The guardian of the inhabited earth

 I didn't know what to title this. The above will do. 

I usually read several books at one time (obviously, taking turns reading them), and another book I've been reading is Old Testament and Related Studies by Hugh Nibley. This morning, I finished the chapter/sermon entitled Treasures in the Heavens and came across something interesting that I wanted to share.

This is from page 186 in the edition I have, and is written exactly as in the book (I changed nothing; the blog would not let me change the footnote # to a superscript, nor would it let me change it to a smaller font than the rest of the post):

These veils seem to serve as protecting as well as confining fences around the worlds: The light of the sun in its true nature (morphe) is not seen in this place, we are told, because it passes through "many veils and regions (topoi)" before reaching us; 116 its protective function is represented by a wonderful super-bird, called "the guardian of the inhabited earth" because "by spreading out his wings he absorbs (dechetai) the fire-like (pyrimorphos) rays" of the sun; "if he did not receive [absorb] them, the human race could not survive, nor any other form of life." 

That sounds, to me, like it is describing the magnetic field that protects the earth from the sun's power. In light of the fact that the magnetic field is weakening, so the when the sun throws things at us we feel it more (recent blackouts in certain countries is caused by that, according to some resources) makes it more likely, in my view.

 

 

 

Repent - We're no better than the Lamanites in the Book of Mormon

My brother wrote a book called The Life and Times of John Steele: Mormon Kingdom Builder. It got published quite recently (he has written many articles and books in his life). His passion for genealogy (begun when he was about 10 years old) expanded into studying the history of his ancestors (when you trace your genealogy back to Kronos -which I think he did tongue in cheek- you've got to branch out). Now, my brother doesn't whitewash anything. He thinks the weaknesses make for a more interesting person. He's also agnostic, so he isn't going to be trying to get across the idea that the LDS Church is God's only and true kingdom. 

One thing I learned is that John Steele and Catherine (Campbell) left for America after Joseph Smith Jr. died. I had always thought they got there a few months before. So, John never heard Joseph preach against having more than one wife, neither did he experience Joseph excommunicating as many polygamists as he discovered (my brother didn't mention that about Joseph; I'm sure he believes Joseph had extra wives). I'm not going to go into more that the book talks about (but it does talk about the Mountain Meadows massacre, using info the LDS Church finally released, so it was more comprehensive than I've previously read) because I have a different point to make.

 I'm about 2/3 of the way through the book, and it struck me yesterday and last night that we are the Lamanites in the Book of Mormon. No, not by blood (most of us), but those of us descended from the Mormon pioneers who followed Brigham Young out west, laboring under an oppressive regime (though some refused to obey, and it was apparently common for people to leave when they'd had enough). This book was a second witness to me (the first being Passing the Heavenly Gift by Denver C Snuffer) about the wickedness of our ancestors. They were vile!

And I felt a strong desire to repent, repent from the false beliefs, from the follies of my ancestors, from their murders and hypocrisies. Whether directly or indirectly, they killed the prophets of their time (Hyrum and Joseph), and wasted no time going against nearly everything Joseph, Hyrum, and the Book of Mormon preached we should do and be. And I realized that I was in a situation akin to the wicked Lamanites when Ammon, his brothers, and their friends opened up the true history, refuting the whitewashed history the Lamanites had been taught. And, like the Lamanites, I wanted to cease the tradition. I wanted to discard my generational sins, I wanted to come to Christ and have all of that -from the beginning, whenever that was- washed away, washed clean.

We (all sects who believe the Book of Mormon is our book) are the wicked Lamanites, but we are also the wicked Nephites because we (having the Book of Mormon amongst us since its inception) really have no excuse for our vile behavior: violence, doing in our enemies (or those we judge as unrighteous, or just plain don't like) thievery, abuse, sexual predatory behavior, hatred, pride, arrogance, neglect of the poor and needy, and a host of other sins (the Book or Mormon lists several).

In the Book of Mormon, I've been reading Samuel the Lamanite's sermon and prophecies. His prophecies to the Nephites about how they will literally be destroyed (dead) if they don't repent really hit hard for our present society. And Samuel told them to repent maybe a dozen times (I didn't count how many times the word was mentioned in his sermon). Would to God that I could shout to the skies and be heard before we suffer the likes of which we have only read about - and some of us may not have ever read about it.

It's our common enemy who seeks for us to be full of pride and anger, full of fear and self=justification, full of lust and love of worldly things. This color against that color. Men against women. Women against men. This political party against that political party. This country against that country. Trans against everyone who figures God knew what he was doing. Those who believe in vaccines against those who don't. This against that. Some other thing against it's opposing paradigm. 

I fear we haven't much time left. Please, let us open our hearts to God and realize the precariousness of our situation. Let us love God above all else, including our sins that we think are no sins. Let us be open to drop all of our lies! All of our pride! All of our angers and fears! Our peace, safety, and happiness depend upon it - both temporal and spiritual. You and I will be most upset and regretful and living in horror if we don't repent. The scriptures promise it.