The first portion of the promise in the word of Wisdom read like this;

You “shall receive ^bhealth in their navel and marrow to their bones”

The very first blessing is the most obvious, health.  Your body, your insides, your stomach and digestive parts, etc. will receive health from this lifestyle, as opposed to colon cancer I suppose.  Out side of this, the navel represents the place of nourishment, the center of the bodies working elements.  This is the place that receives all things going in and sends things on their way.  Marrow represents the strength, the inner most portion of the skeletal makeup.  The fluid that provides heath to your system, enabling a strong working platform.  Having strength to begin with, and healthful nourishment, are akin to having all that we needed in sustenance.  Receiving these things at the Lords hand is a covenant blessing.  The remnant of the last days, those who are left, will be provided for abundantly in this manner (isaiah 7:22).  They will receive food when all the world is being condemned, they will be made strong with nourishment of all kinds, spiritually and physically, when the rest of the world are being destroyed.  This Promise of health and strength in our bodies is tantamount to giving a promise of deliverance from the degenerate lifestyles now profuse in Babylon.  Those ways of living will be the death of the people, but the Lord’s people will receive life in nourishment and strength.  The endowment is also alluded to here in the language and wording of the promise, which is designed to draw the minds of a covenantal people to those promises they were given by the Lord when they made covenants with him, and will at the veil.  They are promises to be able to pass by guarding angels who stand to block the way of people not living that lifestyle.  The wording in this verse then is a promise of health and strength in areas of our temporal bodies, at a time when the delivering/destroying angels are producing their work of the wheat from tares by means of destructive Babylonian consumption and habit.

Next they will “find wisdom”

In Isaiah 29 we are told that one of the destroying problems of the people will be their reliance on sages and rulers.  WE are told there will be a covenantal group of people who draw near to him with their lips and mouth, yet in reality their fear is in the precept of men.  This group will be confounded as they rely on their sages for wisdom, since the wisdom of their wise men shall perish.  The wisdom they seek, that saving knowledge, is not found, since their understanding is only in the precept of men.  I find this an interesting contrast to Isaiah’s promise to the righteous, “And wisdom and ^aknowledge shall be the stability of thy times, and strength of salvation: the fear of the Lord is his ^btreasure.”  Knowledge refers to the covenant with God, to know him, his voice or his name.  The wisdom found in this covenant kept will be stability to them for their time.  As they rely on their relationship with God and not men, as we saw in chapter 29, he will be their salvation.  Furthermore, whereas the fallen covenant people in chapter 29 found their fear of the Lord in the precepts and teachings of men, these people fear the Lord because of their knowledge of him.  One group follows men, follows the word of men, the teachings of men, the precepts of men, the establishment of men.  The other group follows God, knows his voice and finds wisdom in it.  IT is this wisdom that allows a person to receive the covenantal blessing of health and peace while the world around is in dire turmoil and destruction.

and, “great ^ctreasures of ^dknowledge, even hidden treasures”

Going back to these verses in Isaiah (ch 33), we find that the riches of the people of the Lord are to be found in their covenantal knowledge of God.  The treasure to them is that relationship and they are blessed abundantly.  They realize that moth and rust do not corrupt this type of treasure.  They live a simple life of consuming and living the commandments, seeking the face of the lord and are blessed immensely in this endeavor.  These are the riches, this is the money, that the gate keeper will require at our hands when the time to pass by the angels with the keys words comes.  He will give you those words in that close relationship, tell them in your ear so only you can hear.  This is the knowledge that will make you rich, the voice of the Lord in your ear.  This is the Treasure that will allow you to pass the angels on their dividing march. The mysteries of God that we are commanded to seek will be found in this way and the relationship found will be the key to unlocking the riches of heaven.

“And shall ^arun and not be ^bweary, and shall walk and not faint.”

This is perhaps the most quoted and thought-through portion of the promise.  And that base explanation is relevant.  WE will be healthy and have strength beyond those who do not live in a healthy manner.  However, there is more to this promise.  Isaiah 40:30-31 reads,

“But they that wait (…hope…) upon the LORD shall renew [their] strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; [and] they shall walk, and not faint.”

This race we are running is a trying one.  It tries the patience of the Lords servants who have to wait for that day when Zion is removed and Babylon destroyed.  But Isaiah tells us that the Lord will give strength in that race to those who wait on him, who seek him an his Zion.  HE will allow them to last throughout the tribulation that will come.  He gives that promise.  And in fact the Lord tells us here that they will receive strength in the mere process of waiting, being made better and stronger as the race is prolonged.  Another facet of this verse refers to the Davidic Servant.  In Isaiah 50:4 the Servant tells us that it is he who gives this strength those that wait in the Lord;

“The Lord GOD hath given me the tongue of the learned, that I should know how to speak a word in season to [him that is] weary: he wakeneth morning by morning, he wakeneth mine ear to hear as the learned.”

Those who wait hear the word of the servant.  The weary in the last days, who wait on him, are made strong through wisdom and knowledge, which they receive at the servants hand.  HE is the covenant that is delivered, the promise of strength to Zion, the feet and wings of the eagles who fly from the four corners in gathering.  They walk and not faint and run without weariness in the strength of God, in the words of his servant.  They awake in the morning to hear his words, while the rest of the world is asleep like dumb dogs who love to slumber.

We could belabor these points, but I prefer not too.  Suffice it to say that Isaiah uses similar wording to these short words, like fat bones, running like a spring of water, etc. to describe the remnant who remain, recognize the Lords voice in his final servant and sustain their march to Zion.  Finally the Lord gives us one final promise, to tie them all together, to give us perspective on this principle’s reach and on the need for the promise;

“And I, the Lord, give unto them a promise, that the ^adestroying angel shall ^bpass by them, as the children of Israel, and not slay them.”

This is the only place in scripture that I am aware of that we are given a promise that the destroying angel of the last days will pass by us.  This is obvious  exodus language, even to the unrehearsed gentile.  In the old time, during the original exodus which we have as a type of our own, there was a sign given which would enable them to be passed over.  The lambs blood.  The promise is that if they put that sign on their door posts they would survive.  This is a very basic feat and the promise here to us is obvious.  We have been given the lambs blood, the simple act adapted to the weakest of saints which will allow them to be passed over in our own time of destruction.  We have been given the sign, told how to receive the key words, in order to pass by in an exodus of the Lords saints and given instruction for hearing and recognizing the Lords servant.  We won’t be keeping that sign based on the knowledge of men, on their precepts and interpretation.  We wont be keeping the word of wisdom according to the commandments of men, but by the voice of the covenant with the Lord.  This sign is not given as a commandment for this very purpose.  It is for our interpretation, severally, in concourse with the Lord.  By applying its teachings as the voice of the lord directs us we will be blessed with hidden treasures of knowledge and wisdom, which wisdom will in turn lead to strong healthy bodies in the face of destruction, which will lead to the temporal and thus spiritual salvation we seek.  For the purpose of developing a people of faith and valor, able to hear the lords voice, there are two interpretations of the word of wisdom available to us today.

One is a commandment, with tenets and instruction based on the precepts of men, in turn tied to a covenant with death.  This is the promise of wisdom which men have given us.  They have tied to it promises and curses.  They control and are responsible for that unjust blood.

The other is not commandment, it is merely fact or a basic principle, and the searching of it in the spirit of humility, leads to instruction from God and temporal salvation.    This is the promise to us contained in scripture, a true word of wisdom.  This scriptural version of the word of wisdom is tied to Gods voice and direction, he is then responsible for your protection.

So I thought that perhaps I could discuss a few of the interesting portions (I know, entirely subjective) of the Word of Wisdom, and how they apply to us today who are seeking to come out from Babylon and establish Zion.   I have decided to just go with the present D&C version, as the only difference between it and the original is a comma, which we will discuss.  The Word of Wisdom has interestingly come to dominate my life, as well as that of my wife.  I suppose the reason it has is that it is a Word of Wisdom on a manner of living.  What we eat and drink dominates are day more than I at first realized.  Indeed, as It has come to absorb me a good deal I’ve realized how much like the beasts I still am.  Drinking eating and sleeping occupy my days.  We work to earn food and safety for our families.  So much so that the savior felt the need to point out to Satan, and thus all who follow him, that man cannot live on bread and water alone.  In fact, he told us to toil and spin not, for God feeds the sparrows fine and we are so much more then them!   SO in this message I find a need for simplicity.  When getting lost in the work of God, often we find servants like Alma who have fasted for many dies and get hungry.  We see the Savior denying himself of food for forty days.  We are told in Isaiah that the Remnant in the last days will eat milk and Honey, a very simple diet, the diet of Nomads.  I am not implying that we not eat.  I om implying that food is a much bigger idol than we know.  Do we let the acquiring and eating of it dominate our day?  Is food consumption in one form or another distracting us?  I think it seems benign on the surface, but in reality most of the people of today are slaves to this one taskmaster, food.

This is what the pharisees in their extremism would claim, “For John came neither eating nor drinking, and they say, He hath a devil.”  However, before we come to think of the lack of eating food as a virtue we should go the meridian of time to see our savior who the pharisees complained about. “The Son of man came eating and drinking, and they say, Behold a man gluttonous, and ^aa winebibber, a friend of ^bpublicans and sinners. But wisdom is justified ^cof her children.”

The Son of God, the Savior of Israel ate and drink much.  HE did so in the taverns with the publicans.  On the sabbath day he walked and ate through the fields of corn (Matt 12:1).  He ate so much that they declared him unfit for the kingdom, a Glutton!  He drank enough that they declared him to be an Alcoholic!  So in him we find our example.  A person who did not labor for food, as the sparrows.  He cared not for food so much as to deny himself of it forty days in the name of the Lord.  Yet, when it was provided and abundant he ate and drank in joy and thanksgiving.

By doing both of these things he gives us the example of one who does not declare food to be an idol.  He gives it no saving grace.  Denying consumption of foods, as in eating only sparingly, not of wine, etc… in itself is a form of idolatry.  On the other hand, spending all your time relaxing and eating or working hard to by more too is distraction from God.  The food in itself, whether the lack thereof or the abundance, provides no saving grace.  This we would do well to remember.   Thus the laws of the pharisees of what and when to drink based on LAW is shown here by Christ to be beyond the mark.  However, as we will soon find out, declaring some foods better for you and some worse is merely a matter of knowledge, of common sense.

The eating of food is perhaps one of the most poignant examples of cause and effect.  Drinking water, wine, or kool aid all has immediate consequences, good or bad.  Inhaling pizza and doughnuts all day too has its consequences.  Eating chicken produced under disgusting and abusive conditions too has its consequences.  Consuming foods full of dies, artificial sweeteners and preservers which were not given of good for consumption too have consequences.

In this light, the light of Idolatry and consequence, I think we are properly situated to begin dissection of our food consumptive guidelines containd in section 89.

The very first couple of verses gives us a blatant and obvious form of Idolatry.  “not by commandment or constraint, but by revelation and the ^aword of wisdom, showing forth the order and ^bwill of God in the temporal salvation of all saints in the last days”.

According to the pattern we’ve already brought out, the Lord here explains that such guidelines deal with “temporal” salvation.  As we have observed, the survival of the Remnant in the last days in a Temporal sense will be what allows them to remain and establish Zion.  Our temporal salvation has been a great worry for many who ponder near futre events.  Thankfully, the Lord here is providing for us a means for securing such salvation as Saints in Zion.  Also here in this verse the Lord defines for us that such food Guidelines are not given by way of Command.  The pharisees defined manners of eating and drinking, which became laws of men.  By so doing the condemned our Savior.  Food had become an Idol.  The LDS saints today do the same, creating a savior of sorts or idol we must worship in order to obtain salvation.

To show clearly that this assumption is not extreme in my view of our religious practices, I give you the ‘Recommend’ questions.  Therein, in order to seek the face of the Lord in the temple, I must first comply with a list of eating and drinking standards.  Not at all unlike the pharisees of old, stumbling blocks have been set in our way, idols given to us by other men.  IT has become by way of commandment.  And on top of that, the present list of conformity does not even comply with the list given in section 89!  It is in every sense a commandment of men which replaces true righteousness through temperance and mindfulness with conformance to standards and lists.

So why the Word of Widsom?  ITs given as a “a principle with ^apromise,”  Along those lines then I suppose we should find 2 things, first a principle, and a corresponding promise.  A principle is uncahngable.  IT is a natural fact of our existence, a natural fact of the subject at hand.   A principle is fundamental doctrine.  IT is cause and effect.  Basically, what we have here is scientific.  IF you do ‘A”, ‘B’ will result, the law o cause and effect.  The sower is redeemed in his own action.  This is not a commandment the Lord begins telling us, it is fact.  Its a fact for who?  For those who can be called “saints” here in the “last days”.  These things are fact because of two things.  First is your mortality and second, because of evil and conspiring men.

So, some principles real quick…

• Strong Drink is not for the belly, but is good for dressing wounds.  Strong drink is any drink that is distilled rather then fermented. Fermented drinks are mild, we will discuss that in a moment.  Distilled liquor is good to have, to heal wounds.
• Wine is a strong drink, but can be had if you make it, and then for offering up sacrament to men.  A sacrament is merely a religious rite or symbol done in remembrance of God.  So, when you drink when, do so with the right frame of mind, that you may always remember him, even and especially when drunk with this strong drink of the vine.
• Hot drinks aren’t good for consumption
• Tobacco is not for man, but is good to have for the dressing of bruises in livestock
• fruits, vegetables and herbs are made for men, in the season thereof.  USe them and receive them with thanksgiving!
• Eat meat, but do it sparingly.  The 1835 edition of the D&C differed slightly, in the omission of a comma, from our current version.  It reads (missing comma here in red) “Yea, flesh also, of beasts and of the fowls of the air, I, the Lord, hath ordained for the use of man, with thanksgiving. Nevertheless, they are to be used sparingly; and it is pleasing unto me that they should not be used, only in times of winter, or of cold, or famine.”  Read this way, without the red comma, it is apparent that meat should not only be used in times of winter, but always, but always in sparing portions.  Take this note with a grain of salt ans the spirit.  Sparing is still the key word here.
• Grains are all good for everyone.  They are for as a means of storage.  This is the winter item.  Eat them in abundance in times of famine and  hunger, because they store well
• All these grains too can be made into mild drinks.  Wheat grass juiced, beers of all types, fruit of the vine which is fermented or not etc…

That was easy.  That was the principle, quite simple really.  a few basic tenants, not by commandment but for advice.  AS you can see, in some major areas, this list differs from those of the commandment we have today which stands in our way of worshiping in a place called the Lords house.  The list we are given there includes ALL alcoholic beverages, ALL drugs, Coffee, tea regardless of temperature are given as commanded against.  Talk about throwing the baby out with the bathwater.  Our Zeal has yielded a crop of self righteous prigs who too would bar the savior himself from worshiping in his own house.   But, thankfully, the truth can still be had.  Its a simple idea, a principle of fact contained in a section fo wisdom to us.  And this principle has a promise.  This cause has an effect.

In the conditions of the promise we find an interesting note, “And all saints who remember to keep and do these sayings, walking in obedience to the commandments”.  The list above is set apart from the commandments, it is however still set as an objective to live to recieve the blessing.  How is it then separate and not a command?  Again, because it is a principle, it is fact.  This way of life must be lived as a means of being most healthy, and if a faithful person ADDS to that the keeping of Gods commandments he will blesss you.  IN these conditions he provides a loophole for himself to save only those of his children who follow him.  There are many in this last day who have stumbled upon these basic principles and strive to live them in incredible detail, whether from the W.o.W. or simply from sound logic.  The Lord however is under no duty to bless them beyond the basic means of healthiness.  He will howver bless those healthy people who also seek his face with the blessings promised.  And so we see that the promise of temporal salvation through this Word of wisdom is only offered to The Lords people.  TEmporal salvation, being saved to be his children and seek Zion, is still based on spiritual worthiness.  They are one and the same.

The Blessings will be covered in the next paper.  They only comprise a couple short verses, but are absolutely laden with key words and imagery to the Temporal Salvation of Gods children who seek Zion in these last days discussed in Isaiah and throughout scripture.   To be continued…

This will likely be a heartfelt rather mushy message. If you are the squeamish type, be forewarned. I’ve not planned this ahead of time, it just feels right.

It is late, again. Sitting in front of a computer screen studying, again. Hating everything that is Babylon, again. Oh what a rut. Bemoaning however briefly (very briefly) that I don’t live closer to the action in Happy Valley, where the repentance and instruction are. It kinda feels like I did before and during Hurricane Katrina.

I honestly wanted to be there, in the Big Easy, to see it. I mean, who gets to see a Hurricane first hand? That’s what you all are witnessing and are about to feel there in happy valley, the Hurricane. And I kinda wish I could be there to witness it, amongst those who profess to know his name but do not. As a result, there are prophets and watchmen in your midst warning you like weathermen to wake up, get your tired and numb butts out of your comfortable and aptly named La-Z-Boys and get yourself and your families out of Babylon before the flood is too much. At that point swimming and treading water will not be enough.

You see, that is what I see now. People swimming, doing the Vomiting-Drunk and Slumbering-Doggy paddle, barely keeping their heads above water, and sometimes not, just because they love the view at the beach. They didn’t hear and are not now hearing the warnings of the lifeguards on the beach. “THE Tide is Coming in! A wave is here!” Instead they hear their tour guide, with his back to the water, telling them of all the beauty around them and how good the sand feels between their toes.

So it goes back to that word, Shuv, Turn around, get up and get moving, repent. Get yourself out of Babylon, touch not their unclean things. No longer is it time to swim, its time to run.

Back to this Telestial Urim and Thummim in front of me my mind wanders and eventually settles on a triumph I saw today. One of those irrepressible moments of human joy that we so rarely see. Generally our self imposed chains and shackles are too much for us and we can’t see past what we can’t be.  But in a child who finally buried his hopelessness, I saw limitless potential and the voice of God in Power.

MY wife and I have been struggling with our second son in accomplishing one of life’s real accomplishments, to ride a bike on his own, without artificial attachments or over bearing helpful hands. His Older brother didn’t help matters, having picked it up remarkably quickly, kinda killing the drama, at the age of three. He’s been riding now for over three years. Meanwhile, his little brother just couldn’t get over the hump. While riding he was very afraid to wreck, and as a result wrecked every time as he over corrected and freaked out a bit. HE leaned heavily on my arm as we ran up and down the sidewalk, leaning hard so as to know that I was there supporting him. He relied on that hand to be there, that shadow running ever so close and providing the help. As soon as the hand was gone though, crash. If the hand let go at just the right time, he’d ride on for awhile until suddenly, like wile e coyote after running over the cliff, frantically realizing there is no support there and falling hard.

Today though, we tried it in the backyard on the grass. First time in about 5 months we’ve seen grass. A welcome sight no matter how brown. That brown grass provided just the right amount of padding to lessen the blow. At some point he realized the crashing was no big deal, a means to an end. Then, not long after, he rode, by himself, for many yards. Having realized this, he got back on and did it again, and again. slowly easing into the idea. He began to trust my instruction, realizing that he did need to peddle, that he could go faster.

Still wrecking a bunch and not going very far, we moved back to the front walk, were riding was easier and faster, but the crashes harder. Here he could go very FAR but if he wrecked, those falls would be more spectacular too. Alas though, he was no longer afraid to fall. He now trusted that voice and that hand, that when it spoke it was in trust and when the hand let go, that was a good thing. A relationship was there and that’s all it took. HE was Gone!!!

Peddling that little bike as hard as his smallish legs could peddle those tiny tires, shaking back and forth like the Tasmanian devil on a mission. Finally the realization hit him, as his parents were raising their arms in ecstasy, he jumped off that bike wreck-lessly (finally) and ran full speed, hair flowing behind him with a grin big enough to swallow the sky.  He yelled, “I ride a Two-wheeler!!!”  This was a moment that was all his own. He was born again. He owned the world, he was God and God was him. And he fell in love with that dirty old thing that had hurt him so many times.

He now loves to ride and I predict he will quickly be taking the streets and air by storm with his new found power. What did it take? What can we learn from this beautiful little boy?

• Leaning heavily on another only barely keeps our head above water
• not trusting the voice, not heeding it, keeps us drowning in a world of water
• practice is key
• Lessening the blow for a time while we get our feet wet can be helpful, but won’t put us over the top
• to swim with the big fish, to really run on the beach, we half to let go of our fear, let go of our reliance and just be
• this process of letting go can truly make us free of the bondage and system of fear and able to Hear and trust

Perhaps now a tie into my own life. Letting go can be so hard. The everything behind us is killing us. Though all those held thoughts and habits are chaining us, we don’t let go. IT is Idolatry, and lets count the ways.

Sin and transgression are prevalent in our lives. We are bound to it in grotesque manner, some more than others. Like the king to Ammon, are we truly ready to face those things and give up every sin? When they come, do we fall to them, because we always have? Or do we face them and laugh in their face? And not only that, are we ready to hear of the other sins we have? This is the path of the disciple, it is a path of losing yourself, every whit. The Self you now have leans on hands all around you and falls to pits of culture and habit. That is the self that must be killed. You gotta hearken to the voice that you know and just do. This path is not easy. The falls can be tremendous. It will take you away from what you know, on purpose. IT will turn you into what you didn’t think you were. It will cleanse you of weaknesses you thought were strengths and make your weak things strong.

When the Savior told his Disciples that the temple would be destroyed, with not one brick left on top of another, he gave us powerful imagery of rebirth. Our bodies, this life we have, are our temples, and they must be remade. The process of removing Idolatry (distraction from God) from your life will do exactly that by removing all the things you once relied on to make you, you. MY advice, if you would seek to be a power tool capable of acting and being acted upon, is to recognize those things and remove them. Then find more, find them in the scriptures, find them in revelation or promptings, find them in your peers, wherever they are. That is my point, look for them. Seek them out, those stumbling blocks to your progression called idolatry. Strip yourself of them in the name of the Lord and he will be with you in the process.  Become converted every day to this process of change and hold onto nothing that you think is you.  Let the Lord decide who you are.  Create a Man in Gods image rather than a Man in a Man’s image.

As you do this you will increasingly here His voice. Continue to act in power and you will be changed. That’s what you want after all, isn’t it?

These idols are that hand which once held your bike. it checked your speed it ‘corrected’ your falls it ‘protected’ you from injury. But really, in the end, reliance on that hand is holding you back. That reliance on past mistakes is keeping you away, reliance on another power is doing the same. You glory in the story of your brother, in the scripture or in history, but what of your own? Let go, you too are Gods, as he said, and were also born of Mother earth.

Finally, removing these walls between you and God will get you to a point where you have Heard the word, rather then simply feeling its prompting.  A point where living by every word that proceedeth from his mouth becomes a reality.

MY son’s fear of crashing, his reliance on that hand, did not allow him to truly hear my voice when I told him to pedal, to just ride straight and fast. However, his experience in the backyard allowed him to tear down those Idolatrous natures born into him. This moment of soft landing is like that moment of ours where we rid ourselves of the obvious forms of idolatry, the plain walls in front of our view. A few of these soft things are, reliance on manuals, reliance on others testimonies, reliance on rules and man-made order, reliance on babylonian style, reliance on the knowledge of men, etc… we could list almost anything. But these are simply the things that are plain to you. The things that you know and have known you need to drop in order to be better, the sins you know are plaguing your mind, the actions you know are tied to Babylonian desires.

The true moment of release doesn’t come in finding those though. All we gain from that moment is some hope, some trust, that perhaps that voice is real and that hand is there to support us, even though it sometimes lets go.

There’s something funny about that Mountain that the bear climbed to get to the other side of, it had another side.

That other side too must be crossed, though at first you only see the initial goal.  Concurring that first goal is a vital step, removing that initial dead fall,  but only the beginning of your change in position.  The true growth comes in the keeping the secret of sacredness, in listening to the spirits instruction on new and startling forms of idolatry that plague your growth. You will be shown walls and mountians to climb that you didn’t know existed.  When you begin conquering those now unknown barriers at the spirits prompting, that prompting will seem louder and that voice more real. Finally, at some point, your chains will mean nothing to you. You will finally be as the King who was willing to give it all, the explorer who would go to all ends of the earth for the sake of going. You’ll finally be like my precious son who eyes grew large when he felt the power of peddling and just let go! Without those fears, those sins, which Babylon has given you, the voice is finally audible. It is trusted and can be understood.

This I believe to be our Goal, to Come out from Babylon and touch not her unclean things, in all facets of our life, be they literal and physical and/or spiritually in knowledge. I know I have felt the scales fall from my eyes as I have recognized and removed them. I too have felt the sting of remorse as I tripped and stumbled on the same block repeatedly. I can tell you that He lives, and that His voice is audible. that we can hear it and know, beyond prompting. I can tell you that that voice will change you, will make you into something you never planned, for your good. He’ll say things you never thought you’d hear, give you great knowledge and tell you to keep it bottled up (to become a sacred temple for Gods truth).  He’ll make you poor when you wanted to be rich, make you loathsome when you sought to be adored, make you meek when you wanted to be heard. And know that once you hear it you are merely Finally, finally, on the path, that straight sidewalk, where growth is faster but the spills more painful.

Coming on us now is the flood of Babylon.  Only those who have previously rid themselves of Babylonian reliance and consequently gained a relationship with the one saving power in the universe will keep their feet dry when the world is wet.

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I thought I would ponder for a minute that incredible moment in Nephis life when he broke one of Moses Commandments.

Our story begins with Nephi “creeping” into the city Jerusalem, not knowing before hand what he should do.  He does so following the spirit.  Like the perfect Tom-Tom that spirit takes him exactly where he should go.  To his surprise he finds a dunked man passed out in the street who happens to be Laban, the very man whom he needs to confront.  There he lies, inebriated, already incapacitated.  The Lord provided the means for fighting his battle in such an easy and simple way.  Indeed, like the Gentile guardians of the scriptures in the last days given to us from Isaiah, Laban is drunken with his own wine.  Not only is he drunken and misled but he is like a sleeping dog who cannot bark, loving to slumber.  Just a while before this he was the opposite, barking, mislabeling NEphi and his brothers as robbers and thieves and commanding his armies to destroy them.  Now, when the spirit provides the time, the covenant keeper of holy writ is found laying face down in the dust, likely choking on his own vomit.

Upon walking up to that lifeless watchman Nephi does a curious thing first.  He notices the sword of Laban right off and serendipitously draws it from its sheath.  It almost seams that he does so in a sort of lust, wishing to see it and admire it.  Why the sword?  Why was this the first thing he did?  Why did he so quickly reach down to a drunken man and take his means of defense from him?  The way he does so, describing its attributes, lends me to think that the idea was in his mind, to take advantage of the situation now while he could.  That would of course be murder.  Or we could see that Nephi was doing what the spirit prompted, and that same spirit could have been the instigator which drew his eye toward labans sword.  Either way, NEphi found himself standing over the drunk man with his sword in his hand, and the moment must have been very poignant for nephi.

Then the spirit Says something to Nephi…  “Kill Him”.

Nephi Responds. “Never at any time have I shed the blood of man.”  and then he shrank from the task at hand.

The Spirit says again, “Behold the ^aLord hath ^bdelivered him into thy hands.”

At this thought Nephi begins to rationalize, or justify, that thought.  “He had sought to take away mine own life; yea, and he would not hearken unto the commandments of the Lord; and he also had taken away our property.”

It is odd to me that Nephi gives these reasons in his mind. By themselves, none of those reasons; sought to take away my life (past tense), didn’t keep the commandments, stole my stuff, had ever qualified as a good solid reason to kill someone.  They were merely the words of a Man trying to get himself up the gumption to do something that was VERY difficult for him.  HE had to rationalize the moment.  But, lest we think that Nephi merely talks himself into it the spirit gives to him a rather lengthy and wordy diatribe;

“Slay him, for the Lord hath delivered him into thy hands;  Behold the Lord ^aslayeth the ^bwicked to bring forth his righteous purposes. It is ^cbetter that one man should perish than that a nation should dwindle and perish in ^dunbelief.”

This is not the work of the mind, or the work of a ‘feeling’ that this was the right thing to do.  Rather, this was a conversation with the spirit of God.  The Lord even gives him a reason in the commandment, tells him that this is the purpose of Laban being here.  Again, this is a conversation.

At this a thought comes to and of NEphis mind; “Inasmuch as thy seed shall keep my ^bcommandments, they shall ^cprosper in the ^dland of promise.”

The impetus for thinking this in my opinion was that he had just been Commanded by the voice of the Lord!  he had received a commandment and it was now his duty to follow through.  He goes on to explain that they need the scriptures for establishing a people in the new land.  And indeed they do.

“Therefore I did obey the voice of the Spirit, and took Laban by the hair of the head, and I smote off his head with his own ^asword”

The deed accomplished, Nephi goes about clothing himself with LAbans clothes.   He goes to the treasury, finds Labans servant gets the plates and gets out of town.  On doing so he ends up also bringing Zoram with him, of necessity, thus introducing a larger Gene pool into the land of Promise.

There are some parallels that I want to point out before I move on of the Servant and NEphi.  Often in his books NEphi  fulfills this type, he does so well here.  HE enters the wicked city which had forfeited its right to the land of promise.  They had been a covenant people and had been given charge over these truths and records.  They fell from that lofty perch like an eagle shot with a scatter-gun off a telephone pole.  This city is a parallel of a people today who were the salt of the earth, gathered a people and had scripture given to them to govern their affairs.  Having set up their own system of governance and misread the scriptures they set themselves up as a light on a hill, bragging on their rameumptums that they are the chosen people, God will not destroy.  The servant, Nephi, comes into their midst unaware of nearly all of them.  The first few times he comes to them and declares the conditions of their deliverance (NEphi and his brothers going ot labans house), but is unsuccessful or at least ineffective.  HE is kicked out and persecuted, even beaten with a Rod and saved miraculously by an angel like the suffering servant.  Finally, after suffering this marring, the Lord endows him with power.  HE creeps into the city and the Lord leads him directly to the means of accomplishing the command.  HE finds the man with the keys to scripture within that city, laying face down.  HE is drunk and passed out. Like a dog asleep that cannot bark.  The spirit tells him exactly what to do, in conversation.  The spirit provides the means to accomplish it.  Here it is the Sword, Labans own sword, it representing the power of God to accomplish the work..  NEphi here serves a type to us of HOW the servant will accomplish this work.  HE will use the power that was invested at one time in Laban to cut off and remove the people who rely on that power.

Having taken the sword and transferred that power through Gods direction, NEphi then  receives the Mantle of the leader of the covenant people.  IT is given to him, every whit of clothing or Garment is taken from laban and given to Nephi.  The Gentile covenant people are then left there, naked in the streets of their own Babylon, left without keys or revelation or scripture.  The Sword too is taken and the power of protection is completely removed from them, which NEphi later wields in the defense of his people.  Zoram represents those of the Gentile covenant people who recognize that the mantle has changed places.  They may not recognize the servant, but they do recognize the change, they follow the scriptures out of Jerusalem.  As the Lord tells us in the 3 Nephi 16, some of the Gentile people will repent and do exactly this, leaving with the Servant into the wilderness.

The point of this post goes beyond this type though, which type NEphi repeatedly points to throughout his writing.

In following the voice of the Lord, he kept the commandment.  HE broke the commandment to Not kill, the commandment to Not steal, the commandment to not lie, etc…  But he stayed true to the voice of God.  He followed and kept the commandments in that way, the higher law, the one Moses followed.  This is the way shown us by father Adam and that of Abraham.  “Abraham received all things, whatsoever he received, by revelation and commandment, by my word, saith the Lord, and hath entered into his exaltation and sitteth upon his throne. (DC 132)”

To do the works of the Lord, we must learn to recognize his voice, literally.  We must be able to hear that direction and follow directly.  Feelings and impression don’t cut it, direction and discourse do.  By so doing we will be led to become different from the world, the pharisees, and even from those who follow the ten commandments.  We will become like Abraham and indeed Christ, by literally hearing and following the commands of God.  This kind of priesthood, the ‘power’ of it, only comes directly from him, not through man.  IF we listen hear and follow he will prove us worthy of that power, as he did nephi with the sword and Abraham with his son.  By so doing we keep the commandments and will indeed prosper in the Land, or receive our inheritance of a seed and land for eternity as Abraham did.

Christ’s words and a relationship with him are really the only way.