I’m going to do a bit of housecleaning. Here’s responses to questions I’ve been asked “off blog” so to speak:
I don’t recall the Know Your Religion instructor. He taught in a chapel on Creek Road in Sandy. I went back to my journal and his name is not recorded there.
Covenant making requires cutting. All covenants are made with cutting or blood involved. God’s covenant with Abraham, for example, involved a ceremony in which the animals which were cleaved apart were symbols of death as part of the oath for the covenant. (Gen. 15: 8-18.) The ceremony essentially referred to God proclaiming that the sacrifices or cutting should be done to Him, if He breaks the covenant He entered into with Abraham. Paul referred to this as God swearing by Himself, since He could swear by none greater. (Heb. 6: 13.) Eliminating the gestures of cutting was significant in the sense that the necessity of sacrificing all things, including life, is necessary to lay hold upon eternal life. Therefore although the principle remains the same for all, those who are not acquainted with that principle will never develop the faith necessary for salvation. The ceremony used to include direct reference to it, but removing it from the ceremony does not remove it from the Gospel.
The opinion poll taken was of active LDS families in Canada and the US and involved approximately 3,400 families.
Hugh Nibley was on the committee, but he withdrew after attending only one meeting.
I do not expect plural marriage to be revived in the church.
Not every question should be answered by me. Go ask the Lord. They are legitimate and He will answer.
So if you believe the church will not go back to the law of abraham, and I doubt we will ever go back to the order of enoch… does this mean the church will never repent and will go on the say it is, or possibly worse until the Lord comes? Will there be anyone on earth with a fulness? These are 2 everlasting covenants we have treaded upon and broken, and procastinate the day of our repentance.
I think it is more complex now than ever before. The “fullness” is here. But it is related to, but unregulated by, the church. D&C 77: 11 tells you the church never was the way in which the sealing was going to occur. I expect those who are church members to be the ones who will be included. As for establishing Zion, that is not even an ambition of the church at present. We aren’t looking to find the remnant, who are to build the New Jerusalem. We are putting ourselves, who are identified with the Gentiles, as the center, instead of the remnant who have the primary responsibility.
Sorting it all out is something which would take a volume to make clear. It is in the Book of Mormon and D&C. It is in Joseph’s teachings. You can follow the subject through the revelations and you will see the picture.
Yes, there will be those with a fullness on the earth.
Yes, there are some here now with it.
God will not forsake any, in any generation, who seek for Him. But they must come to Him in the manner in which He has revealed. Study the scriptures. They are able to make you wise unto salvation. It is your study; your obligation. It is not anyone else who must do this.
I’ve tried to make a coherent description available in the books I have written. They aren’t something which you should read without careful, solemn, and ponderous thought. They are filled with the scriptures and explanations which connect the revelations together in a simplified whole.
Nephi did the best single job of writing the process in his books. I’ve shown that in what I’ve written. Believe in the scriptures; particularly the Book of Mormon. The fullness is set out there. If you can’t see it, then read what I’ve written and it will show it to you using the scriptures.
And I say again, woe unto that nation or house or people who seek to hinder my people from obeying the Patriarchal law of Abraham, which leadeth to Celestial Glory, which has been revealed unto my Saints through the mouth of my servant Joseph, for whosoever doeth these things shall be damned, saith the Lord of Hosts, and shall be broken up and wasted away from under heaven by the judgments which I have sent forth, and which shall not return unto me void.
…As I the Lord have spoken so will I fulfill. I will spare none who remain in Babylon, but I will burn them up, saith the Lord of Hosts. As I the Lord have suffered, so will I put all enemies under my feet. For I the Lord utter my word and it shall be obeyed.
…You each of you have the power to unlock the veil of eternity and hold converse with God the Father, and His Son Jesus Christ and to have the ministrations of angels. It is your right, privilege and duty to inquire of the Lord as to His mind and will concerning yourselves and the inhabitants of Zion and their interests.
1880 Revelation to Apostle W Woodfruff, under Pres Taylor.
“Now those men, OR those women, who know NO MORE ABOUT THE POWER OF GOD, and the influences of THE HOLY SPIRIT, than to be led ENTIRELY BY ANOTHER PERSON, suspending their own understanding, and pinning their faith upon another’s sleeve, WILL NEVER BE CAPABLE OF ENTERING INTO THE CELESTIAL GLORY, to be crowned as they anticipate, THEY will never be capable of becoming Gods. They cannot rule themselves, to say nothing of ruling others, BUT they must be dictated to in every trifle, like a child. They never can hold scepters of glory, majesty, and power in the celestial kingdom. Who will? THOSE Who ARE VALIANT and inspired with the true independence of heaven, who will go forth boldly in the service of their God, leaving others to do as they please, determined to do right THOUGH ALL MANKIND besides SHOULD TAKE THE OPPOSITE course.”(President Brigham Young Journal of Discourses 1:312)