. But it does have a transcription so that makes it easier.

After reading ~Clint~’s comments it got me thinking about the Book of Abraham again. I pulled my copy of the Egyptian Papers off the shelf. I opened its tan, self published cover and stared(yet again) at the mind boggling symbols and supposed translations.

Then while reading some of links ~Clint~ provided I read something on another website. A question posed, “How does a book go from being faith-promoting in the beginning of its life, to becoming faith-destroying 150 years later?”

This concept stuck in my mind for many days. And I wondered was it possible that someday the Book of Abraham might swing back to the other end of the pendulum and become faith promoting again? Often things experience that kind of shift back and forth. Could it happen to the Book of Abraham? I don’t really know.

Yet, all of these thought sort of culminated in a sort of “AHA!” moment. Call it inspiration, or whatever. But I thought of something. In all the arguments I have seen against the Book of Abraham pretty much all of them illustrate that Joseph Smith’s translation is not a correct translation of the Egyptian symbols on the papyri. To which apologists then state that the actual translation was not from the surviving pieces of the papyri. Or they say it was an inspired translation or something. Critics then have a variety of of comebacks. Etc, Etc, around it goes on and on.

But what I’ve never seen before is an attempt at determining the validity of Joseph Smith’s translation of the Book of Abraham, independent of external factors. What I mean is, does Joseph Smith’s translation make sense in and of itself? Some Apologists attempt to distance themselves from the Grammar and Alphabet by claiming that Joseph Smith didn’t have a hand in it. Or that the symbols were written in later to “decorate” the document.

My question is, “Does the translation of the symbols work when applied to the entire papyri fragments and itself?”

So I came up with a hypothesis which is, that by examining, dissecting, and applying Joseph Smith translation of the symbols to most of (if not the entire) Papryi I can come up with an intelligible translation that makes sense.

At most I may be able to identify the symbols used for the rest of the Book of Abraham; recover some sort of additional text of the Book of Abraham; and possibly even some sort of text of the Book of Joseph. At the very least this will be a huge disaster that will completely fall apart in my face. In truth, I’m expecting both options.

And so my journey for the past few weeks had begun. And I expect that this experiment will take much more time before completion. But since it is taking so much time I thought I would share some of my discoveries.

What In The…

Joseph Smith’s translation of the characters on the Egyptian Papryi are not simple. In fact each symbol has five “degrees.” And I admit I’m only beginning to understand what the “degrees” are. However my examination so far shows that usually the translation in these degrees are fairly similar. For Example:

Symbol	Name	Fifth Degree	Fourth Degree	Third Degree	Second Degree	First Degree
	Iota	See/ Saw/ Seeing/ Having seen	Me / Myself	Sight	To see	The eye

However not all are so clear cut. Additionally the degree that is used depends upon the relation a symbol has to others around it. I haven’t quite figured it out.

Some people have claimed that this use of degrees allowed Joseph Smith to have a large amount of translated text while only using a small number of symbols. I don’t understand it completely, but I believe this accusation is actually mixing two parts of the translation; one, the system of five degrees, and two a system of numerical expansion that includes placing lines and other marks above or below the symbol to change it’s value. It also doesn’t address why Joseph chose to use only a small number of symbols for such a large translation. Why not give each symbol a smaller translation and use the rest of the symbols which are plentiful?

Another way symbols are used is by combining them to form another symbol. A couple of examples if this are given in the text. One is Kiah broam- kiah brah oam-Zub Zool oan.

This symbol is broken apart into five other symbols.

Needless to say with this sort of system it is very complex and something I will be working on for a long time to come.

A Breakthrough

My first breakthrough came on October 25 while I was sitting in my institute class. I thought I would see if there were any other complex symbols I could dissect. I found a symbol called Ho-hah-oop-an.

Ho-hah-oop-an means:

an intercessor / one who has is been appointed to intercede for another / invocation

To me it seems that this symbol seems to somehow relate to Jesus Christ as in intercessor. Pretty much all of these definitions point to some attribute of Christ.

Ho-hah-oop-an can be broken down into four symbols: Iota, Toan, Jah-ni-hah, and Ja-ho-e-oop

Symbol	Name	Fifth Degree	Fourth Degree	Third Degree	Second Degree	First Degree
	Iota	See / Saw / Seeing / Having seen	Me / Myself	Sight	To see	The eye
	Toan	under the Sun / under heaven / downward / stooping down / going down into another place / any place downward / going down into the grave / going down into misery / Hell / Coming down in lineage by royal descent(in a line by Onitas one of the royal families of the Kings of Egypt)	exceeding bad adultery / having descended below some other principle	under the earth / anything that is beneath some other thing / under water / water / also in some instances: fish	under water / water / under the earth	A principle that is beneath / a principle that is disgusting / not fit
	Jah-ni-hah	One delegated from the highest source acting in or being clothed with the power of another / one sent from the Celestial Kingdom	one that with delegated and redeeming power, and second in authority / being a swift messenger going before, and having redeeming power, as second in authority, and stands next to a or an the right hand of power.	one who will be delegated with redeeming power, who will be second in authority / a swift messenger to go before / having redeeming power / one who will be second in authority	The earth under the government of another, which is one of the fixed stars; which is called Oliblish	The earth including its affinity with the other planets; with their governing powers: which are fifteen / the earth; the sun, and the moon; first in their affinity; including one power.
	Ja-ho-e-oop	An ambassador / one delegated with Kingly power / one authorized to execute judgment for the King / a swift messenger one whose power cannot be escaped / one next to supreme			one who was delegated with redeeming power / one who was the second person in authority / a swift messenger / one that went before, having redeeming power / one who was second in authority	one who was delegated with redeeming power / one who was the second person in authority / a swift messenger / one that went before, having redeeming power / one who was second in authority

With these translations taken together the meaning of Ho-hah-oop-an is created. Even the name Ho-hah-oop-an can be derived from the names of some of the symbols from which it is made: Ja-ho-e(Jah-ni-hah)-oop, Toan.

This relatively minor discovery was my first breakthrough in cracking Joseph Smith’s translation of the symbols on the Papryi.

A Partial Translation

What makes this project so hard is that the Alphabet and Grammar only represents about half the characters of Papyri XI and I. And out of those, only about half have an actual translation in the document. Therefore I’m going to have to discover values of known characters and from them determine the values of the unknown characters.

Only about half of the Book of Abraham is contained in the Egyptian Papers. Next to each section of the translation are written symbols corresponding to those on the papyrus. While some Apologists claim these were later written in to decorate the pages, the symbols are consistent through all three renderings of the first half of the Book of Abraham. To illustrate this I’ve included the images below:

These images illustrate that the Egyptian Papers symbols correspond to symbols on the Papyri. And that they are ordered just like they are on the papyrus.

The next question becomes, do the translation of these symbols match to the translation given them in the Alphabet and Grammar?

Here are a couple examples of what I have discovered so far.

Main Symbol	Symbol Breakdown	Name	Meaning	Possible Relation to Text
		Iota	Me/myself/ sight/see	Now, Pharaoh being of that lineage by which he could not have the right of Priesthood, notwithstanding the Pharaohs would fain claim it from Noah, through Ham, therefore my father was led away by their idolatry; But I shall endeavor, hereafter,
		Zub zool(or something similar)	pointing to the end of a fixed period	to delineate the chronology running back from
		Iota	Me/myself/ sight/see	myself
		Toan	Coming down in lineage by royal descent	to the beginning of the creation, for the records have come into my hands, which I hold unto this present time.

Now I know what you’re saying. This are the symbols invented by Joseph Smith to fill the gaps. So of course the translation works. Ok fine, lets look at some actual symbols from the papyrus.

Main Symbol	Symbol Breakdown	Name	Meaning	Possible Relation to Text
		Kiah brah oam	Abraham/One who keeps commandments	6 But I, Abraham, and Lot, my brother’s son, prayed unto the Lord, and the Lord appeared unto me, and said unto me: Arise, and take Lot with thee;
		Alchebeth	Ministers of God	for I have purposed to take thee away out of Haran, and to make of thee a minister to bear my name in a strange land which I will give unto thy seed after thee for an everlasting possession, when they hearken to my voice.

While my research is far from complete, and also far from making any conclusions as to the integrity of the translation Joseph Smith ascribed to the Egyptian symbols, it is intriguing. I’m fascinated by this and am looking forward to many more discoveries.

Lastly I want to say that I’m not trying to prove any theory as to the origins of the translation. Was Joseph Smith making it up? Is there some secret meaning to the Egyptian symbols? Where the symbols simply means to receive revelation like the seer stones. I really have no idea. I would guess though that if Joseph Smith was making it all up and thus assigning random values to the symbols we would find the result to be gibberish and would not make an intelligible translation. If the translation is genuine(whatever that means, excluding direct translation of actual Egyptian) then the translation would be consistent and would make a intelligible translation. We’ll see what happens.

As for later parts of this series I have no idea when I will be finishing them. If I make any major progress I’ll be posting it here.

Chapter 3

Great Spiritual Blessings are Promised

The Lord has promised great blessings for those who enter into Celestial Marriage. Doctrine and Covenants records some of the many blessings a couple can receive.

Couples who have a Celestial Marriage will be permitted to enter into God’s glory. (D&C 132:4) They will inherit thrones, kingdoms, principalities, and powers, dominions, all heights and depths. They will be able to pass by the angels, who guard heaven and enter into their exaltation and glory. They will be able to have a fulness and a continuation of children forever and ever.

A couple which is faithful to Heavenly Father will be able to receive everything that He has. They will become like Him.(D&C 132:20)

By marrying in God’s ordained way, we may receive an outpouring of the Spirit on our marriages as we remain worthy.

- What are some more blessings for having a Celestial Marriage?

- Why is it important to you to have a Celestial Marriage?

Chapter 2

Celestial Marriage is Vital for Exaltation

Marriage is not just a social custom between men and women. For Latter-day Saints Marriage is an essential covenant and ordinance. Men and women who are sealed together for time and all eternity have the opportunity for their marriage continue after death. This blessing is predicated upon their righteousness. If they will remain true to their covenants nothing, not even death, can permanently separate them.

In order to attain the highest degree of the Celestial Kingdom men and women must have a Celestial Marriage

Joseph Smith revealed the Lord’s will concerning Celestial Marriage: “In the celestial glory there are three heavens or degrees; and in order to obtain the highest, a man must enter into this order of the priesthood [meaning the new and everlasting covenant of marriage]; and if he does not, he cannot obtain it. He may enter into the other, but that is the end of his kingdom; he cannot have an increase” (D&C 131:1–4).

After making sacred marriage covenants, being sealed by the power of the Holy Spirit, and continuing to live faithfully, the blessings of an eternal marriage are made available. The Lord said: “If a man marry a wife by my word, which is my law, and by the new and everlasting covenant, and it is sealed unto them by the Holy Spirit of promise, by him who is anointed, unto whom I have appointed this power and the keys of this priesthood; . . . and if [they] abide in my covenant, . . . it shall be done unto them in all things whatsoever my servant hath put upon them, in time, and through all eternity; and shall be of full force when they are out of the world” (D&C 132:19).

Eliza M. Partridge shared her feelings about Celestial Marriage: “Then let us rejoice my Sisters, that we are numbered with the People of God, that we have embraced the Celestial Order of Marriage, and happy shall we be in a coming day if we have never spoken lightly of sacred things.”

- In what ways does Celestial Marriage differ from the world’s view of marriage?

- Why must a person enter into Celestial Marriage in order to obtain the highest of the Celestial Kingdom?

Chapter 1

Marriage Covenant is Between a Man and a Woman

Marriage is a covenant relationship between a man, a woman, and God.

“We, the First Presidency and the Council of the Twelve Apostles of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, solemnly proclaim that marriage between a man and a woman is ordained of God and that the family is central to the Creator’s plan for the eternal destiny of His children.” (The Family: A Proclamation to the World)

Marriage is to be Legal and Lawful

We as Latter-day Saints, believe in being married legally and lawfully. Elder Boyd K. Packer gave a warning to the world: “There is a practice, now quite prevalent, for unmarried couples to live together, a counterfeit of marriage. They suppose that they shall have all that marriage can offer without the obligations connected with it. They are wrong!”

“However much they hope to find in a relationship of that kind, they will lose more. Living together without marriage destroys something inside all who participate. Virtue, self-esteem, and refinement of character wither away.”

“Such words as unselfishness and sacrifice will then be tossed aside. Then self-respect will fade and love itself will not want to stay.”(Elder Boyd K. Packer; Ensign, May 1981, 13–15)

- Why is it important to be legally married not just living together?

Marriage a Sacred Covenant

There are two forms of legal marriage. God established marriage with Adam and Eve. Since that time it has been a natural right of men and women. According to Heavenly Father, a marriage is formed when a man and woman make a marriage covenant with each other under God(see D&C 132:15, 18, 19). Marriage after this pattern is legal and acceptable to God so long as the couple keeps their covenant to each other. Christ taught there is no divorce with this type of marriage. (see Mark 10:4-7).

When a man and woman covenant with each other and with God they form a sacred triangle. When the husband and wife are obedient God will bless them.

This simple type of legal marriage has been acceptable to God since the beginning of earth. When Abraham received Hagar as his wife all that was needed was for Sarai to give her unto him. Mutual commitment between the couple being married is all that is required for form a legal marriage.

- What are the three points of the sacred triangle of marriage?

- What is needed for a man and woman to enter into a legal and lawful marriage covenant with each other?

Marriage and Marriage Licenses

The second form of legal marriage has roots in the Great Apostasy. During the 17th century Christian religions passed laws  which made it illegal for people of certain races to get married. In order for those people to get married they had to get permission from the government. This was done by acquiring a license. During the 1920s many states in the United States adopted these marriage licenses laws for racist purposes. In later years other states saw that marriage licenses provide a good source of income through license fees. Marriage license laws were passed making them applicable to all races. Eventually every state in the United States adopted marriage licenses laws. For a time marriage licenses were used to regulate benefits, spouse, and child support. However today marriage licenses are no longer used for these purposes.

The legal definition of a license is: “The permission by competent authority to do an act which without such permission, would be illegal.” However marriage is not an act that would be illegal without the government’s permission. Marriage of the first kind is legal for all men and women regardless of government permission.

The second type of legal marriage modifies the sacred triangle. By obtaining a state marriage license a couple includes the government as a partner in their marriage.
The Ohio State Bar Association gives information about this in one of their publications about marriage licenses. It says, “Actually, when you repeat your marriage vows you enter into a legal contract. There are three parties to that contract. 1.You; 2. Your husband or wife, as the case may be; and 3. the State of Ohio.”

With the government as a partner in the marriage, the couple receives benefits from the government. Such benefits include recognition of their marriage, ability to divorce for any reason, tax status, etc. In addition to receiving benefits in the government, the couple grants the government rights and permissions within their marriage. Such rights include jurisdiction of the the fruits of the marriage. By obtaining a marriage license the couple gives the government permission to regulate their property and children.

In 1993 the government in Wisconsin did not have to get permission from parents to administer an invasive test to their children. When asked what gave then the right, the government responded that their marriage licenses gave the government permission. By including the government in the sacred triangle, the state is an additional spouse in the marriage and an additional parent to their children.

As the use of marriage licenses has increased, divorce has also increased. By bringing the government into a couple’s marriage they have the government’s permission to divorce for any reason. However if a couple marries with the first type of legal marriage the couple is bound to God’s rules for marriage. Divorce is not a frivolous thing but a very serious matter to God.

- How did marriage licenses originate?

- When a couple gets a marriage license what are some of the rights the government gets in their marriage?

Additional Scriptures

Luke 16:13(No man can serve two masters)
Marriage is Sacred

The government has no jurisdiction over the first type of legal marriage. Because of its sacred and divine nature as a right of men and women, the government cannot regulate it. The covenant remains between the couple and God. By legally marrying without a marriage license a couple forgo govern-mental “benefits” and intrusions. However, they are still recipients of the blessings of a covenant marriage relationship.

- What are the two types of legal Marriage?

- Why is it impossible for the government to restrict or legislate the first type of legal marriage?

Additional Scriptures and Other Sources

Deuteronomy 21:13(mutual commitment is enough to make a legal marriage)

Introduction

The World is Attacking Marriage

“In the world today, many people dismiss and even mock marriage and the family. Amid such confusing and destructive voices, the First Presidency and Quorum of the Twelve Apostles provide the consistent voice of truth. They ‘solemnly proclaim that marriage between a man and a woman is ordained of God and that the family is central to the Creator’s plan for the eternal destiny of His children’ (see ‘The Family: A Proclamation to the World,’).

“Life’s greatest joys are found in the family. Strong family relationships require effort, but such effort brings great happiness in this life and throughout eternity. Even if you have not had a happy family life in the past, you can seek to have a happy, eternal marriage and a loving relationship with family members.” (True to the Faith)

Latter-day Saints Should Defend Marriage

As we progress closer to the second coming of our Savior; the adversary is increasing his fight against Celestial Marriage and the family. It the duty of all Latter-day Saints to learn of the essential principles surrounding Celestial Marriage. It is also their duty to defend these principles and give vocal objection to all who oppose God’s ordained pattern of marriage.

This book has been produced so that members of the Lord’s Church around the world may know what to do to stand strong against Satan’s influences. All Latter-day Saints are invited to read, study this book, and apply its contents.

Those who apply Heavenly Father’s laws in their lives will be blessed.

But for me September 11th means something else. To me it means…

it means…

HAPPY BIRTHDAY ZO-MA-RAH!

That’s right, it is the 1st birthday of the Zo-ma-rah: Pure News blog.

Instead of getting all sappy and reliving past moments I’ve had during the first year of my blog I thought I would give my readers a preview of some of the posts that I’m working on. I don’t mean to copy Rock and one of his recent posts about his upcoming articles. But the post I’m working on right now isn’t finished yet and I wanted to do something for the blog’s birthday. I could have incorporated and then Zo-ma-rah would have legally become a person, but I decided not to.

I’m sure all my readers, all ten of you, are excited to see what I have coming up. Ok, well maybe not excited, maybe…slightly interested. If not slightly interested then apathetically aware. So here is what I have coming up for all of you who are apathetically aware of my blog:

The next post I’ll most likely publish will be a comparison of ancient Christian practices verses those of the apostate Christian Church. Then I will make a comparison between the restored church’s practices and the L-DS Church’s practices. After that there will be an overall comparison of the two churches and their movements away from their roots. It will conclude with some ideas for what we can do today to bring our personal and group worship back to its foundations.

Shortly after that post there will be a post about women and the priesthood. And if my current hypothesis holds out the conclusion may surprise you.

Hey, you try and search for Armies of Israel and see if you don't get inundated with "Hot Israeli Army girlz"

Another post will be about reorganizing the Armies of Israel; how this will relate to building Zion; and how it fits with the command to publish peace. A peaceful army?

I’m also going to do some posts about the City of Zion and the various Stakes of Zion. Each will come with downloadable maps and possible CG images of the cities.

There will be posts about the temple in Zion, the Nauvoo Temple, the Third Temple in Jerusalem, and possibly the Voree temple. Each will come with CG image walkthroughs of the respective temples.

I’ll probably have a couple more posts on what we was individuals and groups can do to function as the church in the midst of corporate churches.

I’m going to continue my “From the Dust” series with some posts about the Book of Enoch and the Book of the Law of the Lord

I may even do some posts reconstructing ancient artifacts relevant to church history. Like the golden plates, the translators, the breast plate, sword of Laban, Ark of the Covenant, etc.

You might get a post about the Chronicle Project and their translation of the Bible. And if I do that one I’ll also be doing an analysis of the Kirtland Egyptian Papers.

And don’t forget the annual Plural Marriage month coming up this October.

So keep watching the blog for more stuff. Hopefully some of that sounded exciting. And who knows, I might wind up writing another controversial post or two that will get me called into the bishops office. Also I have sixty-four previous posts that are still open for discussion if you like.

Thanks to all my readers and your great comments. You guys really make me think and bring up information I often haven’t found or considered before.

Happy Birthday Zo-ma-rah!

There were a few things that happened after I wrote my Thomas S. Monson post that made me think about the stance I had taken. The biggest one was a member of the previous ward that I attended spoke of an instance where a General Authority of the Church was organizing a new stake in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, in Canada. Instead of organizing just one stake this leader was inspired to organize two stakes. Years later having both of those stakes allowed for growth of the Church in that area.

So was I wrong to have stated that Thomas S. Monson and other general authorities are not Prophets, Seers, and Revelators? If yes, then why do they not produce written revelations? If no, then how can they still receive inspiration, as demonstrated above? One thing is for sure is that I overlooked one importance facet of prophethood. In this write up I intend to examine this facet, and again re-examine the prophetic claims of leadership within the corporation of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

We learn some important information in the Book of Revelation.

Revelation 19:10:

10 And I fell at his feet to worship him. And he said unto me, See thou do it not: I am thy fellowservant, and of thy brethren that have the testimony of Jesus: worship God: for the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.

Any person who has the testimony of Jesus has the spirit of prophecy. Joseph Smith confirmed this when writing a Question and Answer about the church.

The question was, “Do you believe Joseph Smith, Jun., to be a Prophet?“

The answer Joseph Smith wrote was, “Yes, and every other man who has the testimony of Jesus. For the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.–Revelation, 19:10th verse.”

So does President Thomas S. Monson have a testimony of Jesus Christ? If so, then, Yes, he is prophet. Do other General Authorities have a testimony of Jesus? If so, then, Yes, they are prophets too. Does your bishop or other local leader have testimony of Christ? If so, then they are also prophets. Do you have a testimony of Christ? If so, then YOU are also prophet in the exact same fashion as any leader.

The problem is the prophet worship we have in the world today. Perhaps, “Prophet worship” might be too harsh of words. Regardless, there are many people today teaching that there is only one prophet on the earth at any time. This is incorrect as we have seen through Joseph Smith’s teachings and Revelation 19:10.

People are also taught to believe that THE prophet can never lead us astray. First of all there is never only one prophet at a time to thus qualify as “THE” prophet. Second, the prophet never leading the Church astray idea originated with Wilford Woodruff, in his pretentious rejection of Plural Marriage*.

Joseph Smith rejected the notion that a man could never lead the church astray. Even Brigham Young, surprisingly, rejected the same notion. The scriptures all together reject this apostate idea as false(1 Kings 22:21-23; Deuteronomy 13:1-4). I call this idea apostate because it is the exact same one that exists in the Catholic Church. Human beings are imperfect and fallible. Just because somebody gains a high corporate title does not mean that their decisions and statements are suddenly impervious to imperfection and error.

So we have learned two things thus far: First, that anyone who has a testimony of Christ is a prophet. And second prophets(since anyone with a testimony of Christ is one) are not perfect and can in fact lead people astray. We will come back to this second point later.

One of the biggest problems people have, including myself at one point, with the idea that there can be many prophets, is the thought of the disorder that must surely come with such an arrangement. If you are reading this and a faithful member of the L-DS Church, then probably this thought has already crossed your mind. Come on be honest.

And it’s true, this idea is ingrained into every L-DS members since their youth or conversion. There can only be one prophet leading. If there were more than one it would create disorder. I can witness that this is the case. Just last Sunday our Sunday School teacher spoke about he knows that the Church is true because there is only one prophet leading the Church. This is because God is a God of order, thus inferring that if there were more than one prophet then it would create disorder.

However, this concept is NOT what we are taught in the scriptures.

Numbers 11:24-28

24 And Moses went out, and told the people the words of the Lord, and gathered the seventy men of the elders of the people, and set them round about the tabernacle.

25 And the Lord came down in a cloud, and spake unto him, and took of the Spirit that was upon him, and gave it unto the seventy elders; and it came to pass, that, when the Spirit rested upon them, they prophesied, and did not cease.

26 But there remained two of the men in the camp, the name of the one was Eldad, and the name of the other Medad; and the Spirit rested upon them; and they were of them that were written, but went not out unto the tabernacle; and they prophesied in the camp.

27 And there ran a young man, and told Moses, and said, Eldad and Medad do prophesy in the camp.

28 And Joshua, the son of Nun, the servant of Moses, one of his young men, answered and said, My lord Moses, forbid them.

Here we read an interesting occurrence. Moses had gathered men to the tabernacle. They began prophesying. But low and behold what happened. There were these two ordinary guys in the camp, they were not part of those seventy leaders, yet they started going around “prophesying.” Aren’t the leaders of the Church the only ones who can do that? The Israelites seems to have had a similar idea, since one of the men named Joshua told Moses that he should forbid these two guys from prophesying.

I’m going to be honest too, it does make sense. Rationally if more than one person claims to speak for God it would be confusing. It would seem to make much more sense to only have one person speak for God. Then everything that one person says would be in harmony(we would hope).

So if Brother Joe B. Low gets up in sacrament meeting and starts prophesying he should be forbidden. After all, only the leaders of the Church can prophesy or give revelations.

Imagine, if you will, what President Monson, one of the Twelve, a Seventy, or even a Bishop would do if some people went around the Church prophesying outside of official channels. For me, I imagine that they would have a similar reaction to Joshua. They would want to forbid him, or at least call him into the Bishops office after sacrament meeting.

However pay close attention to what Moses did:

Numbers 11:29

29 And Moses said unto him, Enviest thou for my sake? would God that all the Lord’s people were prophets, and that the Lord would put his Spirit upon them.

Moses basically said, “You’re jealous for me?” He was essentially saying, “Do you think I care if these guys are prophesying?” The fact is, that Moses didn’t care that others besides the leaders were prophesying. Moses even went on to say that God wants ALL the lord’s people to prophesy.

So if we went back in time, and asked Moses if God’s form of order was that only on leader should speak for God, we can assume his answer would be not only, “No,” but, “Heck, NO!” Moses helps us realize that prophecy is not a gift limited to one man who is a leader. Rather it is a gift that can occur in any person when the Spirit comes upon them. And that it is God’s will that this gift come upon ALL His people.

As we can see, this again reinforces the idea of not only more than one prophet, but the common membership being prophets.

Moses understood that the Lord wants ALL His people to be prophets. Not just one leader. God wants a people of prophets. The idea that it is the Lord’s will for one man to sit on top and dictate prophecy and revelation while everyone else follows what that man says is a false one. We must each develop a close personal bond with Jesus Christ. We must be our own prophets. We cannot rely on the words of other men. The iron rod is the Word of God, not the words of some corporate leaders in a, dare I say, Great and Spacious Building.

In 1 Corinthians 14 we again learn the same thing:

1 Follow after charity, and desire spiritual gifts, but rather that ye may prophesy.

5 I would that ye all spake with tongues, but rather that ye prophesied; for greater is he that prophesieth than he that speaketh with tongues, except he interpret, that the church may receive edifying.

24 But if all prophesy, and there come in one that believeth not, or one unlearned, he is convinced of all, he is judged of all;

25 And thus are the secrets of his heart made manifest; and so falling down on his face he will worship God, and report that God is in you of a truth.

We should be desiring to prophecy. Additionally, the prophesying of the common membership is one way to help bring people to Christ and help convince them of the truthfulness of the gospel.

But again, we are stuck with the mass confusion that such a system would create. If every member of the church is giving different prophecies and revelations then the Church would be thrown into chaos! It appears much more logical, and easy, for us to listen twice a year at general conference to fifteen men who speak for God and whose prophecies and revelations never contradict.

However this is not so. In addition to other resources 1 Corinthians 14 also gives us instruction on how to handle the common prophet system.

We read:

26 How is it then, brethren? when ye come together, every one of you hath a psalm, hath a doctrine, hath a tongue, hath a revelation, hath an interpretation. Let all things be done unto edifying.

Here the same question is asked. Just how is such a thing done?

29 Let the prophets speak two or three, and let the other judge.

When the prophets, that is, the average ward member, prophecy there should be one who sits and judges what they say. That might even be applied to say that each member judges for themselves.

30 If anything be revealed to another that sitteth by, let the first hold his peace.

31 For ye may all prophesy one by one, that all may learn, and all may be comforted.

Everyone must take their turn when prophesying in meetings.

32 And the spirits of the prophets are subject to the prophets.

33 For God is not the author of confusion, but of peace, as in all churches of the saints.

The meaning of the “spirits of the prophets are subject to the prophets” means that any true prophecy cannot contradict a previous true prophecy given by any other prophet. Joseph Smith likewise confirmed this when he taught that a true revelation will not contradict a previous one.

However, instead of understanding this chapter, people look at verse 33 and think that supports the idea that there is only one prophet at a time. Yet this verse is directly supporting the idea that there can be order even when every member of the church is a prophet.

36 What! came the word of God out from you? or came it unto you only?

The word of God does not only come to one leader. This verse, to me at least(and I may be interpreting it wrong), seems to be expressing dismay at the idea that the word of God would only come to one person.

37 If any man think himself to be a prophet, or spiritual, let him acknowledge that the things that I write unto you are the commandments of the Lord.

38 But if any man be ignorant, let him be ignorant.

39 Wherefore, brethren, covet to prophesy, and forbid not to speak with tongues.

40 Let all things be done decently and in order.

Again we are told in this chapter to “covet prophesy.” When was that last time you actually wanted to be a prophet and give revelations? The scriptures teach us that this is something that we should be doing. I don’t think that God will give us the gift of prophecy if we are unwilling to accept it.

Thus far we have seen two opposing ideas:

While the “One Prophet” system may sound very logical and easy, those are precisely the reasons why it is not the correct system.

1 Corinthians 1:27

27 For God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty;

Many prophets at once, sounds illogical, and foolish. It sounds like confusion. Yet, God does not always use what is logical according to men.

God, also, does not want an idle people.

Doctrine and Covenants 58:26-28

26 For behold, it is not meet that I should command in all things; for he that is compelled in all things, the same is a slothful and not a wise servant; wherefore he receiveth no reward.

27 Verily I say, men should be anxiously engaged in a good cause, and do many things of their own free will, and bring to pass much righteousness;

28 For the power is in them, wherein they are agents unto themselves. And inasmuch as men do good they shall in nowise lose their reward.

The “One Prophet” system would have us believe that it is our leaders’ “province to teach to the Church what the doctrine is. It is [our] province to echo what [they] say or to remain silent.”** We must follow all “official church policies” regardless if they align with the scriptures or not.

However the scriptures teach that as long as we do good and work to bring to pass righteousness then we will not lose our reward. It doesn’t matter if we are inline with a Church program or policy so long as we are engaged in a good cause and do it of our own free will.

There are, Sections in the Doctrine and Covenants which state that only Joseph Smith may receive revelations for the whole church. There are a couple ways we can address these scriptures. One way is that they only applied to Joseph Smith, Jr. Another way is that revelations(revelator) are different than prophecies(Prophet). I also find it interesting that Joseph Smith organized the Anointed Quorum to be able to hear revelations from any member and accept them for presentation to the whole church. The Anointed Quorum was an actual quorum of members who had received their Nauvoo Endowment. It was not just a generic group of endowed members. I’d like to hear more thoughts on the idea.

Furthermore, how do we square the multiple prophet system with the principle of having a President of the Church? Well let’s looks at a scripture pertaining to the duties of the President of the Church.

Doctrine and Covenants 107:91

91 And again, the duty of the President of the office of the High Priesthood is to preside over the whole church, and to be like unto Moses

Yes, the President of the church does play an important role. They are to preside over the church, which in God’s terms means to serve the whole church. Their duty is not to be supreme infallible dictator. Additionally according to section 107 the First Presidency, Quorum of the Twelve, Quorum of the Seventy, High Council of Zion, and the combined High Councils of all of the Stakes of Zion, all are equal in authority.

Additionally you’ll notice it said the President’s duty is to be like unto Moses. As we read earlier it was Moses who didn’t reject the general membership from prophesying. It was also Moses who said that God wanted all His people to be prophets.

I don’t want you to think that I advocate rejecting Thomas S. Monson as a prophet. If Thomas Monson has a testimony of Christ then he is a prophet. It would be wrong to reject the words of a prophet. However just as with any prophet, we must examine their words and determine if they square with what is taught in the Scriptures. Those words they speak that do align with scripture then we accept them. Those words that don’t we are duty bound as children of God to reject them. As discussed earlier this is were he must be weary of a fallible human leading people astray.

According to Their Idols

One problem we may encounter is when true revelation given to someone regarding incorrect ideas. As in the example I gave at the beginning a General Authority received real revelation about organizing stakes. However the problem is that the organization of stakes in the L-DS Church today runs contrary to how they are supposed to be established in scripture. How then, can real revelation be received?

The reason is given to us in Ezekiel 14:1-6

1 Then came certain of the elders of Israel unto me, and sat before me.

2 And the word of the Lord came unto me, saying,

3 Son of man, these men have set up their idols in their heart, and put the stumbling block of their iniquity before their face; should I be inquired of at all by them?

4 Therefore speak unto them, and say unto them, Thus saith the Lord God; Every man of the house of Israel that setteth up his idols in his heart, and putteth the stumbling block of his iniquity before his face, and cometh to the prophet; I the Lord will answer him that cometh, according to the multitude of his idols;

5 That I may take the house of Israel in their own heart, because they are all estranged from me through their idols.

6 Therefore say unto the house of Israel, Thus saith the Lord God; Repent, and turn yourselves from your idols; and turn away your faces from all your abominations.

When we set idols up before ourselves, God will answer us according to those idol. While a stake may be organized by revelation, that does not mean that the organization of the stake has been done as God wants it. It just means that God is speaking to that person through their idols.

Another example could be the Church Handbook of Instruction. I’m sure there are many Bishops and even regular members out there who have received true revelation from God regarding something concerning the Church Handbook of Instruction. This is real revelation. The problem is that instead of following God’s Word in the scriptures, we have set up the Church Handbook of Instruction as an idol in our hearts. Therefor God will inspire us according to that idol.

However, even though the CHI may have some good instruction, it may even have some wise council, and people probably have had positive experiences with it; we have been commanded to turn from our idols. When we obey teachings, books, manuals, magazines, and cultural practices that run contrary to scripture and the words of the prophets, we are setting those things up as idols before us. We are commanded by God to reject them.

As we begin ridding our lives of idols(and for me this is quite a task) the Spirit can teach us more freely. One week we maybe be quietly enjoying the Spirit, while partaking of a sacrament administered by priests while elders are present. But the next, the Lord might withdraw His Spirit from that same sacrament because now we understand that the sacrament cannot be properly administered by priests if elders are present.

There’s one example of something taught today that is not correct the, administration of the Sacrament. Let’s look at some others(the problem is most messages today are not specifically declared as revelation or prophecy):

Tithing

The Gospel Principles manual teaches that Tithing is paying one-tenth of our income. However Doctrine and Covenants Section 119 gives us a different story. Only after we consecrate all of our property to the Bishop can we begin to pay tithing. Tithing itself being ten percent of our excess property after one year. This means that after one year everything that is left over after our expenditures is consecrated to the Bishop. Ten percent of THAT, our interest, is given as tithing.

However tithing has an additional definition. Prior to Section 119 tithing referred to any offering. So you can still pay tithing as an offering but there is no requirement of ten percent. The ten percent definition of tithing can ONLY be lived as part of the Law of Consecration. Think of that next time you fill out a tithing slip; or go for a temple recommend and you are asked if you pay a full and honest tithe. The answer is you can’t because we are not living the Law of Consecration.

Word of Wisdom

Gospel Principles Chapter 29 teaches that “We must obey the Word of Wisdom to be worthy to enter the temple. If we do not obey the Word of Wisdom, the Lord’s Spirit withdraws from us.”

However in Doctrine and Covenants 89 teaches us something different. Verse 2 states that the revelation is, “to be sent greeting; not by commandment or constraint, but by revelation and the word of wisdom.” The Word of Wisdom cannot be a commandment because in the original revelation is says it is not to be sent by commandment. Anyone who teaches that the Word of Wisdom is a commandment is not in harmony with the scriptures and is preaching false teachings.

Matthew 15:11 teaches that “Not that which goeth into the mouth defileth a man; but that which cometh out of the mouth, this defileth a man.” This is why section 89 is not a commandments but a word of wisdom.
Additionally the Word of Wisdom allows for drinking wine for the sacrament*** and also for drinking beer****.

Gathering Israel

Gospel Principles Chapter 42 says, “The Israelites are to be gathered spiritually first and then physically. They are gathered spiritually as they join The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and make and keep sacred covenants. This spiritual gathering began during the time of the Prophet Joseph Smith and continues today all over the world. Converts to the Church are Israelites either by blood or adoption.”

This is not correct. There is no such thing as being gathered spiritually first. Saying that the spiritual gathering began with Joseph Smith is, to be frank, an outright lie! Joseph Smith firmly believed in a literal physical gathering. That is why converts from all over the world got on boats and came here to North America. To say it was a Spiritual gathering is an insult to the sacrifices of those ho came before us. They were literally gathering Israel. That is why the Saints as a whole moved from place to place establishing cities.

Doctrine and Covenants 133:12, 13 says:

12 Let them, therefore, who are among the Gentiles flee unto Zion.

13 And let them who be of Judah flee unto Jerusalem, unto the mountains of the Lord’s house.

In the gathering the gentiles are to be gathered to Zion and the Jews are to be gathered to Jerusalem. If the gathering is spiritual, and Zion symbolically means becoming a member of the Church, then what does Jerusalem symbolically mean for the Jews? The Jewish religion? Are we really to believe that our missionaries to be recruiting for the Jewish religion as well?

The gathering is very literal. It has never been revoked by God. Anyone who preaches otherwise is not teaching in line with the scriptures.

Correct Teachings

The leaders of the Church do teach many correct things as well. They teach us to love our families. They teach us to be Charitable to our fellow beings.

President Monson gave a message for August 2011 it included this:

“To you who are parents, I say, show love to your children. You know you love them, but make certain they know it as well. They are so precious. Let them know. Call upon our Heavenly Father for help as you care for their needs each day and as you deal with the challenges which inevitably come with parenthood. You need more than your own wisdom in rearing them.”

There are many other good teachings in the Church. But at the same time there are many things the we should be cautious of. As we make the scriptures part of our lives we must use them to determine correct principles. We must reject those teachings that run contrary to the scriptures and the words of the prophets.

Conclusion and Invitation

I hope this write up was helpful in expounding upon the multiple prophet system. God truly does want a people of prophets. We must overcome the temptation to be thankful for “our living prophet,” rather we should be thankful for “living prophets.” We need to look around and find those who prophecy for God. And believe me there are many. We must examine the claims of the prophets and reject that which is false, but also accept that which is true.

There is no such thing as “official channels” for God. If God wants to give a prophecy through your next door neighbor He will. We become a lazy, slothful, idle, and idolatrous people when we think we can listen to the words of fifteen men and be assured that what they say is God’s will. It is idleness! It is laziness! Have any of you read the revelations of James Strang? What about Joseph Smith III, the Prophet’s son? Have you read the Second Book of Commandments? What about Christopher Nemelka? There’s even the Mentinah archives, a record of the descendants of Hagoth. Have you even bothered to search and examine these things? Some may be true some may be not.

Do you only have time to listen to General Conference or read the Ensign? Or will you “treasure up in your minds continually the words of life” and SEEK after everything that is virtuous, lovely, of good report, and/or praiseworthy? Seek doesn’t mean wait for it to be handed to you over the television, or in a magazine twice a year. It means to go out and search these things out.

I want to invite everyone who reads this, yes even you people who may be reading this offline, to come here to my blog. I want to hear your comments and ideas. I’m an imperfect person, my ideas and write ups are not perfect. There is a comment section underneath every post, it is very easy to use. The address you will need to go to is http://zomarah.wordpress.com/2011/08/10/prophecy-and-paradigm. I don’t censor anybody’s comments(unless it’s spam). Even if you are in complete opposition to what I wrote feel free to make your voice heard. Rest assured you will probably bring up something I hadn’t considered before or give me something to think about.

Let’s examine the teachings of not only the Church, but of anybody. Let’s find out what is being taught that is in line with the scriptures. Please, I want to hear your opinions I really do.

I hope this post hasn’t been as hot button pushing as my previous one. But at the same time I hope it has given you something to consider. Something to research, and ponder, and pray about. If you ask me, if I believe that Thomas Monson is a Prophet, my answer will be, “’Yes, and every other man who has the testimony of Jesus. For the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.’”

References for Offline Readers

* Official Declaration 1 (http://lds.org/scriptures/dc-testament/od/1?lang=eng )

** Bruce R. McConkie

*** D&C 89:5

5 That inasmuch as any man drinketh wine or strong drink among you, behold it is not good, neither meet in the sight of your Father, only in assembling yourselves together to offer up your sacraments before him.

**** D&C 89:17

17 Nevertheless, wheat for man, and corn for the ox, and oats for the horse, and rye for the fowls and for swine, and for all beasts of the field, and barley for all useful animals, and for mild drinks, as also other grain.

I found this post here and just had to copy it to my blog. It’s pretty good and it brought up some ideas I hadn’t considered before.

Probably the most irritating thing to me when I read about things against polygamy is the constant assumption that monogamy is better for women or somehow in womens best interests. Are people really so naive to think that monogamy and womens lib went hand in hand or had anything to do with each other? Monogamy was not implemented for the benefit of women, why is there so much talk as if it was? Weather we trace it to Roman Law to prevent too many full citizens or popular early gnosticism that viewed sex and marriage as of the devil or slightly better than hellfire we don’t have a woman friendly policy.

In the 300′s we see monogamy mandated for clergy. In the 600′s we have it for everyone, and in the same century we have the view that women are not even to touch the altar and that the Eucharist was too holy to be touched by a woman’s bare hands, she had to wear white linen gloves. We hardly have time where monogamy would be established for womens sake. Even up to the 1700′s we have writing on how monogamy hurts women, its only in the last century that its been seen as something for them or for their benefit.

Even in more recent history we have monogamy working directly against women. Among the Mormons we have Martha Hughes Cannon, the first woman in any state senate in the States. She was the wife of a polygamist. We have women gaining the right to vote in Utah in 1870, then that right being taken away in 1887 by the Edmunds-Tucker antipolygamy act. That’s right, women lost the right to vote in an antipolygamy act… It took them 8 years to get it back. Monogamy once again is against women, its simply not to their benefit, its to mens benefit. Frankly most men prefer girlfreinds, mistresses, or worse than wives. They certainly don’t want to be outnumbered by wives, it becomes much harder to promote total top down control of women.

To whit many would respond that polygamy usually practiced with that kind of control in our time. Well, yeah, but its because in deeply Islamic countries the law directly opposes women. Women aren’t kept down by the family but by society at large. Without the law backing him the husband doesn’t have total top down power in polygamy, he has less power since he loses the strength advantage and he has more views and reasons to consider.

Put it this way, in monogamy if a man is head of the house and has veto power, any split vote is 1:1, his veto power wins, he is an automatic dictator. In a house of a husband and 3 wives you have much more of a republic, the man as head of house might resolve 2:2 votes but he ought to hesitate if there is a 1:3 vote against him. He should believe his wives to be intelligent and responsible and realize that he would be leading the family into trouble by ignoring their council.

If a man is abusive is he really going to have a use for polygamy? 2:1, even though men are much stronger than women if they support each other he is in trouble.

The only way polygamy goes wrong is if laws or culture prevent women for standing up for themselves. At present thats what polygamists cultures in the medias limelight either actually do or are accused of doing.

Before this though I need to talk a bit about how the church is established overall. The church organization given in the scriptures is much more egalitarian than what is practiced by the L-DS corporation. Also it is much more diverse and interesting. The modern organization of the Church typifies a Babylonian pyramidal hierarchical organization. But the scriptural organization of the church is a progressive, yet humble organization, which is designed to bring forth God’s kingdom on the earth.

Just for example here is a diagram of the Church organization.

Pretty straight forward Leaders at the top members at the bottom. And if you insist the leaders of the Church are servants then you can flip the pyramid upside down, but you still get the same organization, just upside down.

However I’m going to refer to some scriptures in Doctrine and Covenants that help us understand the true organization of the church.

Lets start with the world. There are two major areas of division in the scriptural church. These are the world, and the Land of Zion. The Land of Zion consists of North and South America. The world is everywhere else.

But for matters of jurisdiction Zion consists only of those stakes of Zion organized in the Land of Zion and around the world. The world then consists of all lands that are not part of a stake of Zion. The exception being the stakes scattered abroad which are not considered stakes of Zion.

Jerusalem and the land of Israel are also important. Jerusalem and Zion(New Jerusalem) are parallel cities. With the gentiles being gathered to Zion and the Jews to Jerusalem one can imagine cities patterned after Jerusalem being built in the land of Israel as described by Ezekiel.

The Stakes of Zion(except for the stakes scattered abroad) are self sufficient cities. Each having their own United Order. There are three types of Stakes of Zion. This first is the center stake meanings Zion itself.

The second are the Twelve Stakes of Zion. Section 101 describes a parable of Twelve Olive Trees. Joseph Smith stated that these Twelve Olive Trees were symbols of Twelve Stakes of Zion that would be built before Zion herself is built. I have been able to identify eight possible locations for these twelve Stakes. I’m sure some searching through the Joseph Smith papers or some other historical archives would reveal the location of the others. But I have neither the time nor resources to do that at this moment. Perhaps when the movement is a little further underway this information can be discovered/revealed. (For my frequent readers you may have noticed I dropped Voree from the list. I am now inclined to believe Voree is a “place appointed for refuge” rather than an intended Stake of Zion. But I’m open to being wrong.)

1. Kirtland
2. Far West
3. Seth
4. Adam-ondi-Ahman
5. Nauvoo
6. Zarahemla
7. Macedonia
8. Nashville
9. (Unknown to me)
10. (Unknown to me)
11. (Unknown to me)
12. (Unknown to me)

The third type of Stake of Zion are Stakes patterned after Zion that are to fill the world. On the first plat of Zion there was a command that “When this square is thus laid off and supplied, lay off another in the same way, and so fill up the world.” We can assume that this command was carried through for the revised second Plat of Zion. So after the Twelve Stakes have been built and filled, then Zion can be built and filled. Only then, can we start building Cities and Stakes around the world. This also answers the question about temples around the world. Yes, temples around the world are acceptable, but only if they are build in cities of Zion after Zion itself has been completed.

So you ask, where will my branch of the church fit in? Most likely your church will be part of one of the stakes scattered aboard. A stake is just a collection of congregations/churches. You shouldn’t have to worry about the United Order in outlying stakes nor temple/city building. Your focus should be on bringing souls to Christ through the Gospel. Then meeting together as a church. I’ll discuss the move to Zion in later posts.

Priesthoods and Councils

The church has two divisions the Melchizedek Priesthood and the Aaronic or Levitical Priesthood. The Melchizedek Priesthood, which is in charge of Spiritual things, is overseen by a President and two councilors. These three, form the “Presidency of the High Priesthood, after the order of Melchizedek”. Also these three must be High Priests chosen by the body(the church). Now I’m not necessarily advocating we all start electing our own first presidency or anything. While that time may come in the future lets just focus on organizing a local church. This stuff is just for review.

The Twelve Traveling Councilors, or Twelve Apostles, or to be special witnesses of Christ in all the world. They do their work as missionaries first to the gentiles and then to the Jews. They as a quorum are equal in authority to the three presiding High priests. However they have no jurisdiction in Stakes of Zion. Only in the world and stakes scattered abroad. They are to officiate under the direction of the Presidency of the church. The twelve are to call upon the Seventy to help them in their duties. They twelve may ordain evangelical ministers in the large branches of the church in the world.

The Seventy or also special witnesses to the world. They do their work as missionaries first to the gentiles then to the Jews. The Quorums of the Seventy have equal authority to the Travling High Council(Quorum of the Twelve) and the Three presiding High Priests. Like the Twelve they only have authority in the world and outlying stakes. the Seventy act under the direction of the Twelve. Eventually there will be one hundred forty-four thousand of these Seventy, twelve thousand from each tribe, who will preach the gospel to the world.

Each Stake of Zion both in the Land of Zion and around the world has a High Council. All together these High councils form a Quorum. This Quorum is equal in authority to the Presidency, the Traveling High Council, and the Seventy.

Zion, the center place, has a High Council. this High Council is equal in authority to the Presidency, the Traveling High Council, the Seventy, and the quorum of the High Councils.

If any decision of any of these quorums is made in unrighteousness it may be brought before an assembly of the other quorums.

In regards to the Aaronic Priesthood it is overseen by a Presiding Bishop or Bishopric. The right to the office of Bishop belongs to a literal descendant of Aaron. He does not need to have councilors. But in cases where there is no literal descendant a High Priest of the order of Melchizedek may be ordained to the office of Bishop. In this case he is to be assisted by two councilors.

According to D&C 107:74-75 Bishops which are under the Presiding Bishop are to be ordained as needed.

Baptism

Ok, there you have the grand scheme. Now lets look at the local stuff. A church begins when two or more people who have repented and come unto Christ meet together. This church is formed by the social bonds between those meeting. The purpose of meeting as a church is to strengthen each other. This includes socially, spiritually, temporally, etc.

Entry into the church begins with baptism, which includes rebaptism. The guidelines for determine who should be baptized is given in 20:37. Those who:

1. Humble themselves before God,
2. Desire to be baptized,
3. Come forth with broken hearts and contrite spirits,
4. Witness before the church that they have truly repented of all their sins, and are willing to take upon them the name of Jesus Christ, having a determination to serve him to the end,
5. Truly manifest by their works that they have received of the Spirit of Christ unto the remission of their sins,

Are they who should be baptized. There is nothing about having a solid understanding of every little thing taught by Joseph Smith. No, it is simply about the gospel.

A person may be baptized by an Elder or a Priest. If you have an Elder or Priest in your church that’s great. If not, I’ll talk later about how to get one.

D&C 20:68 After being baptized but before being confirmed or partaking of the sacrament a new member must have all things concerning the church of Christ expounded to their understanding by the elders or priests.

If you don’t have a steady supply of people are already members coming to you church then missionary work and baptism is the best way to increase your church.

Meeting As The Church

Since the purpose of the church is to support each other it is vital that you meet together often20:75. You can meet for a variety of reasons, even if it is just to get together and chit-chat. Other meetings you may want to consider having are:

General meeting – Gather to listen from speakers as inspired by the spirit. Healings, gift of tongues, prophecy, etc.
Sacrament – Gather to partake of the Lord’s Supper. Partake of bread and wine as symbols of Christ until full, both physically and Spiritually.
Confirmation – D&C 46:6
School of the Prophets – D&C 88:127-141
Anointed Quorum – For saints who have participated in the Nauvoo Endowment. Discuss the mysteries.
Female Relief Society of Nauvoo – Click here for more study.

Many of these other meetings require some sort of officer to administer the meeting. So lets look at what officers you should have in you church.(I’ll discuss these meetings more in depth at a later date.)

Priesthood

I have to make sure that we recognize that there is generally no requirement in the scriptures for an officer of the Church to request permission from a “superior” in order to fulfill their duties. These duties are simply what each officer must do. God gives you permission to fulfill these duties. JUST DO THEM.

Elders

• Baptize
• Ordain elders, priests, teachers, deacons
• Administer bread and wine
• Confirm those who are baptized
• Teach
• Expound
• Exhort
• Watch over the church
• Take the lead of all meetings
• Conduct meetings as led by the Holy Ghost
• Officiate in absence of a High Priest.
• Officiate in all of these offices in the church when no higher authority is present.
• Ordain where there is no branch of the church
• Travel
• Sign letters certifying memberships of members(if they are personally acquainted with the member)

Priests

• Preach
• Teach
• Expounding
• Exhort
• Baptize
• Visit the house of each member
• Exhort members to pray vocally and in secret and attend to family duties
• Ordain priests, teachers, deacons
• Assist elders in the above duties
• Take the lead of Meetings(When no Elder is present)

• Administer Sacrament(When no Elder is present)
• Travel
• Sign letters certifying memberships of members(if they are personally acquainted with the member)

Teachers

• Watch over the church
• Be with and strengthen the church
• See that there is no iniquity in the church, neither hardness with each other, neither lying, backbiting, nor evil speaking.
• See that the church meets together often
• See that members do their duty
• Take the lead(When no Elder and Priest are present)
• Warn
• Expounding
• Exhort
• Teach
• Invite all to come unto Christ
• Sign letters certifying memberships of members

Deacons

• To assist Teachers in their duties
• Sign letters certifying memberships of members

High priests

• Officiate in administering spiritual things
• Officiate in office of elder, priest, teacher, deacon, and member.
• Officiate in all of these offices in the church when no higher authority is present.
• Ordain where there is no branch of the church
• Travel

Bishop

• Administer all temporal things
• Be a judge in Israel
• Do the business of the church
• Ordaining where there is no branch of the church
• Receive the substance of the members to impart unto the poor
• Keep the storehouse
• Discern the gifts of the members of the church
• Appoint unto members where to lay the foundation of the City of Zion
• Receive payment of money that was given from this church unto another
• Make preparations for those families who have been commanded to come to the land Zion
• Determine privileges of the lands in Zion.
• Receive accounting of stewardships
• receive the funds of the church
• Take an account of the elders to administer to their wants and pay for that which they receive
• Pay the debts of those elders who have no means to pay
• Issue certificates that render elders and acceptable to receive an inheritance
• Manage the affiars of the poor
• Travel, searching after the poor and administer to their wants by humbling the rich and proud(Traveling Bishop)
• Administer inheritances

Ordaining Officers

I highly recommend reading the post by LDSAnarchist: “Every elder, priest, teacher or deacon is to be ordained according to the gifts…of God unto him.”

D&C 20:65-66

65 No person is to be ordained to any office in this church, where there is a regularly organized branch of the same, without the vote of that church;

66 But the presiding elders, traveling bishops, high councilors, high priests, and elders, may have the privilege of ordaining, where there is no branch of the church that a vote may be called.

If there are already members in your church then the consenting vote of the members of that church are required before officers can be ordained. But in places where there are no churches(branch of the church), then officers may be ordained without a vote of the non existent church. For example if you go on a mission to some remote area.

After being ordained an elder must receive a license to be able to fulfill his duties. This license is given by the consenting vote of the church to which they belong or at a conference of the church.

If an priest, teacher, or deacon is ordained by a priest then they should receive a certificate from that priest. The priest, teacher, or deacon should then present that certificate to an elder. The Elder will then give him a license. Or the license may be given at a conference.

If there is a priest in your church then he may ordain other priests, teacher, or deacons. If you have an elder then he may ordain elders, priests, teachers, and/or deacons.

However Presidents of the High Priesthood(or presiding elders), bishops, high councilors, and high priests, may only be ordained at the direction of a high council, or a conference of the church.

Here is a License template that could be used. I just copied it from those issued during Joseph Smith’s time:

Licenses

The scriptures have given us the guidelines for operating branches of the church in our own locations. Please reread sections 20 and 107. Also what helps me is just to do a search one scriptures.lds.org for a term then read all the entries. For example I just searched bishop in the Doctrine and Covenants and then read every entry. Those duties I found are what I wrote on my list.

Members Moving Around

Members who are moving to another area and hence another branch of the church, or who are visiting another branch, should take with them a letter. The church that they are leaving must give the member a letter certifying that they are regular members in good standing. This letter may be signed by any elder or priest if the member personally knows the elder or priest. If not then the letter may be signed by any teacher or deacon.

Conclusion

There you go. You have your very own how to guide for establishing a branch of the church in your area. Not that you didn’t already have it in your D&C but whatever. I hope this will motivate some people to start holding their own meetings as the church. On Rock’s posts I heard a lot of people wondering what alternatives we have to L-DS sacrament meetings. Well here is your alternative. Meet in your homes as the church as directed by the scriptures and the Spirit.

P.S. I haven’t been able to find any historic texts for the Priest/teacher/deacon certificate that they take to an elder to get their license. Likewise I haven’t been able to find historic text for the D&C 20:84 letter of membership. If any of you know of any historic text I would love to see it.

My most recent studies in the Book of Mormon have been in Mosiah. I’ve been studying the different breakaways and unifications in this book. Even the history of Lehi leaving Jerusalem gives some of the same things. Those of you who have also read these account probably have noticed many similarities between these accounts and our times today. What I would like to do here is examine the events in the Book of Mosiah and see how they can relate to us today. If so, then perhaps we can get guidance in what we must do.

Just a little backstory, I’m sure many of you are already familiar with it. Lehi was commanded by God to flee Jerusalem and the Apostate Jewish Church. He took his family and they fled. After crossing a great sea they arrived in what we call the Americas. Led by the Spirit Lehi’s family build up a church. The family was split in two with one group fleeing to another place, the Nephites. And the others developing a hatred towards the Nephites, the Lamanites.

The Nephites fled into the wilderness and settled in a land they called Nephi. There in Nephi they built a temple. They went through times of righteousness and wickedness. Eventually one Nephit named Mosiah was commanded by God to flee the land of Nephi. Mosaih eventually found the land of Zarahemla. Zerahemla had been established by agroup of people called the Mulekites. The Mulekites were another group of people who had fled Jerusalem. The Mulekites made Mosiah their king. This began the reign of Kings in Zarahemla. At some point a temple was constructed in the land of Zarahemla. Mosiah was not only the King but also established the church. All of the righteous people followed Mosiah out of the land of Nephi. Those who stayed were destroyed by the Lamanites. Mosiah’s son Benjamin became the king after his father. During this time the army of Zarahemla was sent to look for the land of Nephi.

A man by the name Zeniff was part of a scouting party. And he spied on the Lamanites. When Zeniff saw the good in the Lamanites he did not want them to be destroyed. Instead we wanted to make a treaty with them so they could poses the land of Nephi. But the ruler of the army was a bloodthirsty man. There was a battle where part of the army who sided with Zeniff fought against the part who sided with the ruler. Everyone who survived, including Zeniff, returned to Zarahemla.

Zeniff had a strong desire to reclaim the land of Nephi. So he gathered as many people as he could and went there. He made a treaty with the Lamanite King and began to rebuild the old city. They also established a righteous branch of the church. They began to reuse the old temple. There were also a few conflicts with the Lamanites.

Now we get to the interesting stuff.

Eventually Zeniff conferred his Kingdom upon his son Noah. This made Noah the proper leader both politically and religiously. We can liken this today to the leaders of the Church who were appointed by a certain process.

Noah put down all of the Priests his father had conferred and replaced them with his own. He put a tax on everything that the people produced.

Today it is required that you pay ten percent of everything your income in order to be able to enter the temples of the Church.

Noah also built many great and beautiful buildings. He decorated the temple and build a place for his priests to sit.

The Church uses the money from tithing to build large and beautiful temples. They also use investment income(which originated from tithing) to build many other building. For example a $6 Billion shopping center.

Noah also built a great tower near the temple. This to me is a shocking parallel in that a few hundred feet in one direction from the temple is a tower known as the Church Office Building. And a few hundred feet in another direction are two more towers that are part of the City Creek Center.

While towers may be interesting there is an even stronger parallel with today. If there are any Believing Mormons reading this, and you have made it this far, I advise you to carefully study this interaaction in the Book of Mormon.

There was a citizen of the land of Nephi named Abinadi. The Lord gave him a message to deliver. So Abinadi began preaching. The people turned Abinadi in to King Noah.

Now when we read Mosiah 11 we read it with hind sight. We can see obviously that what King Noah was wicked. But strangely the people supported him completely. When Abinadi began preaching the people rejected him. Abinadi was just some nobody. Now these are people who followed a righteous leader, Zeniff, just a short time before. So how could a people support a righteous leader and then a wicked one without even batting an eyelash? The answer is because they were not following the principles of righteousness they were following the leader. I guarantee that as some point early in his ministry King Noah taught that he could never lead the people astray. All the people had to do was follow him and they would be fine.

So when Abinadi came the people hated his words because he didn’t follow the leader. He taught that what their leader was doing was wrong. But the people, remember they supported a righteous King before so they didn’t love wickedness, continued supporting their leader.

This same exact(I don’t mean closely resembles, I mean exact) attitude exists in Church members today. Church members will support their leaders no matter what they do. Even when Church leaders violate or command the violation of God’s commandments the people don’t care. They support the leaders in these things. In fact if some random guy, just like Abinadi was, went to Salt Lake and started preaching against the wickedness of the Church, the members would HATE him. I bet some would even want to kill him. Members of the Church today would fit perfectly into King Noah’s Church.

If anything comes from Mosaih 11 let us remember that Church leaders can and do lead us astray. It’s part of the program! This chapter teaches us that we must be constantly on guard and defend ourselves against incorrect teachings that may come from our leaders.

Back to the story. After being taken to the king, Abinadi preached against the him and his priests. One of Noah’s priests, Alma, listened to Abinadi’s words and wanted Abinadi to be set free. But Abinadi was eventually killed and Alma was cast out.

Because Alma was now an outlaw he hid and recorded the words of Abinadi,. He repented of his wicked actions. He then went around preaching Abinadi’s words to the people, but he did it in secret. I have demonstrated in this post and previous ones, that we live in a time of wickedness. We should look to Alma as an example of what to do in times of wickedness.

First Alma wrote the words of Abinadi. We need to treasure up the word of the Lord.

Secondly Alma repented of his sins. This is a process that all of us should be doing. Repentance is change. So when we learn something more or different than what we are currently doing we must change to come into alignment with the correct teaching.

Third Alma began preaching to the people in secret. The reason he was preaching in secret was to avoid the king, who wanted him killed. While we don’t have a king who wants us dead, we do have powerful church authorities. For some of us it may not yet be time to depart the L-DS Church. In this case it may be better to preach in secret. Others of us may have already become significantly distanced from the L-DS Church the we can preach openly. Regardless it is vital that we begin preaching to the people.

Those people who believed Alma, went to his hiding place in Mormon. After a few days there were many people there and Alma began teaching them. He taught them about faith, redemption, and repentance.

After teaching them Alma asks them to be baptized. He gives some qualities a person should have before baptism. The attributes are as follows:
- Be desirous to come into the fold of God,
- Be desirous to be called his people,
- Are willing to bear one another’s burdens, that they may be light,
- Are willing to mourn with those that mourn,
- To comfort those that stand in need of comfort,
- To stand as witnesses of God at all times and in all things, and in all places that ye may be in, even until death.

Notice that none of these are about having a strong knowledge about Church doctrines or policies. Rather they are attitudes that we should possess before baptism. I’ve heard many people say that this is the baptismal covenant. But this is not the covenant. Instead we learn that baptism is a witness of a covenant we make. The covenant we make is that, “[w]e will serve [God] and keep his commandments.” Baptism is not the covenant but a witness of the covenant.

Additionally we must recognize that all these people were already baptized into the church under Zeniff and Noah. So what they were doing was participating in rebaptism. Members of the Church today claim that weekly partaking of the sacrament is a renewal or re-committal of the baptismal covenant, but this is not correct. Rebaptism is a renewal of the baptismal covenant.

After being rebaptized these people were called the church of God or church of Christ. And anyone else who was baptized was added to this church.

This is also an example for us today. Baptism is the way to enter the Lord’s church. And either by a n initial baptism, a valid former baptism, or a rebaptism we likewise enter the Lord’s church. In the church Elders and Priests are authorized to perform baptism. I would encourage anyone reading this that if you possess those attributes listed above, that you be baptized, or rebaptized into the church. You can locate and Elder or Priest and have them perform this. You can use the comments section below to find someone.

Alma commanded the Priests he ordained to teach nothing except the words of the prophets, and faith and repentance.

Alma also commanded them that they shouldn’t have any contention. This is something that I believe is important for becoming unified with other people who believe differently about certain things. We must “look forward with one eye, having one faith and one baptism, having their hearts knit together in unity and in love one towards another.” The Gospel is all that is important for our function as the church. Other topics are interesting and edifying but we should only be preaching faith and repentance.

Another thing is interesting is that immediately Alma instituted the Law of Consecration. Just like in the first years of Christianity. all people gave what they had and it was distributed among everyone.

It was about this time the the King found out about this movement and sent his army to find them.

Now imagine this was occurring in our days. There is a group of people gathering without the permission of the Church(TM). They are holding meetings, baptizing, preaching, and living the law of consecration. All of this without the consent or permission of the “mainstream” Church.

Now imagine that Thomas Monson finds out about this movement(I am not insinuating that Thomas Monson is participating in the same activities as King Noah was). What do you think Thomas Monson or other general authorities would do?

I think that if any of the members were still attending L-DS wards then they would be pulled into Bishops offices. They would most likely undergo Church discipline. The First Presidency would issue warnings against participating in such groups. They would condemn such groups as apostate and having gone astray. Granted this is just my own thoughts, but it may reflect reality.

Instead of embracing such a movement as branch of the church, the Church today would assume the same role that Noah did in Alma’s day.

Well it so happens that Noah did what any good power hungry leader should do. He told everyone that Alma was stirring up the people to rebellion against him. So he sent his army out to squash the “rebellion.” But meanwhile back near the waters of Mormon Alma and his people were somehow “appraised” of the coming of the King’s army. So they go out of there and fled into the wilderness.

Now this seemed to snapped some of the people out of the apathy they were in. Because after this a “lesser part” began to threaten the king. This tells to me at least that the people had at least some sense of reason. The majority of the people may have sided with with Noah, knowing the prophet(or king in their case) can never lead them astray. But when he sent his army out to kill a bunch of innocent crazies gathered in the woods at least a few of the people realized there was something wrong in whoville.

Long story short a guy name Gideon comes to kill the king. And chases him up the tower. But I love King Noah’s reaction. If any of you have seen the movie Madagascar, there is a scene where Melman the giraffe is stuck in a shipping crate, after being shipwrecked on Madagascar. Alex the lion is trying to get him out by ramming him with a tree trunk. But Melman realizes Alex is about to ram him in the crotch. As Alex is running closer Melman is screaming for him to stop. Then suddenly he shouts, “There’s Gloria!”(Gloria is a hippopotamus that is part of their group and hasn’t been found on the island yet) Alex stops to look and to Melman’s surprise Gloria’s shipping crate really has washed up on the beach. Melman says to himself, surprised that his ruse was true, “It IS Gloria.”

I can just imagine this same reaction with King Noah. Gideon is chasing him up the tower. Fearing for his life King Noah desperately shouts out, “Oh look it’s the Lamanites!” Then to his surprise the Lamanites really are there!

So then Gideon spares him and King Noah ordered all the men to leave their wives and children and flee into the wilderness. Now I imagine that the TBNs(True Believing Noahites) where wondering what king of trial of faith this was. Why was the Lord commanding the priesthood holders to flee into the wilderness and leave the women and children at the mercy of the Lamanites? But we must be obedient to the Lord’s anointed because he knows what’s going on more than we do. However this seemed to be another dividing line, shattering many of the TBNs beliefs because many decided it was better to stay and send their fair daughters out to plead with the Lamanites.

The other dividing line was with those TBN men who had fled into the wilderness. They realized that what King Noah was doing was wrong. So the burned him, fulfilling Abinadi’s prophecy. Now I wonder if the people had hear of the prophecy and made a conscious decision to fulfill it rather then, “Oh wadaya know, the prophecy was fulfilled.” Perhaps they took it upon themselves to fulfill the prophecy. This can serve as an example to us. Do we sit around waiting for prophecies to be magically be fulfilled or are was actively trying to fulfill the prophecies?

Anyway before the people can kill the priests they flee. The men who fled returned home(I can just imagine the explaining they had to do to their wives).

But the pleading the beautiful daughters did worked. The Lamanites allowed them to live in the land with Limhi(one of Noah’s sons) as their king. They had a great tax placed upon them.

Limhi was a more righteous man. He worked to establish peace in his kingdom.

Meanwhile the old priests under Noah stole some of the daughters of the Lamanites to be their wives. This cause trouble for Limhi when the Lamanites blamed him for the disappearance of their daughters. But after a great deal of trouble Limhi got it sorted out. He started to again establish a peaceful kingdom.

Eventually Ammon from Zarahemla wanders into their town. He starts figuring out what happened. And they morun for everything that happened. And interesting key word is that they mourned that Alma, who had formed a church of God, had fled. Alma hadn’t formed THE church of God, but a church of God. Since the church of God was still around in other areas what Alma formed was just part of the church.

Now that the people had been forced to see that Noah could in fact lead them astray the people wished that they could have joined Alma’s people. Now the people wanted to be baptized but for some reason Ammon felt unworthy and didn’t baptize them.

Eventually Limhi and his people escape from the Lamanites and return to Zarahemla.

Meanwhile in the wilderness Alma and his group found a nice place and started to build a city. The people wanted Alma to be their king but Alma refused. He told them, “It is not expedient that we should have a king; for thus saith the Lord: Ye shall not esteem one flesh above another; or one man shall not think himself above another; therefore I say unto you, It is not expedient that ye should have a king.”

Eventually the army of the Lamanites, who had been in search of the escaped people of Limhi, stumbled upon Alma’s group. The Lamanites agreed to spare Alma’s people’s lives and liberty if they showed them how to get back to the land of Nephi. But the Lamanites went back on their promise and ended up putting the people who came from Noah’s priest, led by Amulon, over Alma’s people.

After a time of trial Alma, and those people of Amulon who had join their church, decided to break the (Lamanite) laws of the land and flee again into the wilderness. They left and found another place to stay, but the Lord told them to keep moving because Lamanites were after them. So they kept forging ahead in the wilderness and lo and behold the found their way back to Zarahemla.

After Mosiah, the grandson of Mosiah and son of Benjamin, talked to the assembled body of people, he had Alma speak to them. Alma eventually baptized the people of Limhi. Now I do have a question why nobody of Mosaiah’s people was able to baptize the people of Limhi. Or perhaps Limhi’s people arrived only a short time before Alma and didn’t have time for anyone else to baptized the.

Now I’m going to quote here what happened next:

“And it came to pass that king Mosiah granted unto Alma, that he might establish Churches throughout all the land of Zarahemla; and gave him power to ordain priests and teachers over every Church. Now this was done because there was so many people that they could not all be governed by one teacher; neither could they all hear the word of God in one assembly; therefore they did assemble themselves together in different bodies, being called Churches; every Church having their priests and their teachers, and every priest preaching the word according as it was delivered to him by the mouth of Alma: and thus, notwithstanding there being many Churches, they were all one Church; yea, even the Church of God: for there was nothing preached in all the Churches except it were repentance and faith in God. And now there was seven Churches in the land of Zarahemla. And it came to pass that whosoever was desirous to take upon them the name of Christ, or of God, they did join the churches of God; and they were called the people of God. And the Lord did pour out his spirit unto them, and they were blest, and prospered in the land.”

This to me is a key indicator to support the idea that “the church” is in fact many different individual congregations. The church is the people as a whole but at the same time each independent congregation is also the church.

I hope you’ll forgive me for this overly long summary of these chapters of Mosiah. The overall point I want to draw from this is that establishing a church(meaning a congregation) can be done as dictated by the Spirit. It does not require authorization from “Presiding Authorities.” These chapters provide a real example of how this can work and that is IS ACCEPTABLE TO GOD! We must look to the Book of Mormon to see the will of the Lord. The Doctrine and Covenants deals with more of the nitty gritty of establishing churches, which I will discuss later.

For now I leave you with this. Don’t be afraid to gather in settings apart from L-DS meetings. You are the church and wherever you are gathering that is a gathering of the church.