Thought: "I believe in having good times, in
laughing, relaxing, and seeing the sunny side of life. We are far too
sober, have too much worry." And he pitied those who couldn't laugh,
saying, "I feel a little sorry for those that have such long faces that
they have to sleep on their pillow lengthwise. (David O. McKay, 1939)
Book of the Week: Josephus-Complete Works
A. Ten cool Things about Noah and the Flood
1. Priesthood
Lineage D&C 84:14; 107:52; Noah was Adam's 8th great grandson. Enoch 1
great.2. Noah was the fulfillment of God's promise to Enoch that his posterity would remain on the earth
3. He became a second father of all. (Adam being the first) Moses 8:3
4. Though Noah lived in times of wickedness (Moses 8:20-22, 28-30), he successfully raised three sons who "hearkened unto the Lord…and they were called the sons of God" (8:13). One cause of the flood was Noah's granddaughters marrying outside the covenant. (Moses 8:15; ATGQ 1:136-37). Continual evil thoughts was another (Gen. 6:5). Another was continual violence. (Gen. 6:11)
5. Noah was told the Lord would give another 120 years to repent before the flood. (Moses 8:17) He taught the 4th article of faith from the time his was 480 until he was 600. (He died at age 950)
6. There were no righteous people destroyed in the flood. (see Moses 7:27) "thus justice was satisfied, the law vindicated, the wicked punished, the unborn and pure protected and provided for, and finally, the imprisoned released from their bondage and salvation extended to the prisoners. Was there anything wrong in that. 'Yes,' says the ignoramus who does not know anything about it, 'It was very cruel.' Well, the greatest cruelty there is about such men is that they are cruelly ignorant and do not know what they are talking about." (John Taylor JD 21:18)
7. Noah's ark was as big as 1 1/2 football fields. (450X76X45) It wasn't raining when the ark was being built. It was home for over a year! When they got off they were told to get to populating the planet. (Gen. 9:7)
8. He returned to earth as Gabriel (man of God) to Daniel (Daniel 9:21), Zacharias, Mary & Joseph to announce the births of John the Baptist and Jesus.
9. He stands next to Adam in Priesthood authority (TPJS p. 157
10. Resurrected with Jesus - D&C 133:54Noah was also the Elias who appeared to Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery, April 3, 1836 in the Kirtland Temple and restored the keys of Abraham's dispensation - see D&C 110:12 & 128:20-21 ATGQ 3:138-41 also student manual p. 54
Vs. 1 -
Moses 8:12 birth order- Japeth (Gentile, from the Heb. goyim meaning people or nations), Shem (Shemites, Eber=Hebrew,
Peleg (division), Abraham, writers of Bible & Book of Mormon) and Ham
(Canaanites). All righteous.
D&C
133:23-24C. Babel 11:1-9- Tower of Babel-2243 BC - Tower to heaven, (sounds like another attempt at Satan's pre-earthly counterfeit plan) avoid future floods, (I thought God had promised-no more floods-Gen. 9:8-11) make a name (Gen. 11:4), Josephus-Nimrod- How to turn 1 language into over 4000.- Jaredites. (Noah is still alive. He lived for 350 years after the flood.)
HALFTIME
D. Fifteen Really Important and Interesting Things about Abraham
1. He was chosen before he was born. (Abr. 3:22-23)
2. The "Father of All Nations" came from a
dysfunctional family of apostates in Iraq. When he was asked to offer his son
Isaac as a sacrifice it was not his 1st experience with human sacrifice.3. Abraham married his sister and his niece-Sarai in Ur, then traveled with her and his father & brother to Haran where (apparently) he received the Priesthood from Melchizedek* (D&C 84:5-17; 107:2-4; Alma 13:17-19; JST Gen. 14:25-40; Heb. 7:1-4) who may have been Grandpa Shem.
Noah
ShemTerah-7th great grandson of Noah
Abraham Nahor Haran-died in UR
Married Sarai- of Haran Married Milcah-daughter of
Haran Milcah Lot
Iscah Sarai
5. Abraham and Sarah proceeded to Canaan where the
Lord appears and promises this land to his posterity(Abr. 2:15;
Gen. 12:7-9). Famine soon forced them to Egypt, but not before God commanded
Abraham to ask Sarah to pose as his sister (Abr. 2:22-25;
& then showed him a vision of the cosmos and creation so that he could
teach these things to the Egyptians (Abr. 3-5;). The book of Abraham's
facsimile no. 3 shows Pharaoh- honoring Abraham's priesthood by allowing him to
occupy the throne and instruct the court in astronomy Pharaoh's recognition of
Abraham's priesthood was unknown in any other ancient source until the 1947
discovery of the Genesis Apocryphon.
6. In Genesis 13 - We learn some important lessons
from Abraham's righteous living.
Vs.
2 - He had great wealth, but wealth wasn't is God.
Vs.
5-11- He shows that he refuses to allow material things to bring disharmony to
his family.
Vs.
12- Abram's nephew Lot pitches his tent w/ the door toward the wicked Twin
Cities. Mos. 2)
Vs.
13 (JST)-Abraham is reminded of the covenant that bears his name but was not
new w/ him.
Vs.
15-17 - Abraham and his seed are promised the land forever.
7. After returning to Canaan, Sarah gave her maid
Hagar to Abraham (Gen. 16:1-3)
and thereby "administered unto Abraham according to the law" (D&C
132:65; see also verse 34)-congruent with now extant ancient Near
Eastern sources describing the legal obligation of a childless wife. Ishmael, (name
means, "God hears")became Abraham's first born son from his 2nd wife.
8. Abram had a very giving relationship with his
nephew Lot and saved Lot by going to war winning a war against 5 kings.
9. Circumcision was implemented as a covenant token reminder
against infant baptism.
10. The twin cities of Sodom and Gomorrah had some of
the same problems afflicting the world today. (Gen. 19:13; Ezek. 16:49-50)
11. Abraham's supreme test-the offering of
Isaac-both recalled Abraham's prior experience and typified things to come.
Centuries before Jesus, Jacob 4:4-5 pointed to Abraham's offering of Isaac as
"a similitude of God and his Only Begotten Son."
12. Abraham's life also prefigured that of another
descendant, Joseph Smith (D&C
132:30-31), whose prayer at age fourteen echoes young Abraham's
prayer at the same age (Jubilees 11:16-17; JS-H 1:7-17).
Both men had been foreordained; both received the priesthood, preached the
gospel, and encountered formidable opposition; both spoke face to face with
divine messengers and God himself; both possessed a Urim and Thummim,
translated ancient records, and wrote scripture; and both founded an
influential community of saints. John Taylor reported that Abraham visited
Joseph Smith (JD 20:174-75; 21:94), whose mission included revealing
lost knowledge about Abraham (cf. 2 Ne. 3:7, 12)
and whose entire ministry of restoration helped fulfill Abraham's covenant that
through his seed all nations would be blessed (2 Ne. 29:14;
3 Ne. 20:27,
29).
13. Anyone who is not a descendant of Abraham but
receives the Holy Ghost becomes the seed of Abraham (TPJS, pp. 149-50; Abr. 2:10;
cf. Gal. 3:29),
while each man magnifying the Melchizedek Priesthood likewise becomes Abraham's
seed (D&C
84:33-34). And each couple married eternally in the temple is
promised the blessings of Abraham-posterity as the stars of heaven and sand of
the seashore, meaning an eternal increase of posterity in the Celestial Kingdom
(D&C
132:30; JD 11:151-52; 15:320).
14. The Lord's people must be "tried, even as
Abraham," to become sanctified through Abraham's descendant Christ (D&C
101:4-5; Moro. 10:33)
in preparation to "sit down in the kingdom of God, with Abraham" and
Sarah (Alma 5:24)
on thrones of glory to inherit the same blessings of exaltation already enjoyed
by that exemplary couple (D&C
132:34-37; cf. Testament of Isaac 2:5-7).
15. Abraham's greatness was made possible because he
married a great woman. (D&C 84:34; 1 Peter 3:1-6)
Melchizedek was
evidently a prince by birth, for he became king of Salem (later jerusalem-Gen. 14:18;
Ps. 76:2),
where he reigned "under his father" (Alma 13:18).
"Melchizedek was a man of faith, who wrought righteousness; and when a
child he feared God, and stopped the mouths of lions, and quenched the violence
of fire" (JST Gen. 14:26).
Yet the people among whom he lived "waxed strong in iniquity and
abomination; yea, they had all gone astray; they were full of all manner of
wickedness" (Alma 13:17).
Though living among a
wicked people, Melchizedek "exercised mighty faith, and received the
office of the high priesthood according to the holy order of God" (Alma 13:18).
This priesthood was after the order of the covenant that God had made with
Enoch (JST Gen. 14:27),
and Melchizedek ruled both as king and priest over his people.
As high priest, some of
his functions were keeping "the storehouse of God" where the
"tithes for the poor" were held (JST Gen. 14:37-38),
giving blessings to individuals such as Abraham (JST Gen. 14:18, 25, 37),
preaching repentance (Alma 13:18;
cf. 5:49), and administering ordinances "after this manner, that thereby
the people might look forward on the Son of God…for a remission of their sins,
that they might enter into the rest of the Lord" (Alma 13:16;
JST Gen. 14:17). With
extraordinary goodness and power, Melchizedek diligently administered in the
office of high priest and "did preach repentance unto his people. And
behold, they did repent; and Melchizedek did establish peace in the land in his
days" (Alma 13:18).
Consequently, Melchizedek became known as "the prince of peace" (JST Gen. 14:33;
Heb. 7:1-2;
Alma 13:18).
"His people wrought righteousness, and obtained heaven" (JST Gen. 14:34).
His Hebrew name means "King of Righteousness."
For Alma 2
and several biblical authors, the order of the priesthood to which Melchizedek
was ordained was of prime importance. It was this "order," coupled
with faith, that gave Melchizedek the power and knowledge that influenced his
people to repent and become worthy to be with God. This order was "after
the order of the Son of God; which order came, not by man, nor the will of man;
neither by father nor mother; neither by beginning of days nor end of years;
but of God" (JST Gen. 14:28;
JST Heb. 7:3;
Ps. 110:4).
It was given to Melchizedek "through the lineage of his fathers, even till
Noah," and from Melchizedek to Abraham (D&C 84:14).
Those ordained to this order were to "have power, by faith," and,
according to "the will of the Son of God," to work miracles. Ultimately,
those in this order were "to stand in the presence of God" (JST Gen. 14:30-31).
This was accomplished by participating in the ordinances of this order (Alma 13:16;
D&C
84:20-22). The result was that "men having this faith, coming
up unto this order of God, were translated and taken up into heaven" (JST Gen. 14:32).
Accordingly, the Prophet Joseph Smith taught that the priesthood held by
Melchizedek had "the power of "endless lives"' (TPJS, p.
322; see also Eternal Life).So righteous and faithful was Melchizedek in the execution of his high priestly duties that he became a prototype of Jesus Christ (Heb. 7:15). The Book of Mormon prophet Alma said of him, "Now, there were many [high priests] before him, and also there were many afterwards, but none were greater" (Alma 13:19). The Doctrine and Covenants states that Melchizedek was "such a great high priest" that the higher priesthood was called after his name. "Before his day it was called the Holy Priesthood, after the Order of the Son of God. But out of respect or reverence to the name of the Supreme Being, to avoid the too-frequent repetition of his name, they, the church, in the ancient days, called that priesthood after Melchizedek, or the Melchizedek Priesthood" (D&C 107:2-4; italics in original).
It was asserted by some early LDS leaders that Melchizedek was Shem, son of Noah (see, e.g., T&S 5:746). Though Shem is also identified as a great high priest (D&C 138:41), it would appear from the Doctrine and Covenants 84:14that the two might not be the same individual (MD, p. 475), and Jewish sources equating Melchizedek and Shem are late and tendentious. (SATTERFIELD, BRUCE, Encyclopedia of Mormonism)
HUMPTY DUMPTY
SHELDON
CHESHIRE
HUMPTY
DUMPTY SAT ON A WALL,
HUMPTY
DUMPTY HAD A GREAT FALL.ALL THE KING'S HORSES AND ALL THE KING'S MEN
COULDN'T PUT HUMPTY TOGETHER AGAIN.
ON THE SHELL, NOT A CRACK AND THE EGG LOOKED LIKE NEW,
BUT THE INSIDE, STILL SCRAMBLED, HUMPTY ASKED WHAT TO DO.
"OH MASTER," HE SAID, "ON THE OUTSIDE I'M WELL,
BUT THE INSIDES AN OMELET, I'M SORRY I FELL.
IS THERE SOMETHING TO DO THAT WOULD RESTORE MY YOLK?
'CAUSE I DON'T FEEL QUITE WHOLE IF MY INSIDES ARE BROKE.
"MY CHILD," SAID THE KING, "THAT'S JUST WHAT I DO,
BUT NOT BY MYSELF-I ALSO NEED YOU.
YOU MUST BE SINCERE, YOUR HEART BE CONTRITE
JUST DON'T FALL AGAIN-PLEASE TRY WITH YOUR MIGHT."
"I WON'T," SAID THE EGG. "I'LL TRY NOT TO FALL."
THEN HUMPTY WAS WHOLE-INSIDES AND ALL.
SO IF YOU EVER FALL AND YOUR INSIDES FEEL BROKE,
JUST REMEMBER OUR FELLOW AND HIS SCRAMBLED UP YOLK.
MOST - REMEMBER THE KING AND HOW HE HEALS THE FALL.
PASSED BELOW ALL MANKIND - THEN HE ROSE ABOVE ALL.
Church History by the Decade 1860's
|
1860
|
Church membership
|
61,082
|
|
1860-Apr. 3
|
Pony Express service
|
Began. Many riders were LDS.
|
|
1860-Apr. 6
|
Joseph Smith III
|
Sustained as President of Reorganized Church in Amboy, Ill.
|
|
1860-Sept. 16
|
Pres. Young condemned
|
Missionaries asking members in mission field for support.
|
|
1860-Sept. 24
|
Last 10 groups of
|
Pioneers to cross plains by handcarts arrived in Salt Lake City.
|
|
1861-March
|
Nevada Territory
|
Organized out of the western portions of Utah
|
|
1861-Apr. 12
|
Civil War began
|
With shots fired at Fort Sumter
|
|
1861-Apr. 23
|
1st of several wagon trains left SLC w/
|
Provisions for incoming Saints. This was beginning of new program to
help the immigrating saints. Lasted until railroad.
|
|
1861-Oct. 1
|
1st baptisms in the
|
Netherlands. Monument marking the site erected in 1936.
|
|
1861-Oct. 18
|
Overland telegraph
|
Completed. Brigham Young sent the first telegram
|
|
1862-Mar. 2
|
Salt Lake Theatre
|
Dedicated. It became important cultural center for LDS people.
|
|
1862-Apr.
|
Company of Mormons
|
Mustered into US army for overland trail duty
|
|
1862-May
|
Church sent 262 Wagons, 292 men &
|
143,315 pounds
of flour to the Missouri River to assist poor immigrants from Europe on their
trek to the Great Basin.
|
|
1862-June
|
Morrisite War in
|
South Weber, Utah took place
|
|
1862-July 8
|
Anti plural marriage bill
|
Signed by Abraham Lincoln. It defined polygamy as bigamy.
|
|
1862-Oct.
|
California volunteers
|
Arrived in Utah under Col. Patrick Edward Connor
|
|
1862- Nov
|
John E. Page joined
|
Church of Christ, Temple Lot ("Hedrickite") and was one of
its apostles 17 May 1863
|
|
1863- Mar. 10
|
Brigham arrested on a
|
charge of bigamy.
He was never brought to trial, however.
|
|
1864-
|
Problems in Hawaii with
|
Walter Murray Gibson ended(Chief Pres. of Islands of the Sea)
|
|
1865-Jan. 18
|
Orson Pratt and
|
William Ritter arrived
in Austria. They were soon banished.
|
|
1865-Apr.
|
Civil War Ended
|
13th amendment abolishing slavery -Dec. 18, 1865.
|
|
1865-Apr. 10
|
Church agreed to build
|
telegraph line to
settlements in Utah. completed in 1867.
|
|
1865-67
|
Blackhawk War
|
In Southern Utah
|
|
1865-Apr. 14
|
President Lincoln
|
Assassinated by James Wilkes Booth.
|
|
1866-Jan. 1
|
Juvenile Instructor mag. official organ of
|
Sunday School,
was published. Its name was changed to the Instructor in 1930, and it
continued publication until 1970.
|
|
1866-
|
Thomas B. Marsh died
|
In Ogden, Utah-Buried in Ogden Cemetery
|
|
1867
|
Tabernacle completed
|
|
|
1867
|
First Sunday School
|
Union established
|
|
1867-Oct. 6
|
1st Gen. Conference
|
Held in Tabernacle. Dedicated in 1875
|
|
1867- Dec. 8
|
Brigham requested that bishops reorganize
|
Relief Societies
within their wards. The societies had been disbanded during the Utah War.
|
|
1868-Jan. 29
|
Great Salt Lake City
|
Name changed to Salt Lake City.
|
|
1869-May
|
ZCMI opened
|
Many other Church Cooperatives established
|
|
1869-May 10
|
Transcontinental
|
Railroad completed at Promontory Summit
|
|
1869-Nov. 28
|
Retrenchment Society
|
Forerunner of YWMIA organized
|
|
1869-70
|
Godbeites or
|
New Movement established
|
God is our Father and wants us to understand that we can become like him. As God is, man may become. This is the fundamental message of the Creation. (Daniel K. Judd, Eternal Companions p. 45-46)
