Asenath (Wife of Joseph): Hebrew or Egyptian?

See footnote 3

(Since fog and overcast skies have hidden most of the sky of January 2025 I have seen the moon only 3 or 4 times, and thus have no observations to report so, in the meantime, we’ll consider Asenath.)

In the beginning of the Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob legacies, particular attention was given to marrying within the Hebrew bloodline. Here are five examples:

26 And Terah lived seventy years, and begat Abram, Nahor, and Haran.
27 ¶ Now these are the generations of Terah: Terah begat Abram, Nahor, and Haran; and Haran begat Lot [Sarai & Milcah].
28 And Haran died before his father Terah in the land of his nativity, in Ur of the Chaldees.
29 And Abram and Nahor took them wives: the name of Abram's wife was Sarai; and the name of Nahor's wife, Milcah, the daughter of Haran, the father of Milcah, and the father of Iscah [Sarai/Sarah¹].
(Old Testament | Genesis 11:26-29)

1 AND Abraham was old, and well stricken in age: and the LORD had blessed Abraham in all things.
2 And Abraham said unto his eldest servant of his house, that ruled over all that he had, Put, I pray thee, thy hand under my thigh:
3 And I will make thee swear by the LORD, the God of heaven, and the God of the earth, that thou shalt not take a wife unto my son of the daughters of the Canaanites, among whom I dwell:
4 But thou shalt go unto my country, and to my kindred, and take a wife unto my son Isaac.
(Old Testament | Genesis 24:1-4)

1 AND Isaac called Jacob, and blessed him, and charged him, and said unto him, Thou shalt not take a wife of the daughters of Canaan.
2 Arise, go to Padan-aram, to the house of Bethuel thy mother's father; and take thee a wife from thence of the daughters of Laban thy mother's brother.
(Old Testament | Genesis 28:1–2)

34 ¶ And Esau was forty years old when he took to wife Judith the daughter of Beeri the Hittite, and Bashemath the daughter of Elon the Hittite:
35 Which were a grief of mind unto Isaac and to Rebekah.
(Old Testament | Genesis 26:34-35)

5 And Isaac sent away Jacob: and he went to Padan-aram unto Laban, son of Bethuel the Syrian, the brother of Rebekah, Jacob's and Esau's mother.
6 ¶ When Esau saw that Isaac had blessed Jacob, and sent him away to Padan-aram, to take him a wife from thence; and that as he blessed him he gave him a charge, saying, Thou shalt not take a wife of the daughters of Canaan;
7 And that Jacob obeyed his father and his mother, and was gone to Padan-aram;
8 And Esau seeing that the daughters of Canaan pleased not Isaac his father;
9 Then went Esau unto Ishmael, and took unto the wives which he had Mahalath the daughter of Ishmael Abraham's son, the sister of Nebajoth, to be his wife.
(Old Testament | Genesis 28:5-9)

The myths and legends that have evolved around Joseph in Egypt are numerous with some contradictory elements and probable embellishments, but nonetheless, a wonderful story of how God might have woven two tragedies effecting two people: Dinah (mother of Asenath²) and enslaved Joseph into an incredible account of how (in the words of Joseph from a verse musical³:)

Surely in these years I have seen
How oft good comes out of bad;
How always light breaks up the night
How my God sets things right
That seem impossibly wrong.

Most are unaware of the fascinating story that goes beyond Genesis where 17-year old, newly minted slave Joseph first encounters Asenath, the 6-year old “foster-daughter” of Potiphar and Zelicah, the woman who plagued Joseph so relentlessly in Memphis. After serving 12-years in prison to white-wash “the stain that might leak, Upon Zelicah’s fair name,” 30-year old Joseph (now second in command in Egypt) visits Potiphar and Zelicah, (now in Heliopolis) where he re-encounters Asenath, now 18-years old; and as they say, the rest is history. But, if you are interested in exploring more of this possible, unsung history, you can find it at:

▪ Louis Ginzberg, The Legends of the Jews, Trans. by Henrietta Szold, 1968.
     Legends—Vol. 2: 15-23; 38-77; 139; 170-174
     Legends—Vol. 5: Notes (pp. 336/n97; 338/n105; 338/n107; 340/n126; 341/n133; 341/n134; 342/n142; 361/n339; 365/n370; 369/n400
▪ The Old Testament Pseudepigrapha. Edited by James H. Charlesworth,1983.
     OTP—Vol. 1: The Testament of Joseph |. pp. 819-825
     OTP—Vol. 2: Jubilees | pp. 128-130
▪ The Book of Jasher. Pub. by J. H. Parry & Company, 1887.
     pp. 120-124, 128-134, 136-137, 140-147
▪ Old Testament—Genesis | chpts. 37, 39–41
▪ Josephus, Complete Works. Trans. by William Whiston, 1960.
     pp. 46-49 | chpts. IV–VI

Here are two samples to whet your appetite:

Ginzberg, Louis. The Legends of the Jews — Volume 2 (p. 37). Kindle Edition.
“Asenath was the daughter of Dinah and Hamor [Shechem], but she was abandoned at the borders of Egypt, only, that people might know who she was, Jacob engraved the story of her parentage and her birth upon a gold plate fastened around her neck. The day on which Asenath was exposed, Potiphar went walking with his servants near the city wall, and they heard the voice of a child. At the captain's bidding they brought the baby to him, and when he read her history from the gold plate, he determined to adopt her. He took her home with him, and raised her as his daughter.”
(Pseudo-Philo–314) reference to rape of Dinah by Shechem, the Hurrite.

OTP—Vol. 2: Joseph and Aseneth | pp. 177, 202-238, 245
(202) Pentephres [aka Potiphar] (P) is a wise counselor to Pharaoh and priest of Heliopolis, the place known as Sun City [Heliopolis]; an important centre of the Sun god Rê (footnote e);
(203) Aseneth (A) is very tall and beautiful "beyond all virgins" whose fame of beauty had spread far and wide; in appearance A was like the Hebrews; there was much wrangling amongst her suitors and attempts to fight one another; she lived in seclusion (footnote 2a) and no man had ever seen her; her arrogance was against suitors, not others (footnote 2a);
(204) her rooms contained many gods that she worshipped;
(205) Joseph (J) (while touring the lands to store up corn) sends a message to P of his intention to arrive for "lunch"; P speeds servants ahead to prepare while he and Zelicah (Z) hurry home from their inheritance field / estate (footnote 3i); P is thrilled with the possibilities of a match between A & J; Z is afraid of possible revenge;
(206) P makes his proposal to A that she marry J;
(207) A (who does not know that Zaphnath-paaneah is J replies in shock and rejection just as a servant enters to say J is at the gate;
(208-209) A flees to her room; J offers a heavy-laden olive branch to P & Z [a gesture of “forgive and forget”?]; A sees J from her window [recognizes and remembers him as Joseph of her childhood] and is stricken with remorse for her words and judgments;
(210-213) A & J meet;
(214) J agrees to return in 8 days;
(215-216) A fasts seven days and nights and weeps; she puts on the somber black tunic of mourning that she wore when her brother died; she casts away her idols, goodly clothes, jewelry, and statues out the back window to the poor;
(217-224) A's soliloquies of remorse, fear, grief, repentance; [“Have I been too foolish? Too strangely believing? Giving to the image What the Living deserved?”]; the eighth day, A feels hope, and sees the morning star; an angel appears in her locked room;
(225-231) the angel directs A to put off her mourning tunic and to dress in a new linen robe; he blesses and comforts her and pronounces her betrothal to J if they both accept the plan; he tells her he will visit J and tell him about A’s acceptance of his God;
(235) Pharaoh performs the marriage;
(245) A's prayer: "Lord my God, who make me alive again / and rescued me from the idols and the corruption of death, / who said to me, 'Your soul will live for ever,'" ...

Scholars and readers may differ on who Asenath really is, but the Legends tell an incredible story of human follies and unfathomable futures.

------------------------------------/
1. Ginzberg, Louis. The Legends of the Jews — Volume 1 (p. 89). Kindle Edition.
“For a period of two years Abraham could devote himself undisturbed to his chosen task of turning the hearts of men to God and His teachings.[41] In his pious undertaking he was aided by his wife Sarah, whom he had married in the meantime. While he exhorted the men and sought to convert them, Sarah addressed herself to the women.[42] She was a helpmeet worthy of Abraham. Indeed, in prophetical powers she ranked higher than her husband.[43] She was sometimes called Iscah, "the seer," on that account.[44]” (Bold emphasis added.)
2. Ginzberg, Louis. The Legends of the Jews — Volume 2 (p. 63). Kindle Edition.
[As Jacob was dying in Goshen Egypt] “Joseph received two gifts from his father. The first was Shechem, the city that Jacob had defended, with sword and bow, against the depredations of the Amorite kings when they tried to take revenge upon his sons for the outrage committed there. And the second gift was the garments made by God for Adam and passed from hand to hand, until they came into the possession of Jacob. Shechem was his reward, because, with his chastity, he stemmed the tide of immorality that burst loose in Shechem first of all.[377] Besides, he had a prior claim upon the city. Shechem, son of Hamor, the master of the city, had given it to Dinah as a present, and the wife of Joseph, Asenath, being the daughter of Dinah, the city belonged to him by right.[378]” (Bold emphasis added.)
3. The verse musical was published online in 2019 but has been recently slightly revised and will be republished soon.

“Planned Polarization” – The Way of History

How many times have we seen disparate groups living without conflict for generations who suddenly erupt into hostile factions? We have witnessed it in nigh every age and land at some time or other when intense polarization is ignited through politics, culture, race, religion, ideology, opinion, theory, and on and on. Have we observed that a recycling, prominent theme in the Book of Mormon was polarization for purposes of power, gain, glory, and domination?

Today, especially in this land of promise, we seem to have an explosive mix of them all. So as our 2024 Book of Mormon study course winds down, let us review a few insights from Hugh W. Nibley’s Teachings of the Book of Mormon, Semester 4: Transcriptions of Lectures presented to an Honors Book of Mormon Class at Brigham Young University. (All square brackets are in Nibley’s text; bold emphasis is mine.)

... It’s always good guys against bad guys. You’ll always have them and you’ll always have equals against each other and never solve that terrible thing. I’ll give an example of how this works. In the fourth century St. Basil was writing about it. “In the confused political situation everybody wants to give orders, and nobody wants to take them. Men are willing to cooperate on anything only as the most effective means of crippling a common enemy, after which they turn against each other.”

This was in Antioch, too, remember, the city where [men wanted] everybody to be wiped out so they’d be the richest man left. The final survivor and undisputed Number One was Constantine the Great. He interrupted and made them stop fighting. But, to quote our own study on the subject, no sooner had Constantine removed his last civil and military opponents than the issue between the Christians and pagan subjects became acute.² He had to settle that, so he settled that He put the pagans in their place, and then the churchman started accusing each other of heresy in wild abandon. Then it had to be Arias against Athanasius. The whole Christian world was then split again. Then the emperor took sides, came down with one side, and removed the last heretic, and received the undying thanks from the church. The true believers were at each others’ throats as never before. So this is the way it goes.

Nowhere is this process more sharply brought into focus than with Moroni’s inserts in his father’s book on the supreme results of polarizing. This is a very important principle—that the two poles conceive an ever greater antipathy to each other the more they come to be alike. Everyone knows that like poles repel each other, and only opposite poles attract each other. Now we’re talking about right from the beginning. As soon as Trajan and Hadrian took over and took half of Asia, then the trouble began with the two worlds fighting each other. It’s very old, of course. It goes back much further than that. It goes back to the battle of Thermopylae and much older than that: it’s always been going on. The emperors of East and West were fighting each other, in this case the emperors of Rome and Asia. I have particularly Justinian and Chosroes in mind, both very powerful emperors of a revived empire. The emperors of Rome and Asia describe themselves in absolutely identical terms, while each accuses his rival of being nothing but a base forgery and depraved imitation of himself. This is not a real clash of ideologies at all, but only a rivalry of parties that are [motivated] by identical principles and have the same objectives. What they are both after is the Book of Mormon formula, power and gain. The secret of commanding loyalty on both sides was, of course, to play up the wickedness of the other. The empire of the fourth century, when Rome collapsed, was at its very strongest with the biggest army and everything else. The empire of the fourth century was the world of displaced persons, inevitably drawn toward the big city. ... To take the place of the old lost loyalty to hearth and homeland—the prisca fides, the primitive belief in fate—strong measures had to be taken. New super loyalty was needed to guarantee the permanence of the social order. Men were taught to declare allegiance to a super thing—a noble abstraction loosely designated as Romanitas, the binding cement which was carefully cultivated in hostility to barbarians. “We’re the Romans: they’re the barbarians.” Well it was the same with the Babylonians and the Moslems. It was ager pacatus and ager hosticus with the Romans; Dār al-Islām and Dār al-Harb with the Moslems.

You see, that’s being very strongly emphasized. You’re never going to come to an agreement with the Iranians or the Iraqis as long as they say Dār al-Harb. Islam means “to submit”; it means peace also. All those who have submitted are the real people. All outside are the Dār al-Harb. And they threaten us. They were always being threatened and that’s why the emperor expanded [the empire]. They couldn’t stand anyone beyond their borders threatening them. Remember the last line of the fourth eclogue that got Vergil made a saint: “The emperor must inevitably rule over a pacified earth. All the earth must be pacified under his rule according to the virtues of our virtuous ancestors.” We’re the virtuous people, and we must rule the earth because we’re the good guys (p. 273; Nibley's footnote 2 from The Prophetic Book of Mormon, Vol 8-Collected Works ..., 438).

... [this is quoting J.B. Bury] ...“To command loyalty became part of the public education policy. To the lessons of the schools, carefully supervised by the government was added a more aggressive policy of deliberately widening the gulf between the two worlds [planned polarization]. For centuries, barbarian and Roman east and west had been mingling on terms of the greatest intimacy, producing a borderline culture in which it was quite impossible to draw the line between one culture and the other. Priscus, who was sent back in the sixth century, remembers quite casually the presence of people from the West visiting relatives in the camps of the Asiatics. He notes the busy coming and going of merchants between the two worlds. He describes the kind hospitality shown him, a complete stranger, in the home of the Easterners. But with this he gives us the other side of the picture, the official side—the ubiquitous activity of spies and agents in Roman pay, the infusion into the very court of Attila of large sums of Roman money to corrupt and divide. The insane mounting conviction of the rulers of the two halves of the world, both barbarians, each that his was the divine calling to liberate the human race from the intolerable ambition of the other.” It still is going on today (p. 274).

So what should we do with all the latest “planned polarization” in our present world? On the same page as the above quote, Nibley references the counsel of the prophet Joseph — that we don’t accuse, aspire, contend, coerce; that we don’t react in kind to polarizing tactics; that we don’t resist evil with evil.¹ But how are we to understand this in light of other scriptures, such as

20 Contend against no church, save it be the church of the devil
(Doctrine and Covenants | Section 18:20);

and the many instances of “speaking truth to power” found and / or counseled in scripture.² I believe that the prophet Joseph’s counsel is to be understood as: don’t falsely accuse³; don’t aspire to replace God's will with your own⁴; don’t contend against truth; don’t coerce to your or another’s will or ideas.

But what do we do when so much truth seems so elusive? This is the best I can think of in our flawed human condition —  propagandized, opinionated, and stiff-necked as we are.

• Pursue truth by prioritizing facts over feelings.
• Live with intent to receive its proofs.⁵
• Study the repeating patterns of history.
• Speak truth when moved upon by the Spirit.
• Refuse to live by coercion.
• Be awake (as commanded) to our awful situation.⁶
• Pray as Mormon counseled his son Moroni:

27 ... Behold, the pride of this nation ... hath proven their destruction except they should repent.
28 Pray for them,^[7] my son, that repentance may come unto them.
(Book of Mormon | Moroni 8:27–28).

• Above all, pray for our own awakening, awareness, repentance, discernment.

-------------------------------/
1. New Testament | Romans 12:17 ~ Recompense to no man evil for evil.
New Testament | 1 Thessalonians 5:15 ~ See that none render evil for evil unto any man;
New Testament | 1 Peter 3:9 ~ Not rendering evil for evil, or railing for railing: but contrariwise blessing;
New Testament | Matthew 5:39 ~ But I [Jesus] say unto you, That ye resist not evil [with evil]:
2. https://dejavu-timestwo.blogspot.com/2022/03/speaking-truth-to-power-new-testament.html
 https://dejavu-timestwo.blogspot.com/2016/01/part-two-evil-speaking-discernment.html
https://dejavu-timestwo.blogspot.com/2023/10/respecting-obeying-authority-what-did.html
https://dejavu-timestwo.blogspot.com/2023/10/respecting-obeying-authority-what-of.html
https://dejavu-timestwo.blogspot.com/2023/10/when-to-disrespect-authority.html
3. (and since much of the time, we don’t have all the facts, we let those who have the facts step forward and if they don’t, we either pursue the facts in a lawful way, or, if necessary, pray for exposure of the facts, and wait on God to act.)
4. Old Testament | Isaiah 14:12-14
   12 How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! how art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations!
   13 For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north:
   14 I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High.
Pearl of Great Price | Moses 4:3-4
   3 Wherefore, because that Satan rebelled against me, and sought to destroy the agency of man, which I, the Lord God, had given him, and also, that I should give unto him mine own power; by the power of mine Only Begotten, I caused that he should be cast down;
   4 And he became Satan, yea, even the devil, the father of all lies, to deceive and to blind men, and to lead them captive at his will, even as many as would not hearken unto my voice.
5. New Testament | 1 Thessalonians 5:21
   21 Prove all things; hold fast that which is good.
6. Book of Mormon | Ether 8:24-26
   24 Wherefore, the Lord commandeth you, when ye shall see these things come among you that ye shall awake to a sense of your awful situation, because of this secret combination which shall be among you; or wo be unto it, because of the blood of them who have been slain; for they cry from the dust for vengeance upon it, and also upon those who built it up.
   25 For it cometh to pass that whoso buildeth it up seeketh to overthrow the freedom of all lands, nations, and countries; and it bringeth to pass the destruction of all people, for it is built up by the devil, who is the father of all lies; even that same liar who beguiled our first parents, yea, even that same liar who hath caused man to commit murder from the beginning; who hath hardened the hearts of men that they have murdered the prophets, and stoned them, and cast them out from the beginning.
   26 Wherefore, I, Moroni, am commanded to write these things that evil may be done away, and that the time may come that Satan may have no power upon the hearts of the children of men, but that they may be persuaded to do good continually, that they may come unto the fountain of all righteousness and be saved.
7. (those who accuse, aspire, contend, coerce)

How to Pray for Enemies: https://dejavu-timestwo.blogspot.com/2024/03/what-how-to-pray-for-enemies.html

Not in the Mind of God?

Over the years, this excerpt from an 1890 address by President Wilford Woodruff has caused considerable discussion:

The Lord will never permit me or any other man who stands as President of this Church to lead you astray. It is not in the programme. It is not in the mind of God. If I were to attempt that, the Lord would remove me out of my place, and so He will any other man who attempts to lead the children of men astray from the oracles of God and from their duty. (Sixty-first Semiannual General Conference of the Church, Monday, October 6, 1890, Salt Lake City, Utah. Reported in Deseret Evening News, October 11, 1890, p. 2.)¹

The same goes for President Benson’s 1980 talk, Fourteen Fundamentals in Following the Prophet where the Fourth Fundamental is: “The prophet will never lead the Church astray.”² President Benson bolstered this fundamental with a story told by Marion G. Romney about President Grant’s advice to always follow a prophet’s counsel because one would be blessed even if the prophet’s advice proved wrong. Yes, this is an individual case of advice, but it is used to support a general (ironic?) case that a living prophet can never lead the church astray. This idea is deeply embedded in church manuals and instruction. Only a sampling of references to President Benson’s talk are listed here,³ but the talk is a pervasive footnote.
 
Then, we have this 2021 video:

Follow the Prophet—He Speaks for God
(Russell Simon | Jan 10, 2021 | 2:51 min.) at
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6BavQ7i-vh0
Original source at Church Site⁴:
Description: Around a table in the Smith family log home in Palmyra, New York, President Russell M. Nelson and Joy D. Jones, General Primary President, ask a panel of children why it’s important to have a prophet. (Circa June 2021 | Time 2:51 min.)

We also have this: a recent resurfacing of the COVID issue:

Idaho Saints Rebuked for Not Following the Prophet
(Connor Boyack | Apr 21, 2024 | Time 55:44 min.) at
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jv-CW0mUds0&t=5s

Yes, we are also told to follow the Spirit, but the more insistent drum beat seems to be “follow the prophet,” which is absolutely true if we accept Nephi’s definition:

21 And now I, Nephi, declare unto you, that this prophet of whom Moses spake was the Holy One of Israel; wherefore, he shall execute judgment in righteousness (Book of Mormon | 1 Nephi 22:20–21; bold emphasis added);

which clarifies the preceding verse: “that all those who will not hear that prophet [the Holy One of Israel] shall be cut off from among the people.”⁵

But by juxtaposing “follow the Spirit” with “follow the living prophet / president” a cognitive dissonance is resolving in some leaders and members who can’t accept that the Spirit might direct others to choose or decide contrary to perceived living counsel or authority? And since discerning the Spirit is a challenging, sometimes uncertain, work-in-progress for many of us, the default of “follow the leader / prophet” is more enticing, less time-consuming, less stressful, more soothing; except fairly concerning to those who are aware of the possible uses in creating cognitive dissonance — a known psychological tactic for manipulating thoughts and behaviors.

So as I consider what might be “in the mind of God,” I ask myself:

Why was Jesus so hard on the leaders of His day⁶?
Why did He direct His disciples to do the same⁷?
Why were Isaiah, Jeremiah, Micah, et al. so condemnatory of end-time leaders / priests / prophets⁸?
What should we make (or not) of Joseph Smith’s last dream⁹?
Why the story of an old prophet leading a young prophet astray¹⁰?
And why this provision?

76 But a literal descendant of Aaron has a legal right to the presidency of this priesthood, to the keys of this ministry, to act in the office of bishop independently, without counselors, except in a case where a President of the High Priesthood, after the order of Melchizedek, is tried, to sit as a judge in Israel.
...
82 And inasmuch as a President of the High Priesthood shall transgress, he shall be had in remembrance before the common council of the church, who shall be assisted by twelve counselors of the High Priesthood;
83 And their decision upon his head shall be an end of controversy concerning him.
84 Thus, none shall be exempted from the justice and the laws of God, that all things may be done in order and in solemnity before him, according to truth and righteousness (Doctrine and Covenants | Section 107:76, 82–84).¹¹

Yes, I believe this provision is intended to check straying and / or corruption, but are we, in today's world, too naïve about the nature of power and fraternal bonds?

This post is not to pronounce judgment on anyone, but to raise a cautionary flag as we roll on in these end-times. IF the test of loyalty to God is going to be so severe that

24 ... if it were possible^[12], they shall deceive the very elect (New Testament | Matthew 24:24);

then what greater proving than to test dogmatic expectations? And just as Jesus honored and respected God's temple¹³ in His day despite corruptions, can we not do likewise for the Restoration if we perceive problems, contraries, concerns, manipulations, encroachments of Babylon, and so forth? Just as the ancient temple was God's notwithstanding its administrators, so is the Restoration.

Each of us will be tested on an individual basis. Will we turn away from God's Restoration because of offended expectations and fallible flesh, or will we hold to the Word — to the rod, and follow the Spirit wherever it leads, even beyond every expectation? The present drum beat may feel excessive to some for as one commenter observed on Boyack’s vlog:

“To me, it sounds like programming, whether intentional or not. A wise person made this comment on a FB post, ‘The idea to remember is that if everyone is individually going to Jesus Christ and receiving personal revelation, then each person much be deceived for Satan to capture everyone. But if we are taught to follow the prophet, then only the prophet needs to be deceived for Satan to capture everyone’" (@meridentoombs3840).

I guess the thing I take away from the past four years, especially, is that God’s mind (and heart) is intent on preparing His children for the Day of Judgment and Justice. Do we ask ourselves, What am I preparing to face: the Law of Mercy or the Law of Justice?

Have we seen or heard any snapping red flags over the past many years? Are we seeing, yet not seeing? hearing, yet not hearing? What will the coming years bring?

Considering our God-given agency, I suspect there is much that happens that is “not in the mind of God” — i.e., according to His will. Just consider the many lamentations recorded in scripture¹⁴? Yet everything is in His ability to heal and redeem, if we will but turn to and trust in Him, repenting and aligning with His will; with His knowledge of powers and possibilities beyond our imagination — beyond our present comprehension.

--------------------------------------------/
1. Source: https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/scriptures/dc-testament/od/1?lang=eng (Bold emphasis added)
See also:
Doctrine and Covenants | Official Declaration 1:11
2 Fourteen Fundamentals in Following the Prophet | EZRA TAFT BENSON of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles | February 26, 1980:
 “Fourth: The prophet will never lead the Church astray.”
“President Wilford Woodruff stated: “I say to Israel, The Lord will never permit me or any other man who stands as president of the Church to lead you astray. It is not in the program. It is not in the mind of God.” (The Discourses of Wilford Woodruff, selected by G. Homer Durham [Salt Lake City: Bookcraft, 1946], pp. 212-213.)
“President Marion G. Romney tells of this incident which happened to him:
“I remember years ago when I was a Bishop I had President [Heber J.] Grant talk to our ward. After the meeting I drove him home. . . .Standing by me, he put his arm over my shoulder and said: “My boy, you always keep your eye on the President of the Church, and if he ever tells you to do anything, and it is wrong, and you do it, the Lord will bless you for it.” Then with a twinkle in his eye, he said, “But you don’t need to worry. The Lord will never let his mouthpiece lead the people astray.” [In Conference Report, October 1960, p. 78]›
Source: https://speeches.byu.edu/talks/ezra-taft-benson/fourteen-fundamentals-following-prophet/
3. ▪ Repeated in October 2010 | Our Very Survival By Elder Kevin R. Duncan Of the Seventy
Source: https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/general-conference/2010/10/our-very-survival?lang=eng#p15
▪ Consistently Recommended or referred to in numerous manuals and content:
https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/manual/book-of-mormon-seminary-teacher-manual-2017/helaman/lesson-113-helaman-13?lang=eng
https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/manual/foundations-of-the-restoration-teacher-manual/lesson-9-follow-the-living-prophet?lang=eng
https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/manual/old-testament-seminary-teacher-material-2018/isaiah/lesson-126?lang=eng
https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/manual/scripture-study-the-power-of-the-word-teacher-manual/lesson-8?lang=eng
https://speeches.byu.edu/topics/prophets/
https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/manual/old-testament-student-manual-kings-malachi/bibliography?lang=eng
https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/manual/teachings-of-the-living-prophets-student-manual-2016/chapter-7?lang=eng
https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/manual/teachings-of-the-living-prophets-student-manual-2016/chapter-2?lang=eng (4X)
https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/manual/book-of-mormon-seminary-teacher-manual-2024/36-helaman-7-12/361-teacher?lang=eng
https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/manual/old-testament-student-manual-kings-malachi/chapter-24?lang=eng (2X)
https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/manual/old-testament-seminary-teacher-resource-manual/the-book-of-isaiah/isaiah-1-12?lang=eng
https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/manual/old-testament-seminary-student-study-guide-obs/the-book-of-jeremiah/jeremiah-23-false-prophets?lang=eng
https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/bc/content/shared/content/english/pdf/language-materials/34237_eng.pdf (2X)
https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/manual/book-of-mormon-teacher-resource-manual/the-book-of-alma/alma-43-58?lang=eng
4. Source: https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/media/video/2020-05-0030-follow-prophets-they-speak-for-god?lang=eng&collectionId=9e790dc7ca744028bf6f1e1e4676fd60
(Archived at https://web.archive.org/web/20210612061721/https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/media/video/2020-05-0030-follow-prophets-they-speak-for-god?lang=eng&collectionId=9e790dc7ca744028bf6f1e1e4676fd60
5. Context: Book of Mormon | 1 Nephi 22:20-21
   20 And the Lord will surely prepare a way for his people, unto the fulfilling of the words of Moses, which he spake, saying: A prophet shall the Lord your God raise up unto you, like unto me; him shall ye hear in all things whatsoever he shall say unto you. And it shall come to pass that all those who will not hear that prophet shall be cut off from among the people.
   21 And now I, Nephi, declare unto you, that this prophet of whom Moses spake was the Holy One of Israel; wherefore, he shall execute judgment in righteousness.
6. https://dejavu-timestwo.blogspot.com/2023/10/respecting-obeying-authority-what-did.html
https://dejavu-timestwo.blogspot.com/2022/03/speaking-truth-to-power-new-testament.html
7. JST Matthew 7:6-9; JST1876-NT, p. 10 (Bold emphasis added.)
   6 And Jesus said unto his disciples, Beholdest thou the Scribes, and the Pharisees, and the Priests, and the Levites? They teach in their synagogues, but do not observe the law, nor the commandments; and all have gone out of the way, and are under sin.
   7 Go thou and say unto them, Why teach ye men the law and the commandments, when ye yourselves are the children of corruption?
   8 Say unto them, Ye hypocrites, first cast out the beam out of thine own yes; and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote out of thy brother’s eye.
   9 Go ye into the world, saying unto all, Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come nigh unto you.
8. And can we safely assume they meant everyone but us?
Old Testament | Isaiah 9:13–16; Book of Mormon | 2 Nephi 19:13-15
   13 ¶ For the people turneth not unto him that smiteth them, neither do they seek the LORD of hosts.
   14 Therefore the LORD will cut off from Israel head and tail, branch and rush, in one day.
   15 The ancient and honourable, he is the head; and the prophet that teacheth lies, he is the tail.
   16 For the leaders of this people cause them to err; and they that are led of them are destroyed.
Old Testament | Isaiah 28:7
   7 ¶ But they also have erred through wine, and through strong drink are out of the way; the priest and the prophet have erred through strong drink, they are swallowed up of wine, they are out of the way through strong drink; they err in vision, they stumble in judgment.
Old Testament | Isaiah 56:10-11
   10 His watchmen are blind: they are all ignorant, they are all dumb dogs, they cannot bark; sleeping, lying down, loving to slumber.
   11 Yea, they are greedy dogs which can never have enough, and they are shepherds that cannot understand: they all look to their own way, every one for his gain, from his quarter.
Old Testament | Micah 3:5-11
   5 ¶ Thus saith the LORD concerning the prophets that make my people err, that bite with their teeth, and cry, Peace; and he that putteth not into their mouths, they even prepare war against him.
   6 Therefore night shall be unto you, that ye shall not have a vision; and it shall be dark unto you, that ye shall not divine; and the sun shall go down over the prophets, and the day shall be dark over them.
   7 Then shall the seers be ashamed, and the diviners confounded: yea, they shall all cover their lips; for there is no answer of God.
   8 ¶ But truly I am full of power by the spirit of the LORD, and of judgment, and of might, to declare unto Jacob his transgression, and to Israel his sin.
   9 Hear this, I pray you, ye heads of the house of Jacob, and princes of the house of Israel, that abhor judgment, and pervert all equity.
   10 They build up Zion with blood, and Jerusalem with iniquity.
   11 The heads thereof judge for reward, and the priests thereof teach for hire, and the prophets thereof divine for money: yet will they lean upon the LORD, and say, Is not the LORD among us? none evil can come upon us.
Old Testament | Jeremiah 23:2-4
   2 Therefore thus saith the LORD God of Israel against the pastors that feed my people; Ye have scattered my flock, and driven them away, and have not visited them: behold, I will visit upon you the evil of your doings, saith the LORD.
   3 And I will gather the remnant of my flock out of all countries whither I have driven them, and will bring them again to their folds; and they shall be fruitful and increase.
   4 And I will set up shepherds over them which shall feed them: and they shall fear no more, nor be dismayed, neither shall they be lacking, saith the LORD.
9. Joseph related the following dream which he had last night [June 26-27, 1844]:
“I was back in Kirtland, Ohio, and thought I would take a walk out by myself, and view my old farm, which I found grown up with weeds and brambles, and altogether bearing evidence of neglect and want of culture. I went into the barn which I found without floor or doors, with the weather boarding off, and was altogether in keeping with the farm. While I viewed the desolation around me, and was contemplating how it might be recovered from the curse upon it, there came rushing into the barn a company of furious men, who commenced to pick a quarrel with me. The leader of the party ordered me to leave the barn and the farm, stating it was none of mine, and that I must give up all hope of ever possessing it. I told him the farm was given me by the Church, and [HC 6:609] although I had not had any use of it for some time back, still I had not sold it, and according to [p. 177] <​June 27​> righteous principles it belonged to me or the Church. He then grew furious, and began to rail upon me and threaten me, and said it never did belong to me nor the Church. I then told him that I did not think it worth contending about; that I had no desire to live upon it in its present state, and if he thought he had a better right I would not quarrel with him about it, but leave; but my assurance that I would not trouble him at present did not seem to satisfy him, as he seemed determined to quarrel with me, and threatened me with the destruction of my body. While he was thus engaged, pouring out his bitter words upon me, a rabble rushed in and nearly filled the barn, drew out their knives, and began to quarrel among themselves for the premises; and for a moment forgot me, at which time I took the opportunity to walk out of the barn about up to my ankles in mud. When I was a little distance from the barn I heard them screeching and screaming in a very distressed manner, as it appeared they had engaged in a general fight with their knives. While they were thus engaged the dream or vision ended”
https://www.josephsmithpapers.org/paper-summary/history-1838-1856-volume-f-1-1-may-1844-8-august-1844/183
10. https://dejavu-timestwo.blogspot.com/2010/11/lesson-from-old-prophet.html
https://dejavu-timestwo.blogspot.com/2021/08/lesson-from-old-prophet-revisited.html
11. Extracted verses from section 107 for those who are curious:
Doctrine and Covenants | Section 107:77–81; bold emphasis added
   77 And the decision of either of these councils, agreeable to the commandment which says:
   78 Again, verily, I say unto you, the most important business of the church, and the most difficult cases of the church, inasmuch as there is not satisfaction upon the decision of the bishop or judges, it shall be handed over and carried up unto the council of the church, before the Presidency of the High Priesthood.
   79 And the Presidency of the council of the High Priesthood shall have power to call other high priests, even twelve, to assist as counselors; and thus the Presidency of the High Priesthood and its counselors shall have power to decide upon testimony according to the laws of the church.
   80 And after this decision it shall be had in remembrance no more before the Lord; for this is the highest council of the church of God, and a final decision upon controversies in spiritual matters.
   81 There is not any person belonging to the church who is exempt from this council of the church .
12. https://dejavu-timestwo.blogspot.com/2012/09/if-it-were-possible.html
13. New Testament | Matthew 21:12-13 (Bold emphasis added.)
   12 ¶ And Jesus went into the temple of God, and cast out all them that sold and bought in the temple, and overthrew the tables of the moneychangers, and the seats of them that sold doves,
   13 And said unto them, It is written, My house shall be called the house of prayer; but ye have made it a den of thieves.
New Testament | Luke 19:45-47 (Bold emphasis added.)
   45 And he [Jesus] went into the temple, and began to cast out them that sold therein, and them that bought;
   46 Saying unto them, It is written, My house is the house of prayer: but ye have made it a den of thieves.
   47 And he taught daily in the temple.
14. https://dejavu-timestwo.blogspot.com/2024/03/where-are-lamentations.html
https://dejavu-timestwo.blogspot.com/2024/03/isaiahs-lamentations.html
https://dejavu-timestwo.blogspot.com/2016/02/where-is-anguish.html
https://dejavu-timestwo.blogspot.com/2018/04/sighing-and-crying.html
https://dejavu-timestwo.blogspot.com/2017/11/seest-thou-what-they-do.html

Despite the Evidence?

In the recently posted Exodus seminar series, JB Peterson said:

I think [“God's goodness”] is the leap of faith. You decide that things are good and that you are going to act in the service of the good — in many ways despite the evidence.¹

Despite the evidence?!

Well, yes! if we go by history and mortal perspective, Peterson is, in many ways, right. Remember OT Job. Remember the persecuted and martyred: John the Baptist, Peter, Paul, Stephen, James, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Abinadi, John Huss, Thomas Becket, Wm. Tyndale, Joseph & Hyrum Smith. — to name a few on the endless, ongoing list²? And this does not count all the evidence of anguished “unanswered” prayers for healing, safety, companionship, offspring; for a child''s or spouse's repentance; for a way out of depression, abuse, anxiety, dysphoria, addiction, tyranny, and so forth. And what of the wind, flood, fire, earthquake or man-made catastrophes that devastate? Even for some, the required³ death of God's own Son is all the evidence they need to reject the idea of a good God.

Yes, of course, there are also endless witnesses of God's goodness, but what do we do if contrary “proofs” also plague our awareness. For many, life is a recycling struggle with dissonance. If God is good, why do I (or we or they) suffer so much mental distress? so much unrelenting physical pain and disease? so many hurdles and roadblocks? so much conflict, loss, confusion, trauma?

Perhaps the definition of faith warned us already of the dissonance factor.

NOW faith is the substance assurance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen (JST New Testament | Hebrews 11:1).

Does this put us on notice that the evidence of God's 100% goodness may, frequently (from our mortal perspective), not be seen?

As we witness and endure the increasing tyrannies and catastrophes of coming days (as prophesied), will we be persuaded by the evidence of things seen or the evidence of things not seen? Are we prepared to see beyond the seen? to believe without reservation that whatever happens, God is good? that all He does is based in Truth, Justice, Mercy, and Love — a Love we may not, perhaps, cannot comprehend?

The Scottish writer George MacDonald⁴ wrote

Our God is a consuming fire. Heb. 12:29
Nothing is inexorable but love. Love which will yield to prayer is imperfect and poor. It is not love that grants a boon unwillingly; still less is it love that answers a prayer to the wrong and hurt of him who prays. Love is one, and love is changeless.

For love loves unto purity. Love has ever in view the absolute loveliness of that which it beholds. Where loveliness is incomplete, and love cannot love its fill of loving, it spends itself to make more lovely, that it may love more; it strives for perfection, even that itself may be perfected—not in itself, but in the object. . . . Therefore all that is not beautiful in the beloved, all that comes between and is not of love’s kind, must be destroyed.

And our God is a consuming fire

It is the nature of God, so terribly pure that it destroys all that is not pure as fire, which demands like purity in our worship. He will have purity. It is not that the fire will burn us if we do not worship thus; but that the fire will burn us until we worship thus; yea, will go on burning within us after all that is foreign to it has yielded to its force, no longer with pain and consuming, but as the highest consciousness of life, the presence of God. When evil, which alone is consumable, shall have passed away in his fire from the dwellers in the immovable kingdom, the nature of man shall look the nature of God in the face, and his fear shall then be pure; for an eternal, that is a holy fear, must spring from a knowledge of [His] nature, not from a sense of power.⁵

In the words of British writer, C. S. Lewis⁶:

I find I must borrow yet another parable from George MacDonald. Imagine yourself as a living house. God comes in to rebuild that house. At first, perhaps, you can understand what He is doing. He is getting the drains right and stopping the leaks in the roof and so on: you knew that those jobs needed doing and so you are not surprised. But presently he starts knocking the house about in a way that hurts abominably and does not seem to make sense. What on earth is He up to? The explanation is that He is building quite a different house from the one you thought of— throwing out a new wing here, putting on an extra floor there, running up towers, making courtyards. You thought you were going to be made into a decent little cottage: but He is building a palace. He intends to come and live in it Himself.

The command Be ye perfect is not idealistic gas. Nor is it a command to do the impossible. He is going to make us into creatures that can obey that command. He said (in the Bible) that we were ‘gods’ and He is going to make good His words. If we let Him— for we can prevent Him, if we choose— He will make the feeblest and filthiest of us into a god or goddess, a dazzling, radiant, immortal creature, pulsating all through with such energy and joy and wisdom and love as we cannot now imagine, a bright stainless mirror which reflects back to God perfectly (though, of course, on a smaller scale) His own boundless power and delight and goodness. The process will be long and in parts very painful, but that is what we are in for. Nothing less. He meant what He said  (—from Mere Christianity⁷).

From a prior observation, I repeat:

Maybe most of all, we don’t comprehend faith (or perhaps don’t want to), being: “the substance [assurance—JST] of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen”[(JST New Testament | Hebrews 11:1)]. But, as I have asked elsewhere: HOW is God going to test/prove/try us? by NOT offending our sense of logic and reason? by always confirming our faith-based, telestial/terrestrial perceptions and biases? by offering up physical evidence? by preventing contradictory, confusing evidence? by making it easy to believe? by flooding us with “rational” signs? by preventing every bad choice or consequence? ... What better way to push us toward “the evidence of things not seen” than to hopelessly confound the “evidence of things seen?”⁸

Let us prepare ourselves to observe how often we dwell in dissonance and take the leap of faith to believe without qualification that God is always and forever good, however it may sometimes appear or feel.

… Great is His wisdom, marvelous are His ways, and the extent of His doings none can find out. His purposes fail not, neither are there any who can stay His hand  (Doctrine and Covenants | Section 76:2-3; see also Old Testament | Isaiah 55:8-9).

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1. https://www.dailywire.com/episode/exodus-episode-4 (begin about minute 49 for background and quote)
2. ▪ Foxe, John. Fox's Book of Martyrs Or A History of the Lives, Sufferings, and Triumphant Deaths of the Primitive Protestant Martyrs.
▪ Eric Metaxas. Bonhoeffer Thomas Nelson.
▪ The Voice of the Martyrs. Extreme Devotion: Daily Devotional Stories Of Ancient To Modern-Day Believers Who Sacrificed Everything For Christ
▪ New Testament | John 16:33
   33 These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.
▪ New Testament | 2 Timothy 3:12
   12 Yea, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution.
▪ Doctrine and Covenants | Section 101:35-36
   35 And all they who suffer persecution for my name, and endure in faith, though they are called to lay down their lives for my sake yet shall they partake of all this glory.
   36 Wherefore, fear not even unto death; for in this world your joy is not full, but in me your joy is full.
▪ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christian_martyr
▪ Research news articles about latter-day martyrs worldwide.
Related posts:
https://dejavu-timestwo.blogspot.com/2015/10/in-remembrance-of-john-huss.html
https://dejavu-timestwo.blogspot.com/2017/10/everyone-gets-what-he-deserves.html
https://dejavu-timestwo.blogspot.com/2012/11/transrational.html
https://dejavu-timestwo.blogspot.com/2013/11/god-is-not-rational.html
https://dejavu-timestwo.blogspot.com/2013/04/man-vs-god.html
https://dejavu-timestwo.blogspot.com/2014/09/the-lamb-and-lion.html
https://dejavu-timestwo.blogspot.com/2013/01/why.html
3. New Testament | Matthew 26:39, 42
   39 And he went a little further, and fell on his face, and prayed, saying, O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me: nevertheless not as I will, but as thou wilt. ...
   42 He went away again the second time, and prayed, saying, O my Father, if this cup may not pass away from me, except I drink it, thy will be done.
Pearl of Great Price | Moses 4:2
   2 But, behold, my Beloved Son, which was my Beloved and Chosen from the beginning, said unto me—Father, thy will be done, and the glory be thine forever.
4. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_MacDonald
5. Hein, Rolland. Through the Year with George MacDonald: 366 Daily Readings (Kindle Locations 441-454). Winged Lion Press. Kindle Edition. January 8: “The Consuming Fire,” Unspoken Sermons: Series One.
6. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/C._S._Lewis
7. Lewis, C. S.. A Year with C. S. Lewis (p. 218). HarperOne. Kindle Edition.
8, https://dejavu-timestwo.blogspot.com/2013/11/god-is-not-rational.html

Standing Before a Jealous God?

If God is a jealous God, as He self-describes¹; and if by jealous, He means:

1. very watchful or careful in guarding or keeping
...
3. requiring exclusive loyalty
...
5. solicitous or vigilant in maintaining or guarding something
...
6. Bible: intolerant of unfaithfulness or rivalry²

then what is He being vigilant or careful in guarding or keeping? Could it be His character, perfections, and attributes that define Him as God³? BUT, even as much, might it be to carefully guard the co-eternal Spirit of Light and Truth⁴? Isn't that what we do when we love someone or something? We are both jealous and zealous to guard and defend them from disparagement, damage, defamation, or destruction?

So, does God expect us to be as jealous and zealous in guarding His gifts to us? in defending our rights and freedoms? our bodily integrity? our moral integrity? And if we are not jealous for those things, what is the consequence?

When we stand before the pleading bar of God will there be evidence that we trusted in Him? that we gave Him our exclusive loyalty? that we refused to trust in the arm of flesh? that we were solicitous and vigilant in maintaining and guarding our gifts, our freedoms, our body temple⁵? that we awoke to a sense of our awful situation before it was too late⁶? that we passed the three temptations?⁷ And if we failed in any measure, is there evidence that we have sincerely sought forgiveness?

In this age of lying wonders,⁸ let us be as jealous for Light and Truth as God is. And if we feel anger when we witness unchecked injustice, bullying, power abuse, corruption, and repetitious mendacity beyond imagination, it means we share in God's jealousy for Light and Truth.

If we do a compound word-search in scripture for God AND anger, or God AND wrath, we will understand the consequence for failing to stand on guard.

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1. Examples from scripture (all bold emphasis added.):
Old Testament | Exodus 20:1-5
   1 AND God spake all these words, saying,
   2 I am the LORD thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.
   3 Thou shalt have no other gods before me.
   4 Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth:
   5 Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the LORD thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me;
Old Testament | Exodus 34:12-14
   12 Take heed to thyself, lest thou make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land whither thou goest, lest it be for a snare in the midst of thee:
   13 But ye shall destroy their altars, break their images, and cut down their groves:
   14 For thou shalt worship no other god: for the LORD, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God:
Old Testament | Joshua 24:19-21
   19 And Joshua said unto the people, Ye cannot serve the LORD: for he is an holy God; he is a jealous God; he will not forgive your transgressions nor your sins.
   20 If ye forsake the LORD, and serve strange gods, then he will turn and do you hurt, and consume you, after that he hath done you good.
   21 And the people said unto Joshua, Nay; but we will serve the LORD.
Old Testament | Deuteronomy 4:24; see also Deut. 5:9
   24 For the LORD thy God is a consuming fire, even a jealous God.
Book of Mormon | Mosiah 11:21-23; see also Mosiah 13:13
   21 And except they repent and turn to the Lord their God, behold, I will deliver them into the hands of their enemies; yea, and they shall be brought into bondage; and they shall be afflicted by the hand of their enemies.
   22 And it shall come to pass that they shall know that I am the Lord their God, and am a jealous God, visiting the iniquities of my people.
   23 And it shall come to pass that except this people repent and turn unto the Lord their God, they shall be brought into bondage; and none shall deliver them, except it be the Lord the Almighty God.
2. https://www.collinsdictionary.com/us/dictionary/english/jealous
3. Doctrine and Covenants | Section 84:102
   102 Glory, and honor, and power, and might,
Be ascribed to our God; for he is full of mercy,
Justice, grace and truth, and peace,
Forever and ever, Amen.
Doctrine and Covenants 1835 | Lectures on Faith: Lecture Third
the same yesterday, today, and forever; long-suffering, slow to anger, forgiving, merciful, gracious, abundant in goodness, truthful, just, no respecter of persons, loving, and so forth
Book of Mormon | Alma 42:12-13; 22-25 (Bold emphasis added.)
   12 And now, there was no means to reclaim men from this fallen state, which man had brought upon himself because of his own disobedience;
   13 Therefore, according to justice, the plan of redemption could not be brought about, only on conditions of repentance of men in this probationary state, yea, this preparatory state; for except it were for these conditions, mercy could not take effect except it should destroy the work of justice. Now the work of justice could not be destroyed; if so, God would cease to be God. ...
   22 But there is a law given, and a punishment affixed, and a repentance granted; which repentance, mercy claimeth; otherwise, justice claimeth the creature and executeth the law, and the law inflicteth the punishment; if not so, the works of justice would be destroyed, and God would cease to be God.
   23 But God ceaseth not to be God, and mercy claimeth the penitent, and mercy cometh because of the atonement; and the atonement bringeth to pass the resurrection of the dead; and the resurrection of the dead bringeth back men into the presence of God; and thus they are restored into his presence, to be judged according to their works, according to the law and justice.
   24 For behold, justice exerciseth all his demands, and also mercy claimeth all which is her own; and thus, none but the truly penitent are saved.
   25 What, do ye suppose that mercy can rob justice? I say unto you, Nay; not one whit. If so, God would cease to be God.
Book of Mormon | Mormon 9:19
   19 And if there were miracles wrought then, why has God ceased to be a God of miracles and yet be an unchangeable Being? And behold, I say unto you he changeth not; if so he would cease to be God; and he ceaseth not to be God, and is a God of miracles.
4. Doctrine and Covenants | Section 93:28-40
   28 He that keepeth his commandments receiveth truth and light, until he is glorified in truth and knoweth all things.
   29 Man was also in the beginning with God. Intelligence, or the light of truth, was not created or made, neither indeed can be.
   30 All truth is independent in that sphere in which God has placed it, to act for itself, as all intelligence also; otherwise there is no existence.
   31 Behold, here is the agency of man, and here is the condemnation of man; because that which was from the beginning is plainly manifest unto them, and they receive not the light.
   32 And every man whose spirit receiveth not the light is under condemnation.
   33 For man is spirit. The elements are eternal, and spirit and element, inseparably connected, receive a fulness of joy;
   34 And when separated, man cannot receive a fulness of joy.
   35 The elements are the tabernacle of God; yea, man is the tabernacle of God, even temples; and whatsoever temple is defiled, God shall destroy that temple.
   36 The glory of God is intelligence, or, in other words, light and truth.
   37 Light and truth forsake that evil one.
   38 Every spirit of man was innocent in the beginning; and God having redeemed man from the fall, men became again, in their infant state, innocent before God.
   39 And that wicked one cometh and taketh away light and truth, through disobedience, from the children of men, and because of the tradition of their fathers.
   40 But I have commanded you to bring up your children in light and truth.
5. See footnote 4, verses 33-35

6. Book of Mormon | Ether 8:23-25
   23 Wherefore, O ye Gentiles, it is wisdom in God that these things should be shown unto you, that thereby ye may repent of your sins, and suffer not that these murderous combinations shall get above you, which are built up to get power and gain—and the work, yea, even the work of destruction come upon you, yea, even the sword of the justice of the Eternal God shall fall upon you, to your overthrow and destruction if ye shall suffer these things to be.
   24 Wherefore, the Lord commandeth you, when ye shall see these things come among you that ye shall awake to a sense of your awful situation, because of this secret combination which shall be among you; or wo be unto it, because of the blood of them who have been slain; for they cry from the dust for vengeance upon it, and also upon those who built it up.
   25 For it cometh to pass that whoso buildeth it up seeketh to overthrow the freedom of all lands, nations, and countries; and it bringeth to pass the destruction of all people, for it is built up by the devil, who is the father of all lies; even that same liar who beguiled our first parents, yea, even that same liar who hath caused man to commit murder from the beginning; who hath hardened the hearts of men that they have murdered the prophets, and stoned them, and cast them out from the beginning.
7. https://dejavu-timestwo.blogspot.com/2021/03/the-three-temptations-2021-conversion.html
8. New Testament | 2 Thessalonians 2:8-10
   8 And then shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming:
   9 Even him, whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders,
   10 And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved.

Hold On

Hold on to Integrity | Faith | Courage | Freedom

Have we noticed how often God pushes or allows things to be pushed to the limit? Remember:

Abraham & Isaac
How Abraham's hand, holding the sacrificial knife, was in the air before the angel spoke: “Lay not thine hand upon the lad ...”¹

King Hezekiah
How Jerusalem was surrounded by a formidable, cruel, conquering Assyrian army of 185,000, camped for the night, ready to attack at dawn. But before the sun arose, the entire army had succumbed to something in the night and all were dead.²

The Prophecy Believers
How the hostility against believers in a prophecy (that at Christ's birth there would be a day, a night and a day as one day) was so great that the mockers and unbelievers threatened “that all those who believed in those traditions should be put to death except the sign should come to pass.” And how, on the eve of that threat, the sign commenced.³

Apostle Peter
How Peter, lying in prison, awaiting a morning judgment by the same king Herod who had recently killed James, his brother in the Gospel, was awakened by an angel and led through prison gates to freedom.⁴

In these cases, rescue came at nigh the last minute as has been done thousands of times for others, though most did not know till that last minute whether rescue would come in this life or whether it would come after death – at the resurrection.

In this COVID-19 scenario (and coming substitute crises), we won't know what the tyrannical limit will be allowed to be — whether some will be required to endure a Viktor Frankl experience or worse.⁵ Few could have imagined the many historical atrocities in the months before the atrocities began: the India / Pakistan partition, Mao's Cultural Revolution, Nazi Germany, Pol Pot in Cambodia, the Rwandan and Kosovo tragedies, the French and other European Revolutions, the Phoenix Program⁶ in Viet Nam, the Iraq War, and on and on.

Yes, many, despite their honorable choices, will not be rescued in this life like Abraham, Isaac, and the other examples, or like Viktor Frankl who found him still miraculously alive when the allied forces arrived at the camp gates.⁷

So what is the lesson in last minute rescues? Is it to trust God to the end — whatever end it proves to be? If we give in to demands that violate our conscience, our bodily integrity, our knowledge, how will we know if some sort of rescue might have come had we endured in integrity, faith, courage, and in defense of freedom?

Let us hold on — through and past the deadlines, the mandates, the threats. God is in this crisis. It is both: 1) a test of trust in and love for God; and 2) a test of how we will use our power and influence vis-à-vis our fellow beings in helping them also prove faithful in the first test (of trust in and love for God).

Thus, a vital question is: Have we, like the church at Ephesus, left our first love⁸ thinking that alleged love of our neighbor (the second love⁹) justifies trusting in the arm of flesh or trusting in those who have proven, time after time, to be liars and deceivers?¹⁰

So what is our stance on vaccination? Are we willing to honor God-given agency or do we demand compliance to a disputed narrative coercing an experimental injection? And what is it that coercion honors? a Nazi-like narrative¹¹? the power, gain, glory, and domination agendas of a world gone mad violating Constitutions, Bills and Charters of Rights, and God-given freedoms? violating the Nuremberg Code¹²? violating the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights¹³? violating the Declaration of Helsinki¹⁴?

Let us: “Remember therefore from whence [we are] fallen, and repent, and do the first works.”

Let us: Say NO to fear; Say NO to coercion; Endure in faith to the end, whatever that end may be.

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1. Old Testament | Genesis 22:10–13
10 And Abraham stretched forth his hand, and took the knife to slay his son.
11 And the angel of the LORD called unto him out of heaven, and said, Abraham, Abraham: and he said, Here am I.
12 And he said, Lay not thine hand upon the lad, neither do thou any thing unto him: for now I know that thou fearest God, seeing thou hast not withheld thy son, thine only son from me.
13 And Abraham lifted up his eyes, and looked, and behold behind him a ram caught in a thicket by his horns: and Abraham went and took the ram, and offered him up for a burnt offering in the stead of his son.
2. Old Testament | 2 Kings 19:32–35
32 Therefore thus saith the LORD concerning the king of Assyria, He shall not come into this city, nor shoot an arrow there, nor come before it with shield, nor cast a bank against it.
33 By the way that he came, by the same shall he return, and shall not come into this city, saith the LORD.
34 For I will defend this city, to save it, for mine own sake, and for my servant David's sake.
35 ¶ And it came to pass that night, that the angel of the LORD went out, and smote in the camp of the Assyrians an hundred fourscore and five thousand: and when they arose early in the morning, behold, they were all dead corpses.
3. Book of Mormon | 3 Nephi 1:6–20
6 And they began to rejoice over their brethren, saying: Behold the time is past, and the words of Samuel are not fulfilled; therefore, your joy and your faith concerning this thing hath been vain.
7 And it came to pass that they did make a great uproar throughout the land; and the people who believed began to be very sorrowful, lest by any means those things which had been spoken might not come to pass.
8 But behold, they did watch steadfastly for that day and that night and that day which should be as one day as if there were no night, that they might know that their faith had not been vain.
9 Now it came to pass that there was a day set apart by the unbelievers, that all those who believed in those traditions should be put to death except the sign should come to pass, which had been given by Samuel the prophet.
10 Now it came to pass that when Nephi, the son of Nephi, saw this wickedness of his people, his heart was exceedingly sorrowful.
11 And it came to pass that he went out and bowed himself down upon the earth, and cried mightily to his God in behalf of his people, yea, those who were about to be destroyed because of their faith in the tradition of their fathers.
12 And it came to pass that he cried mightily unto the Lord all that day; and behold, the voice of the Lord came unto him, saying:
13 Lift up your head and be of good cheer; for behold, the time is at hand, and on this night shall the sign be given, and on the morrow come I into the world, to show unto the world that I will fulfil all that which I have caused to be spoken by the mouth of my holy prophets.
14 Behold, I come unto my own, to fulfil all things which I have made known unto the children of men from the foundation of the world, and to do the will, both of the Father and of the Son—of the Father because of me, and of the Son because of my flesh. And behold, the time is at hand, and this night shall the sign be given.
15 And it came to pass that the words which came unto Nephi were fulfilled, according as they had been spoken; for behold, at the going down of the sun there was no darkness; and the people began to be astonished because there was no darkness when the night came.
16 And there were many, who had not believed the words of the prophets, who fell to the earth and became as if they were dead, for they knew that the great plan of destruction which they had laid for those who believed in the words of the prophets had been frustrated; for the sign which had been given was already at hand.
17 And they began to know that the Son of God must shortly appear; yea, in fine, all the people upon the face of the whole earth from the west to the east, both in the land north and in the land south, were so exceedingly astonished that they fell to the earth.
18 For they knew that the prophets had testified of these things for many years, and that the sign which had been given was already at hand; and they began to fear because of their iniquity and their unbelief. 19 And it came to pass that there was no darkness in all that night, but it was as light as though it was mid–day. And it came to pass that the sun did rise in the morning again, according to its proper order; and they knew that it was the day that the Lord should be born, because of the sign which had been given.
20 And it had come to pass, yea, all things, every whit, according to the words of the prophets.
4. New Testament | Acts 12:1–11
1 NOW about that time Herod the king stretched forth his hands to vex certain of the church.
2 And he killed James the brother of John with the sword.
3 And because he saw it pleased the Jews, he proceeded further to take Peter also. (Then were the days of unleavened bread.)
4 And when he had apprehended him, he put him in prison, and delivered him to four quaternions of soldiers to keep him; intending after Easter to bring him forth to the people.
5 Peter therefore was kept in prison: but prayer was made without ceasing of the church unto God for him.
6 And when Herod would have brought him forth, the same night Peter was sleeping between two soldiers, bound with two chains: and the keepers before the door kept the prison.
7 And, behold, the angel of the Lord came upon him, and a light shined in the prison: and he smote Peter on the side, and raised him up, saying, Arise up quickly. And his chains fell off from his hands.
8 And the angel said unto him, Gird thyself, and bind on thy sandals. And so he did. And he saith unto him, Cast thy garment about thee, and follow me.
9 And he went out, and followed him; and wist not that it was true which was done by the angel; but thought he saw a vision.
10 When they were past the first and the second ward, they came unto the iron gate that leadeth unto the city; which opened to them of his own accord: and they went out, and passed on through one street; and forthwith the angel departed from him.
11 And when Peter was come to himself, he said, Now I know of a surety, that the Lord hath sent his angel, and hath delivered me out of the hand of Herod, and from all the expectation of the people of the Jews.
5. Browning, Christopher R.. Ordinary Men. Harper Perennial. Kindle Edition.
6. Valentine, Douglas. The Phoenix Program: America's Use of Terror in Vietnam (Forbidden Bookshelf) . Open Road Media. Kindle Edition.
7. Frankl, Viktor E.. Man's Search for Meaning (p. 56-62). Beacon Press. Kindle Edition.
8. New Testament | Revelation 2:4 - 7 (Bold emphasis added.)
4 Nevertheless I have somewhat against thee, because thou hast left thy first love.
5 Remember therefore from whence thou art fallen, and repent, and do the first works; or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will remove thy candlestick out of his place, except thou repent.
6 But this thou hast, that thou hatest the deeds of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate.
7 He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches; To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the tree of life, which is in the midst of the paradise of God.
9. New Testament | Matthew 22:36 - 40 (Bold emphasis added.)
36 Master, which is the great commandment in the law?
37 Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.
38 This is the first and great commandment.
39 And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.
40 On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.
10. https://moc-n-dox.blogspot.com/2021/11/trust-us-honest.html
11. https://dejavu-times.blogspot.com/2022/01/nazi-like-narrative.html
https://voices-from-the-dust.blogspot.com/2022/01/320-deep-global.html
12. Nuremberg Code
First Point of 10 The voluntary consent of the human subject is absolutely essential. This means that the person involved should have legal capacity to give consent; should be so situated as to be able to exercise free power of choice, without the intervention of any element of force, fraud, deceit, duress, overreaching, or other ulterior form of constraint or coercion; and should have sufficient knowledge and comprehension of the elements of the subject matter involved as to enable him to make an understanding and enlightened decision. This latter element requires that before the acceptance of an affirmative decision by the experimental subject there should be made known to him the nature, duration, and purpose of the experiment; the method and means by which it is to be conducted; all inconveniences and hazards reasonably to be expected; and the effects upon his health or person which may possibly come from his participation in the experiment. The duty and responsibility for ascertaining the quality of the consent rests upon each individual who initiates, directs, or engages in the experiment. It is a personal duty and responsibility which may not be delegated to another with impunity. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuremberg_Code) 
See also Nuremberg Principles: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuremberg_principles
13. United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights
[Two examples of 30]
Article 7: All are equal before the law and are entitled without any discrimination to equal protection of the law. All are entitled to equal protection against any discrimination in violation of this Declaration and against any incitement to such discrimination. {Vaxxers vs. Non-vaxxers?]
Article 19: Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers.
https://www.un.org/en/about-us/universal-declaration-of-human-rights

14. The Declaration of Helsinki (...) is a set of ethical principles regarding human experimentation developed originally in 1964 for the medical community by the World Medical Association (WMA).[1] It is widely regarded as the cornerstone document on human research ethics. ...
Principles
The Declaration is morally binding on physicians, and that obligation overrides any national or local laws or regulations, if the Declaration provides for a higher standard of protection of humans than the latter. Investigators still have to abide by local legislation but will be held to the higher standard.
Basic principles
The fundamental principle is respect for the individual (Article 8), his right to self-determination and the right to make informed decisions (Articles 20, 21 and 22) regarding participation in research, both initially and during the course of the research. The investigator's duty is solely to the patient (Articles 2, 3 and 10) or volunteer (Articles 16, 18), and while there is always a need for research (Article 6), the subject's welfare must always take precedence over the interests of science and society (Article 5), and ethical considerations must always take precedence over laws and regulations (Article 9). | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Declaration_of_Helsinki