-------FOOTINGS AND FOUNDATION FIRST------

In this blog, as the title suggests, I will be expressing personal thoughts concerning the Gospel of Jesus Christ. A bit of background about the vocabulary in the blog title might be appropriate.

EUAGGELION or GOOD TIDINGS or GOSPEL

Euaggelion is Greek and is pronounced ay-you-ang-gay'-lee-on — There is a double gamma in the word accounting for the glottal "n" sound.). It's meaning in English is roughly translated as "good message" or "good tiding." The prefix eu- is an adverb and means "well." But, a literal translation of the word — "well message" — is not idiomatic English. (Agathos is the Greek equivalent to "good" —I just knew that you were dying to know that important and salient fact...) The "aggelion" means message or tiding and is related to the verb "aggelo", which means to carry a message. In English, we have the word Gospel as the equivalent to euaggelion, which comes from the old English, God-spell. ( I apologize that I am unable to use the Greek alphabet for Greek words. It is just part of the inadequacies of BLOGGER.)

MORE FOOTINGS AND FOUNDATION — And, a necessary word about the above picture.

First: MY APOLOGIES

1. My apologizes to the World Book Encyclopedia Company, their Childcraft division, and the artist David Cunningham for rudely borrowing the illustration on pages 296 and 296 of volume 12 (LOOK AND LEARN) for this blog. It's just that I've never seen a better illustration of perspective.

2. My apology to you — I scanned the image above from an open book — not desiring to cut the pages out and tape them together. This particular volume made it through seven "rug rats/house apes" (four boys and three girls) in marvelous condition, considering the book's usage since 1981. So, I hope that you will overlook the imperfect copy of the illustration.

Perspective is a concept that entered the western world via the humanities, specifically art and artists. Rushing past a treatise on perspective's development in the arts — the word perspective has taken on more meaning and application than just trying to display three dimensions on a two dimensional surface. Perspective also deals with how human beings "view" things, whether real or abstract. It has everything to do with the process of creating an inner "picture" of reality — whatever that is — and interpreting the world around us. Sometimes, one's perspective can be anywhere from "slightly out of whack" (such as viewing the speed indicator in the dash of a moving car while sitting in the passenger's seat) to "royally screwed up" (the proverbial committee of sight challenged gentlemen trying to arrive at an accurate description of an elephant while only feeling one portion of the pachyderm).

So, to sum up, my reason for including PERSPECTIVE in the title was to suggest that my 65 plus years on this planet with the accompanying experiences have suggested some alternate ways of viewing the world that have benefited me and just might benefit others.

LASTLY (well, almost) — principles are nothing new to Latter-day Saints. We begin our childhood learning about "FIRST PRINCIPLES" as soon as we can talk and understand. An Article of Faith of the Church talks about "first principle and ordinances" belonging to the Gospel of Jesus Christ and the necessity of living the principles as well as receiving the ordinances. So, I will also be touching on many principles as a part of this blog — and, hopefully I will not be wresting or mangling those principles.

Finally (really), we Latter-day Saints have our own religious vocabulary — someone (I think it was Orson Scott Card) called it Mormon Speak. One of the mainstays of our vocabulary includes the word TESTIMONY. That word out in the world usually is used in a judicial setting, in front of a judge and sometimes jurors. What we Mormons mean by testimony is the personal witness which has come to each of us through the ministration of the Holy Ghost. So, when we say that we have a testimony, we mean that we have received this personal witness concerning Christ, etc. Further, when we "bear our testimony," usually what we are doing is witnessing concerning Jesus Christ and his atoning mission here in mortality. There is a passage of scripture that relates very well to what I mean. It is taken from the Bible, specifically from REVELATION 19 and states:

10 And I afell at his feet to bworship him. And he said unto me, See thou do it not: I am thy cfellowservant, and of thy brethren that have the testimony of Jesus: worship God: for the dtestimony of Jesus is the spirit of eprophecy.
(copied from Mormon.org, scriptures app -- quote from KJV)

When John was about to fall at the feet of the angel and worship him, the angel stopped him and reminded him that he, himself was one of the former prophets and his fellow servant and of his brethren who had the TESTIMONY of Jesus. Then he explains to John that the testimony (witness Gk. martyrese) of Jesus is the SPIRIT OF PROPHECY. (If you don't know us Latter-day Saints, you must realize that we wholeheartedly accept Paul's statement to the Corinthians in 1 Cor. 12, about not having us ignorant about spiritual gifts. We believe in them, we accept them. WE EXPERIENCE THEM, just as the former-day saints did.)

Additionally, the Apostle Paul told the saint in Corinth:

1 Cor. 12:3 Wherefore I give you to understand, that no man speaking by the Spirit of God calleth Jesus accursed: and that no man can asay that Jesus is the bLord, but by the cHoly Ghost. (quote from KJV)

There are currently millions of Latter-day Saints around this fair globe who have the witness of Jesus Christ through the ministration of the Holy Ghost. We all KNOW that he is God the Son, the Redeemer of mankind. As the above scriptures say, this witness is the spirit of Prophecy.

(A parting thought: What of those who witness of Christ without knowing it by the spirit of prophecy, id est, the Holy Ghost? Would that make said witness a false prophet?)

Monday, June 10, 2013

HEBER CHASE KIMBALL PROPHECIES — A TEST! A TEST!




PRESIDENT HEBER C. KIMBALL


Both of the following quotes come from the Life of Heber C. Kimball, a work by Orson F. Whitney of the Quorum of the Twelve and was published in 1888. (Elder Whitney, incidentally, is one of Heber C. Kimball's grandsons.)


ELDER EDWARD STEVENSON:

“I cheerfully contribute the following, concerning one of the greatest prophets of the nineteenth century—Heber C. Kimball: In 1858 a little group of friends, convened in the House of the Lord, were engaged in pleasant conversation on the isolated condition of the Latter-day Saints.

“Yes,’ said Brother Heber (by which name he was so familiarly known), ‘we think we are secure here in the chambers of the everlasting hills, where we can close those few doors of the canyons against mobs and persecutors, the wicked and the vile, who have always beset us with violence and robbery, but I want to say to you, my brethren, the time is coming when we will be mixed up in these now peaceful valleys to that extent that it will be difficult to tell the face of a Saint from the face of an enemy to the people of God. Then, brethren, look out for the great sieve, for there will be a great sifting time, and many will fall; for I say unto you there is a test, a TEST, a TEST coming, and who will be able to stand?

Orson F. Whitney, Life of Heber C. Kimball [Salt Lake City: Kimball Family, 1888], 445.)

ELDER JOHN NICHOLSON gives a valued contribution in the following:

“In accordance with your request I furnish you with a brief outline of a discourse delivered by your grandfather, the late Heber C. Kimball, in 1867. The occasion was the usual afternoon service. Whether it was held in the Bowery or the old Tabernacle, I do not distinctly recollect, but think it was the latter. My memory is, however, quite distinct in relation to the subject of the discourse; especially the prophetic part of it, with which I was specially impressed.

“President Kimball opened by stating that there were many within hearing who had often wished that they had been associated with the Prophet Joseph. ‘You imagine,’ said he, ‘that you would have stood by him when persecution raged and he was assailed by foes within and without. You would have defended him and been true to him in the midst of every trial. You think you would have been delighted to have shown your integrity in the days of mobs and traitors.

“Let me say to you, that many of you will see the time when you will have all the trouble, trial and persecution that you can stand, and plenty of opportunities to show that you are true to God and his work. This Church has before it many close places through which it will have to pass before the work of God is crowned with victory. To meet the difficulties that are coming, it will be necessary for you to have a knowledge of the truth of this work for yourselves. The difficulties will be of such a character that the man or woman who does not possess this personal knowledge or witness will fall. If you have not got the testimony, live right and call upon the Lord and cease not till you obtain it. If you do not you will not stand.

“Remember these sayings, for many of you will live to see them fulfilled. The time will come when no man nor woman will be able to endure on borrowed light. Each will have to be guided by the light within himself. If you do not have it, how can you stand? Do you believe it?

Ibid: pp.449-451

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PERSONAL OBSERVATION:

I have read both of these quotes in talks of other general authorities who's ministries are much closer to our own time in this dispensation than President H. C. Kimball's. One reference to these quotes was in a book by Elder Vaughn J. Featherstone. It would appear, therefore, that President H. C. Kimball's prophecies were not referring to the circumstances surrounding the time of the adoption of  the Manifesto. If indeed, these prophecies are yet to be fulfilled, they should, at the very least, make us as Latter-day Saints take stock of our own spiritual state -- whether our personal witnesses are founded on the bedrock of revelation, and whether we are among the five wise virgins rather than the five foolish virgins.

I have had a personal concern about the "lukewarm" status of some of the Church members whom I have gotten to know over the last three decades. There seems to be way too much worldliness and ignorance of Gospel Doctrines, and way too little concern about whether the lives they are leading are in accordance with the Lord's will for them. As President H. C. Kimball notes, this is a personal matter for every individual to assess. 

For me, that assessment process includes the statement in D.&C. 1:14 "... and the day cometh that they who will not listen to the voice of the Lord, neither the voice of his servants, neither give heed to the words of the prophets and apostles, shall be cut off from among the people."

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