VernPorter.com

Warning: Declaration of smilies_plugin::GetDefaultSettings() should be compatible with Plugin::GetDefaultSettings(&$params) in /home1/vporter/public_html/b2e/plugins/_smilies.plugin.php on line 73

Warning: Declaration of smilies_plugin::GetDefaultUserSettings() should be compatible with Plugin::GetDefaultUserSettings(&$params) in /home1/vporter/public_html/b2e/plugins/_smilies.plugin.php on line 149

Warning: Declaration of facebook_plugin::SkinTag($params) should be compatible with Plugin::SkinTag(&$params) in /home1/vporter/public_html/b2e/plugins/_facebook.plugin.php on line 56

Deprecated: Methods with the same name as their class will not be constructors in a future version of PHP; OnlineSessions has a deprecated constructor in /home1/vporter/public_html/b2e/plugins/_whosonline.plugin.php on line 121

Warning: Declaration of whosonline_plugin::SkinTag($params) should be compatible with Plugin::SkinTag(&$params) in /home1/vporter/public_html/b2e/plugins/_whosonline.plugin.php on line 84

When Joseph Smith attempted to settle the Saints in Missouri and build the city of New Jerusalem was he looking beyond the Mark? I ask the question because the Lord, during his earthly ministry, told us with the parable of the wheat and the tares that until the time of the destruction of the wicked the wheat and tares should grow together.

It should therefore be obvious that Joseph was not supposed to establish a city of holiness and prepare the saints to meet the Zion of Enoch, but simply to start the work of taking the gospel to the whole world and building temples so that the work for the dead might begin.

If we were to compare the time of Joseph Smith to the days of Abraham and Melchizedek, then Joseph’s assignment was more like Abraham’s except that Abraham was not assigned to proselyte the world. While Melchizedek took a wicked people, sanctified them and took them in search of the Zion of Enoch, Abraham was left behind to become the father of nations and their kings and queens. Abraham and his people were not expected to be sanctified, but to remain a distinct people who would honor the covenant God made with Abraham. Abraham was even allowed to follow local customs and have extra wives and concubines - wives and concubines whose children were not eligible to be part of the chosen people. Those extra wives and concubines should tell us something about God’s tolerance for our mortal weaknesses and His willingness to forgive.

Abraham was known for being a friend of God and for his willingness to stay behind and coexist with the ungodly while he trusted in the Lord’s promise of future glory in a land of promise. I cannot say for certain that Joseph Smith was looking beyond the mark when he tried to settle the saints in Missouri. They were told in D&C 58:6-7 regarding their trip to Jackson County, that they would be “prepared to bear testimony of the things which are to come; 7.) And also that you might be honored in laying the foundation, and in bearing record of the land upon which the Zion of God shall stand;”. Also, in chapter 13 of Ether we are told that the remnant of Jacob would build the New Jerusalem, but the Lord gave Joseph the opportunity to give the Gentiles the first chance to do it. Jesus came to the children of Israel first during his mortal ministry, then the Gentiles. In the last days He came to the Gentiles first, but since they failed to establish themselves in the center place it must be left for the remnant of Joseph to build the New Jerusalem. In the meantime we were given the commission to build temples wherein work for the dead could be performed and  we receive promises of future glory to spread to the whole world. In recognition of the prophecy of Isaiah 56:6 &7, “Also the sons of the stranger, that join themselves to the Lord ... every one that keepeth the Sabbath from polluting it, and taketh hold of my covenant; ... for mine house shall be called an house of prayer for all people.”

There is no doubt in my mind that our Latter-Day polygamists were looking beyond the mark and they despised the words of plainness on that subject in the second chapter of Jacob. “Words of plainness” is how Jacob describes the prohibition against the practice of having extra wives wherein he calls it an abomination and a whoredom. Our Latter-Day polygamists brought upon themselves the curse found in Jacob 4:14. It was not given as merely bad news about the Jews, but as a warning which many have ignored. Their problems came as a result of looking beyond the mark. As a consequence they despised the words of plainness and sought for things they could not understand so God delivered things to them which they could not understand and He did it that they might stumble. We also have stumbled in that we did not get to establish ourselves in Missouri, but were scourged from city to city until we settled in a “salt place”.

It’s interesting to note that the Book of Abraham appears to be an autobiography which concludes before he met Melchizedek. In chapter one he states his desire to obtain the priesthood so that he could grow in knowledge and righteousness. Some have concluded that in order to become more righteous we need to be polygamists as was Abraham. It should not be surprising to discover that some of those who long for polygamy imagine that Abraham, as a patriarch had a greater priesthood than did Melchizedek. In volume five of the Joseph Smith History of the Church on pages 554 and 555 Joseph Smith clearly explains why the Melchizedek Priesthood is greater than the Patriarchal Order. The thirteenth chapter of Alma makes it clear that Melchizedek had the greater calling. In the fourteenth chapter of Genesis, in the Inspired Version of the Bible, the greatness of Melchizedek is defined in even greater detail. Sections 84 and 107 of our Doctrine and Covenants are good sources of information on the organization of the priesthood in these last days.

Racists also ignored the words of plainness in our scriptures. They not only ignored New
Testament and Book of Mormon quotations declaring the gospel to be for all nations, but they also ignored the parable in our Doctrine and Covenants 38:25-27 wherein the Lord shows them that a man with 12 sons who all serve him well could not send one of them off dressed in rags while he drew the others to him and dressed them in robes and still consider himself just. So, Elder Able (a black man), whom Joseph had ordained and sent on missions was not allowed to be dressed in temple garments and receive his endowments in the Nauvoo Temple. And wasn’t Joseph telling us something by his inspired revisions of Genesis chapter seven? In chapter 6:43 he announces that he came “out from the land of Cainan, the land of my fathers, a land of righteousness unto this day”. Then by chapter 7:9 he has explained how the people of Cainan became black and in verse fourteen it states, “and it came to pass, that Enoch continued to call upon all the people, save it were the people of Cainan, to repent.” Then by verse 29, it’s Cain’s descendants who are black and separate from the rest of Adam’s seed. Instead of wondering if this was something God delivered to us which we could not understand because we were looking beyond the mark, we imagined we did understand it and that it justified our racist attitudes. It helped racists to justify their bigotry and demonstrate that they did not believe the words of plainness in the Book of Mormon. We had to wait for 1978 before Isaiah’s prophecy could come true and the righteous people of all nations could have access to our temples.

Was Joseph Smith merely serving as God’s mouthpiece or was he looking beyond the mark when he became interested in polygamy and secretly brought forth section 132 on polygamy? It wasn’t made public until Brigham Young brought it out in Salt Lake City. The saints were told in other sections of the D&C that their failures would result in their being scourged from city to city and Joseph prophesied that they would settle in the west. Was the practice of polygamy by the saints meant to guarantee that they would not be allowed to return to attempt to settle Missouri again? The American public would not have allowed it. Did Jeremiah see Joseph Smith parading the Nauvoo Legion on Sundays (Jeremiah 17:5-7) and predict the removal of the Saints to the Great Salt Lake Valley?

After the Saints failed the Lord sufficiently to deserve to be scourged from city to city, and showed the Lord that they despised the words of plainness we can rightly wonder if Joseph Smith delivered the Pearl of Great Price and D&C 132 to them in keeping with Jacob 4:14. If some of our scholars and general authorities weren’t so good at covering up the false doctrine concocted in the early days of Utah we would know through whom the Lord delivered things we cannot understand. When my eyes were opened and I saw through the coverups I left the Church for 25 years. It was 25 years of hell which didn’t end until I realized I was failing my family. I had vowed not to return until some things had changed. Then at family gatherings my four year old granddaughter started singing “I am a child of God” while she was setting on my lap. I used to sing “If I had a nickle” to my grandchildren so it came natural for me to start singing “I am a child of God” with her. After several episodes of this at family gatherings my heart was softened and I began to realize that I was failing to be a good example to my family and I started wondering why I had ever thought that the Lord would cast off the Latter-Day Saints after only a few decades when He had stuck by the Israelites for hundreds of years.

The Pearl of Great Price is especially revered by racists and polygamists for reasons relating to their prejudices. There is also the possibility of false pride being involved. In the twenty sixth chapter of Third Nephi the Lord explains that the greater things which He told his people were to be withheld until we showed him that we believed those things which we had received first as a test. Joseph was only allowed to translate about 1/3rd of the gold plates which remained a standing rebuke suggesting to the saints that they had failed the test. Thus they were anxious to accept any new writings given them by Joseph as containing some of the greater things which had been withheld from the original translation of the Book of Mormon.

There remains in the church a desperate desire to believe that Jacob 4:14 does not apply to us and some go so far as to suggest that “If we are righteous enough God will ask us to do something which was previously thought to be evil”. When polygamy was practiced in Utah it was thought that if only the righteous were called to indulge in it they could avoid it’s pitfalls. From the days of polygamy comes the belief by some that God is a polygamist.  When thoughts of gratitude for the Savior’s atonement have to compete with the desire to become a God with a huge harem of wives and be sent to some far corner of the universe to procreate spirit children, gratitude and humility might take a back seat. The thought of becoming a God with a large harem can make the heart swell with pride. That kind of pride can cause a saint to confuse the heart swelling with pride for the bosom burning with the Holy Ghost. Our history testifies to the reality of a subculture of saints who have been caught up in that confusion.