Catch Up...hehe

Wow... we went to Temple Square and then it's been non-stop ever since. The days are long and have become blurs, but here are some brief catch-ups from last week:

Temple Square - Monday (6/12)
WORD FOR THE DAY: yikes!

A blast from my past. I remember our trips to SLC as a family for family reunions and to attend conference. The only part I didn't revisit was The Beehive House - Brigham Young's Polygamy house.

Visitor's Square Tour - Just prayed. Can't be impressed by the self-adulation of the church these days.

We used to have a 3 foot picture of The Christus hanging in our house. Now, standing under the original statue is just creeeeepy. Pupil-less eyes, expressionless face, split beard, stark lifeless white, surrounded by the universe.

A Sister Missionary was challenging one of our group members with "Don't you believe in modern day prophets?" She rephrased and rephrased, and eventually the team member turned to me. I was sitting down, trying to stay out of the conversation, but noooooo.... So, I
said, "No, we don't believe in prophets like your prophets... Hebrews 1 explains that God spoke through the prophets in times PAST, but Jesus has fulfilled the need for them... AND... the prophets of old DID NOT bring new doctrine or new religion or NEW revelation - they took the people back to The Law and proclaimed REPENT in various ways. AND not to mention, NONE of the prophets WANTED to be a prophet. This wasn't a popular position to be in, especially since should they dare give a prophecy in the name of The Lord, there was a zero tolerance for 'missing the mark'. One false prediction/prophecy, and you were stoned to death - based on The Law - Deuteronomy, check it out for yourself, and while you're at it, read Ezekiel 13. " yikes.

Joseph Smith Movie - "Prophet of the Restoration"
Full feature-length film about Joseph Smith - Coming to an LDS Temple Visitor's Center near you.
aka - "The Passion of the Smith". sorry. plagiarism of Mel Gibson's art did NOT go unnoticed. At one point I turned to a guy in our group and said, "Why don't they just crucify him and get it over with?" The opening scene was like the Gethsemane scene, they now portray him doing everything from shepherding to healing the sick. Jesus or Joseph people... there is only ONE name given under heaven by which men will be saved. Hint.... which came first?

They also actually SHOW scenes where Joseph Smith is receiving the LDS priesthood (which is believed to be the Jewish priesthood RESTORED) from - get this - the resurrected John the Baptist (WITH his head!), and Peter, James, and John. I thought the resurrection happens later?! Did the Jewish priesthood leave? What does the Bible say about the Jewish priesthood? (Leviticus)

Admission - CHRISTIANS in our group were so appalled and insensed that they were talking about it on the property and an "official" temple grounds person told them to take the discussion off the property. A lady asked one of our group what he thought of the movie. He said, "Well, they practically deified Joseph." She said, "And rightfully so!" YIKES.

LDS History Museum
Saw lots of relics from my family background...pioneers. One of the things the movie portrayed was Joseph Smith being tarred and feathered as "persecution". The persecution complex is so emphasized that nobody really talks about WHY he was tarred and feathered - he was caught having sex in the barn with a 14-year-old girl he'd taken as a "spiritual wife". It pushed the people over the edge and they came after him with a veterinarian that was ready to castrate him, but changed his mind "just in case" he was a prophet and went for the tar and feathers. In the end, I bet his 1st wife, Emma, wished that were the former were the case. He ended up with approx. 22 wives before his death based on genealogy (more mentioned in various writings). JSmith was in his late 30's when he died. His youngest wife was another little gal, Helen Mar Kimball, daughter of Heber C. Kimball who was 14. She was promised that all her family would be guaranteed salvation if she married him. No pressure. NONE of this is mentioned in the Hails to Joseph Smith throughout the visitors' center or LDS portrayals, even here in the Manti Pageant. That's called whitewashing. Again, Ezekiel 13 comes to mind.

Just as you walk in to the history museum, there was a case with the gun that Joseph Smith had in Carthage Jail when he was "led as a lamb to the slaughter" and martyred as he killed 2 people and wounded one. Best to look up "martyr". Foxe's Book of Martyrs has some great examples. Joseph isn't mentioned. Some are even from Nero's reign (Polycarp...) including near and after the dark ages, which Mormons are taught indicate that God removed his truth from the earth. You see, there never was an apostacy from Christianity, there is always a remnant of Believers that have grown the body of Christ worldwide amidst great persecution...therefore no need for the "prophet of the restoration."

There were also replicas of the breastplate and spectacles that were one of the methods of translation for the Golden Plates. I was raised on that version of the story, so it was good to see the replicas, since I've found out that the witness accounts also include Joseph looking directly at the plates (written in "reformed Egyptian", a non-existent language), as well as gazing into a black felt hat containing two stones (yep, ROCKS) and calling out the words and having a scribe on the other side of a curtain write what he said.

The museum store contained all kinds of photo art, books, toys, pioneer action figures. The best was a replica of a relic they call "The Liahona", a compass tool used by the people of the Book of Mormon as they were leaving "the old world." It's like a gold ball with a pointy frame. It only worked right when they were good. When they were murmuring and complaining, it didn't work. This group didn't need a cloud by day or pillar of fire by night. You tilt the toy version and it says "follow the Lord" or something like that ala "Magic 8 Ball."

Well, that was fun and gasping on Temple Square.

The best part of the day was hanging with our group and getting to know such enthusiastic people from around the nation who have been in ministry to these people for years. It's amazing to all of us that the people don't ask questions about what they were taught, but I'm there to remind them that eventually we do!

Some good info is available at www.irr.org. Check out "The Bible vs. The Book of Mormon" at www.lhvm.org if you're interested in "the language barrier".

BLESSINGS!!