January 7, 2017
I apologize for going so long without posting, but my wife and I took a short vacation. According to Robert Louis Stevenson Monterey, California is "the most felicitous meeting of land and sea in creation." He turned out to be correct. It was a great week.
Instead of using one of Joseph Smith's many important corrections to the the Holy Bible, I am writing today about one of the flawed revelations in the LDS canon, section 138 of the Doctrine and Covenants. Joseph F. Smith received this a short time before his own death in 1918. It was canonized after his death.
"On the 7th of January 2017, I sat in my house pondering the gospel of JESUS CHRIST...
1. There are 3 levels in the spirit world (at a minimum), not two as purposed by the words of this section. The unfairness of this is as obvious as the information in section 76. Why would GOD allow men like Charles Manson, Hitler, or Stalin to share the same space as the average people of the world? Just as the sectarian notion of one heaven and one hell is patently false, this section is absurd in its idea of paradise for the righteous and prison for everyone else. The three levels of the spirit world are paradise, prison, and hell. The redeemed go to Paradise, the undecided go to Prison, and the followers of Satan go to Hell. Missionaries from Hell and Paradise are then allowed the enter Prison and attempt to persuade the undecided to either follow JESUS or Satan. This can be deciphered using section 76 and Joseph Smith's poem about the vision that led to that section.
2. The phrase "son of God" is used repeatedly in this "revelation" but that falls short of the glory of CHRIST. He is GOD the Son, and the "eternal GOD" according to the title page of the Book of Mormon. He is the GOD who himself came down to work out the infinite atonement. He is all this and
more.
3. Verse 48 is misleading. The sealing of children to parents is when the parents have their calling and election made sure. That individual becomes sealed to Joseph Smith as our Dispensation Head, who is sealed back to Eve and Adam, who are sealed to the LORD. "Families are not forever." Only the family of GOD is forever.
4. Verse 49 is disrespectful to Samuel the Lamanite who did not dwell among the Nephites. The verse is also unfair to the Lamanites who at times were more righteous than the Nephites.
5. Verse 53 is an outright fabrication. Brigham Young is not going to the Kingdom of GOD. He had his kingdom here. He will spend as long as it takes for him in Hell to make up for all the broken-hearted women of Mormondon, who fear unnecessarily, that they will have to share their husbands with other women. Wilford Woodruff gets to answer to the LORD for lying to the US Government about ending Polygamy in 1890, when it really did not begin to end until 1904. There is also that polygamy as adultery issue hanging over his head, as well as inventing the "Founding Fathers appear in the St. George temple" myth. My theory is that a committee after Joseph F. Smith's death added the three polygamist presidents after the two martyrs Hyrum and Joseph. I know Hyrum and Joseph will be exalted along with Emma and Jerusha, the wives of their youth.
6. Verse 58 should read "The dead who repent will be redeemed, through obedience to the LORD."
The house of GOD does not exist anywhere on the Earth at present, and even if it did GOD supersedes any building.
"...Thus has the truth of the redemption of the dead been revealed to me, and I bear record, and I know that this information is true, through the power of the HOLY GHOST, who serves as the First Comforter, to prepare the broken-hearted for the Second Comforter, even GOD the Son, JESUS CHRIST. AMEN.
I realize that there is a lot of truth in section 138, but it is possible that Joseph F. Smith's words have been changed by the LDS church to fit their own agenda. I am sure the son of Hyrum Smith is a much better person than I am, and is probably in Paradise right now working out his own salvation. I mean no disrespect to a man who was doing his best in difficult times, but all men are imperfect, myself especially, and all institutions are dangerous. Don't take my word for any of this, pray about it, and decide for yourself if the philosophies of men got mingled with scripture.
