Pop Quiz Time

   1.  Was the creation of Krispy Kreme Donuts a work of God, or of the devil?

   2.  In the Book of Mormon, who were the more righteous people: the Nephites or the Lamanites?

Answer Key

   1.  Answer:  Yes.

   2.  Answer:  the Lamanites.

Now, before we dive in, I know we're taking our sweet time to investigate the prophetic promises about Zion in scripture. 

​Remember, one of the important things we're trying to figure out is WHO builds Zion.  

Why?  Because we want to be part of that group.

Why Were the Lamanites Preserved?

Why did the Lord preserve a remnant of the Lamanites for a latter-day work, but not Nephites?

Disclaimer: Who Are the Lamanites?

Before we go any further, I need to make a disclaimer.  I am not a geneticist.  I don't know anything about DNA.  And I don't know who the modern day Lamanites are.

I don't know whether they are a lineal seed or a spiritual one, etc., or where they are, or what they call themselves today, or what they look like.

I use the term "Lamanite" since the Lord uses the term in the Doctrine and Covenants, without making any claim as to who the Lamanites are. 

But I do use the term "Lamanite" as a synonym for "the remnant of the House of Israel," since Christ does in 3rd Nephi.

From what the scriptures teach, it appears the "Lamanites" (whoever they are) compose a substantial portion of the remnant, but not exclusively (more on that later). 

I am saying all of this so no one gets offended.  I do not use the term "Lamanite" in the parlance of the modern Church to refer to specific ethnic or racial groups.  

Are we good?  Then let's go!

Weren't the Lamanites the Bad Guys in the Book of Mormon?

Weren't the Lamanites the "bad guys" in the Book of Mormon?  

   Well, no.  No they were not.

​This is easy.  The Book of Mormon makes painstaking efforts to reveal who the real villains were.

Will the Real Villain Please Stand Up!

   1.  Korihor
   2.  Shem
   3.  Nehor
   4.  Amlicites
   5.  Kingmen
   6.  Amalikiah 
   7.  Ammoron
   8.  Zoramites
   9.  Jacobites
   10. People of Ammonihah
   11.  Kishkuman
   12.  Giddianhi
   13.  Amulonites

Well, guess what?!  What do all these characters have in common?

    They weren't Lamanites.  

No, they were power-hungry, popularity-craving, money-grubbing, religious and political leaders.

A Stroll Down Memory Lane

From start to finish, the Lamanites were the good guys.  (Sure, they had their false traditions . . . but so do we.) 

I want to show you.  Let's look at the following verses:

​544 - 421 B.C. (Jacob 3:5, 7)

The Lamanites your brethren, whom ye hate . . . are more righteous than you; for they have not forgotten the commandment of the Lord, which was given unto our father—that they should have save it were one wife.

Behold, their husbands love their wives, and their wives love their husbands; and their husbands and their wives love their children.

29 B.C. (Helaman 6:1)​

​​The Lamanites had become, the more part of them, a righteous people, insomuch that their righteousness did exceed that of the Nephites.
​
21 B.C. (Helaman 7:23-24)

It shall be better for the Lamanites than for you except ye shall repent.  For behold, they are more righteous than you.

401 A.D. (Moroni 9:20)

Thou knowest the wickedness of this people; thou knowest that they are without principle, and past feeling; and their wickedness doth exceed that of the Lamanites.

Convinced?

Next time we'll look at what the Lord's promises to the Lamanites in the last days. 

. . . to be continued 

Choose Ye This Day?  What?

​Like you, I love the gospel.

I also love the Church.

But Jesus said:

   No man can serve
   two masters.

(Matt. 6:24)

So which do we choose? 

When Church policy or practice is at odds with the gospel (the word of God), what do we do?

I don't know about you, but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.

The Church Was Never Meant to Be Our Master

​The Church was never meant to be our master.  

   Really. 

We already have a Master!  His name is Wonderful.

   For one is your Master,
   even Christ;
   and all ye are brethren.

(Matt. 23:8)

Was the Church meant to rule over us, or is that Christ's job?

What does the Lord mean when He says, "All ye are brethren?" 

Does He mean the Church was meant to be a place of fellowship, where we gather as a family, and not a place for leaders to exercise authority: controlling who speaks and on what topics; dictating how funds are spent; ordering members into callings without counseling with them . . . . 

   What happened? 

   How did the "priesthood" become so controlling? 

   When did priesthood keys become so oppressive?

What is the Priesthood?

   1.  What is the priesthood?  

Usually we hear it defined as "the authority to act in God's name."

But doesn't that mean we take the Lord's name in vain (a lot), using our "authority" to gratify our pride and our vain ambition, sitting in the high seats, exercising control and dominion upon the souls of the children of men? 

So what is the priesthood, really?

We're told the greater priesthood:

   (1) administered the gospel, and
   (2) holdeth the key of the mysteries of the kingdom
   (3)  even the key of the knowledge of God.

(D&C 84:19)

So here's the million dollar question:

What does it mean to "administer the gospel?"

2.  Whose Priesthood is it?

This one is easy.  The priesthood belongs to God.

But notice how we use this subtle sleight of hand:

   a.  The priesthood belongs to God.

   b.  The keys of the priesthood, though, He's given to me.

   c.  The priesthood cannot be used without my keys.

   d.  Ergo, for all practical purposes, the priesthood belongs to me.  

Yikes!  Is it any wonder the Lord is displeased with us?

   - Will a man rob God?

   - Wherein have we robbed thee, Lord?

   - In taking strength unto yourselves and in taking my name in vain through your boasting.

So . . . what are we gonna do?  

   How about: repent.

Say Nothing But Repentance 

Before the Church was even restored, the Lord commanded us:

   Say nothing but repentance
   unto this generation.

(D&C 11:9)

This blog and the poetry I have written have been my attempt to invite us all to repent. 

And what does it mean to repent?  To have a change of mind?  To turn around?  

   To turn to God, and live?

All I've been trying to do here is call the Lord's people to repentance. 

I don't have a trump, but I have a keyboard.  I don't have a seer stone, but I have wifi.  I don't have a special title, but I am a child of Christ who is Known by Him.

And so EVERYTHING I have written is to point us to our Father, Jesus Christ, so we may live in Him forevermore.  

Well, are you wondering which way we're facing, if we're not facing the Lord?

Let me ask: how are we currently oriented? 

I think it is apparent to anyone listening with half an ear that we are currently facing the Brethren, being told to follow the prophet. 

And so we are not oriented toward the God with an EYE SINGLE TO HIS GLORY.  

On a personal level, I have had friends and family see me trying to build on the sure foundation of Jesus Christ (as opposed to the foundation of the Brethren) and say I am lacking faith ― as though faith meant trusting the arm of flesh!

But being faithful to the Lord is different than being a faithful member of the Church, isn't it? 

How do we reconcile the difference?

How To Hijack the Priesthood

Do you wanna know how to hijack the priesthood?

Have you studied Catholicism, Protestantism, or Mormonism?  Then you probably have a pretty good idea.

"Hijacking" means the unlawful seizing of an aircraft, vehicle or ship while in transit.

(You can't hijack something that isn't moving.)

So whenever we see the Lord restoring his truths to men and women on earth, we see almost immediately an attempt to hijack the work of the Lord. 

   How? 

By those seeking for power, or praise or gain removing others' right to revelation, godly knowledge, and to church government. 

In other words, by leaders co-opting and confiscating competing "keys" so that they gather all authority onto a single key chain.  That they control (naturally).

We have witnessed how priesthood "keys" have silenced many people (think Abinadi and Samuel the Lamanite; Paul and even Jesus; and don't forget roughly half of the population we call . . . women). 

Why do religious leaders want to quench the Spirit and the gifts among the body of Christ?  Why do they want to keep such close control over things on their wonderfully bulging chain?

And what a big, horrible key chain it is!

Auditing Priesthood Keys in 5 Facts

Just to show how ridiculous things have become in the Church, leaders don't even trust lay members with the keys to their church buildings or library copy rooms ― let alone the keys to anything truly important!

   Got trust issues, much? 

I want to remind everyone that the Book of Mormon doesn't say anything about priesthood keys ― yes, that's right: the Most Correct Book on Earth which contains, according to the Lord, "the fulness of my everlasting gospel" (D&C 27:5), is utterly blank about keys.

   1.  Fact:  The Book of Mormon DOES NOT MENTION priesthood keys at all.  What should this tell us?  Just how important are keys to the genuine gospel of Christ?

(Answer: not important.  Love is the fulfilling of the commandment; love is the Royal Law; love is the sign of discipleship; love is the greatest of all . . . not keys.)

So why have we made the keys held by the Brethren the summum bonum of the gospel?  Of authority?  Of church government?

Have we been bamboozled?

   2.  Fact:  If priesthood keys are transferable along lines of authority and are irrevocable, then the Catholic Church holds the keys which Jesus bestowed upon Peter, and thus a Restoration was unnecessary. 

However, if a Restoration was necessary, then that means priesthood keys can be lost, and have been, and are currently.

   I will give unto thee 
   the keys of the kingdom 
   of heaven
   [not to an earthly organization]
   and whatsoever 
   thou shalt bind on earth 
   shall be bound in heaven.

(Matt. 16:19)

So what exactly did Peter's keys entitle him to do?

Become a pope?  Run a multi-national religious organization with thousands of cathedrals and tens of thousands employees, with billions of dollars to bankroll the cares of this world, buy insurance and retain armies of lawyers to settle abuse claims? 

. . . or were his keys intended to help Peter condescend and to become the servant of all, like Christ? 

   3.  Fact:  The gift and power of the Holy Ghost are greater than priesthood keys.

​In a letter dated December 5, 1839, Joseph and his compadres wrote home about their trip to see the U.S. President:

   In our interview with the President,
   He interogated us wherein we differed
   in our religion from the other religions
   of the day.

   Bro, Joseph said we differed
   in mode of baptism and
   the gift of the Holy Ghost
   by the laying on of hands--

   We considered that all other
   considerations were contained
   in the gift of the Holy Ghost.

[Joseph Smith and Elias Higbee, "Letter to Hyrum Smith and Nauvoo High Council, 5 December 1839," The Joseph Smith Papers]

Joseph did NOT say that priesthood keys make us different ― he said the gift of the Holy Ghost does.

   I say unto you
   that if ye will enter
   in by the way, and
   receive the Holy Ghost,
   it will show unto you
   all things what ye should do.

   Notice - It is God (not persons with keys) who show us "all" (what percentage is "all?") things we should do.

   Behold, this is
   the doctrine of Christ.

(2 Nephi 32:5-6)

   4.  Fact:  Joseph Smith taught that "keys" is just another word for "power."  ​

   John says, 'I baptize
   you with water,
   but when Jesus comes,
   who has the power
   (or keys),
   he shall administer
   the baptism of fire
   and the Holy Ghost.

(Joseph Smith, Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, page 360).

So anywhere we see "the power of the Holy Ghost," we could replace it with "the keys of the Holy Ghost."  (See, e.g., Romans 15:13).

   5.  Fact:  Jesus did not say we would tell who were his disciples by their keys, or office, or titles.  He said:

   By this shall all men know
   that ye are my disciples,
   if ye have love one to another.

(John 13:35)

Jesus also taught that his leaders were not those who held keys, or who held high office.  He taught the greatest in heaven were those who were like little children.

   The disciples came unto Jesus,
   saying, Who is the greatest
   in the kingdom of heaven?

   And Jesus called a little child
   unto him, and set him
   in the midst of them,

   Whosoever therefore shall
   humble himself as this little
   child, the same is greatest
   in the kingdom of heaven.

(Matthew 18:1-2, 4)

Are Leaders Like Little Children or Parents?

   Do little children apologize for their mistakes; are they supposed to share? 

   Do little children obsess over appearances and forms of speech and dress? 

   Do little children bully those who speak out against injustice and oppression?

   Rather than being dependent upon the membership and relying upon us to take care of them, leaders instead take care of themselves and have made members dependent and reliant upon them . . . it's all backwards!

   In toto, do leaders act more like strict parents than they do little children?  

So What Are Keys For?

If we stopped using keys as a tool of coercion, control, power, and unrighteous dominion . . . what are keys actually for?

I'm glad you asked!

Keys are a generic term to refer to those whom the Lord confers power, generally through the Holy Ghost, and usually relate to unfolding the mysteries of God to his children on earth.  

   Keys ≠ Right to Rule and Reign

   Keys = Reveal/Unlock Heaven's Mysteries

The "Key of Knowledge"

I think it is safe to say that priesthood keys are about revealing God to others, not about running our meetings (which, according to Moroni, is the job of the Holy Ghost).

When leaders lose the key of knowledge, they make up for it by becoming bossy.  They don't know how to prepare a feast of fat things, so they obsess over the silverware placement.  (Maybe if the table setting is impressive enough, we won't notice how awful and bland the food tastes.)

Jesus warned us about leaders who would try to "take away the key of knowledge" from us (Luke 11:52).  

How do leaders take away "the key of knowledge?" 

Primarily in two ways:

   1.  When Leaders themselves do not possess the gift (despite whatever their title) to be revelators, prophets and seers ― or, as Jesus taught, "ye entered not in yourselves" (Luke 11:52); and/or

   2.  When Leaders do not permit others to exercise the gifts of revelation, prophecy, and seership ― or, as Jesus taught, "and them that were entering in ye hindered" (Luke 11:52).

Jesus Holds the Keys

If Jesus holds all the keys, and if we're all supposed to be like Him, shouldn't we all hold keys?

Well, we do!  We all hold the keys (gift) of the Holy Ghost.  What more do we need?

Jesus taught:

   I am he that liveth,
   and was dead;
   and, behold, I am alive
   for evermore, Amen;
   and have the keys
   of hell and of death.

(Revelation 1:18)

So Jesus wants to share his keys with us.  And what are those keys?

Top 10 Keys We Find in Scripture:

   1.  The Key of the mysteries of the Kingdom (D&C 84:19)

   2.  The Key of the knowledge of God (D&C 84:19)

   3.  The Key of the ministering of angels (D&C 84:26)

   4.  The Key of knowledge to the salvation of the living and the dead (D&C 128:11)

   5.  The Keys to open the door by the proclamation of the gospel to Jew and Gentile (D&C 107:35)

   6.  The Keys to know whether something is of God (D&C 129:9)

   7.  The Keys to ask and receive an answer from the Lord (D&C 124:95)

   8.  The Keys to unite a Zion people on earth with the Zion of old that fled (D&C 27:9)

   9.  The Keys of the mystery of those things which have been sealed (D&C 35:18)

   10.  The Keys to gather Israel (D&C 110:11)

Notice that none of these keys gives us the right to be unequal; to create rank and status among the body of Christ; to become millionaires while on the Lord's errand.

Top 10 Keys We Won't Find in Scripture:

I've gone through the scriptures and I cannot find the following Keys anywhere:

   1.  Keys to abolish the law of common consent;

   2.  Keys to never lead the Church astray;

   3.  Keys to unilaterally and anonymously draft a Church Handbook implementing procedures and policies that are inconsistent with the Standard Works;

   4.  Keys to stockpile hundreds of billions of dollars in the stock market and in real property investments; 

   5.  Keys to collect a stipend, dividend, salary, or other remuneration for Church service;

   6.  Keys to quench the gifts of the Spirit among the lay membership;

   7.  Keys to grant authority over the body of Christ in any measure other than what Love affords;

   8.  Keys to lie for the Lord, and to hide our doings from the members of the Church; 

   9.  Keys to make ourselves princes instead of servants in the household of God;

   10.  Keys to trample under our feet the God of Israel by encouraging idolatry (see, 1 Nephi 19:7).

Conclusion

What we see in the way we use priesthood keys to cloak ourselves in the mantle of authority is directly contrary to the law of the gospel, isn't it?

How? 

   (1)  By teaching others to follow the prophet and Brethren as a substitute for following Christ (or by teaching that it is the same, when the flip flopping of Church policy shows it is not);

   (2)  By teaching others to trust in the keys held by leadership over our own gifts and over the power of the Holy Ghost;

   (3)  By setting ourselves up as the "way, the truth, and the life."   

Ironic, isn't it, that we treat those who are supposed to be special witnesses of Christ like the princes of Rome more than the martyrs of Jerusalem.

What Next, Isaiah?

Isaiah foretold what would transpire in the last days.  So he's a pretty good source.  

At least, the Lord seems to think so:

   Great are the words of Isaiah.

   For surely he spake as touching all things
   concerning my people which are
   of the house of Israel.

(3 Nephi 23:1-2)

What is crystal clear from Isaiah's prophecies is the importance of having Zion-As-Ark in order for the Lord's people to survive the coming "flood" of destructive events. 

If you've heard Zion referred to as a "refuge" (D&C 115:6), then you know what I mean.

Let's dive right in by looking at some of these things Isaiah said in Chapter 24. 

Tick, Tock, Goes the Doomsday Clock

   1.  24:3.  Somehow, at some point in the future, the "land shall be utterly emptied, and utterly spoiled" (Isaiah 24:3).

   2.  24:5.  The cause of this widespread destruction is "because they have transgressed the laws, changed the ordinance, broken the everlasting covenant" (Isaiah 24:5).

   3.  Who?  Who has violated the Lord's laws?  Who has changed his ordinance?  Who has broken his covenant?  Well, what people claims to have his laws, ordinances, and covenants (I wonder).

  4.  24:6.  In consequence of the Lord's people in the last days falling away and rejecting the fulness of his gospel, a "curse devoureth the earth, and they that dwell therein are desolate" (Isaiah 24:6).

   5.  I think this is alluded to in D&C 112, where the Lord talks about the coming day of desolation, weeping and mourning:

   And upon my house shall it begin,
   and from my house shall it go forth,
   saith the Lord;
   first among those among you,
   who have professed to know my name
   and have not known me,
   and have blasphemed against me
   in the midst of my house,
   saith the Lord.

(D&C 112:25-26)

   5.5  Before we continue, I want to ask, parenthetically, how have we "blasphemed" the Lord "in the midst of his house?"   

Well, 'blasphemy' means "to show contempt for God."

Have we mocked God by telling people to stay on the "covenant path" which leads us down to hell?

   Others will the devil pacify, 
   and lull them away
   into carnal security,
   that they will say:
   All is well in Zion; yea
   there is no safer place
   in the whole Valley
   than the Salt Lake Temple; yea
   Zion prospereth 
   to the tune of $130 billion dollars;
   all is well. 

   And thus the devil
   cheateth their souls,
   and leadeth them carefully
   down to hell. 

(2 Nephi 28:21, Revised) 

Is it possible that the gentiles who break the everlasting covenant are . . . us?

​After the Destruction, What Comes Next, Isaiah? 

Isaiah gives us a fascinating glimpse ― an interlude, really ― of things as they hit rock bottom.

   6.  24:7.  The faithful, humble followers of Christ are called "new wine."  (And it is the saddest wine you'll ever meet.) 

   The new wine mourneth,
   the vine languisheth.

(Isaiah 24:7)

Isaiah describes this heart-wrenching moment of grief in which there is no laughter, no rejoicing, no joy, no singing (see 24:7-9). 

We witness the silence of heaven (D&C 38:12) reflected on earth among the righteous as they behold what has become of the "vine [that] languisheth."

​   7.  24:11.  Then, out of this terrible silence, comes the wailing for wine. 

   There is a cry
   for wine
   in the streets.

(Isaiah 24:11)

By the way, why is everyone crying in "the streets?" 

I guess it's because the houses are all gone by this point; we're all homeless.  "Every house is shut up, that no man may come in" (Isaiah 24:10).  

But notice what everyone in the streets is calling for: wine!  

Maybe it's because we all want to drink our worries away, finding relief in drunken oblivion.

But what if Isaiah is referring to the faithful, humble followers of Christ as "wine."  Is this what the people are crying out for? 

Where did all the humble followers of Christ go?

What do they really want? 

   Zion.  Refuge.  Shelter.

But We'll Be Okay, Right Isaiah? 
​
   8.  24:18.  Among those that have bought into carnal security, into gold and silver, into religious pride and piety but who never knew the Lord and who took His name in vain while practicing priestcraft . . . what are they doing?

   He who fleeth 
   the noise of the fear
   shall fall into a pit: 
   for . . . the foundations 
   of the earth do shake.

(Isaiah 24:18)

The point is that there is no escaping the coming calamity. 

People are going to try to "flee" from these things.  But no matter what they do, it is too late. 

They fall into a pit because they were not built upon the only sure foundation: Christ.

Instead, they built their spiritual foundation on following the brethren, or in keeping the commandments of men, or in some other idol-du-jour, instead of clinging to Christ's word.

Everything else on earth, everything other than Christ's word, shall be shaken and utterly broken (see, D&C 132:13).

This reminds me of something the Lord said in 1833: 

   Behold, and lo,
   vengeance cometh speedily
   upon the ungodly
​   as the whirlwind;
   and who shall escape it?

(D&C 97:22)

This is the greatest Rhetorical Question ever.  Who can outrun a tornado on your doorstep?  Is there a pickup truck that you can drive to outdistance a hurricane on your heels?

   No.  

How Does It End, Isaiah?

We're gonna witness the end of the world.

   9.  24:20.  You know when the sun is darkened and the moon turns to blood, etc., etc.?  Look at how Isaiah describes this global occurrence:

   The earth shall reel to and fro
   like a drunkard,
   and shall be removed
   like a cottage;
   and the transgression thereof
   shall be heavy upon it;
   and it shall fall,
   and not rise again.

(Isaiah 24:20)

So . . . . then what?

We're sitting in the movie theater with our tub of popcorn, sipping our Diet Coke and the movie screen goes black.  

   Is the movie over?  That was a terrible ending!

And so everyone walks out of the theater complaining about what a waste.  

   Except, we remain.  Because we know there is an end-credits scene.

The screen turns white, and we behold a new heavens and a new earth . . . fashioned by the Lord for his new wine.

   10.  End Credits.  66:22. 

   For as the new heavens
   and the new earth,
   which I will make,
   shall remain before me,
   saith the Lord,
   so shall your seed
   and your name remain.

(Isaiah 66:22)

Wine and Wrath

If you're reading this blog, chances are you're interested in at least two of the following things:

   1. The Gospel
   2. The Church
   3.  The Last Days
   4.  Wine

This is your lucky day! We're going to hit all four in this post. 

You'll recall in our last post we discussed the concept of new "bottles" into which the Lord will pour His wine in the last days.  

I want to clarify something.  There are actually TWO wines.

(And just to confuse the matter, there are also TWO separate wraths being poured out.) 

   What?

   1.  Wine of Babylon (Great and Abominable Church). 

We find the Mother of Abominations making "all the nations drink of the wine of the wrath of her fornication" (Revelation 14:8).

Notice that the wrath here is not God's.  It is the wrath of a Woman scorned. 

And what is the Wine of Wrath that Babylon pours out?  It is the persecution of the saints of God (see, D&C 88:94).

   2.  Wine of Zion (Church of Christ).  

Contrast the Great Whore's counterfeit wine to that of Christ's.  "The Lamb of God hath overcome and trodden the wine-press alone, even the wine-press of the fierceness of the wrath of Almighty God" (D&C 88:106).

Here, Christ receives wrath (the wrath of God).

Turning water to wine?  Child's play compared to turning wrath into wine.  From all that wrath Christ turns it into wine.  The wine of His atonement, which is his blood. 

"And the Lord shall be red in his apparel, and his garments like him that treadeth in the wine-vat" (D&C 133:48).

So everyone drinks wine in the last days.  But we choose whose wine we drink.

The Three Pillars of Zion

I want to suggest there are at least three "bottles" the scriptures speak about. 

When we refer to Zion as a "refuge" from the storm, I think we should keep these three vessels in mind.

   1.  A Holy House.

No, not the temple. 

We've seen all the good a temple did the Jews when they rejected the Lord.  A physical temple is nothing without a Holy House to fill it. 

What do I mean?  I am talking here about the Holy House of Israel.  (This includes all the covenant holders of old, like the Remnant of Jacob.)

The irony is that the House of Israel has generally not been holy.  But in the end times, a few of the House of Israel will turn again to the Lord.

   For in mine holy mountain,
   in the mountain of the height of Israel,
   saith the Lord God,
   there shall all the house of Israel,
   all of them in the land,
   serve me.

(Ezekiel 20:40)

This group also includes the "adopted" (repentant) Gentiles, who are numbered with the remnant of Jacob.

   For mine house
   shall be called an house of prayer
   for all people.

   The Lord God
   which gathereth the outcasts of Israel
   saith, Yet will I gather others.

(Isaiah 56:7-8)

Who are the "others?"  The gentiles, the lost sheep of Israel, the 10 Tribes, the remnant, etc.

Okay, so now we've got a Holy House (people) who are pure in heart. 

   What do we do now?

   2.  A Holy City.

Zion is more than being pure in heart. 

Zion means gathering with others who are pure in heart.   

They will form a society, or a city, dedicated to the Lord.  That city will need sewer works and water systems.  It will need libraries and schools.  It will need you.  

A Holy City where the word of the Lord may be heard . . . in person, for He shall walk among them.

There are at least three Holy Cities that I am aware of:

   a.  Jerusalem is a holy city (Isaiah 52:1).

   b.  The New Jerusalem is a holy city (Ether 13:8).

   c.  The City of Enoch is a holy city, which shall return again (see, Revelation 21:2 and Moses 7:62-63).

   3.  A Holy Name.

Okay, once we've gathered the House of Israel into a Holy City, what next?

This is the best part!  

Isaiah prophesied:

   Thou shalt be called by a new name,
   which the mouth of the Lord shall name.

   Thou shalt no more be termed Forsaken;
   neither shall thy land any more
   be termed Desolate.

(Isaiah 62:2-4)

Remember what King Benjamin gave his people when they entered into the covenant?  A Holy Name.

   Ye shall be called the children of Christ,
   his sons, and his daughters . . . .

   There is no other name given
   whereby salvation cometh;
   therefore, I would that ye should take
   upon you the name of Christ.

(Mosiah 5:7-8)

So here we've got (1) a holy house that is (2) gathered into a holy city and who receive (3) a holy name, even the name of Christ.

This is the "oil" or "wine" that will be preserved (bottled) in order to survive the coming calamity and judgment.  

   I will make my holy name
   known in the midst of my people Israel;
   and I will not let them pollute my holy name
   any more: and the heathen shall know
   that I am the Lord, the Holy One in Israel.

(Ezekiel 39:7)

New Wine, Old Bottles: Story as Old as Time

Imagine the utter shock of the Nephites as the Lord told them that their entire religious way of life was over.  

   Just like *that* (*Thanos Finger Snap*).

No more feasts or sacrificial lambs; no more burnt offerings and Levitical laws.

As Jesus peered into their jaw-dropping astonishment, He explained this was actually a good thing!  Ending the Law of Moses was according to prophecy.  It was part of His plan all along.

   And he said unto them:
   Marvel not that I said
   unto you that old things
   had passed away,
   and that all things
   had become anew.

   Behold, I say unto you
   that the law is fulfilled
   that was given unto Moses.

   Behold . . . the law in me is fulfilled,
   for I have come to fulfil the law;
   therefore it hath an end.

(3 Nephi 15:3-5)

A couple of important things the Savior points out here:

   1.  "All" things must become "new."
   
   2.  Old "laws" are "fulfilled."

   3.  The old laws are ended, but specifically they are fulfilled "in me" (meaning, Christ, from whom all laws flow and to whom all laws have an end).

This concept should not be new to any of us.  After all, the Lord famously told the Jews:

   Neither do men put new wine
   into old bottles:
   else the bottles break,
   and the wine runneth out,
   and the bottles perish:
   but they put new wine
   into new bottles,
   and both are preserved.

(Matthew 9:17)

See, I told you the Lord loved wine.

Our Old Bottles

What does this have to do with us?  What does it mean in 2021?

Well, I have good news and bad news:

   1.  Old Bottles/Old Wine.  The old bottles and wine represent the status quo. The old law.  The old way of doing things.  In other words, pretty much everything we're used to.

Can the Lord pour His new wine into the old bottles we've collected during the Restoration? 

   Well, could He cram Christianity into the synagogues?

What would happen if the Lord tried to fit His Marvelous Works and Wonders into our current churches? 
   
   Would it break them?

What would happen if the Lord tried to fill His celestial rites and truths into terrestial and telestial church-bottles?

   Would they explode? 

So we see the logic in not using "old bottles" (our hierarchies and machinery and systems) as we approach the Millennium. 

These old bottles are going to burst.  (I mean, we can already see the seams showing, can't we?) 

To be clear, our hierarchy and religious systems are not "new bottles."

For us, it's gonna be just like it was for the Nephites and Jews.

    2.  New Bottles, New Wine. 

So where are the "new bottles" the Lord is pouring wine into?

Well, which came first: the chicken or the egg?

Or, if you're the Lord harvesting grapes and making wine, which comes first: the bottle or the wine?

Suppose you'd labored all season and had a good harvest of grapes.  You juice the grapes (or whatever it is they do in Napa) . . . guess what?  You need something to put the wine in.

New wine without a container will just seep into the dirt and be lost.

So it's almost as if the Lord is waiting for a bottle to hold His wine. 

   And what could that bottle be? 

The Second Coming of Samuel the Lamanite

Why isn't our Church today the bottle into which the Lord pours his precious Cabernet Sauvignon?

Well, He tells us why, so there's no mystery:

   Behold, I say unto you,
   there were jarrings,
   and contentions,
   and envyings,
   and strifes,
   and lustful
   and covetous desires
   among them;
   therefore by these things
   they polluted their inheritances.

(D&C 101:6)

Speaking of covetousness, I want to share something that Hugh Nibley said.

I think Nibley was the greatest Mormon critic of his generation.  He defined being "on the edge of inside" before any of us had heard of Richard Rohr.

Nibley was a kind of outsider.  He wasn't a church leader.  He was edgy but he wasn't targeted by the Brethren because he minded his P's and Q's (most of the time).

I love this anecdote from Nibley's biography that gives us a glimpse into his character.  His daughter recalled:

   "Daddy answered a ringing telephone ... [and] I overhear his side of the conversation.

   ‘Yes, this is Mr. Nibley.'
   'Yes, Martha [Nibley's daughter] is at Provo High School.'
   'She what?'
   'She missed what?'
   'Seminary?'

   He holds the phone an inch farther away from his mouth and calls to my mother:

   ‘Dear? Is Martha taking seminary? I told her not to take seminary. Great guns, why is she wasting her time in seminary?!'"

(Boyd Peterson, Hugh Nibley: A Consecrated Life, Salt Lake: Greg Kofford Books, 2002, xviii.)

Hugh Nibley is a modern day Samuel the Lamanite

Do you recall the theme of Samuel the Lamanite's speech to the Nephites?  How they had set their hearts on riches?  How they prided themselves on a "righteousness" that would ultimately destroy them?

(No text of scripture I can think of is more a propos of our current situation in 2021 than the Book of Helaman.)

Let's take look at Nibley's version:

And the two marks of the Church I see are ― and have been for a long time ― these: a reverence for wealth and a contempt for the scriptures.

Naturally, the two go hand in hand.

We should call attention to the fact that these things we are doing are against the work of the Lord. 

There is one saying of Joseph Smith I think of quite often. If the heavens seem silent at a time when we desperately need revelation, it is because of covetousness in the Church.

“God had often sealed up the heavens because of covetousness in the Church.”

And now the Church isn’t just shot through with covetousness, it is saturated with covetousness. And so the heavens are going to be closed.

(Hugh Nibley, Eloquent Witness: Nibley on Himself, Others, and the Temple, Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 2008, page 87.)

I mean, Judas betrayed Jesus for 30 pieces of silver.  That's pocket change compared to what we've sold Him for.

So Where's the New Bottle?

If you're wondering where these new bottles will be found, don't worry.  

   The Book of Mormon tells us.

In my next few blog posts we'll take a deep dive into the answers it provides.

   Stay tuned my friends!