In these last days at the close of this last dispensation,
with the prophesied calamities being witnessed in all their chaos
by all of humanity, we see that our Father is fulfilling His word.
Most of His children are witnessing these things in ignorance,
very few are witnessing with the knowledge that our Heavenly Father
has set His hand in motion to bring about the salvation and exaltation
of His children and the destruction of those who reject His message.
In the book of Doctrine and Covenants Section 131:6, it states,
"It is impossible for a man to be saved in ignorance".
If we are to be spared from the prophesied destructive events
of these, the very last days, we must be in a position of knowledge--knowledge
of salvation, knowledge of exaltation, and knowledge of where
and when this destruction will come.
If a man knows that a tornado is about to destroy his home, does
he not leave the home to its fate? At the point the destructive
force of the whirlwind hits, the man is helpless to prevent his
home's annihilation. He does not stay in the home to endure the
destructive force of the tornado. The man laments the loss. He
leaves and takes shelter from the storm in a place he has prepared
for just such a possibility. He had knowledge of previous tornadoes,
so he made preparations for his family to escape the devastation.
In all of Israel's history the Lord has watched over and warned
His children of impending destructions. In these last days, He
has warned us of the destructions to come. He has not left
us in ignorance. We have the words and prophesies of the prophets
of this and other dispensations - warning us, the children of
Israel, of the destructions that await the wicked among us if
we will not repent.
Throughout the history of our Father's dealings with His children,
who did the prophets warn? Time and time again God's covenant
people lapsed into apostasy by rejecting true principles and following
after the strange Gods of their day. That was the exact status
of the people of Jerusalem in Lehi's day. When Lehi was commanded
to call the people to repentance, did they recognize him as a
true messenger and prophet of the Lord? Did Lehi come from the
hierarchy of the church at the time? "..the Jews did mock
him because of the things which he testified of them; for he truly
testified of their wickedness and their abominations;..."
(1 Nephi 1:19) Lehi was seen as a traitor to the structure of
the "church" in Jerusalem and a blasphemer because he
spoke words that were in opposition to the current direction of
"church" leadership. The people were blind to their
standing before God, yet they assumed that "All is well in
Zion, yea Zion prospereth". Laman and Lemuel were a prime
reflection of the Jerusalem mind set when they said, "And
we know that the people who were in the land of Jerusalem were
a righteous people; for they kept the statutes and judgments of
the Lord, and all his commandments, according to the law of Moses;
wherefore, we know that they are a righteous people;..."
(1 Nephi 17: 22). Apparently, the people were doing the outward
performances such as attending meetings, etc., but their hearts
were far from the Lord. This wickedness is confirmed by the fact
that the city of Jerusalem was destroyed as Lehi prophesied.
Did the prophets generally warn anyone other than Israel? Who
was it that Abinadi warned? Who was it that Nephi warned? Who
was it that Samuel the Lamanite warned? Who did Isaiah, Ezekiel,
and Jeremiah warn? WE also have been warned. The Lord has
always forewarned his chosen people, always stretched forth his
hand, and always given the opportunity for salvation from the
destructions if they would repent.
He has told us of the destructions that will come forth in these
last days, and He has told us where they will begin.
In Section 112 verses 23 through 26 the Lord through His servant
Joseph Smith states:
Verily, verily, I say unto you, darkness covereth the earth,
and gross darkness the minds of the people, and all flesh has
become corrupt before my face.
Behold, vengeance cometh speedily upon the inhabitants of the
earth, a day of wrath, a day of burning, a day of desolation,
of weeping, of mourning, and of lamentation; and as a whirlwind
it shall come upon all the face of the earth, saith the Lord.
And upon my house shall it begin, and from my house shall it go
forth, saith the Lord;
First among those among you, saith the Lord, 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.
In these verses the Lord describes the destructions. He warns
how, where, and why the destructions will commence. This is His
warning to His children. He has always warned His children first
and given them the opportunity to repent. He says, "upon
my house shall it begin". Who is the identified House
of Israel in these Last Days? His house today consists of those
who have had the Gospel and at the first even the Fulness of the
Priesthood restored unto them through the Prophet Joseph Smith.
Why would the Lord say, "upon my house shall it begin"?
Could it be possible that His children have gone astray again?
Consider the following...
[Jesus] set the ordinances to be the same forever and ever.
(Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, pg. 168 )
Ordinances instituted in the heavens before the foundations of
the world, in the priesthood, for the salvation of men, are not
to be altered or changed. (Ibid., pg. 308 )
Brigham Young: ". . . from the day that Adam was
created and placed in the Garden of Eden, to this day, the plan
of salvation and the revelations of the will of God to man are
unchanged. . ." (Discourses of Brigham Young, 1941
Edition, pg. 103 )
John Taylor: "God is unchangeable, so are also
his laws, in all their forms, and in all their applications."
(The Gospel Kingdom, pg. 103 )
Taking it for granted that the scriptures say what they mean,
and mean what they say, we have sufficient grounds to go on and
prove from the Bible that the gospel has always been the same;
THE ORDINANCES TO FULFILL ITS REQUIREMENTS, THE SAME; and the
officers to officiate, the same; and the signs and fruits resulting
from the promises, the same. (TPJS, pg. 264)
And again, God purposed in Himself that there should
not be an eternal fulness until every dispensation should be fulfilled
and gathered together in one, and that all things whatsoever,
that should be gathered together in one in those dispensations
unto the same fulness and eternal glory, should be in Christ Jesus;
therefore HE SET THE ORDINANCES TO BE THE SAME FOREVER AND EVER,
and set Adam to watch over them, to reveal them from heaven to
man, or to send angels to reveal them. (TPJS, pg. 168)
And speaking particularly about the endowment, Joseph
said,
The order of the house of God has been, and EVER WILL BE, THE
SAME, even after Christ comes; and after the termination of the
thousand years it will be the same;... (TPJS,
pg. 91)
God does not change! (See Mormon 9:9) It is
uninspired men who take it upon themselves to compromise and alter
God's laws.
WE FIRMLY BELIEVE IN FOLLOWING GOD'S UNCHANGEABLE LAWS, THE
REJECTION OF WHICH CONSTITUTE APOSTASY
We believe in the doctrine of Gathering that brings the elect
together to build the Kingdom of God.
We believe in the Law of Celestial Plural Marriage to provide
bodies for the spirits of the elect and in raising up a righteous
posterity fit for the building of God's Kingdom.
We believe in the Law of Consecration to succor the poor and infirm,
to prove our willingness to sacrifice all to the building of the
Kingdom of God.
We believe in the Adam-God doctrine as taught by the founding
prophets of this last dispensation.
We believe that the bearing of Priesthood belongs solely to the
House of Israel, and that the seed of Cain will have to wait until
all of Adam's posterity have come forward to receive their blessings
through the end of the Millennium.
We believe that the Temple Endowment is only correct and true
as revealed from heaven through Joseph Smith and the covenants
and keys of the Priesthood must remain the same through time and
eternity. Ordinances must be kept in the very way God has appointed
and cannot be changed, else the Priesthood will prove a curse
instead of a blessing.
We believe in following the Lord and not relying on the arm of
flesh. Counsel from ecclesiastical leaders must be verified by
personal revelation to each individual as to whether it comes
from God.
We affirm the need to focus on spiritual and temporal preparation
for the prophesied events of these last days.
We cannot, in good conscience, support wicked government and inter-connected
secret combinations.
Abortion is murder and is forever condemned as such.
The abandonment or redefinition of these principles and doctrines
constitutes the apostasy of the Latter-day Saints from the restored
Gospel and from the establishment of Zion.
We bear solemn testimony that the LDS Church, leaders and people,
and all those who have abandoned these principles of the Restored
Gospel are in a state of rebellion against the Lord and,
are therefore, under condemnation for violating His laws, changing
the ordinances, and seeking the praise of the world and the honors
of men instead of seeking the welfare of Zion. (2nd Nephi 26:29
Priestcrafts) In fact, most of modern day Israel is ignorant
of their own doctrinal roots. What Joseph Smith received as the
Fulness of the Gospel and the Fulness of the Priesthood is poorly
understood and rejected by most of modern Israel.
The Jews in Christ's day were strikingly similar in their justifications
and self-righteousness. The Jews were the Lord's chosen people
but rejected the author of truth when He came to them, because
they had strayed so far from the fountain of revelation that simple
truths seemed foreign to them. So it is with their modern day
counterparts, modern Israel, the Latter-day Saints.
The Lord identifies specifically the people within "His house";
"First among those among you, saith the Lord, who have
professed to know my name and have not known me...". (D
& C 112:26) He makes an interesting statement about
those who use His name but know not the will and gospel of God
the Father (the pure, unaltered, unchangeable gospel of exaltation).
Verily I say unto you, It is not every one that saith unto
me, Lord, Lord, that shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but
he that doeth the will of my Father who is in heaven.
For the day soon cometh, that men shall come before me to judgment,
to be judged according to their works.
And many will say unto me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not
prophesied in thy name; and in thy name cast out devils; and in
thy name done many wonderful works?
And then will I say, Ye never knew me; depart from me ye that
work iniquity. (JST Matthew 7:30-33)
In effect He is saying that if you do not know the will of
the Father and the gospel of the Father you will be rejected by
the Son.
The Lord through his Apostle Peter declared the impending judgments
upon Israel. The words of Peter parallel what the Lord has revealed
to us in these Last Days through the Prophet Joseph Smith in Section
112.
For the time is come that judgement must begin at the house
of God; and if it first begin at us, what shall the end be
of them that obey not the gospel of God? And if the righteous
scarcely be saved, where shall the ungodly and the sinner appear?
(1st Peter 4:17-18)
Heber C. Kimball said, "There will not many calamities
come upon the nations of the earth, until this people first feel
their effects, and when hard times commence they will begin
at the house of God, and if there is any house of God on the earth
where is it? It is here, is it not?" (Deseret News,
March 2, 1856)
The Lord had contingency plans in the event that the whole church
would go astray and reject the truth. (If you don't think it can
happen, read the Book of Mormon). Throughout the scriptures we
find that the Lord saves a small righteous remnant who serves
Him at all costs and in the face of all opposition. The following
quotes illustrate what the Lord will do when the general body
of His Church goes astray:
Many of this people are perhaps preparing themselves, by following
after the world in its mad race for wealth and pleasure, to go
down with Babylon when she crumbles and falls; but I know there
is a people, in the heart's core of this people, that will arise
in their majesty in a day that is near at hand, and push spiritual
things to the front; a people who will stand up for God, fearing
not man nor what man can do, but believing as the prophet Joseph
says, that all things we suffer are for our best good, and that
God will stand by us forever and ever. (Orson F. Whitney, Deseret
News, Aug. 11, 1889)
...for if Zion will not purify herself, so as to be approved of
in all things, in His sight, He will seek another people;
for His work will go on until Israel is gathered, and they
who will not hear His voice, must expect to feel His wrath.
(Joseph Smith, TPJS, pg. 18)
I do not know but that it would be an utter impossibility to commence
and carry out some principles pertaining to Zion right in the
midst of this people. They have strayed so far that to get
a people who would conform to heavenly laws it may be needful
to lead some from the midst of this people and commence anew somewhere
in the region round about in these mountains. (Orson Pratt,
Journal of Discourses, 15:361-362)
Before the great day of the Lord shall come, and the day of righteousness
and peace dawn upon this fair creation, two potent cleansing processes
shall be in active operation. The first of these is a preparation
of a choice people, purified by an application to their lives,
as individuals and a community, of the principles of the gospel
of peace. Such a body will evolve from those called Latter-day
Saints, who as a Church possess the fulness and power of the pure
plan of salvation. Out of this community at present in the merely
incipient stages of development and from the remnant of the whole
house of Israel, will emanate the nucleus or foundation from which
will spring the righteous millennial population of our globe.
(George Q. Cannon, Millennial Star, 42:585)
And if we as a people do not hold ourselves on the altar ready
to be used with our means and all that God has bestowed upon us,
according to the Master's bidding, for the upbuilding of His kingdom
upon the earth, He will pass on and get somebody else; because
He will get a people that will do it. I do not mean to say
that He will pass on and leave this people; no, there will
come up from the midst of this people that people that has been
talked so much about. (Daniel H. Wells, Deseret News,
Dec. 9, 1882)
Many will doubtless make shipwreck of their faith and will be
led away by the allurements of sin into by and forbidding paths;
yet the kingdom will not be taken from this people and given to
another, but a people will come forth from among us, who will
be zealous of good works, willing to do the bidding of the Lord,
who will be taught in His ways, and who will walk in His paths.
(Daniel H. Wells,Deseret News,Nov. 6, 1875)
God will preserve a portion of this people, of the meek and
the humble, to bear off the kingdom to the inhabitants of the
earth, and will defend His Priesthood; for it is the last time,
the last gathering time. (Brigham Young, Contributor,
10:362)
Many of this people have broken their covenants... But you cannot
do that, for God will cut you off and raise up another people
that will carry out His purposes in righteousness, unless
you walk up to the line of your duty. (H.C. Kimball, Journals
of Discourses, 4:108)
But the day will come when the Lord will choose a people out
of this people upon whom he will bestow his choicest blessings.
(Heber C. Kimball, Journal of Discourses, 11:145)
For it had been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness,
than, after they have known it, to turn from the holy commandment
delivered unto them. (2 Peter 2: 21)
The following is a portion of a revelation given to Wilford Woodruff,
January 25, 1880 in Sunset, Arizona :
Let my saints search the word of the Lord and treasure up wisdom
and be prepared for that which is to come. As I have decreed,
so shall my judgments begin at the house of God. There are
those in my church who have a name among you, who are adulterers
and adulteresses and those who blaspheme my name and those who
love and make a lie, and those who revel and drink with the drunken.
If they do not speedily repent of their wickedness and abomination,
they shall be severed from the ordinances of my house, saith the
Lord. There are many who have need to repent, whose hearts are
set upon the things of this world, who aspire to the honors of
men, and do not honor the priesthood, nor seek to build up the
Kingdom of God as they should. Neither do they learn or comprehend
that the rights of the priesthood are inseparably connected with
the powers of heaven and that the powers of heaven cannot be controlled
nor handled only upon the principles of righteousness. Such should
repent and turn unto the Lord, and seek for the Holy Spirit to
guide them. JUDGMENTS WILL BEGIN AT MY HOUSE, AND FROM THENCE
WILL THEY GO FORTH UNTO THE WORLD AND THE WICKED CANNOT ESCAPE.
(Wilford Woodruff Journal, December 28, 1880 and April 17, 1897,
Church Historians Office)
Historically, when the Lord has fulfilled his word and brought
down destructions upon His errant sons and daughters, it has been
in several forms:
-Earthquakes and cataclysms
-War, invasion, and bondage
-Famine, pestilence, and drought
-Sickness and disease
-Economic distress
-Floods, fires, and tidal waves
-Disturbances in the heavens
-Genocide
Today's latter-day counterpart people are not excluded from the
impending fulfillment of these same destructions; and given the
current general state of apostasy of the Lord's chosen people,
they can reasonably expect the wrath of the Lord in like manner.
Brigham Young aptly described the perilous status of the current
day saints as well when he gave his last public address:
And with regard to the conduct of this people-- if an angel
should come here and speak his feelings as plainly as I do, I
think he would say, "O, Latter-day Saints! why don't you
see, why don't you open your eyes and behold the great work resting
upon you and that you have entered into? You are blind, you are
stupid, you are in the dark, in the mist and fog, wandering to
and fro like the boat upon the water without sail, rudder or oar;
and you know not whither you are going. (Aug. 19, 1877, Journal
of Discourses, 19:93-94)
We bear testimony that the Lord's judgment and destructive events
of these last days will begin on His own House among those who
have had charge of building up Zion and preparing for the Millennial
reign of Christ. The LDS Church in its present form and direction
can never build up Zion. "And Zion cannot be built up unless
it is by the principles of the law of the celestial kingdom; otherwise
I cannot receive her unto myself." (D & C 105:5) This
apostasy truly serves as a catalyst for the great and dreadful
day of the Lord. This message serves as a warning to the Latter-day
Saints and all those who assume they are God's chosen people,
but whose ignorance and actions betray them.
We say, REPENT or the fierce judgments of the Lord will soon
be upon you! Return to the true God, and seek His inspiration
to guide you out of this day of darkness before it is everlastingly
too late. The time to act is now for the days are short, and to
procrastinate further is to only add more condemnation on your
own heads. These are the Last Days spoken of in all the
scriptures, and the sword of justice hangs over this land of America.
The blood of the prophets will be avenged on the Nation that shed
their blood, even the United States, and upon the House that has
rejected their teachings, doctrines, and principles. We bear solemn
testimony that Joseph Smith still holds the keys of this last
dispensation (D&C 90:3), and that He directs this work from
the other side of the veil and will soon be on this side of the
veil to redeem his vineyard (D&C 101:55-62; 103:21) and finalize
the preparations of this earth to be presented to Jesus Christ,
its rightful heir.
Joseph Smith, the Prophet and Seer of the Lord, has done more,
save Jesus only, for the salvation of men in this world, than
any other man that ever lived in it....He lived great, and he
died great in the eyes of God and his people; and like most of
the Lord's anointed in ancient time, has sealed his mission and
his works with his own blood; and so has his brother Hyrum. In
life they were not divided, and in death they were not separated!
(D & C 135:3)
Joseph sealed his testimony of the gospel of the Son
of God and the Father with his blood. What mortal, church or organization
upon this earth can assume that they have the authority or right
under Heaven to open the seal which was set by Joseph, the dispensation
head, and change what he sealed? We testify that no mortal, church
or organization has the authority to break that seal and change
that which was sealed on the 27th of June 1844. Joseph's testimony
of the everlasting, unchangeable gospel is sealed and is in force
to this very day. (D&C 135:5) For those who have changed
it, the result:
Behold, and lo, there are none to deliver you; for ye obeyed
not my voice when I called to you out of the heavens; ye believed
not my servants, and when they were sent unto you ye received
them not.
Wherefore, they sealed up the testimony and bound up the law,
and ye were delivered over unto darkness.
These shall go away into outer darkness, where there is weeping,
and wailing, and gnashing of teeth.
Behold the Lord your God hath spoken it. Amen. (D & C 133:71-74)
All glory and honor be to our Father and God, even Adam, and
to His Son, even Jesus Christ, the Savior of the world!
These words shall come to pass as surely as we live, and according
to the due time of the Lord. To the truth of these things we so
testify in the name of Jesus Christ, our Master, Amen.