That We Might Have Joy!

Today I am resurrecting a post from my personal blog from several years ago.  It goes so perfectly with the intention of this blog and my resolve to uplift and inspire. See it through to the end!

August 9, 2012

I don’t often speak from the depths of my soul.  I think most of the world will not understand.  But maybe I’m not giving the world enough credit.  We are each, after all, the same.  And within each one of us is the gift to recognize truth, and good, and things that are of God, our creator.

So here is the secret of my soul.  Here is the unsheltered reality by which I live.  It is a painful thing to behold the world.  The depth of unnecessary misery is torture to witness.  I see a world of pain, where joy is meant to be.  I see us creating our own disharmony.  I see us intentionally manufacturing and attaching ourselves to dangerous distractions.  I see us allowing the forces of evil to penetrate our hearts.  I see us poisoning ourselves and our children.  I see an, ironically, barbaric civilization.  One that is so far distanced from its inhabitant’s pristine origins, it now sees them as barbaric, and shuns them.  If a person dares to attempt to live as the Creator intended, he is weird, crazy, a “hippy.”  A peaceful person who views the earth with wonder and gratitude, who treats others with love even when that love is harshly rejected, who nourishes himself from the earth and does not inflict violence on any living thing is so foreign to us we might actually fear him.  We wouldn’t know how to relate to such an individual.  But we are perfectly comfortable in our social circles, going on about which brand of crackers our children prefer, how to best clean our ovens, which fictional novel we are currently reading, what happened on last night’s episode of Bones… but none of this matters!  Stop feeding your kids death!  Stop poisoning your family with ovens and all that comes out of them!  Stop filling the space of your mind with these distracting and often scandalous inventions of unrealistic existence!  And, please, stop staring at flashing lights on a screen for hours a day, allowing your life to slip by while you live vicariously though someone else’s life, which may or may not even exist!  Why allow your life to be wasted away?  Because it’s all you’ve ever known?  Because you’re not aware of what is real?  Because it’s one of the few comforts you’re aware of?  Because the way you live your life is so unnatural and as a result the stress so high you feel the need to zone out?

Stepping off the soap box now.  Please realize my irritation is with myself.  I am as guilty as anyone, and yet my consciousness is evolving.  And as it evolves I find myself questioning the activities I choose to include in my daily life.  I’m analyzing why I make the choices I do, what the payoff is, as well as the cost, and most importantly I’m asking myself if these things are serving greater good.  Do I need them?  Can I give them up?  What might I replace them with?

The unfortunate truth is that we are natural beings living in a way that is completely unnatural to our species.  We tend to prefer not to see ourselves in such a way, as “animals” so to speak, as part of nature.  We surround ourselves with destruction.  Do you get what I’m saying?  We surround ourselves with DESTRUCTION.  Take a moment right now to look at what surrounds you.  How many things can you count that were created by the robbing of life?  How many things were created in a factory?  How many things were once living that are now dead?  How many of these things will decay with time? How many are capable of their own reproduction?  Are you surrounded by anything that is living in its pristine form?  Human beings are meant to be part of the natural world.  It is this world that was created for us.  All things within it are intricately linked.  All things work in harmony.  Every needful thing is provided for us there.  When we live true to our nature, we need not ask God for anything.  We need only rejoice and praise Him with gratitude for all that he has given us from the beginning.  Not because we ought to, not because He says, but because we would be so overflowing with the pure love available to us, that we would not be able to contain it!

What can we do, in our modern society, to tap into this joy?  Here are a few ideas for you to condsider.  Walk barefoot outdoors daily.  Grow a garden.  Eat food in the form in which it is offered from the earth.  Cleanse the toxins of the modern world from your body via colon hydrotherapy and eating as mentioned previously.  Make a habit of viewing your life with gratitude rather than despair.  Allow enough quiet into your life that you can hear the whisperings of truth all around you.  Choose to love others just as they currently are.  MOVE your body.  They are designed to be moving most of the day!  Detach yourself from electronics as much as possible.  Connect to the people, plants, and animals around you.  Don’t allow fear to be a part of your experience.  Where there is love and faith there is no fear.  Get to know yourself.  Find our callings in life.  What are you most passionate about?  What can you do to assist others?  Go to bed with the sun and rise with it.  Release the past, it is no longer happening.  It only exists in our lives if we choose to hold on to it by focusing on it.  Look for the growth opportunities in your suffering.  Allow what’s in your heart to have a voice.  Do not fear vulnerability.  Do not concern yourself with that others think of you, they see through their own set of filters, they cannot know your true heart.  But your Father knows it and loves it.  Women, you are DIVINE!  You are daughters of GOD!  YOU are His greatest creation, the absolute pinnacle of perfection!  You are equipped with gifts that enable you to take the world from its current state of destruction, back to its pristine origins.  Bond yourselves together, there is power in numbers!  Do not allow the forces of darkness to come between you and your sisters.  Turn away from pettiness, judgment, superiority, control.  Look at the people around you as people, not as objects.  Every person you interact with is just like yourself, in fact they are a part of you.  Treat them as such.  Do not destroy God’s creations.  Do not kill his animals.  They have been entrusted to you and are here to serve you.

My only hope as I write this is that someone will come away pondering.  Some spark will ignite in the depths of a soul which, as he focuses on it, will grow into a force for good in his life.  Each life on this earth is an essential part of the big picture, the Master’s Plan, and if I have said anything that might bring more power to the forces of light, I have done well in the sight of my Creator.  And ultimately, that is what matters.

Focus on Raising the Love

I realize that most of what I say may come across to many as negative.  I’ve heard the words “doom and gloom”  a time or two.  Its hard for me to wrap my mind around because to me the message I’m sharing here is so EXCITING!  Never the less, I sincerely apologize if anything has come across negatively.  The purpose of this blog is not only to inform but to raise the energy of the earth.  The purpose of this blog is love and positivity.  I’ve decided to quiet my warning voice for the next week and raise the energy here by doing what I do best in real life, spread that high vibe happiness!

I am crazy in love with this quote I just came across.  It is a bit of a warning, but pay close attention:

“The kingdom of heaven and the kingdom of God on the earth will be combined together at Christ’s coming – and that time is not far distant. How I wish we could get the vision of this work, the genius of it, and realize the nearness of that great event. I am sure it would have a sobering effect upon us if we realized what is before us.” Prophet Gordon B. Hinckley, October 1992

How many of us truly “get” it?  We are LIVING God’s plan!  This is HUGE!  We are part of a great work.  We are privileged to be here on this earth during the most amazing time the world has, and will, ever see.  Christ IS coming.  And soon.  The veil IS thinning, we ARE becoming ONE (hence the name of the blog, in case you missed that haha).  Every day I wonder how I ever qualified to be chosen to be on the earth at this time.  I have no idea, all I know is that I am so very grateful.  Just completely consumed with gratitude.  And I know that whatever I did, YOU did it too, or something equally wonderful at least!  How wonderful it is to be a Child of God!   He is SO GOOD!! His love is the most divine thing in existence!

As you go about your day today I pray you will look around you and recognize your Father’s love in every good thing.  I pray you will experience His love for you individually.  I pray you will come to understand how unimaginably HUGE this time in the world is, and I pray that you will find joy in the opportunity to witness and be an integral part of it!

Warning for the Next Week

“There will be a total eclipse of the sun for two minutes over the North Pole on Friday, March 20, the day of the Spring Equinox which coincides with the beginning of the Hebrew month of Nissan, the first month in the Biblical calendar year, a solar occurrence that has never happened before in human history.”

Just a quick note, we may see some interesting things come to pass over the next week or so.  We’ve got some unsettling events going on in Russia this week, and the solar eclipse on the 20th. Some have felt there will be an attack on Israel during this time.  I have heard MANY people say that they felt something big would happen in March, and most of those people received spiritual personal promptings months ago that they needed to complete their preparations by TODAY.

Personally, I have not felt that I need to complete my preparations this early, nor have I felt that anything big is going to happen this month, but I am not in the general area that those people are.  All of the people I’ve heard say this are in S. Idaho down through just south of Salt Lake City.

It will be interesting to see what comes to pass!

Eclipses in 2014-2015

Think a Prophetic Call to Gather Sounds Crazy?

It isn’t.  If we read our scriptures and familiarize ourselves with the patterns of the Lord we will see that that is exactly what the call to gather is, a pattern.  It has happened many times already!  The following was compiled by a friend of mine who wished to remain anonymous.
Here is a list of at least 49 times that the righteous have to leave.
1. Brother of Jared

2. Lehi

3. Mulek

4. Saints in Europe coming to Utah. Many ancestors answered the call of Joseph Smith to immigrate to America and join with the saints in Utah. Left their homelands and relatives.>>

5. Alma fleeing wicked King Noah

6. Alma’s fleeing from Lamanite bondage. Mosiah 24

7. Puritans and Pilgrims

8. Children of Israel fleeing Egypt

9. Enoch. Moses 7:27

10. Mary and Joseph to Egypt

11. Saints fleeing from Jerusalem and Titus in 70 A.D.

12. Limhi’s people fleeing Mosiah 22:6-1 People of Limhi deliver themselves from bondage by departing into the wilderness with tents, flocks, families. They couldn’t do it by the sword–were out-numbered. Went out the back pass. Mosiah 22:2

13. Nephi fleeing from Laman and Lemuel

14. Ammon and his Anti-Nephi-Lehi’s fleeing the Lamanites Alma 27

15. Mosiah flees Omni 1:12

16. Joseph of Aramanthea in Jewish legend driven from Jerusalem in a boat with Mary, Martha, Lazarus, Mary Magdalene and others. (Fascinating Story)

17. The ten tribes fleeing from bondage to the north.

18. Abraham from Ur of the Chaldees. Hebrew 11:8

19. Another Jewish legend of Jeremiah fleeing to Egypt and then to England and Ireland before the destruction of Jerusalem.

20. Lot from Sodom and Gommorah.

21. The Nephites flee from their homes and gather together to fight the Lamanites and Gadiantons, pooling all their supplies for 7 years.

22. Alma and Amulek flee Ammoniah. Alma 15:16

23. Zoramites cast out and flee to Jershon. Alma 35

24. The people of Ammon vacate Jerson so the Nephites can battle the Lamanites there. Alma 35:13

25. Ishmael and his family join Lehi in fleeing Jerusalem. 1 Nephi

26. Noah flees the world on an ark.

27. Jacob flees to Egypt to get food.

28. The saints flee Kirtland to go to Missouri

29. Then they flee Missouri to go to Nauvoo

30. Then they flee Nauvoo to Salt Lake

31. Adam and Even have to leave the Garden of Eden to start a new life. The pattern was set when Adam and Eve were sent out of the garden of Eden and into the wilderness, a journey that must have been quite an education in the school of hard knocks.

32. Hyrum Smith received a revelation saying his life was in danger and to move his family from Palmyra to Colesville, N.Y. He packed that night and left the next morning. “Life of Joseph Smith by His Mother”

33. Father Smith’s life was in jeapordy. He was warned to flee but didn’t leave soon enough and was thrown into prison where he spent a month. After his release he immediately moved his family to Waterloo, NY and most of the Smith family would never see Palmyra again. “Life of Joseph Smith by his
Mother”

34. Joseph and Emma flee Palmyra with the gold plates to live in Harmony, PA.

35. Joseph flees from Harmony to Colesville or Fayette?

36. No sooner had the early saints settled themselves with good herds and good homes in Salt Lake City, UT than they were called to leave it all and settle St. George, Arizona and other places in between. One group of great grandparents were called to St. George to settle there and then again were called to colonize Arizona making 3 callouts.

37. The saints fleeing U.S. marshalls into Mexico to save their families.

38. Moroni flees the rest of his life from the Lamanites.

39. Zoramites find out which people believe Alma’s and Amulek’s words and cast them out of the land. They go to Jerson. Alma 35:6-9. Verse 14 “Those who repented were driven out of the land.”

40. Peter, James, and John, “And straight way they forsook their nets and followed him.” Mark 1:16-18

41. Jesus fleeing Nazareth when they tried to kill him, never to return to his home town.

42. Omar is warned to flee because Akish and his secret band are going to kill him so Akish can marry Jared’s daughter and give Jared the kingdom. Ether 9:3

43. The people in the city Moroni fled to the city Nephihah. Alma 51:24

44. Jacob fled when Simeon his son killed those who had abducted his daughter Dinah.

45. Enos, the son of Seth, the son of Adam, fled with “the residue of the people of God” and “came out from the land, which was called Shulon, and dwelt in a land of promise…” Moses 6:17

46. 2000 strippling preschoolers left the Order of Nehor and Amulon to be taught by their mothers following the missionary Ammon.

47. The saints at Haun’s Mill were told to leave by Joseph Smith.

48. And the prophet did send out a letter to the nations calling for the Jews to return to Jerusalem. If they had listened they would have been spared the holocaust.

49. The saints fled from Johnston’s Army back in Brigham Young’s day.

There is also another pattern the Lord has followed in the scriptures. He usually gathers his people out during the spring or the fall and either around or on the holy days. All the holy days occur during the spring (March -May) and during the fall (Sept – Nov.) time. For example, the Israelites left on the night of passover which is during the springtime. They were also only given a 72 hour time frame to escape. Keep in mind that general conference is in the spring and in the fall as well. And, the solaces within the universe always occur during this time too.

Here is a thread about it.

President Hinckley’s General Conference talk of October 2001 (Living the Fullness of Times), he told the church “The Vision of Joel has been fulfilled.”

Joel 2:28 And it shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh; and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions.

Joel 2:29 “And also upon the servants and upon the handmaids in those days will I pour out my spirit.”

This happened in the New Testament as well when Agabus prophesied of a coming famine that would be especially hard on the members in Jerusalem. Now, Peter and Paul did not receive this information. At the time, Peter was at the head of the church and Paul was an apostle. The members heeded his forewarning by preparing and sending invaluable aid to those members in Jerusalem by the hand of Paul and Barnabus. Agubus was called a prophet, not because of his church calling (which we do not know what that was) but because he had the gift of prophesy. He also later prophesied of Paul’s imprisonment and death. He was not rebuked but was believed and sustained by them.

Many people are having visions and dreams about this gathering that is coming. Here is just a brief summary of what they are seeing: They see a call coming from the prophet to the bishops and through the proper priesthood channels letting you know it is time to leave. Then, the trucks come to pick up the food storage in the early hours of the night. After the food and possibly supplies are loaded onto the trucks. Then, you are told where to go. Now, every area may be different so some may leave in individual cars, or meet and leave in groups, caravans and so forth. I’m just giving you a general overview of what they are seeing.

General Authorities Speak on The Gathering Out of the Saints

Elder Oaks in the April 2004 General Conference encouraged all members of the Church throughout the world to “accelerate our own preparation and try to influence the preparation of those around us.” The general authorities over the past years have been letting us know that this gathering is coming. Here is what they have said about it:

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Elder H. Aldridge (Second Quorum of the Seventy) LDS Business College Devotional, February 8th, 2005 “We must both learn what these signs are and then identify them correctly when they occur. They can and will strengthen our faith in Christ and His prophets, if we know the scriptures. Just as in the days of Noah, a way is already prepared for the escape of the Lord’s elect Latter-Day Saints, if they are in tune with His prophets.”

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Harold B. Lee Conference Report, April 1948 Thus, clearly, the Lord has placed the responsibility for directing the work of gathering in the hands of the leaders of the Church to whom he will reveal his will where and when such gatherings would take place in the future. It would be well before the frightening events concerning the fulfillment of all God’s promises and predictions are upon us, that the Saints in every land prepare themselves and look forward to the instruction that shall come to them from the First Presidency of this Church as to where they shall be gathered and not be disturbed in their feelings until such instruction is given to them as it is revealed by the Lord to the proper authority.

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Henry B. Eyring – Raise the Bar (BYU-Idaho Talk – January 2005) “The giant earthquake, and the tsunami it sent crashing into the coasts around the Indian Ocean, is just the beginning and a part of what is to come, terrible as it was. You remember the words from the Doctrine and Covenants which now seem so accurate: (he quotes D&C 88:88-91) Fear shall come upon all people. But you and I know that the Lord has prepared places of safety to which he is eager to guide us….It will be our choice whether or not to move up or stay where we are. But the Lord will invite and guide us upward by the direction of the Holy Ghost…. I did not plan to speak to you about the hard times that are ahead and they are real, and they are coming….”
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Joseph Smith The teaching of the prophet Joseph Smith, Section 2, P.71 “…for without Zion, and a place of deliverance, we must fall; because the time is near when the sun will be darkened, and the moon turn to blood, and the stars fall from the heaven, and the earth reel to and fro. Then, if this is the case, and if we are not sanctified and gathered to the places God has appointed, with all our former professions and our great love for the Bible, we must fall; we cannot stand; we cannot be saved; for God will gather out his saints from the Gentiles, and then comes desolation and destruction, and none can escape except the pure in heart who are gathered.”

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Joseph Smith DHC 4:272 “In addition to all temporal blessings, there is no other way for the Saints to be saved in these last days, than by gathering….”

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Book of Mormon Alma 26:5-7 And they shall be gathered into the garners, that they are not wasted. Yea, they shall not be beaten down by the storm at the last day; yea, neither shall they be harrowed up by the whirlwinds; but when the storm cometh they shall be gathered together in their place, that the storm cannot penetrate to them; yea, neither shall they be driven with fierce winds whithersoever the enemy listeth to carry them. But behold, they are in the hands of the Lord of the harvest, and they are his; and he will raise them up at the last day.

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James E. Talmage, Conference Report, October 1921, p.188 “Great and grand as is this people, mighty as are the works that have been accomplished through the blessings of God through his servants in these days, there is too little real prayer among the Latter-day Saints, too many prayerless homes, and hence the spread of spiritual contagion among some of us. Thank the Lord not among many, relatively speaking. I have faith in my people, for I knew that they are the Lord’s people, and I am proud to be one of them; but when the cry shall come, as come it shall: “To your tents, O Israel,” for there are struggles ahead, the Lord knows where to find those who have been faithful.”

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Brigham Young, Mosiah Hancock Autobiography, typescript, BYU-S, p.73 “He [President Brigham Young] conversed freely on the situation of the Saints in the mountains, and said that he dreaded the time when the Saints would become popular with the world; for he had seen in sorrow, in a dream, or in dreams, this people clothed in the fashions of Babylon and drinking in the spirit of Babylon until one could hardly tell a Saint from a black-leg. And he felt like shouting, “To your tents, Oh Israel!” because it was the only thing that could keep the people pure.”

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Heber C. Kimball, Journal of Discourses, Vol.9, p.154, June 19, 1862 This people know enough to be righteous, honest, pure, and virtuous; and those who will not practice that which they know to be good will become habituated to folly and vice, just in the same way that men became habituated to using tobacco, to stealing, drinking, and lying. “When the time comes that the Lord says, “Arise and to your tents, O Israel;” then men be pure inside and out; they must be for God, or they will have no part in the blessings conferred upon the righteous.”

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Henry B. Eyring “Safety in Counsel,” published 3 times in the Ensign April 1997 General Conference, November 2001 Ensign, June 2008 First Presidency Message “We are blessed to live in a time when the priesthood keys are on the earth. We are blessed to know where to look and how to listen for the voice that will fulfill the promise of the Lord that He will gather us to safety. I pray that we will have humble hearts, that we will listen, that we will pray, and that we will wait for the deliverance of the Lord that is sure to come as we are faithful.”

Remember that Cliff Hanger Guy from Between the Lions?

You know… the dude who would always fall down a cliff (you’d think he’d learn to stay away from those, but no). And as he fell he’d miraculously find some root randomly sticking out of the cliff wall (because I guess often trees have, like, 200 feet roots) to hang on to… but then he’d start to slip… and slip… and he’d always say, “Can’t. Hold. On. Much. Longeeeeeeeeer!”

That’s us, America.

Lately I’ve been reading, well, a lot of things, but one of the books I’m reading is W. Cleon Skousen’s The Cleansing of America.  Hold on to your socks, friends, this book is amazing!  Way better than any Cliff Hanger story, to be sure, but with a similar premise.  Here are a few tidbits from the beginning of the book.

“The social disintegration that has taken place in America during the last half of the twentieth century is characteristic of TWENTY-TWO earlier civilizations THAT ARE NOW EXTINCT.” [That’s my emphasis, there.]

“The prophets of the past who saw our day in vision warned that if a hostile Gentile culture erupted in America, it would not be endured for long. Think of this generation already aborting 40 million babies. This culture of depravity is being perpetuated by leaders and teachers who are corrupting millions of youth.

It is clear that we are approaching the time when God’s cup of wrath and indignation might overflow at any time, just as the prophets predicted.”

“The eye of prophecy pointed to a time when the Gentiles would treat the ideals of the gospel with utter contempt and thereby lose their inheritance in America.  Jesus Christ foresaw the very things which are happening today and said:

‘At that day when the Gentiles shall sin against my gospel, and shall reject the fullness of my gospel, and shall be lifted up in the pride of their hearts above all nations, and above all the people of the whole earth, and shall be filled with all manner of lyings, and of deceits, and of mischeifs, and all manner of hypocrisy, and murders, and priestcrafts, and whoredoms, and of secret abominations; and if they shall do all those things, and shall reject the fullness of my gospel, behold, saith the Father, I will bring the fullness of my gospel from among them.’

This last phrase, ‘I will bring the fullness of my gospel from among them,’ has always meant removing God’s people and especially the missionaries from among them.  Once God has gathered out His people from the midst of the wicked, God’s cleansing will be imminent.”

The last part of this reminds me of one of my favorite visions, the Cardston Vision, which was received by Sols Caurdisto in 1921. She ends her description of her vision with these words, “I saw the inspired call sent forth to all the church, to gather to the refuges of Zion. I saw the stream of your people quietly moving in the direction of their refuge. I saw your people moving more quickly and in larger numbers until all the stragglers were housed. I saw the wireless message flashed from Zion’s refuge to Zion’s refuge in their several places that all was well with them, and then the darkness of chaos closed around the boundaries of your people, and the last days of tribulation had begun.” You can read her full vision here.

Of course, these are just a few pieces of the puzzle, but each piece blatantly declares, “Can’t. Hold. On. Much. Longeeeeeer!” You’d think that knowing many civilizations have fallen before us we’d learn to stay away from the cliff.  No.  We dive off that beast and mock every one who warns us that we might fall.  Wake up, guys. Back away from the edge. I’m not saying it because I’m old fashioned, I’m saying it because I can clearly see the truth is you’re jumping into danger. We can’t do anything at this point to stop the fall of our Nation, but we can all take care as best as we can to turn to God and ultimately ensure our own safety.