Revelation on the Tent of the Presence
David was asked to pray on building a Tent of the Presence before building a temple or a tabernacle. After much prayer and meditation, the following was received on July 8, 2024, in New York state.
Praying the Rosary?
The need for the Rosary I’ve been looking for ways to improve the effectiveness of the time I spend in thoughtful meditation. I have a tendency to zone out after just a few minutes of peaceful contemplation. Various meditation strategies have been used throughout time to overcome this problem. People have used mantras, sudras, mandalas, drums and all kinds of other repetitive technologies to give the “monkey mind” something to focus on so it doesn’t check out entirely. Within the Catholic tradition, the rosary beads can serve this purpose. With just a little “training”, the person praying the rosary can get lost in the prayers and reverence and allow the tactile sensations of the beads in their hands keep them their mind on track. I decided I wanted to benefit from that same strategy. And I decided to come up with a Kabbalistic meditation that uses a standard Catholic rosary…
Pseudepigrapha or Restored Work? (Part 2)
“Behold, they are written among the sayings of the seers.” -2 Chronicles 33:19c
While the world would keep us constantly in self doubt, having to always prove ourselves by hitting worldly markers of success and staying within the mean, God would have us see ourselves as powerful, complete, forgive and giving. He would turn ourselves away from serving ourselves by accumulation things and toward using our limited time and energy in the service of God and our fellow beings. This life is a test, a limited time to free ourselves from the perceptions given to us by others and our five senses, to living from our eternal spirit and in communion with the Divine Spirit that the physical world separates us from.
Pseudepigrapha or Restored Work? (Part 1)
“And he took the book of the covenant, and read in the audience of the people: and they said, All that the Lord hath said will we do, and be obedient.” -Exodus 24:7
The term Pseudepigrapha is a technical or scholarly term that refers to a work that is written under a false name or pseudonym. It’s use gets murky because it can refer to a work in which the author merely seeks to hide his or her identity for anonymity or to avoid persecution, or are attributing their doctrine to a famous figure. It is further clouded by the fact that H. R. Charles and James H. Charlesworth each published collected volumes of Pseudepigrapha, giving the unlearned the the notion of an “acceptable canon” of Pseudepigrapha. Many works in the canons themselves are regarded as Pseudepigrapha.
School of Prophets … a Tender Young Plant
I’ve been pondering recently about where we are in the rollout of the School of the Prophets, and here is the imagery that I have come to as I seek to understand our current situation.
The Tree of Life
“And out of the ground made the LORD God to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight, and good for food; the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of knowledge of good and evil.” -Genesis 2:9
In the Garden of Eden it is said there were two very important trees: the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. The fruit of the tree of good and evil is a representative of the impulsive or reflexive submission to God’s law vs the endowment of moral autonomy (Genesis 3:22). It is the ability to choose and discern good from evil autonomously. By contrast, the the tree of life represents God’s love through Christ.
The Word of Wisdom
“A Word of Wisdom, for the benefit of the council of high priests, assembled in Kirtland, and the church, and also the saints in Zion; to be sent greeting, not by commandment or constraint, but by revelation and the word of wisdom…” -Doctrines of the Saints 58:1-2
Section 58 of the Doctrines of the Saints is known as the Word of Wisdom and is an interesting doctrine of all Latter Day Saints and Mormons that accept some form of the Doctrine and Covenants share. While we all enjoy the blessing of the revelation, it seems that each sect interprets it very differently. What does the Fellowship do with it?
When to Forgive
“Then came Peter to him, and said” Lord, how oft shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? till seven times? And Jesus saith unto him: I say not unto thee, Until seven times: but, Until seventy times seven.” -Matthew 18:21-22
I was asked recently how much we should take when others push us? How much should we give when others only take? How much should we hurt and come back when others purposely or even go out of their way to hurt us?
Multiple Mortal Probations
Note: This article originally ran February 8, 2020.
“Thus are the five stages of man: Intelligence, Spirit, Flesh, Soul, and Resurrected Being; the final being all stages in one, a Morning Star—forever complete.” –Melchizedek 4:9
The Church of Jesus Christ in Christian Fellowship has no official position on gilgul (גלגול, Hebrew for “rolling”), past lives, reincarnation, or multiple mortal probations (or MMP). There are a number of views on these within the Latter Day Saint movement, from their necessity to reach the highest degrees of Heaven, to outright disdain. Here we will introduce you to some of these concepts as they relate to both the Latter Day Saint movement and Kabbalah. Please note that this is just an introduction. More study on these topics is encouraged.
The Record from the Plates of Brass
A portion of the records written upon the plates of brass contains a record of the Jews. A free PDF is now available as the work of translating the plates of brass moves forward.
The Prophecies of the Holy Prophets
A portion of the records written upon the plates of brass contains a collection of the stories and prophecies of the holy prophets from the beginning to the commencement of the reign of Zedekiah.
Who of all these parties are right?
I had a rather interesting flash of inspiration over the weekend.
I’ve been pestering the LORD with the same basic question for several months, and lately that pestering has been more and more frequent. The root question I’ve been drilling on is how these different seers can bring forth these different records that are at odds with one another. And, to compound that problem, the prophets themselves tend to not feel particularly inspired about the records brought forth by other prophets.