Tag: gathering

The Literal Gathering of Israel, Chapter Five

Joseph Dewey
This entry is part 5 of 16 in the series Literal Gathering

Chapter Five

The New Jerusalem

In the Hebrew the word Jerusalem is written or sounded YeRUWSHALAYIM. This is a word created from two other Hebrew words. The first part is derived from the prim root YARA which means “to instruct or point the way.” The second half of the word is derived from SHALEM which is translated “Salem” and the meaning of this word is peace or “to make safe.” The literal meaning of the name then is “to instruct in peace” or “to show the way to peace.” In other words, Jerusalem is to be an ensign to the nations. The first ensign to show the way to peace was set up by Melchizedek who was called a “prince of peace.” Even though the city he built only bore the last half of the name it was in reality the first Jerusalem. We are told that his people “sought for the city of Enoch” and “obtained heaven.” Gen 14:34 Inspired Version. Thus the righteous gathering he effected produced the entire translation of the first city.

The Lord desired similar results with the second Jerusalem occupied by the Israelites for it was intended to be an Ensign to point the way of peace to all the nations, but it failed to do this because the people, and more especially the leaders did not obey all the commandments. Thus in the days of Lehi and Jeremiah Jerusalem was conquered and the Israelites were taken away captive to Babylon with a promise that the Lord would gather them again in some future period. Some of the Jews did return to Jerusalem, however, most of Israel remained scattered.

In the days of Jesus many Jews had returned to Jerusalem, but it was controlled by many “which say they are Jews, and are not, but do lie.” Rev 3:9. Finally in 70 AD it was completely destroyed by the Romans under Titus. Finally, again in our day, the nation of Israel is again re-established, but just as a people will be gathered out of the LDS people to build Zion here so will a righteous remnant establish Zion on that side of the world, but before Zion is built there the prophecy of Jesus must be fulfilled: “I am come in my Father’s name, and ye receive me not: if another shall come in his own name, HIM YE WILL RECEIVE.” John 5:43 That other that shall come will be a false Messiahs appearing to the Jews as well as other peoples of the earth.

We are definitely told that Old Jerusalem “after it should be destroyed it should be built up again, a holy city unto the Lord.” Ether 13:5 However, it will not be the holy city spoken of until Zion is established and there is a cleansing among the Jews as well as the rest of the world.

Concerning the rebuilding of old Jerusalem Ether said: “It could not be a New Jerusalem for it had been in a time of old.” In other words, it would be a restored Jerusalem and not a new one, but he said: “A New Jerusalem should be built upon this land, (America) unto the remnant of the seed of Joseph… and they shall build up a holy city unto the Lord, like unto the Jerusalem of old.” Ether 13:5&8

Concerning this New Jerusalem the Lord said: “Righteousness truth will I cause to sweep the earth as with a flood, to gather  mine elect from the four quarters of the earth, unto a place which I shall prepare, an Holy City, that my people may gird up their loins, and be looking forth for the time of my coming; for there shall be my tabernacle, and it shall be called Zion, a New Jerusalem.” Moses 1:62.

Is it not plain that the New Jerusalem must be built by the gathering of the saints? The Lord also said: “When the city of the New Jerusalem shall be prepared, that YE MAY BE GATHERED IN ONE, that ye may be my people and I will be your God.” D&C 42:9

It is also written: “And. even now, let him that goeth to the east teach them that shall be converted to FLEE TO THE WEST, and this in consequence of that which is coming on the earth, and of secret combinations… Ye shall observe the laws which YE HAVE RECEIVED, and be faithful. And ye shall hereafter receive church covenants, SUCH AS SHALL BE SUFFICIENT to establish you, both here and in the New Jerusalem.” D&C 42:64, 66-67

Has this commandment ever been revoked by the Lord? Verily no. Therefore we should still receive covenants “such as shall be sufficient to establish you here AND IN THE NEW JERUSALEM.” Are we doing this? No. The Latter-Day Saints claim to be waiting on the Lord for the command to establish the New Jerusalem, but the command has already been given and the waiting period is long over. This is supposed to be the working period.

The average Latter-Day Saint has been “deceived by the craftiness of men” to the extent that in their craftiness certain men in the history of the church have changed the direction of their sights from a great good to numerous lesser goods. Instead of building the New Jerusalem their sights have been lowered to building the Mormon image in the world which thing means nothing to God for the world as we know it is a temporary state.

This is best illustrated with a parable:

(Author’s note: If I wrote this parable today instead of 1979 I would change some things but this still gives good food for thought.)

There once lived a Master Builder whose knowledge exceeded that of anyone else on the earth and he commanded a small force of men to come before him. He commanded his men to purchase a lot and build for him a house and after that is done he commanded them’ to build other houses of similar design. He left the foreman and all of the workmen with a list of written instructions including all things necessary to fulfill his commandment.

The men did as they were commanded and purchased the lot and began building the house. Unfortunately other speculators discovered the master’s plan and saw that there would be great value in obtaining the lot for themselves so by an illegal means they obtained a deed for the lot for themselves and convinced the authorities that it was legal and they drove the Master’s crew from the area.

The master returned and when faced with the situation he was disappointed with his crew for they should have been more aware, but with some he was well pleased for their efforts. To them he said: “You shall not cease striving until you obtain the lot which is legally mine and a house is built on it. Until that time you shall obtain other lots and build to me other houses on the like order of the first.” Upon leaving these instructions the Master Builder left his men for an indefinite period of time.

To begin with the workmen strived diligently to obtain the lot that they had lost, but without avail. In the meantime they purchased other lots and built on them as the master commanded them. The structures they built were much different than those of their neighbors, for they could not see the wisdom of the Master Builder; therefore they did complain exceedingly to the authorities that the structures did not match up to the covenants and restrictions of the neighborhood and they did complain of building code violations and safety violations.

Every government agency did condemn the crew until they were driven away into a wilderness where the crew did again make a valiant effort to obey the Master’s command. For a short time they were able to build without interruption according to the Master’s command until their community began to be desirable to those who believed in all of the restrictive laws. Finally many of these people began to move in and demand restrictive covenants as before, and they also demanded building codes that would restrict the structures that the crew was building.

The foreman and the crew made many compromises and changed the direction of the building according to the desires of the world. They decided to use smaller more economical studs and weaker frames for they would save money and would work just as well they thought Then with their trusses they decided to take out some of the braces, this would also save money and surely the support would be sufficient. Many other things did they change. They decided on cheap synthetic carpet instead of fine expensive wool and for plumbing they planned on plastic pipes and for wiring they used an inferior cheaper grade, but their plans did conform to all the codes and laws and their neighbors did praise them. They enjoyed the praise of their neighbors so much that they did even join with them in strengthening the laws which made their original plan illegal and they did take many of their plans and they did hold them up before the world as a light, and it was accepted by them as praiseworthy.

There were a small number of reliable workmen among the crew that carefully studied the Master’s original commandments and plans and they were dismayed at the changes and one of them called the Master Builder and told him the situation and asked him what to do. The Master was alarmed and sent instructions with the worker to the current foreman to get back to the original plans and continue working at redeeming the original lot.

The workman took the instructions to the foreman, but the foreman rebuked the workman saying: “Surely the Master Builder would contact me and not you, besides we are doing work, that is pleasing to him. Why would he be angry with us?”

Therefore, the crew did not heed the words of the Master Builder for they believed them not. Even so, the Master sent instructions through the humble workman numerous times for the workman asked of the Masters advice according to his will whereas the foreman did not, but asked of his own will. Finally, the Master said through the workman: “Except you heed to my commandments and instructions as I have written you shall be cast out and others shall take your place.” The foreman and the bosses smiled lightly at this for they did not believe the warning, but deep within they felt unsettled. Finally, the faithful workmen gathered to-ether and sent out the warning to  the other workmen who were deceived and a small number believed the warning and gathered together with them. The foreman and the bosses were angry at this and tried to discredit their testimony and did all within their power to make the faithful workmen appear as fools and to hinder them.

Now the faithful workmen did want to heed all of the instructions of the Master Builder so they did again buy lots and build the strange structures as before, but in many ways the laws were more relaxed than before, so they were not greatly hindered by their neighbors and the government, but instead their greatest enemy was their fellow workmen who were jealous at the beauty of the structures and did all in their power to hinder them until they did openly fight against them in open rebellion against their own masters commandments.

The Master Builder was very wroth with the foreman and his workmen and from that time forth ignored them and communicated with the faithful workmen.

After that the original plan of buying lots and building the strange structures on them and also the method of redeeming the original lot was presented to them. The plan was contrary to anything this generation of workmen had ever believed and only the most humble and faithful among the remainder were able to accept them which number was between ten to twenty per cent. The rest of them murmured and left and the original bosses gathered them together saying the new builders were deceived and that they should work at the plans that are accepted by the world, and they did all they could to build a company on their own plans and designs.

Now that the Faithful Workmen were at the head of the Master builders company again they did proceed with great diligence toward the original goal until, to their amazement, they obtained the original lot for no fee at all save their labor, and there they perfected the Master’s grand architecture and they built the greatest structure on the earth. At the completion of the building (of the city Zion – not the temple) the eyes of the world were opened and they realized their previous ignorance for the building was only strange because the principles incorporated therein were so advanced beyond any other buildings. The building became an Ensign for all others to look to and to use the beneficial designs for themselves and great was the glory of those faithful workmen who had followed the Masters original commandments.

At this time those unfaithful workmen who had followed their bosses began to see that only the Master Builder could be behind the work of the faithful workmen and a few of them were ashamed for their unbelief and came in great humility asking for their old jobs. Their old jobs were not available, but they were glad to start as apprentices. Eventually, the stubborn workmen that were left working on their own plans saw for themselves that they could never materialize and their foolishness made them a hiss and a byword throughout the whole world, and when their folly was made obvious there was weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth among them. And they were never heard of again among the children of men.

The Master Builder looked upon the work of his faithful workmen and he was pleased to the extent that he left his other businesses which occupied his time and came and personally assisted his workmen and they rebuilt the whole world.

Most of the interpretation here should be obvious. The Master Builder is Christ and the workmen are the members of the church. The Foreman is the President and the bosses are the General Authorities. The original lot is tot the temple lot only, but the entire city plot for Zion in Missouri. The building they were to create was the Central city of Zion and the other buildings are other gathering places. When they ceased to buy lots signifies the time they ceased to gather. The changes in the building plan signifies the changes made in the Priesthood and the church. The workmen who called the Master Builder to repentance are various inspired members who sened something was wrong and the other workman who was given full authority is the one Mighty and Strong.

Are we not clearly told that “the city New Jerusalem shall be built BY THE GATHERING OF THE SAINTS.” D&C 84:4 Let us not be then as the unfaithful workmen and wait for the Lord to do it all, but let us go forward with an eye single to his glory and do the work for remember that “The Lord giveth no commandments unto the children of men save he shall prepare a way for them that they may accomplish the thing which he commandeth them.” I Nephi 3:7

We may be impressed with the glory of the New Jerusalem which is to be built here in America, but it is just a type or symbol of the New Jerusalem – which is to descend out of heaven, which, according to the Book of Revelations is to take place after the Millennium. This is to take place when there “is a new heaven and a new earth.” Rev 21:1 The city has “the glory of God: and her light was like unto a stone most precious, even like a Jasper stone, clear as crystal… And the city lieth foursquare, and the length is as large as the breadth: and he measured the city with the reed, twelve thousand furlongs. The length and the breadth AND THE HEIGHT OF IT ARE EQUAL.” Rev 21:1 &16

One may be led to Inquire: How long is twelve thousand furlongs Believe it or not it is 1500 miles and the amazing thing is that the city will be as high as it is long and deep. Can you imagine a city 1500 miles high? Most people assume that it will be a square city, but most do not realize that it could be in the shape of a pyramid and match the description given in the Bible. We are also told that the city is “clear as crystal” and “like unto clear glass” Rev 21:18. Can you imagine a more beautiful structure? But this will not be for thousands of years to come. In the meantime we must concentrate on the earthly New Jerusalem which will be a foreshadowing of the heavenly one.

 

Copyright 1979 by J J Dewey

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The Literal Gathering of Israel, Chapter Four

Joseph Dewey
This entry is part 4 of 16 in the series Literal Gathering

Author’s note: Some are saying this treatise on the gathering does not sound like me and this may be true as I wrote this back in 1979 when my thinking was focused on religious lines.  I was attempting to wake the LDS up to the fact that if the writings of the prophets are true then all is not well within their kingdom.

As always I recommend the reader study this treatise in the light of the soul.  Accept that which registers as being true and ignore the rest.

 

 

Chapter Four

Zion, The Pure in Heart

The actual meaning of Zion is -probably misunderstood more than any other by the latter-Day Saints, partially due to the misunderstanding of the following scripture: “Let Zion rejoice, for this is Zion –  THE PURE IN HEART.” D&C 97:21

If all of a person’s accumulated knowledge of the scriptures concerning Zion can be summed up in that sentence then we may be assured that such a narrow viewpoint will lead to erroneous conclusions. And what erroneous conclusion does it lead to? The Latter-Day Saint authorities conclude that the gathering is not necessary to establish Zion because if you are pure in heart you are already in Zion no matter where you are. Such individuals then believe that since they are in Zion, as they suppose, then they are safe no matter where they are as long as they follow the prophet.

The prophet will tell them what to do. In other words, they lean on the arm of flesh and do not depend on the Spirit. They feel that “all is well” with the authorities in the church, “and thus the devil cheateth their souls and leadeth them away carefully down to hell.” II Nephi 28:21 1 can think of no more destructive doctrine to the kingdom of God than that its members thinking that they are in Zion no matter where they are and that God will protect them. On the contrary, we find that the righteous must be separated according to the parable of the wheat and the tares for if the wheat is mixed with the tares during the burning then it will be burned also. “And until that hour there will be foolish virgins among the wise; and at that hour cometh AN ENTIRE SEPARATION of the righteous and the wicked.” D&C 63:54

This entire separation has to take place for “the hour is not yet, but is nigh at hand, when peace shall be taken from the earth, and the devil shall have power over his own dominion. And also the Lord shall have power over his saints.” D&C 1:36-37

If the devil has power over his dominion and you are residing in that dominion then where will your physical salvation be? The adversary will have such power over his own dominion that he will command all to worship an image and “as many as would not worship the image of the beast SHOULD BE KILLED. And he causeth ALL, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads: AND THAT NO MAN MIGHT BUY OR SELL, save he that had the mark.” Rev. 13:15-17 If you think you are pure in heart and will be safe even though you are dwelling within Satan’s dominion you will have a chance to test that purity when you are commanded to worship the image of the beast or be killed. You will also be tested when you are commanded to receive the mark of the beast which will signify that you belong to him and not God. Without this mark you and your family will not be able to buy or sell, and just how long do you suppose you could stomach seeing your little ones going hungry before you would give in?

The prophet Joseph saw a vision wherein he saw the events in the devil’s dominion: he saw “the father shed the blood of the son and the son the blood of the father; the mother put to death the daughter, and the daughter the mother; and natural affection forsook the hearts of the wicked; for he saw that the Spirit of God should be withdrawn from the inhabitants of the earth, in consequence of which there should be blood upon the face of the whole earth EXCEPT AMONG THE PEOPLE OF THE MOST HIGH. The prophet gazed upon the scene his vision presented, until his heart sickened, and he besought the Lord to close it up again.” Jedediah M. Grant, THE IMPROVEMENT ERA, Feb 1915, Pg 286-7.

Orson Pratt said that during this time “there will be too much bloodshed – too much mobocracy – too much going forth in bands and destroying and pillaging the land to suffer people to pursue any local vocation with any degree of safety.” JD 20:151 Elder Pratt also said: “The people will think themselves well off if they can FLEE FROM CITY TO CITY, FROM TOWN TO TOWN AND ESCAPE WITH THEIR LIVES.” JD 12:344

In speaking of the devil’s dominion Brigham Young said: “They will destroy each other, caring not for the blood and lives of their neighbors, or their families, or for their own lives. They will be like the Jaredites…and will destroy each other to the last man, through the anger that the devil will place in their hearts, BECAUSE THEY REJECTED THE WORDS OF LIFE.” (They rejected the gathering principle Which would save their physical lives.) JD 8:123

It is this day that Joel speaks of when he says: “And it shall come to pass that whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be DELIVERED: for in mount Zion and in Jerusalem shall be deliverance, as the Lord hath said, and in the REMNANT WHOM THE LORD SHALL CALL.” Joel 2:32 Yes, those who do not reject the “words of life” and call on the name of the Lord in Mount Zion will be physically delivered, but unfortunately, many of the non LDS will be more likely to deliver their lives than the members of the church who put their trust in the arm of flesh.

Tell me my brother… you who believe that you are pure in heart enough to be saved no matter where you are: Is your faith strong enough to live in a community where people care not “for the blood and lives of their neighbors, or their families, or their own lives. They will be like the Jaradites.” Read the story of the Jaradites during the last battles. Would you like to go through something like that? Wouldn’t it be better to obey the law of the gathering as written by the prophets?

Just as we are told that Satan will have power over his dominion we are also told that the Lord will have power over the dominion of the saints in the last days. If the Lord has dominion over his saints then that must mean that the saints are out of reach of the power of the enemy and that they will be a physically separate body. Speaking of this time Joseph Smith was quoted as saying: “Many will come with bundles under their arms to escape the calamities, and there will be no escape except by fleeing to Zion. Those that come to you will try to keep the laws and be one with you, for they will see your unity and the greatness of your organization… During this time the Great White Horse will have gathered strength sending out Elders to gather the honest in heart among the pale horse, or the people of the United States, to stand by the constitution of the United States, as it was given by inspiration of God. In these days God will set up a kingdom, never to be thrown down, for other kingdoms to come unto.” Taken from the White Horse Prophecy, quoted by Edwin Rushton and Theodore Turley.

The official doctrine of the church today is that the church itself is the kingdom spoken of by Daniel, but here Joseph tells us that the kingdom will be set up in the days of this second gathering, and that the kingdom will not be a church, but it will be a government patterned after the original constitution of the United States.

In speaking of Zion it is written: “And it shall come to pass among the wicked, that every man that will not take his sword against his neighbor must needs FLEE TO ZION FOR SAFETY. And there shall be gathered unto it out of every nation under heaven; and it shall be the only people that shall not be at war one with another.” D&C 45: 68-69

Tell me you who believe you are pure in heart, even though you dwell in Los Angeles, New York, or any other city… How is it that you now dwell in Zion when we are told that to get there you must “flee?” How do you explain the scripture: “Let them, therefore, that are among the Gentiles FLEE -unto Zion.” D&C 133:12 How are you obeying the commandment to “declare by word and by FLIGHT that desolation shall come upon the wicked?” D&C 63:37

Did not the Lord command us: “Search these commandments, for they are true and faithful, and the prophecies and promises which are in them SHALL ALL BE FULFILLED.” D&C 1:37. Did not Jesus reprimand his own disciples after his resurrection by saying: “O fools, and slow of heart to believe ALL that the prophets have spoken.” Luke 24:25

We are told Often in the scriptures that Zion has to be “established”. If Zion is merely the pure in heart scattered around the world then why does it need to be “established”? There are always a number of people who are fairly pure in heart scattered abroad. We are told to “buy lands and gather together upon them; and in this way they may ESTABLISH ZION.” D&C 101:74 Do you make people pure in heart by buying lands??? No, but you can create a physical Zion on them where there will be a refuge from the storm. If all there is to Zion is the pure in heart scattered throughout the world then Zion has always been here, even before the church was organized, for there have always been some relatively pure in heart people upon the earth. The scriptures make it clear that Zion has not always been here: “For they shall see eye to eye when the Lord shall bring AGAIN Zion.” III Nephi 16:18. If all Zion is, is the pure in heart, and there is always a few pure in heart scattered around, then why will the Lord “bring again Zion?” Is it not obvious that Zion is a condition or place that has to be created and is not always here?

Unfortunately, many people both within the church and out believe that they are pure in heart enough so that they will be miraculously taken up and snatched away to safety if they are in the midst of tribulation. But please, my brother, seriously ask yourself if this is realistic. After all, the Lord “is the same yesterday, today, and forever.” Did the Lord miraculously snatch away the righteous in the days of Noah or did they have to physically remove themselves? Did the Lord miraculously rapture the people who were righteous in Sodom and Gomorra or, again, did they have to physically remove themselves? How about Lehi? Were he and his family removed like men in a Star Trek movie or was it the normal physical method of his day? How about our own day? Were not the righteous bombed along with the wicked in our recent wars?

“But God will save us if we keep all the commandments,” says One. That is true, but remember he is referring to the commandments of God and not men, and one of the commandments is to “gather” and “go out of Babylon.” If you are not obeying this commandment how then do you expect to receive protection?

The Lord tells us bow much faith we need to have if we expect to survive among a people who are not obeying all of the commandments. “Son of man, when the land sinneth against me by trespassing grievously, then will I stretch out mine hand upon it, and will break the staff of the bread thereof, and will send famine upon it, and will cut off man and beast from it. Though these three men, Noah, Daniel and Job, were in it, they should deliver but their own souls by their righteousness, saith the Lord God. If I cause noisome beasts to pass through the land, and they spoil it, so that it be desolate, that no man may pass through because of the beasts: Though these three men were in it, as I live, saith the Lord God, THEY SHALL ALL DELIVER NEITHER SONS NOR DAUGHTERS; THEY ONLY SHALL BE DELIVERED but the land shall be desolate.” Eze 14:13-16.

Thus, if you expect to be saved in the midst of fury you must have the faith of a Noah, a Daniel or a Job. Do you have as much faith as they did? Are you one out of a billion like they were? In their day each was the most faithful man on the whole planet. Are you the most faithful person on the planet now? Even if you are the scripture tells us that even with your great faith you will not be able to save your family “neither sons nor daughters.”

Where then is the hope for the average saint? Are we doomed to destruction in these last days? No. We are told that this would be the situation if these three men “were in it,” or, in other words, this would be the situation if these three men stayed in Babylon. One would have to have faith like unto them if he wished to survive the desolations that will be poured out. The hope then for the average saint is to “come out of Babylon” for Ezekiel tells us that the way will be prepared to deliver sons and daughters: “Yet, behold, therein shall be left a remnant that shall be BROUGHT FORTH (or in other words gathered out), both sons and daughters.” Ezekiel 14:22.

The Lord has said that if the promises made to the fathers is not planted in the hearts of the children then “the earth will be utterly wasted at his coming.” Yes, the whole earth would be utterly wasted except for men like Noah, Daniel and Job and how many men such as this do you suppose we have on the earth today? They could probably be counted on the fingers of one hand and what good would their salvation be without their families? When reflecting on the wisdom of the gathering the pure in heart will feel hope and faith and praise for the Lord for preparing the way for our future deliverance along with our families. The spirit leads one to exclaim: “How great are thy ways and how unfathomable is the intent of thy heart, O Father, Thou carest for thy children as a true loving father and savest all that come unto thee and sends servants to those who are lost and in peril! Thou art truly the deliverer of Israel.”

When we consider that Zion is an actual place and condition that needs to be established one may be led to question as to why the Lord called Zion the “Pure in heart.” Can Zion be the pure in heart and yet the scriptures be consistent? Yes, for the scriptures tell us who the pure in heart are by giving us another definition of Zion. After Enoch gathered his people we are told: “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 it came to pass in his days, that he built a CITY that was called the City of Holiness, even Zion.” Moses 7:18- 19

What had to take place here before the Lord called his people Zion? We find that the people were (1) of one heart, (2) and one mind, (3) they “dwelt in righteousness; (4) There was no poor among them, and (5) they gathered together and built a city unto the Lord and the wicked did not come unto it.

This then gives us a good idea of what the Lord means by the “pure in heart”. If one is pure in heart he will not love the world but will want to come out of Babylon and be united with others of like thinking and build communities unto the glory of God. He will be of one heart and one mind with these other righteous individuals. He will dwell in righteousness and consecrate all that he has so that there will be “no poor”. One cannot be one of the pure in heart that dwells in Zion while he is in Babylon. The pure in heart desire to gather with the saints and will do so at the first opportunity. At this point many people are inclined to say: “But doesn’t the scriptures command us to be in the world but not of the world? Therefore we do not need to gather for we are supposed to be in the world at this time.”

The person who uses this quote is like the guy who quotes the Bible as saying that “all men are created equal”. Neither quotation is found anywhere in the scriptures. Nowhere in all the holy writ are we commanded to be in the world, but, on the contrary, we are commanded to “come out”. The only ones that are to be sent out into the world at all are those who are to preach the gospel and they are commanded to be “not of the world”. John 17:16 On the other hand, many sectarians teach from the pulpit to be in the world, but not of the world. However, the motto of Zion should be: “Come out of the world that ye be not of the world that ye be not partakers of her ‘sins.”

Joseph Smith clearly told us that “the whole of America is Zion.” He said this included North and South America and that the mountain of the Lord was to be in the center of the land. (See DHC 6:319) Brigham Young also said- that Zion “is the land that the Lord gave to Jacob, who bequeathed it to his son Joseph, and his posterity, and they inhabit it, and that land is North and South America. JD 2:253

Hyrum Smith told us “The gathering will be FROM THE NATIONS to North and South America which is the land of Zion.” DHC 6:322

Of course we cannot gather to all of North and South America all at one time. Joseph Smith told us to begin this gathering by building stakes or cities of about twenty thousand population each until we fill up the land of Zion and then the world. Right now the land of Zion is possessed by the people of Babylon, but one day Babylon the great will fall and Zion will be redeemed for the people of Zion. Then it will come to pass: “So shall they fear the name of the Lord from the west.” Isa 59:19. When the center stake or city is established then shall the following scripture be fulfilled: “They shall call thee the City of the Lord, the Zion of the Holy One of Israel.” Isa 60:14 “Look upon Zion, the city of our solemnities.” Isa 33:20.

The scriptures indicate that there is more than one city in Zion: “Thus saith the Lord of hosts; My CITIES through prosperity shall yet be spread abroad; and the Lord shall yet comfort Zion, and shall yet choose Jerusalem.” Zech 1:17 When the land of America is full then the Lord’s cities will “spread abroad” and fill up the earth as Joseph Smith predicted.

 

Copyright 1979 by J J Dewey

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The Gathering of Lights

Joseph Dewey
This entry is part 24 of 34 in the series 2011C

TEACHER: Today we are going to discuss a principle that is talked about repeatedly in the scriptures, yet I doubt that you have ever heard a sermon preached upon it. The Bible calls it “The Gathering.” Can you remember who it was that the prophets said would be gathered?

STUDENT: I’m not sure.

 

TEACHER: Let us read a scripture to clarify this. Please read here in Matthew: (Open to Matthew 24:31): {Scripture #1} And he shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other. Now according to this scripture who will be gathered?

STUDENT: The Elect.

 

TEACHER: Elect comes from the Greek EKLEKTOS which can be translated as either “elect, chosen or selected”. The elect are generally thought of as being the chosen of God, but does it not make sense that they are also people who have chosen God?

STUDENT: It seems to.

 

TEACHER: Therefore, does it sound right to say that the elect are those who have chosen God and in return are chosen back as a recognition that they are on the correct path?

STUDENT: Yes.

 

TEACHER: Who does it say here will gather the elect?

STUDENT: Angels

 

TEACHER: Most people think of angels as spiritual beings, but the word angel is a mistranslation. It comes from the Greek AGGELOS which literally means “messenger”. Did you know that regular mortal men were called angels (or AGGELOS) in the Bible?

STUDENT: No. (Note: If they want proof refer to Rev 2:1 and Matthew 11:10. The word “messenger” here comes from AGGELOS)

 

TEACHER: Therefore, it seems quite possible that regular mortal men and women will gather the “elect” doesn’t it?

STUDENT: Yes.

 

TEACHER: In the Old Testament this event is called “The Gathering of Israel.” Let us read a prophesy of this in Jeremiah 16:14-16: {Scripture #2} “Therefore, behold the days come, saith the Lord, that it shall no more be said, the Lord liveth that brought up the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt; But the Lord liveth, that brought up the children of Israel from the land of the north, and from all the lands whither he had driven them: and I will bring them again into their land that I gave unto their fathers. Behold, I will send for many fishers, saith the Lord, and they shall fish them; and after I will send for many hunters, and they shall hunt them from every mountain, and from every hill, and out of the holes of the rocks.” Here the Lord says that He will gather Israel from all the lands that they were driven to, and that it will be such an event that it will eclipse the deliverance of Israel through Moses. How does it say here that God will gather his people again?

STUDENT: It says that He will send fishers and hunters, who will find the scattered people of Israel.

 

TEACHER: Even though spiritual beings may assist us in the gathering, much of the responsibility lies with men and women here on the earth. Do you think that these fishers and hunters could be regular mortal people?

STUDENT: It seems possible.

 

TEACHER: Most of us have heard the name Israel, but few are aware of its origin and meaning. The Bible tells us about a man named Jacob who wrestled all night with a supernatural being in the form of a man. Jacob bested the being and told him he would not let him go unless he gave him a blessing. We can read this blessing in Gen 32:28. {Scripture #3} And he said, Thy name shall be called no more Jacob, but Israel: for as a prince hast thou power with God and with men, and hast prevailed. What was Jacob’s new name?

STUDENT: Israel.

 

TEACHER: We are told here that Jacob prevailed and had power with who?

STUDENT: God and men.

 

TEACHER: Doesn’t it seem unusual that a mortal man would not only have power with God, but also prevail with or over God?

STUDENT: Yes.

 

TEACHER: Verse 30 tells us who the person was that Jacob prevailed against: (Read Gen 32:30) {Scripture #4} And Jacob called the name of the place Peniel: for I have seen God face to face, and my life is preserved. Who does Jacob tells us he prevailed over in the wrestling match from whom he received a blessing?

STUDENT: God

 

TEACHER: This background helps us to understand the name Israel for it comes from the Hebrew YISRAEL. The first part of the word is derived from the prime root SARAH which literally means “to prevail” or “have power.” The second half of the word is EL which is often translated as “God.” Therefore, the name literally means “to prevail or have power as God or a god.” From what we have read why was Jacob given the name Israel?

STUDENT: He prevailed over God so he was called a name that meant “to prevail as a god.”

 

TEACHER: Now the Bible tells us that Jacob had twelve sons who had a great posterity that were eventually scattered among all nations. Descendents of Jacob are called the children of Israel, or Israelites. The Jews, which are only one of the tribes, call themselves Israelis. Did you know that the Bible indicates that many descendents of Israel will be in the United States?

STUDENT: No.

 

TEACHER: Do you think that all the millions of people who are literally descended from Israel are good and spiritual people?

STUDENT: Probably not

 

TEACHER: This is correct. Even those who put Jesus to death were descended from Israel. Now, on the other hand, do you think that there are some righteous and good people on the earth who are not literally descended from Israel?

STUDENT: I would think so.

 

TEACHER: Therefore, does it sound logical to conclude that the gathering of Israel, or the elect, refers to a quality of people rather than a race?

STUDENT: Yes.

 

TEACHER: The Bible verifies this. (Read Romans 8:14-15) {Scripture #5} For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God. For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father. How many here can be the sons of God?

STUDENT: As many as follow the Spirit.

 

TEACHER: If a person is not of the race of Israel, but follows the Spirit of God what happens to him?

STUDENT: He is adopted by God.

 

TEACHER: If you follow the spirit of God you are adopted into the house of Israel. Therefore, a true Israelite is not necessarily one belonging to a particular race, but one who has what inside of him?

STUDENT: The Spirit of God.

 

TEACHER: Therefore, if you have, or recognize, God in you, you will then prevail or have power as God. Does it sound right to say that an Israelite is one who realizes that God is in him?

STUDENT: Yes.

 

TEACHER: Do you think we could then say that the gathering of Israel is, in reality, the gathering of those who feel God in them, no matter what race they may be?

STUDENT: I think so.

 

TEACHER: The names Jacob and Israel are symbolic of the two types of people on the earth today. Jacob means “supplanter” and symbolizes the person who is ruled by the lower self. In other words, the lower or carnal self supplants or replaces the rule of the Spirit of God in man. On the other hand, when Jacob’s name was changed to Israel it symbolized that the Spirit was no longer overruled by the carnal. What would then be the true ruler within an Israelite today?

STUDENT: The Spirit.

 

TEACHER: We like to refer to the gathering of these Israelites as “The Gathering of Lights.” Such a gathering is described in Revelations 14:1: {Scripture #6} And I looked, and lo, a lamb stood on mount Sion, and with him an hundred forty and four thousand, having his Father’s name written in their foreheads. Where did these Israelites have the name of God?

STUDENT: In their foreheads.

 

TEACHER: Is it not logical that if you have God within you, and prevail and have the power of God as an Israelite, that you would have the name of God within you?

STUDENT: I suppose so.

 

TEACHER: A son of God is named after his father and grows to be like his father doesn’t he?

STUDENT: Yes

 

TEACHER: This helps us to understand an unusual scripture where the Jews were upset because they thought Jesus was claiming to be God.. (Read John 10:33-36) {Scripture #7} The Jews answered him, saying, For a good work we stone thee not; but for blasphemy; and because that thou, being a man, makest thyself God. Jesus answered them, Is it not written in your law, I said, Ye are gods? If he called them gods, unto whom the word of God came, and the scripture cannot be broken; Say ye of him, whom the Father hath sanctified, and sent into the world, Thou blasphemest; because I said, I am the (Correct translation: “a”) Son of God? Who did Jesus say were gods here?

STUDENT: Those who received the word of God.

 

TEACHER: This gives us further evidence that the gathering of Lights will be the gathering of those who are manifesting the God within. How does this doctrine feel to you?

STUDENT: It feels good.

 

TEACHER: Now we will attempt to show you the value of the principle of the gathering by looking into the history of humanity. As you may guess the first gathering of humans in primitive times was the gathering together into families. Eventually a number of families gathered together for their mutual protection. What do we call these first human gatherings?

STUDENT: Tribes.

 

TEACHER: The first governments on the earth were tribal, but man eventually found even the tribe was limited in its protection and numerous tribes gathered together to form a greater unit that is still with us today. What is this?

STUDENT: A nation or kingdom.

 

TEACHER: We will call these early nations kingdoms because they were always presided over by a king or strong ruler with life-or-death power over his subjects. The kingdom was more advanced in civilization than the tribe and within the kingdom there was a much greater measure of safety and security. Even though strong authorities ruled the people and there were some disadvantages, which do you think most people would prefer: tribal or kingdom living?

STUDENT: Most would rather live in a kingdom.

 

TEACHER: The next gathering was rather unique. It began after America was discovered. The call then went forth among the kingdoms of the earth that there was an opportunity for greater freedom and abundance in this new land. Those who did not like the strong authority of the kingdom governments left in search of freedom. What was the basic difference between the people who came to America and those who stayed home?

STUDENT: Those who came to America were more independent and freedom-loving.

 

TEACHER: Yes. The gathering at that time drew many of the most enlightened people of that era: men like George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin, John Adams and many more. When these people were gathered together they were not satisfied with the old kingdom government. So they created one where the people participated in government. What effect did this third gathering have on the standard of living for its people?

STUDENT: It was greatly improved.

 

TEACHER: The symbolism of these three governments is interesting. The gathering into tribes represented the rule of the physical or instinct. The kingdoms represented emotional rule and the gathering in America produced rule of the mind or common sense. We can see that gatherings have taken us from the physical to the emotional to the mental. Where do you suppose the next gathering will take us?

STUDENT: To the spiritual.

 

TEACHER: This is why we call this next gathering The Gathering of Lights. It will center man’s group consciousness on the Spirit for the first time in history. Do you think that this will improve our quality of life?

STUDENT: Yes.

 

TEACHER: Jesus verified that his work was to bring abundance. Let us read here in John 10:10: {Scripture #8} I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly. Does it make sense then that a spiritual gathering would produce more abundance?

STUDENT: Yes.

 

TEACHER: Few Bible students realized that Jesus tried to gather the lights in his day. Let us read what he said in Luke 11:23: {Scripture #9} He that is not with me is against me: he that gathereth not with me scattereth.” If you had lived in the days of Jesus how could you tell if a person truly supported Jesus?

STUDENT: He gathered with him.

 

TEACHER: You will remember that Jesus always had his followers gathered around him. They were the twelve apostles and other unnamed men and women. Why do you suppose he wanted his followers close to him?

STUDENT: So he could teach them and they could grow together.

 

TEACHER: Unfortunately he was only able to gather a few. Near the end of his life he overlooked Jerusalem and said these sorrowful words: {Scripture #10} O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them which are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not! Behold, your house is left unto you desolate. (Matt 23:37-38) Why was Jesus upset here?

STUDENT: Because the people would not gather with him.

 

TEACHER: The Bible tells us how many people were gathered after his resurrection. We can read this in Acts 1:15: {Scripture #11} And in those days Peter stood up in the midst of the disciples, and said, (the number of names together were about an hundred and twenty.) How many people did Jesus gather through his life’s work?

STUDENT: Only 120.

 

TEACHER: That was not very many, but we must remember that this was a spiritual gathering of some of the greatest lights on the planet. Would you agree that this little gathering had a powerful effect?

STUDENT: Yes.

 

TEACHER: People do not realize the powerful effect of even a few souls working together. For instance did you realize that only about 80 people were responsible for the entire Renaissance and only several dozen key people inspired the American Revolution?

STUDENT: Not really.

 

TEACHER: True spiritual gatherings in the past have concerned only a small handful of people. That was because the time was not yet ripe. Now let us reread the scripture in Matthew 24:31 where the gathering of the New Age takes place: {Scripture #12} And he shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other. This time, instead of a few people gathered around Jerusalem where will the lights be drawn from?

STUDENT: All over the world.

 

TEACHER: Where there is a gathering of Israelites, or the people of light, that place has been called Zion in the scriptures. Let us read an interesting prophecy about Zion: (Turn to Psalms 102:16) {Scripture #13} When the Lord shall build up Zion, he shall appear in his glory. According to this scripture what must the Lord build before he comes again?

STUDENT: Zion.

 

TEACHER: The Lord gives a message to ministers of our time who claim to be shepherds of Israel: (Read Ezekiel 34:6) {Scripture #14} My sheep wandered through all the mountains, and upon every high hill: yea, my flock was scattered upon all the face of the earth, and none did search or seek after them. What was God’s complaint here?

STUDENT: No one searched after scattered Israel.

 

TEACHER: Now let’s read on: {Scripture #15} Therefore, ye shepherds, hear the word of the Lord; As I live, saith the Lord God, surely because my flock became a prey, and my flock became meat to every beast of the field, because there was no shepherd, neither did my shepherds search my flock, but the shepherds fed themselves, and fed not my flock. What do you suppose it means when it says the flock became a prey to every beast of the field?

STUDENT: They were deceived by false teachers.

 

TEACHER: Who do you suppose the shepherds are here?

STUDENT: The ministers in the churches today.

 

TEACHER: We are told that the ministers are not searching for the true Israelites. Instead they became a prey, or hunted. This has certainly been true for the greatest lights in history have always been persecuted or ostracized. Now it says something else here that is really true – that the ministers feed themselves and not the flock. What do you suppose that means?

STUDENT: It means that they take care of their own needs, but not that of the flock.

 

TEACHER: Would you say that many ministers today set a bad example, taking riches for themselves while many of the donors were on social security.

STUDENT: That sounds fitting.

 

TEACHER: Now let’s read a little farther: (Read verses 9-10) {Scripture #16} Therefore, O ye shepherds, hear the word of the Lord; This saith the Lord God; Behold, I am against the shepherds; and I will require my flock at their hand, and cause them to cease from feeding the flock; neither shall the shepherds feed themselves any more; for I will deliver my flock from their mouth, that they may not be meat for them. What is God going to take away from the greedy ministers?

STUDENT: His flock, or Israelites.

 

TEACHER: Now read verses 11-13: {Scripture #17} For thus saith the Lord God; Behold, I even I, will both search my sheep, and seek them out. As a shepherd seeketh out his flock in the day that he is among his sheep that are scattered; so will I seek out my sheep, and will deliver them out of all places where they have been scattered in the cloudy and dark day. And I will bring them out from the people, and gather them from the countries, and bring them to their own land, and feed them upon the mountains of Israel by the rivers, and in all inhabited places of the country. Here we are told that God will search out his people. Those who are supposed to gather will receive a witness through his Spirit. When God brings Israel out from the people what will He do?

STUDENT: Gather them from the countries and bring them to their own land.

 

TEACHER: Let us continue reading: (Read verse 14) {Scripture #18} I will feed them in good pasture, and upon the high mountains of Israel shall their fold be: there shall they lie in a good fold, and in a fat pasture shall they feed upon the mountains of Israel. The pasture refers to spiritual food and it tells us this pasture will be good. Mountains in the the scriptures refers to higher consciousness and Israel stands for the power of God. Therefore, what does it mean when it says they will “feed upon the mountains of Israel?”

STUDENT: They will attain higher consciousness through the power of God.

 

TEACHER: What do you suppose it means when it says they shall lie in a “good fold?”

STUDENT: It would mean that they will enjoy the good company of other enlightened people.

 

TEACHER: Now read verse 15: {Scripture #19} I will feed my flock, and I will cause them to lie down, saith the Lord. The Lord will feed Israelites with his own Spirit, but what does it mean that they will lie down?

STUDENT: It means that the Israelites are content and able to rest because of the spiritual food. It also means that they have ended the long search for their true shepherd.

 

TEACHER: Finally read verse 16: {Scripture #20} I will seek that which was lost, and bring again that which was driven away, and will bind up that which was broken, and will strengthen that which was sick: but I will destroy the fat and strong; I will feed them with judgement. In the past an enlightened person has felt lost like he is a stranger in a strange land. He was different so he was driven away. His enemies felt threatened so they tried to break him. He became weary in his search and mission so he became sick. What does the Lord say he will do about these problems?

STUDENT: He will heal them.

 

TEACHER: Yes, and he will feed those who oppressed them with a just judgement. The 18th chapter of the Book of Revelations also describes this event. We do not have time to go into the whole chapter, but it says this gathering of Lights will save them from great destructions which may come. Read verses 4-5: {Scripture #21} And I heard another voice from heaven saying, Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues. For her sins have reached unto heaven, and God hath remembered her iniquities. Here they are told to come out of Babylon (see verse 2). Babylon stands for illusion. Why are we told to come out of her?

STUDENT: So we do not partake of her sins and plagues.

 

TEACHER: Sin refers to error and the plagues refer to the destructions which may come. Would this mean that the gathered Israelites will be safe from the foretold destructions?

STUDENT: It seems so.

 

TEACHER: Now let us read another interesting scripture about the gathering: (Turn to Jeremiah 3:14-15) {Scripture #22} Turn, O backsliding children, saith the Lord; for I am married unto you: and I will take you one of a city, and two of a family, and I will bring you to Zion: And I will give you pastors according to mine heart, which shall feed you with knowledge and understanding. Here we are told that the Lord will bring Israel out of the cities and families to the gathered condition of Zion. What will the new pastors give them?

STUDENT: Knowledge and understanding.

 

TEACHER: Eventually the people of Light will build cities. We can read about this: (turn to Isaiah 60:14) {Scripture #23} The sons also of them that afflicted thee shall come bending unto thee; and all that despised thee shall bow themselves down at the soles of thy feet; and they shall call thee, the CITY OF THE LORD, THE ZION OF THE HOLY ONE OF ISRAEL. What does the scripture call Zion here?

STUDENT: The city of the Lord.

 

TEACHER: Isaiah gives us additional information about Zion. (Read Isa 4:2-3) {Scripture #24} In that day shall the branch of the Lord be glorious, and the fruit of the earth shall be excellent for them that are escaped of Israel. And it shall come to pass that he that is left in Zion, and he that remaineth in Jerusalem, shall be called holy, even everyone that is written among the living in Jerusalem. Jerusalem and Zion are often used synonymously for Jerusalem means “to show the way to peace.” Who do you think the “escaped of Israel will be?

STUDENT: The gathered Israelites who escaped the error and the plagues of the world.

 

TEACHER: Now read verses 5-6: {Scripture #25} The Lord will create upon every dwelling place of Mount Zion, and upon her assemblies, a cloud and smoke by day, and the shining of a flaming fire by night: for upon all the glory shall be a defense, and a place of refuge, and for a covert from storm and from rain. It looks as if there may be a supernatural fire and protection for the gathered people. It says here that Zion will be a place of refuge from what?

STUDENT: Heat, the storm and rain.

 

TEACHER: We have a lesson that deals with these problems when we talk about the various plagues. Now perhaps we can understand this scripture: (Read Obediah Verse 21) {Scripture #26} And saviours shall come upon mount Zion to judge (correct) the mount of Esau (the world); and the kingdom shall be the Lord’s. Why are people in Zion called saviours?

STUDENT: They shall deliver people physically and spiritually.

 

TEACHER: Isaiah gives another interesting prophecy about Zion. (Read Isa 60:22) {Scripture #27} A little one shall become a thousand, and a small one a strong nation: I the Lord will hasten it in its time. Zion will start out just a little city, but will grow to be how many?

STUDENT: A thousand

 

TEACHER: Just as the gathering in America started small and produced a thousand cities because there was more opportunity so will Zion grow because of the freedom, peace and abundance that shall be there. Now we will read one final prophecy about Zion in Micah 4:1-3: {Scripture #28} But in the last days it shall come to pass, that the mountain of the house of the Lord shall be established in the top of the mountains, and it shall be exalted above the hills; and people shall flow unto it. And many nations shall come, and say, Come, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, and to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach of of his ways, and we will walk in his paths: for the law shall go forth of Zion, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. And he shall judge among many people, and rebuke strong nations afar off; and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into prunninghooks: nation shall not lift up a sword against nation neither shall they learn war any more. There may be literal mountains involved, but the most important meaning here is that Zion will put forth a standard of higher consciousness that will draw many people. In verse three we are told they will even have power to rebuke strong nations afar off. If a nation desires to start a war Zion will have power to rebuke them. Now read again the rest of the verse:

STUDENT: {Scripture #29} And they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into prunninghooks: nation shall not lift up a sword against nation neither shall they learn war any more.

 

TEACHER: Wouldn’t it be great to have a part in fulfilling this prophecy?

STUDENT: Yes, it really would.

 

TEACHER: Then will the song of the angels after the birth of Christ be fulfilled: {Scripture #30} Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men. (Luke 2:14)

 

Copyright 2011 by J J Dewey

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An Ocean of Problems

Joseph Dewey
This entry is part 5 of 50 in the series 2011A

Larry W. makes some good points that we must take into consideration concerning gathering on the seas, or Seasteading as it is called today.

(1) Someone must come up with a gigantic INITIAL INVESTMENT and then face constant maintenance far beyond that of land based buildings.

JJ
You are right, the investment would be large. This is why I have taught that we will need to have between 5,000-10,000 people interested before we proceed toward such an enterprise. If we were to start with even a view hundred it would most likely fail as it would lack the resources and funding to create a desirable quality of life and if the quality of life is not good then the project will fail.

I just watched the video Sterling recommended .

Go to Video

It presented the idea of finding a small nation and buying our way into power and turning it into a free nation with no taxes that will gather freedom-loving individuals from around the world.

I have also considered this idea but there are several problems with it.

First one would need billions in capital.
Second – few people who have power are willing to relinquish it at any price. Most are willing to see their country destroyed before yielding it.

On the other hand, if one had the means and did find a country willing to give up it’s identity for a payoff then this could work. I just wouldn’t bet my grandmother’s operation money on this coming to pass.

A more viable alternative would be to purchase an island or large tract of land from a third world nation in need of funds and secure autonomy so the gathered people will have power to govern themselves within a designated land area. Even here the residents would need to be prepared to defend themselves from a possible warlord who may decide he wants to steal the fruit of their labors.

Thus the gathering force needs to be in the thousands and the financing in the billions before a new government can be created.

This is why the first major step will be a gathering under an already established government in areas such as Boise or Sterling’s Safe Haven in Utah. All one has to do to gather around like minded friends is to move until the greater gatherings come.

(2) A crew formed by spiritual development criteria rather than affinity for the sea or knowledge or skill of the sea presents ALL the problems of IGNORANCE. Ignorance on the part of a crew in building framing work, for example, is disastrous.

JJ
Yes this will be a problem but not insurmountable. If we can go to the moon then we can do this also.

(3) The right design and material presents vast problems. One promising plan I’ve seen used concrete boat shells. However, salt water is particularly harsh on concrete.

JJ
There are all kinds of possibilities and when the time of opportunity comes then I believe the technology will be there.

In fact there is some technology that may be feasible that has been around for a long time. A promising one is Pykrete. You can read about it here:
Pykrete

(4) Then you face the very real problems which these various Architectural firms are attempting to resolve. Mainly community planning.

JJ
That is an important point, for bad planning has caused many planned communities to be doomed from the start. However, there have been success stories in the past and it can happen again. I am not drawling up precise details or a new constitution because we are not ready for action yet. But when the time comes, and if I am still here, then I will see to it that the planning is concise enough so everyone will know what they are getting into.
Copyright 2011 By J J Dewey

The Gathering of Lights, Chapter 1

Joseph Dewey

To Prevail As God

The story of Israel is the story of humanity.  Israel was a microcosm of the human race intended to be an ensign to her brethren. Israel was to exemplify a closeness with God and spiritual progress that would be admired and imitated by other races just as Christ lived an exemplary life that will eventually be duplicated by us all. The life of Christ fulfilled its purpose. Israel did not. The perfect example worthy of emulation is yet waiting to be set. The greatest drawback of Israel through the ages has been her separateness — the chosen people syndrome. The feeling that they are more approved by God because of their birth or race. The feeling that they are special in Gods eyes above others. Those who claim to be modern Israelites (Jews and non-Jews) do not stop to think that if Hitler had not had this “special” feeling about himself and his own people that there would have been no holocaust and no World Was II.  This feeling of being special, or better in the eyes of God because of some life’s mission has been the cause of more pain and misery among mankind that any other thing. Equally damaging are unthinking followers who support other men or races in this feeling of specialness. Without support these special beings could not sew their seeds of destruction.

In this writing we will explore the true destiny of Israel showing how she is to be a benefit to mankind and a help to her brothers, and moreover that Israel is lying latent in each member of the human race waiting to be awakened.

The word Israel is first used in the Bible in connection with the patriarch Jacob. In the book of Genesis we are

told that he and a supernatural being had an actual wrestling match and Jacob prevailed to the extent that the entity could not escape his grip. Jacob told him that he would not let him go unless he were given a blessing to which the messenger agreed and said: “Thy name shall be called no more Jacob, but Israel.” Gen 32:38 From that time on Jacob was known as Israel and his descendants were (and many still are) called “the children of Israel” or “Israel”.

Whether or not the story of Jacob is true or symbolic is not important here. The needful point here is the meaning behind the whole story of Israel and, more particularly at present, the meaning behind the word itself.

The word “Israel” comes from the Hebrew YISRAEL. The first part of the word is derived from the prime root SARAH which literally means “to prevail” or to “have power”. It is sometimes used to indicate a princely or royal power.  The second half of the word is EL. This word is translated as “God” numerous times throughout the Old Testament.  When it is not used in this connection it means “mighty” or “strong” and implies superhuman goodness or strength.

If we put these combinations together we have several possible meanings among which are: “To prevail as God”, “to have royal power as God”, or “to prevail through great strength and goodness”. Some say that it should mean “prince of God”, but this is a watered down euphemism designed to conform to orthodoxy.

In examining the first rendition (“to prevail as God”) one may wonder why such a title would have been bestowed upon a man for surely man was not intended to prevail or have power as God. Is not this a bold title to assume?

It may seem bold, but it is also quite fitting, for did not Jacob prevail and have power over an angel of God, or possibly more than an angel? After the entity left it is written: “And Jacob called the name of the place Peniel (Which means the “face or appearance of God): for I have seen God face to face, and my life is preserved.” Gen 32:30

Most religionists call this personage an angel, but eh Bible does not. The scriptures call him two things. He is called “a man” (Gen 32:24) and “God (Gen 32:30). The amazing thing is that Jacob being a man prevailed

over another person who was called a “god”. Therefore, he was given a name which meant “to prevail as God” for only a God could overpower another God.

Jacob, however, was not the first Israel for others before him had obtained similar powers to prevail. Among them were Abraham, Melchizedek, Enoch, Seth, and Adam. The Israel power in man became obvious when man first used his free agency to sample good and evil “and the Lord God said, Behold, THE MAN IS TO BECOME AS ONE OF US, to know good and evil.” Gen 3:22

The Creators here recognized that the man was to become eventually like unto them (“One of us”). They realized that man had latent within him the power of Israel, or the power to prevail even as they did. They knew that man was like unto the son of God, or the Creators, and that eventually a son grows to be like unto his father.

Moses himself said: “ye are the children of the Lord your God.” Deut 14:1. Paul wrote: “The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God: And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint heirs with Christ. . .” Rom 8:16-17 Moreover, God is called “the Father of spirits”. Heb 12:9.

In addition Paul said: “Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?” I Cor 13:6. If the Spirit of God dwells in man then obviously a God dwells in man that is waiting to be recognized. This is why Paul told us: “LET THIS MIND BE IN YOU, which was in also Christ Jesus:  Who being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God.” Phil 2:5-6. Interestingly we are told to actually be of the same mind as Christ and to think it not robbery to be “equal with God”. After all it makes sense. Is not a son eventually equal with his father? Did not Jesus pray concerning his disciples: “That they may be one, AS WE ARE.”?  John 17:11,21-23.

David acknowledged this interesting doctrine: “God standeth in the congregation of the mighty; he judgeth among the gods.” Psalms 82:1 The word “mighty” is translated from EL or the last part of IsraEL. Remember that this word is usually rendered “God”. The word “gods” is translated from ELOHIYM which is the most common Hebrew word for God. The word “God” in “God created the heaven and the earth” is taken from this word. Thus we see that God stands in the congregation of those with the power of God to judge among these gods. Then David says: “Ye are gods (ELOHIYM); and all of you are children of the most High, but ye shall die like men.” Psalms 82:6.

Many believers who feel that greatest destiny of man is to drift for eternity in some nebulous heaven, or to be some harmless watered down being in another world will be amazed and perhaps alarmed to find this doctrine in the Bible, a doctrine espoused by esoterists for centuries. They, modern orthodoxy, could be no more upset than were the Jews who tried to stone the Christ for claiming to be a god: “for a good work we stone thee not; but for blasphemy; and because that thou, being a man, makest thyself God. Jesus answered them, “Is it not written in your law, I said ye are gods?  If he called them gods, unto whom the word of God came, and the scripture cannot be broken; Say ye of him, whom the Father hath sanctified, and sent unto the world, Thou blasphemest; because I said, I am the Son of God?” John 10:33-36

Jesus himself used this scripture as evidence that he was Emmanuel, or a God among men, but he did not use it to refer exclusively to himself, but to all Israel, or those who received and recognized the word of God. This reasoning drove the Jews to a frenzy and they again sought to kill him right on the spot “but he escaped out of their hand”.

This reasoning also adversely affects an emotionally based individual. The God within must be recognized by the intuition and the feeling man cannot properly sense it, even if his religion teaches it, and he becomes angry at others who teach such doctrines and many of them would relish a return to the days of the inquisitions.

There are many scriptures indicating that there is a god in man for man is often called a god in the Bible. The children of Heth were so impressed with Abraham that they called him a “mighty prince” Gen 23:6 This, however, is a mistranslation.  Prince comes from the Hebrew NASIY which literally means “exalted one” and “mighty” comes from ELOHIYM the word for God. A more correct translation would be: “exalted God”. The sons of Heth indeed marveled at the power of Israel in Abraham for he did prevail as a god in their eyes.

The judges in ancient Israel were often called “gods”, but it is usually mistranslated for the sake of orthodoxy:

“If the thief be not found, then the master of the house shall be brought to the judges (ELOHIYM – Gods), to see whether he put his hand unto his neighbor’s goods. For all manner of trespass, whether it be for ox, for ass, for sheep, for raiment, or for any manner of lost thing, which another challengeth to be his, the cause of both parties shall come before the judges (ELOHIYM); and whom the judges (ELOHIYM) shall condemn, he shall pay double unto his neighbor.”  Exodus 22:8-9

This word is translated correctly a few verses later: “Thou shall not revile the Gods (ELOHIYM), nor curse the ruler of thy people.” Ex 22:28. King James Version.

Jehovah himself approves of calling one with the power of Israel a god for he said to Moses: “I have made thee a god (ELOHIYM) to Pharaoh: and Aaron thy brother shall by thy prophet.” Ex 7:1 He also said: “He (Aaron) will do all the speaking to the people for you, he will be the mouthpiece and you will be the god (ELOHIYM) he speaks for.”  Ex 4:16 New English.

Moses was indeed a true Israelite for he prevailed as a god, as did Jacob, did and got the best of another ELOHIYM. God was dismayed at Israel because they disobeyed him and built the golden calf and had decided to destroy them all. The problem God faced in destroying them is that it would interfere with his promise to Abraham and to fulfill this promise he had to keep some of the promised see for breeding so he told Moses: “Now therefore let me alone, that my wrath may wax hot against them, and that I may consume them: and I will make of thee a great nation.” Ex 32:10

Moses did not want all of his labors with the people to have been in vain so he reasoned with God and told him how embarrassing it would be before the eyes of the Egyptians. They would think that there is something wrong with a god that would save a people just to destroy them in the wilderness. Then Moses reminded God that he may not be able to completely fulfil his promise to Abraham if he destroyed the whole house of Israel and left Moses alone. Moses still had his free will and if he did not cooperate it would be possible that the promise could not be fulfilled making God a covenant breaker. Thus through the powerful reasoning of Moses God was forced to change his mind. It is written: “And the Lord repented of the evil which he thought to do unto his people.” Exodus 32:14 (Read the whole chapter.)

It should not be surprising that men like Moses and Jacob can prevail among the gods for when man was created “God said, Let us make man in our own image, after our likeness. . .” Gen 1:26 Man is then a reflection of God and has an unrecognized god within and can eventually have all the power of the creators “for the spirit of God dwelleth in us”.

It is written that man was made “a little lower than the angels . . .” Psalms 8:5, but this is a mistranslation. The Hebrew word from which angels is taken here is ELOHIYM so it should be written than man is “a little lower than the Gods”. He is a little lower, but when he recognizes the god within he can advance to the God Kingdom, or the kingdom of the Gods, and then recognize the higher beings in the universe as his brothers.

We are told that Christ “is the image of God”  II Cor 4:4 and in this relation John said: “Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, WE SHALL BE LIKE HIM; for we shall see him as he is.” I John 3:2

Those who shall be like him when he shall appear are Israel, the people who can prevail as God, those who submit to the will of the god within.

The Gathering of Lights, Chapter 2

Joseph Dewey

Exclusive Doctrines

There are three basic schools of thought concerning Israel today. The most commonly accepted view is that the Jewish people are Israel. Non-Jews may be adopted into the house of Israel, but only the country of Israel and the Jewish people are the “chosen” ones.

The second doctrine, such as found in the Mormon religion, teaches that the Jews are Gods chosen people, but only several tribes composed the Jewish kingdom. The descendants of Ephraim are scattered throughout the world and are also literal Israelites, but are not Jews. In addition there are the ten lost tribes whose location is unknown that will eventually be reunited with the rest of Israel.

Some believe that all or part of the ten lost tribes are hidden away in some mysterious place whereas others believe them lost because they are scattered among the various people of the earth.

The third view mainly held by white supremists maintains that the modern day Jews are not Israelites at all, but children of the devil. They claim that after the dispersions of Israel non-Israelites returned to Jerusalem and claimed to be descendants of Jacob, but were not. Just about all of the true Israelites are lost and do not know their identity. Most of the Aryan race are Israelites and the true “chosen people”. Some of these extremists view the blacks as subhuman and believe that he is the “beast of the field” talked about in the Bible. They have an even lower view of the Jews for when Christ told them that they were “of your father the devil” John 8:44 they believe he literally meant it. They believe that the devil was a physical being in the garden of Eden and begat children and the descendants are the Jews. The non-Aryan races are also looked upon as inferior and will eventually be servants to the Whites.

Even though the third view causes the greatest consternation with the average person all three are close to be

ing equally dangerous and separative. One cannot emphasize too strongly that without supportiveness and the feeling of being “chosen” above all others Hitler and his Nazi gang could have never risen to power. The forces of evil raise to power by the force of a unified supportiveness; whereas the forces of good and liberty increase through the power of unified inclusiveness. For instance the Constitution of the United States included or protected even the commonest of men and was supported by the unified will of the people, thus the forces of good expanded. The Civil War brought an inclusion of the Black to the basic freedoms of liberty again bringing an expansion of the will-to-good. The granting of suffrage to women was another inclusion. The forces of good include and evil excludes.

The evil of exclusion takes two basic forms: (1) The excluding of others, thus building individual pride and ego. (2) The excluding of self which is false humility.

The first view of Israel stimulates the second evil, the exclusion of self. Those who believe that the Jews alone are God’s chosen ones exclude themselves from this privilege, if they are not a Jew themselves. They feel that Modern Israel as God’s chosen people and are right in everything they do no matter how ruthless. This is similar to the feeling of Nazi party members towards Hitler. It is always dangerous to let any belief blind reasoning and hold the mind in check. When has blind belief or blind faith ever brought more benefit to humanity than the reasonable course of action? Never. There is not one example in history., If one finds himself supporting Israel just because she is Israel one is merely repeating the greatest most repeated mental and emotional blunder in history.

The same reasoning applies to all things. If one supports the United States Constitution just because it is our Constitution, this can lead to blindness. As good as it is, a rational mind may see possible improvements, especially as times change.

Many support their church or scriptures because it is “theirs” and “special” to them and any reasoning to the contrary is ignored. Many are so blinded that they are not even aware that they are obviating reason. Every man, no matter how blinded, believes in his own way that he is reasonable. His thinking may run something like: “It is reasonable for me to reject this man’s reasoning, because God (or some religious leader) told me I

am right so anything contrary to this thinking is evil.” Every evil ideology that has arisen in history has such people supporting it. Every good ideology from the past has always been supported by people who examine all things in the clear cold light of reason. Even men of great intuition do this. Feeling alone excludes reason whereas intuition includes it.

Even though a person may exclude himself from the full benefits of being one of the “chosen race” he often identifies with Israel through the belief of adoption, or the born again experience. Then he is simultaneously guilty of the evil of “the exclusion of others”. He believes that the is now chosen because of his faith in Christ and he will go to heaven whereas his non-believing neighbor (even though he may be a more loving person) will go to hell. He practices the evil of separateness. His neighbor (in his eyes) is just as good as in hell, while he is going to heaven merely because he is now “special” in God’s eyes. His neighbor is dead while he is alive. The man has the evil line of exclusion drawn in his consciousness.

The second doctrine is also exclusive, but this group does not exclude themselves from the benefits and chosen status of the Jews. They believe they are also Israelites, buy they exclude those who are not Jews or a member of their religion. They feel that all true Israelites will come into their church (merely because they have the blood of Israel in them) and the non-Israelites will not be attracted. Thus they look upon non-members as Gentiles and exclude them from the blessings of Israel. many of these also support every move the nation of Israel makes, right or wrong, just as they do their religious leaders.

The third ideology may seem the most extreme, but the believers; nevertheless, must be given credit for using their minds to a degree. In a confrontation with those of the first two categories the third category can usually win a debate, because he uses some reasoning, and the Bible seems to give him some support. Even though some of the most intelligent and mental souls support this doctrine, it would be the most dangerous one to be universally accepted. Many of these people believe that Hitler was on the right track, but was just a bit too ruthless. They believe the holocaust was a big farce, that it never really happened, and the world may have been a better place if Hitler had won. Not all believe the same on this idea, however.

One may wonder, why if some of these souls are advanced, that they support a dangerous doctrine. The answer is that just before a person truly develops the intuition and receives enlightenment and thinks inclusively he often finds himself in an extreme position because of certain black and white facts which seem to stare him in the face. This person takes the Bible literally and studies it systematically and reaches certain conclusions, some right and some wrong. If he makes a mistake he builds on it and does not intuitively perceive the error.

To avoid error let us go back to the beginning and establish a sure foundation.

The Gathering of Lights, Chapter 3

Joseph Dewey

Universal Overview

Most of those reading this treatise will realize that the earth is far older than six thousand years as some fundamentalists teach. It is indeed billions of years in age. The solar system itself is far older. Our solar system has an interplay with seven other systems which order is of a greater age still. In our solar system there is a sun circled by twelve planets. Nine have been discovered and three are as of yet unknown to man. Within the sun are at least twelve spheres of energy to provide the counterbalance to the forces played upon by the planets; thus making our solar system similar in makeup to a giant atom. Each body in the universe is an expression of God and possesses a life and consciousness of some kind, and many of them are above or below our present understanding. The earth, sun, solar system and every other system and particle in the universe are possessed with some type of life and consciousness and all these lives together form the “one God”. In addition, each of these lives are connected to seven different world’s or fields or vibration all at the same time we and must eventually explore and master them all. These seven different fields of vibration make up one wavelength in a cosmic universe we know nothing of. There are indeed worlds without end.

The lives of the globes such as the earth and sun are greater, much greater, than human for they include the human. They also operate on a different time frame so it is well neigh impossible for human consciousness to understand them. Each globe is also in a different state of spiritual progression. Sirius is much more advanced than our sun, for instance, and Venus is much farther along than the Earth. Just as the bacteria in our bodies cannot understand our purpose even so can we not fathom the collective intelligence of an entire planetary body or a solar logos. If time were sped up so that the life of a planet covering billions of years was as if it were the seventy-two years of a mortal man then we would see that the planets themselves are not without freedom of movement and agency. They jot in and out of orbit and have close encounters with other planetary bodies and live a personality life within their system. If the life of the Sun which covers more billions of years than recognized by current science were speeded up to an even greater degree so that this greater period was seen as seventy-two years then we would witness the personality of the Sun. We would see that it darts about the constellations and deviates from its projected course according to its free will. The double stars we see in the heavens are not always permanent fixtures, but a temporary visit of a neighboring star.

This same principle applies to entire galaxies and systems of galaxies which are on a slower time scale still until we come to the universe itself which merely makes up a giant particle drifting unorganized in greater space.

On the reverse side the smallest particle has not been found. The atom is composed of a nucleus of protons and neutrons with electrons circling around it. Each of these particles is a miniature universe which has a consciousness peculiar to itself, but its time frame is millions of times faster (relatively) than ours to the extent that time has ceased there and the tiny lives blend with the higher consciousness of our universe as they create something greater than themselves.

The circle in spiral motion is the grand key to the universe. No matter how large or small it will be found that one particle will be circling (or moving toward circling) around another. No matter how small the particle it will be moving around some center. We have particles circling around other particles, yet life and consciousness is everywhere to be found.

When life reaches the end of its evolution it becomes radioactive. This is observable in the mineral kingdom in radium and uranium and the manmade elements. We see radiation in the plant kingdom in the perfumes it generates. This is an indication of their high state of evolution within their own sphere.

Humans generate several kinds of radiation. When they advance to the god kingdom and overcome the “last enemy” death, as Christ did, the door to the tomb bursts open and the radiant being comes forth which is a similitude of the creating of atomic energy on a different plane of livingness.

A form of planetary radiation is reached as its inhabitants engage in space travel which eventually becomes interplanetary and interstellar. These tiny lives (in a

galactic sense) radiate forth and eventually stimulate other planets and systems until they radiate also creating a macrocosmic chain reaction.

Our earth is part of this macrocosmic chain reaction.

The Gathering of Lights, Chapter 4

Joseph Dewey

Radiation

Seven other planets in our system have taken part in a great interplay. These are called the “seven sacred planets” in esoteric literature. At present, they do not have physical life on the surface as we know it, though they may have had in the past, but spiritual life forms inhabit their higher spheres. For the present, our solar system can only have seven radioactive planets and remain stable, and our earth is next in line for such transfiguration. When this transition occurs a highly evolved radioactive planet will be drawn out of its orbit and join (most probably) with Jupiter as one of its moons. Then a new planet on the arc of descent will cloth itself in matter and come into physical being to take the place of the one which has departed. This new planet is already created and exists in a higher grade of matter that is not yet seen by our physical eyes.

These seven radioactive planets are a correspondence to the “seven Spirits which are before his throne.” Rev 1:4 The Sun is the correspondence to the throne. Then on the microcosmic level we have the “even Spirits of God sent forth into all the earth.” Rev 5:6 These are seven Avatars who personify the energies emitted by the seven great planets.

On the macrocosmic side we have the seven Rishis of the great bear, commonly known as the seven stars of the Big Dipper as the positive representatives of these energies and the seven stars of the Pleides as the negative correspondence. The seven sacred planets are as representatives of the Great Bear and the seven corresponding energies within the Sun interplay with the Pleiades. The interplay of forces must always be between positive and negative polarities. There is also an interplay between the seven stars of the Great Bear and the Pleiades. Astrologers have intuitively called the seven “sisters of the Pleiades” the “wives of the Great Bear. Indeed they represent female energies relating to the male energies of the Big Dipper. The throne of God in this case is represented by one of the stars of the Big Dipper. Remember that one of the pointers on the big Dipper is a double star so there is one extra star for the throne.

On a larger scale we have the galaxy of the Milky Way itself. There are seven divisions among all these stars which represent these seven energies on the positive side and seven others which interplay on the negative side with a great governing star representing the throne. This star is called Kolob in the Mormon scriptures. There are other clusters of stars till which correspond to the twelve signs of the Zodiac on a higher scale.

You will notice that there are certain numbers which are associated with divinity in the scriptures an other inspired writings: 1, 3, 7, 12, and multiples thereof. We have the “one God”, the three personages of the trinity, the seven spirits before the throne, seven days, seventy missionaries, seven loaves of bread, we are to forgive 70 times seven, the apostles chose seven helpers, the Book of Revelations is to the seven churches, John saw seven angels with seven trumpets and even a beast with seven heads.

Concerning the number twelve we find that there are twelve tribes of Israel. Joshua selected twelve men to cross the river Jordan and Jesus (Greek for Joshua) selected twelve apostles. Jesus’ first words were recorded at the age of twelve, there were twenty four (2 x 12) Elders before the throne and Christ had with him 144,000 (12 x 12000) saints.

All of this will hopefully give the reader a perspective so we can approach the subject of Israel with the correct humility for becoming an Israelite and approaching radioactivity are correspondences. Perhaps “becoming an Israelite” is an erroneous wording here for the power of Israel is in every man. “Recognizing the Israel within ourselves” may be a more correct term, for until it is recognized it is as if it did not exist. We’re like the prodigal son who thought he could no more be a son, for he felt sure his father would disown him, but to this joy the father welcomed him with opened arms.

Israel consists of those great beings who radiate the will of God throughout our galaxy yet realize the great injunction of Christ: “if any desire to be first, the same shall be last of all, and servant of all.” Mark 9:35. No other presence in our solar system demonstrates this law more faithfully than our Sun. Everything in our solar system is dependent on it, and receives from it much more than it gives. The Sun, being first, becomes the

last in the system to receive. Thus Israelites in human form within the Kingdom of God follow this same general principle. They often leave their own planet and seek to serve others not so highly progressed on the Path. Our Earth has been the recipient those who prevail as god, gods from the sky, or Israelites a number of times. These Israelites have passed the candle lighting the God within many others native to this earth creating the foundation for a great light that is beginning to fill this little planet.

Kalispell Gathering 2006, Part 31

Joseph Dewey
This entry is part 16 of 24 in the series Kalispell Gathering 2006

JJ: Okay let’s get back to the gathering principle. The gathering principle is that the cream of the crop is gathered and produces something new. The people came out of the kingdoms and came to America and when they got here they did not want a duplicate of what King George, France, or what the rest of Europe had. They wanted a system where there was freedom of expression, freedom of speech, freedom of religion, freedom of the press, so they created this system where there was much more freedom of movement. What we did was evolve from the tribal system to the kingdom system to the competitive system and this is what we are in right now and in many ways it is not competitive enough. We have not really lived through it completely but we are foreshadowing the next system and what is the next system?

Audience: Co-operative system

JJ: Correct, the co-operative system. The co-operative system is foreshadowed in a lot business we see among us. For one thing we see that employees are becoming more involved. The suggestion box began how long ago, maybe in the early part of the last century. Now we are at the point where they are listening more to the employees at the bottom. Employees at the bottom are now getting the option to buy stock and this makes the employees owners. And this is the way it should be in the co-op system where everybody is an owner. Boise, as you know, is the headquarters for Albertson’s, one of the largest supermarket chains in the world. Until recently Albertson’s in Boise had a goal to monopolize Boise since it was their hometown. They put a lot work, energy and money to make sure that they controlled Boise. They chased out Safeway, Smith’s, they put just about every competitor out of business and it reached a point in Boise where all we had was Albertson’s and a couple little tiny independent stores.

If you wanted to go shopping you had to go to Albertson’s and the prices were very high. People would come from California and say, the prices are higher in Idaho than they are in California, I would say that is because Albertson’s has a monopoly here in Boise because it is their home turf. Well a chain started and it was called WINCO. It is interesting that all the employees had stock and were co-owners, had good health insurance, were treated very well. And the great part about WINCO was their prices were very reasonable, if you took two shopping carts full of the same kind of food one from Albertson’s and the other from WINCO, the WINCO cart would be much cheaper.

It took a while for people to catch on, but now the place is packed with shoppers and now what is Albertson’s doing? They are lowering their prices and coming up with all kinds of schemes, Fred Meyers and Wal-Mart has also come in and so Albertson’s is fighting for their life in Boise where a few years ago they had a monopoly.

What was interesting was what toppled this authoritative grocery store was a small co-operative grocery store. People getting together and deciding to make the employees part owners so they would get more involved. I do not know how this involvement made the prices so much cheaper but you could go to Albertson’s and get oranges for say 90 cents a pound and you would find them at WINCO for 40 cents a pound. The difference was amazing in the price. So this is new system that can come in and beat the competitive system. Now there is competition involved but you have this co-op as the main thrust which toppled this large grocery store chain, Albertson’s.

So co-operation will be the main difference between now and when the new age is fully in. Co-operation will cause the cost of living and expenses to go down so much that we will have a lot more time to the things we like. One of the problems that we have is most people have many creative things that they would like to do but you do not have the time because you are concentrating on making money. Imagine if we could make all the money we needed just working 20 hours a week. If we could do that then we would have the free time to do the other things that we would like to do and when you think about it the products that really add to the value of our civilization are manufactured by about 9% of the people of the world. The manufacturing say of this microphone adds to the value of our civilization. Susan is a real estate agent and she is not adding to the value of anything what she is doing is taking the value and moving it around. Many of us do this in our jobs. We take the things that are backed by hard value and move them around. We have an enormous amount of our employees moving wealth around or working in a bureaucracy that governs wealth. Anyone know what percentage of Americans work for the government? I think it is somewhere around 30%. Do what it is in Denmark Annie?

Annie: More than 30% and those who make $45,000 a year they have to pay 60% to 65% in taxes.

JJ: Probably more than 30% work for governments in most of Europe and that accounts for a big chunk of taxes that is taken out of your income. We are taxed today more than the slaves in the Roman Empire had to pay. It is amazing Annie is so cheerful. So we have about 30% of the people watching, taxing and figuring out how to tax the wealth more and spending the wealth – figuring out how one part of society can benefit another. They do not create wealth or increase wealth. They just try to figure out what to do with the wealth that others create. Many of the bureaucracies are created to just appease somebody. Even in a regular business like HP or Micron could be streamlined and not have so much bureaucracy. The longer a company is in business the more bureaucracy it has. The newer business has a streamlined bureaucracy and the older business operates more like the government does.

Then I think that there is about 5% in farming that are making something that is worth something and about 9% in making something else that is worth something. So you have about 14% of the population making something that is worth something and the rest just moving it around and trying to control it. Let’s say everybody that is moving wealth around or controlling it make something that is worth something and we share that responsibility. We could have double the wealth we have with just working 20 hours a week, especially with the technology we have and new technology is being developed all the time that is decreasing the amount of labor that is needed. If we keep up at that pace then in a few years we would only have to work 10 hours a week. But let’s suppose we only had to work 20 hours a week. Then we could have time to do what we want.

Many people do not want to spend their time writing or reading books, a lot of people would like to contribute to society in another way like using Wayne’s idea of helping with education, or helping with doctors in medical support – doing something that does not require a lot of training. Others could make sure the parks are clean, the point being that if we only worked 20 hours a week many people would be happy to volunteer their time to help in a lot of ways.

Now the Mormon church which I have criticized in the past does one thing that I find very interesting and that is they get a lot of volunteers for labor, and many of the people work 60 hours a week at a regular job. They have these church farms and it is all done by volunteer labor. Teaching is all done by volunteers and preaching is all done by volunteers.

Volunteers do all the jobs of the church, and it is not always efficient but it always gets done. They have a welfare system that is completely volunteer labor so where it might cost the government a dollar to give away a dollar, it costs the Mormon Church zero dollars to give away a dollar. They have a lot of faults in many ways but in this way they have set an example of what can be done with volunteers. These are volunteers that are working like crazy at other jobs. Imagine if we had a society that only had to work 20 hours a week or less and then had all this free time. Instead of having an attorney come in and charge all this money we could have volunteers who could run the legal system and negotiate and settle all kinds of problems. There are all kinds of ways that would save money and would bring our taxes way down and the money that we do give in taxes could be spent more efficiently. That is just a few ideas to start with.

Copyright 2010 by J J Dewey

Kalispell Gathering 2006, Part 32

Joseph Dewey
This entry is part 17 of 24 in the series Kalispell Gathering 2006

JOne of the differences between the government in the new age and the old age will be the coming government of the new age will be self-correcting. The problem with all the governments in the past whether they be kingdom, or republic or whatever they may have been is that they get together and at first replace the old system and maybe the new system is a little bit better or worse, but as soon as the new system gets put into place it begins to get a strong bureaucratic structure that follows the mark of the authoritative beast. It controls with strong authority and it gets more and more restrictive of its citizens until it crystallizes and strangles the people more and more until it collapses. This happens again and again and again.

Most of the governments in the Americas and Europe are fairly new historically speaking but they are in the process of implementing more regulations and laws and the citizens are becoming more and more strangled and restricted. Right now in the U.S. the average person is taxed over 50% if all taxes are considered. In Denmark they are taxed about 60% for income tax and then a sales tax on top of that. In most of Europe it is worse because they have older governments than we have and they have learned to get even more out of its citizens than we have but we are not that far behind. A lot of people say, you know Europe pays $6 a gallon for gas why shouldn’t we. Annie, how much do they sell gas for in Europe?

Annie: 10 krone, what is that about a dollar and half and a liter is about a third of a gallon of gas.

JJ: So overall a gallon of gas in Europe is usually twice as high as it is here and in most places. People said that in Europe before the price of gas went up so much, why shouldn’t we have to pay higher as well. Now that the price of gas is rising they are not saying that so much anymore. It is not a logical argument to say because another country is paying more for something that we should pay more as well.

How far is it from one end of Denmark to the other?

Annie: Generally like 400 kilometers. So people do not have to travel as far.

JJ: That is a good point. So what happens is all these governments get tighter and tighter and more restrictions until there is some type of collapse unless there is some type renewal, which does not happen very often. It could happen if enough enlightened people organized in one country and it could be revitalized but they would have to go against the beast of authority there, which is always in control and makes it very difficult.

The way most governments are renewed is if they collapse and on the ashes of the old government a new one is built and two thirds of the time a new is built and is worse and maybe a third of the time a new one will be better. So what we want to look at is how long before these governments in the U.S. and Europe collapse under their own weight. People have made guesses. Some say 50 years, 100 years, but most people that have thought about it say that unless something reverses the trend that we are in, the governments of the Europe and the U.S. will collapse.

Probably the communist government in China will collapse and be replaced by democracy for a while. The government of the Soviet Union collapsed or was transformed and it is better than the one before but it has not matured yet so we have to wait and see where it is going how long it will last.

Audience: There is something I always wondered and maybe you know the answer to and it is this, you were talking about the tax rate of 50% here in the U.S. and I was wondering what the percentage was when we rebelled against King George.

JJ: It was much less. We rebelled against the tax on tea in the Boston harbor and it was just a couple pennies on the dollar. I can’t remember exactly what it was but when I found out that it was such a small amount – that people today would not even grumble about. But they were being taxed with out being represented and it made them mad. The taxes of King George were a lot less than the taxes we pay today. But it is like the story of the frog being boiled in water. You put a frog in a pot of boiling water and it will jump out and not come back, but if you put the frog in a pot of cool water the frog will stay. Then you slowly turn the heat up and before the frog is aware he gets boiled to death. This is the way we are, the government slowly raises taxes and fees and by the time we realize it, it is too late to change anything. What is interesting is that the taxes of king George were much lower than we have today but King George turned up the heat too fast. If the Founders knew what we were taxed today they would be rolling over in their graves.

The problem with the gathering today is that some government controls everywhere. The Dutch or somebody controls Greenland, Iceland has their own government so we cannot go there. The only place we could go unmolested is Antarctica and that is 60 below zero. There is one place that we could go and it covers three quarters of the earth. Is it possible that three quarters of the earth is covered in water for a reason? Was that part of a Divine Providence to prepare a place for the gathering in the last days? It is entirely possible; the international waters are the only place to gather that is not under the control of any government.

Audience: The United Nations is trying to put controls in place for the oceans.

JJ: Yes, they are trying to come up with schemes to control the oceans and that is why we must move the process of the gathering along. If we can get cities built on the oceans and establish them as nation states before they gain control then we can have an in road to expansion and declare ourselves free from all the governments of the earth.

Audience: We would have to develop our own government and become a nation. How many people would that require? There is a guy who had his own little oil well offshore and so he deemed himself a nation but he did not have rules and a government and people to govern so they denied him nation status.

JJ: There is this other guy who has a nation. He went and claimed a platform off of England that was left after the great war and he is recognized as a nation and has his own banking system. It is a floating island and he makes money banking. He may have a couple of dozen people out there and he is recognized as a nation state.

Audience: They had a show on Discovery where they built a ship big enough to be a city. It is called Freedom Ship.

JJ: that is not built yet though. It is a planned project that has not materialized yet, and it is suppose to house 50,000 people. If it is a ship it has to be linked to some nation and I do not know what he is going to do but maybe he will try to be linked with a country where he has to pay the lowest taxes.

In order to produce a gathering where we are going to build a city that floats upon the sea, we are not talking about 5 or a dozen people, my first step is to get my books permeating society so that we can get about 10,000 people and more people interested in this because if we try to this with a small amount of people it will amount to nothing. It would be a great first step we can get something like the Di Vinci Code to grab attention. Let’s suppose Dan Brown wanted to build a city on the sea and he wrote a book about it. He could probably get plenty of people interested in this as popular of an author as he is.

So, the first step is to permeate society with the idea. The people that we get will not be all metaphysical and it will be like when people first came to America. The call was sent forth and the saying was that the streets of America are paved with gold – come to America and have a new and better life. So people that just wanted a new and better life got on a ship and came to America.

So when we build the cities of light, the call will go forth to come to the cities of light and you will have freedom, you will not be taxed 50%. It will be 10% and it may be even voluntary. We haven’t got all the details worked out but when the time comes we will have the basic details worked out and it will be much better than it is now. And when they see that there is a new system of government that supplies more freedom than we have ever had before in a time when we have more technology than we have ever had before many people will fall in love with this idea. Many already have. They say, if there was a place where we could gather to have maximum freedom, minimum taxes, maximum light, maximum education, if we work to put together a system like they did with America making it better than the kingdom governments it would attract thousands and eventually millions of people.

Copyright 2010 by J J Dewey