Restored Israel

admin June 7th, 2010

Just as you have to loose your life to gain it, you have to loose your testimony to truly gain it. Allow me to explain.

When we were young, we spake as children, we understood as children, we thought as children, but when we become men we will ‘put away’ childish things (1 Cor. 13:11).

Remember when we were young and lived off our “Father’s” testimony? We repeated the rezas (set prayers)

“I’d like to bury (bare ye) my testimony,
I know the church is true,
I love my mom and dad and my brothers and sisters,
I know president __________ (insert name) is a true prophet.
I say these things…. amen.”

Perhaps we were wiser than we let on… for we truly were burying our testimonies, as a gardener plants a seed in the ground. Or better put, our parents (who whispered these words in our ears) were burying the testimony of faith in our hearts, that it might one day take root and spring forth as a well of living water. A tree bearing the fruit of eternal life. Our testimonies were pure, but they were young and incomplete. They had not yet weathered the heat of sun or the fury of the elements.

As we grow up, we put away childish things. We had to put away our parents testimony and develop our own. We receive the Holy Ghost and learn to speak with the tongue of angels. Our testimonies become more mature and sophisticated and yet they are still the same. They are the words the ashars & angels speak into our ears and hearts by the power of the holy ghost. The truth of the words of the spirit take root and emerge from the hidden soil of the heart into the visible world of the mind. The experiences of life like the elements cause the buried feelings of our hearts to become clothed in words and thoughts of physicality. The thoughts and feelings are tried and trimmed, pruned and purged giving strength and shape to our knowledge.

Our experiences put true meaning behind the cliche words that our parents spoke into our ears. Our personal experiences ween us from the testimony of our fathers to our own independent knowledge of truth. No one can continually rely on the testimony of their parents, at some point they must learn the truth for themselves. In fact it is the parents hope that the child will one day be weened and find the same source

For some this transition happens smoothly. For others it is difficult. (more on this later)

Would it surprise you to learn that testimony building is an eternal process? Just as God gave Israel the law/gospel of Moses as a schoolmaster to bring them up to Christ, so also has he given all the people of the earth dispensational heads to bring them up to a yet higher law. Just as we must learn to overcome our parents incomplete teachings and testimony of their “faith” in order to be brought up to the true higher testimony of the founder & finisher of their faith, so also must we grow past relying on the testimony of our dispensational heads or church founders in order gain the testimony and faith of the Father of all men.

It is of those who have not learned this lesson that D&C 76:99–101 says…

“99 For these are they who are of Paul, and of Apollos, and of Cephas.
100 These are they who say they are some of one and some of another—some of Christ and some of John, and some of Moses, and some of Elias, and some of Esaias, and some of Isaiah, and some of Enoch;
101 But received not the gospel, neither the testimony of Jesus, neither the prophets, neither the everlasting covenant.

We might as well add Joseph Smith to the list right after Christ and Moses! These terrestrial souls are those who have never gotten higher than the testimony of their fathers. They believed the dead prophets but rejected the living. Or they received the living prophets but rejected the ONE who sent them!. They knew the ‘Church’ was true but did not find the ‘truth’ hidden in the church. The faith planted in their hearts by Moses, Christ and Elias never sprouted into a well of everlasting life. They got caught up in sect-arianism and never got to know the Father.

Do you have any idea how many Christians and even Mormons fall into this category? I’ll tell you its at least five oil-less virgins worth (Matt. 25:11). Study the below graph and soak in the truth of it. Dispensational heads are important messengers (Messiah’s/Anointed ones) because no-one can be saved alone. You must be part of a large group to have the harmony and energy to be exalted to the highest heavens. Dispensational heads plant the field and gather the harvest. But if you do not eventually realize that they are schoolmaster’s leading us as a group to a higher exaltation (to the father) you will find yourself left behind.

It is our pride and enmity that binds us in the lower and middle heavens. The evangelicals (some of Paul) that hate the Mormons. The Mormons (some of Joseph) who think they are so superior to the Catholics (some of Peter). The Jews who feel too superior to embrace the Muslims, and the Muslims (some of Esau/Mohammad) who hate the self-righteous Jews. Yet above them all stands father Abraham. From whose bosom sprang the whole lot of them. He does not “know the Mormon/Catholic/Jewish/Islamic church is true” He has a higher testimony… a testimony of the Father. He feels no fear of loosing his “testimony” when he hears the slanders that each of these sects throw at each-other. Because he does not have a testimony based on an earthly organization. He does not take sides based on religion or lineage. His testimony is not of Joseph or Moses or Elias or even Jesus. His testimony is of the truth, of whom Joseph, Moses, Elias, and even Ishmael and Mohammad were messengers. The Christ said “I am the truth, the way and the life”. I echo Christ’s words in D&C 10:53–68,

” 53 And for this cause have I said: If this generation harden not their hearts, I will establish my church among them.
54 Now I do not say this to destroy my church, but I say this to build up my church;
55 Therefore, whosoever belongeth to my church NEED NOT FEAR, for such shall inherit the kingdom of heaven…
67 Behold, this is my doctrine—whosoever repenteth and cometh unto me, the same is my church.
68 Whosoever declareth more or less than this, the same is not of me, but is against me; therefore he is not of my church.

Do we see the deep hidden meaning in the words “Church” and “Christ”? Abraham does not argue about priesthood, because his seed is his priesthood! (Abr. 2:11) If we can start to see this in regard to the seed of Ham of whom Abra-ham was a dispensational head, can we see it in regards to Father Adam? Both Issac and Ishmael came from the loins of Abraham… and he loves them both equally. He favors one over the other, but he wants both to be reconciled, and the world will not be redeemed until they are. He sees how the favoring of one “provoked” the other to jealousy and perpetuates their sin and error. Neither can be redeemed into Abraham’s bosom until they both come to Him and are united in the light. A fall occurred in their division and redemption will come in their union. If Issac is to be first, he must make himself last until his love reconciles him to his brother. Christ came to unify the twelve apostles of Israel, each one representing a tribe of Jacob. He did it and he is doing it, that “none of them are lost, except the son of perdition” (John 17:12).

God does not make junk, and neither did father Abraham. Both Good (Isaac) and evil (Ishmael) proceeded from his bosom, and he will atone/reconcile them. So also did God the Father separate the light from the darkness and God the Son will atone them. Do you see then how if your testimony of the Church being “True” invokes the thought that other churches must be “False”, then your testimony is grossly childish? Just as Israel planted barley in the spring, wheat in the summer and grapes in the fall, so too does God send his angels in the appropriate seasons by the tens of thousands to sow the truth in the hearts of men. These planting periods are obvious in human history as they spark large religious movements such as the Reformation and the Great Awakening. Thousands of religions simultaneously reach for the sun. Some plants may have the priesthood and some may not but ALL the righteous/acceptable crop will be harvested by the angels when they are fully ripe… and the tares will be bound and burned.

As I write this it is becoming clear that I cannot explain what I am trying to teach… but I hope those who have ears to hear will hear. I hope we can see our role in the great drama. And also see the role of the other crops as well. That we see the role of the Seventh-day Adventist, Jehovah’s Witnesses, and other crops of the Great Awakening. That we can see the role of the Evangelicals, the Methodists, the Protestants and other crops of the Reformation. That we can see the role of the Gnostics, the Monophysites, the Syriacs, the Catholics and the Eastern Orthodoxy. And more so that we can rise even higher in the heavens and loose our enmity and pride toward our fellow idols of Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism and see thier roles in the great drama (see How Symbols become Idols). I hope we can see that EVERY religion on earth is but a shadow of a truer religion in heaven, and being earthly they all are subject to the laws of earth… namely the law of ONE or agency which dictates that good and evil must have equal and balanced influence over the hearts of man while they are on earth, and that NO religion is without error and all have a role to play. Do you know what role the Mormon religion is to play? Do you think you can effectively gather to safty those you do not love, understand and respect? Will you be able to gather the people into the safe Arc of Zion if you have a superiority complex? Can the blind lead the blind? Can you gather Buddhist to safety when you do not realize that Buddha was a Messenger? If you cannot see the well-meaning error that Joseph Smith and Peter introduced into the church, but glory in the error of Ellen G. White or Mohamed then are you not ignoring the council to first pick the beam out of your own eye? Will you not then be one of those who are “some of one-some of another” damned by their enmity to the terrestrial kingdom?

As a missionary I was foremost guilty of these things. But when I was a child, I spoke as a child… But now I put away childish things” Jesus submitted to John’s priesthood, even though being without priesthood (Heb 7:14), he was greater than John’s priesthood. I pray that we all might submit to the priesthood, but learn that the earthly priesthood is a schoolmaster pointing us to a greater heavenly priesthood. That same priesthood that the Man who was born of a virgin through the loins of fornication held. (David & Bathsheba; john 8:41)

So bury it well, but dont put a lid on its growth, for there shall be many of the first who will be last… and many of the last who will be first.

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