Tuesday, March 5, 2019

The Watchers Part 6: Walking In The Way To The City Of Holiness



"And the Lord blessed the land, and they were blessed upon the mountains, and upon the high places, and did flourish. And the Lord called his people Zion, because they were of one heart and one mind, and dwelt in righteousness; and there was no poor among them. And Enoch continued his preaching in righteousness unto the people of God. And it came to pass in his days, that he built a city that was called the City of Holiness, even Zion." (Moses 7:17-19)

As we discussed in the last article,  in Kadosh (Holiness) there is a great mystery to be revealed that enables an eathly Zion to establish the connection with Heaven- the Assembly of the First Born, The City of Enoch, and Messiah Himself. The Hebrew word for city iyr comes from the root which means "to awaken and to guard."  For any community of people to establish Zion even the City of Holiness they must Awaken To Holiness and to Guard Holiness.  This Awakening To Holiness comes with walking in the path called The Way- A Path which separates the Holy from the Profane.   It is from this understanding that we hear the admonishment:

"Awake, awake, put on thy strength, O Zion; put on thy beautiful garments, O Jerusalem, the holy city; for henceforth there shall no more come into thee the uncircumcised and the unclean. Shake thyself from the dust; arise, sit down, O Jerusalem; loose thyself from the bands of thy neck, O captive daughter of Zion." (2 Nephi 8:24-25, Isaiah 52:1)

The idea of "there shall no more come unto the the uncircumcised and the unclean" communicating the separating of that which is profane from that which is Holy.  The idea of "loose thyself from the bands of thy neck" communicating the Power of God obtained by cleaving unto holiness that releases the power and authority of Heaven that leads to the freeing of the captives.  It is for this reason that the Prophet Isaiah declared:

"The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me; because YHVH hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek; he hath sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound;

To proclaim the acceptable year of YHVH, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all that mourn; To appoint unto them that mourn in Zion, to give unto them beauty for ashes (Heb. epher- ashers or dust), the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; that they might be called trees of righteousness, the planting of YHVH, that he might be glorified." (Isaiah 61:1-3)

It is also why the Messiah declared:

"The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives (i.e. loosening their bands), and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, To preach the acceptable year of YHVH.

And he closed the book, and he gave it again to the minister, and sat down. And the eyes of all them that were in the synagogue were fastened on him.

And he began to say unto them, This day is this scripture fulfilled in your ears." (Luke 4:18-21)

Zion will be established only upon the principles of Holiness.  What is called the 10 Commandments establishes the vessel or physical boundaries of the city or nation to which Holiness can be poured into.  The teachings of Messiah given at the Sermon On The Mount/ Sermon At the Temple are Zion's Holiness Code.  It is this Code practiced within the physical bounds of the 10 Commandments that "Zion shall yet live though she seemeth to be dead." (Joseph Smith Letter to the Church in Caldwell County, 16 December 1838)

THE FOUR PILLARS OF THE WAYS- THE CENTRAL PRINCIPLES OF ZION


In the statement that, "The Lord called his people Zion because they were of one heart and one mind, and dwelt in righteousness; and there was no poor among them." is what is termed the four principles or Pillars of the Way.  As Messiah declared, "I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me." (John 14:6)

It is upon these pillars or principles that Zion is created.

(1) ONENESS OF HEART and (2) ONENESS OF MIND


When asked the question, What is the Highest law, the Messiah responded by declaring the Heart of Israel Given by God and recited by every observant Israelite to this day- The Shema:

"Hear, O Israel: YHVH our God, the YHVH is one.

You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.

And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart.

You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise.

You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes.

You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates." (Deuteronomy 6: 4-9)

This scripture known as the Shema is the epitome of Oneness of Heart and Oneness of Mind. In Israelite thought the Heart is the center of our Thoughts.  To be ONE HEART is to have the thoughts or words of God always in our conscious and unconscious thoughts.  Our thoughts should be on the fulfilling of his Words and Goals.  The Mind is the center of our will power or force of will which is the source of all our actions. Our deepest need is for the joy and fulfillment of being in a state of Oneness with our God. We receive this joy and fulfillment because of the transformation that comes when we connect with the Light of Christ/Messiah wherein his nature of love and sharing becomes our nature. In other words, we receive his image in our countenance.

(3) Dwelling In Righteousness and (4) No Poor Among them


Dwelling in Righteousness is an idiomatic expression of living in Tzedekah (Charity). It is the manner in which we establish and carry out the commandments of God in our lives:

"And tzedekah (charity) suffers long and is kind
and envies not and is not prideful
seeks not her own is not easily provoked
thinks no evil and takes no joy in lawlessness
but rejoices in the truth
bears all things
believes all things
hopes all things
endures all things
therefore my beloved brothers
if you have not tzedekah you are nothing
for tzedekah never fails
therefore hold unto tzedekah
which is the greatest of all
for all things must fail
but tzedekah is the pure love of Mashiach
and it endures forever
and whoever is found possessed of it
at the last day it shall be well with him
therefore my beloved brothers pray unto the Father
with all the energy of heart
that you may be filled with this love
which he has bestowed upon all
who are true followers of his Son Yehoshua Mashiach
that you may become the sons of Elohiym
that when he shall appear we shall be like him
for we shall see him as he is
that we may have this hope
that we may be purified even as he is pure
Amein
( Hebrew Roots Book of Mormon; Compare Moroni 7: 45-48)

The phrase No Poor Among them is one of the most misunderstood phrases in Mormonism. It is from the misunderstanding of this eternal principle that has come various communistic and socialistic endeavors, the results of which is utter failure.  The phrase "no poor among them" is an Israelite expression of living in the desire to receive from God to bestow upon others- it is an expression tied to the 2nd greatest commandment, "You shall love your neighbor as yourself." (Leviticus 19:18, Matthew 22:39)  When we live in a state of desiring to receive from God to bestow upon others we fulfill the condition of "no poor among them".  When we live in the state of Desiring to receive from God to covet- THE LIGHT OF CHRIST/MESSIAH IS RESTRICTED AND ALL BLESSINGS CEASE.  There can be no coercion in the things of God. No one, not even God, can impose light and truth upon anyone that is not prepared to receive it. But once someone is prepared to receive, the Light of Christ is there to supply all things. The highest level of Tzedekah and of having no poor is to transform the desire to receive for ourselves alone into the desire to receive to share with others.  There is no economic system or amount of money distributed that equates with this state of being for those who transform and assume this condition the storehouses of Heaven and Earth are opened to fulfill any and all needs.  It is in this that we see the lesson of the children of Israel in their receiving and collecting the Manna from Heaven.

THE PATH OF THE CHILDREN- THE PATH OF THE DISCIPLE


"The Lord said unto Enoch: Behold these thy brethren; they are the workmanship of mine own hands, and I gave unto them their knowledge, in the day I created them; and in the Garden of Eden, gave I unto man his agency; And unto thy brethren have I said, and also given commandment, that they should love one another, and that they should choose me, their Father; but behold, they are without affection, and they hate their own blood." (Moses 7: 32-33)

Transforming the natural man into a spiritual child of God is the greatest undertaking. We must understand that in Israelite thought while a child may be the seed of our own body another kind of child is found in the relationship between a disciple and the master.  God desires that we should choose him not only to be his physical seed but also his disciples.  As a child we must realize how desperately we need the help of our Father, our Master Teacher.  Where the natural man tells us that it is survival of the fittest in the lone and dreary world, the simple acknowledgment of our need for our Heavenly Father is the first and major step in the journey to Holiness and Home. Our realization of our dependence upon our Heavenly Father and our recognition of our need for help is what is termed the Israelite concept of the "Mighty Change of Heart".  

The rebellious Watchers and their disciples perpetuate a grand lie.  They want us to believe that this whole world with it's majestic mountains, beautiful forests, nourishing rivers, and splendid oceans came into being without the hand of a loving Father and Creator.  In doing so, they seek to convince us to deny that we are a portion of the light of God that has the ability to literally change the world. Like an eagle who is raised as a chicken, if we believe we are a chicken then we will never soar with Eagles.  Our traditions and our negative actions cannot extinguish the light of God within us but it can conceal it.  This is why the apostle John recorded:

"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made. In him was life; and the life was the light of men. And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not." (John 1:5)

(Continued)

THE WATCHERS PART 7: THE KEYS OF ENOCH AND THE TOOLS OF THE DISCIPLE.

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