Tuesday, November 30, 2021

The Stone Cut Without Hands Was...a 501(c)3?

In the last few decades, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints has had the custom of calling itself, “the Church and Kingdom of God.” There is only one small problem with that statement - it isn’t.


People often reference D&C 65 as the justification for calling the church the Kingdom of God.

Joseph Smith helped to clarify D&C 65 when he said,
There is a distinction between the Church of God and Kingdom of God. The laws of the kingdom are not designed to affect our salvation hereafter. It is an entire, distinct and separate government. (JS Papers Administrative Records, p. 128.)
He also said,
The kingdom which Daniel saw was not a spiritual kingdom, but was designed to be got up for the safety and salvation of the saints by protecting them in their religious rights and worship...The literal kingdom of God, and the church of God are two distinct things. (JS Papers Administrative Records, p. 128.)
And lastly Joseph said,
There is not an original kingdom on earth that holds the rightful authority from the King of Kings and Lord of Lords, to govern His subjects: but that all the nations have obtained their power, rule and authority by usurpation, rebellion, bloodshed, tyranny and fraud; (JS Papers Administrative Records, p. 111.)
D&C 65 was given at a time when the 12 apostles actively went out on missions to preach repentance and faith in Jesus Christ. Now, nearly 200 years later our apostles and prophet never proselyte but they instead serve in an administrative capacity with occasional trainings or speeches to friendly crowds.

Teenage missionaries are left with the task of crying, "Prepare ye the way of the Lord, prepare ye the supper of the Lamb, make ready for the Bridegroom...Pray unto the Lord, call upon his holy name, make known his wonderful works among the people." (D&C 65) Except that isn't actually what they do. There is more required than your commitment to Jesus Christ when you are baptized. Those hoping to be baptized are not found worthy to do so until they commit to believing and having a testimony of President Nelson, commit to pay tithing to the church, commit to keep the word of wisdom, commit to coming to church each week, and more. 


Jesus Christ's kingdom, which was initially small, is symbolized through that single stone which was cut out and separated from the world not by human hands, but by divine power. THIS heavenly stone is the one that, "...smote the image upon his feet that were of iron and clay, and brake them to pieces" and grinds them to dust.

While there are scriptures which refer to the Lord Jesus as the Stone, here His kingdom is prominent. This kingdom will never be succeeded by another. In a world ravaged by sin for thousands of years, where man has sought to dethrone God, there will be righteousness, peace and gladness. "And in the days of these kings shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom which shall never be destroyed... and it shall stand for ever" (Dan. 2: 44).


Question:

What is stone that was cut without hands which smote the image and became a great mountain, and filled the whole earth? 

Answer: 

It is Jesus Christ and His coming Kingdom, reign, and dominion which is separate from His Father's Kingdom.

Jesus took this stone title for Himself as He said, “Have you never read in the scriptures: ‘The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone; this was the Lord’s doing, and it is amazing in our eyes’? . . . The one who falls on this stone will be broken to pieces; and it will crush anyone on whom it falls” (Matt. 21:42, 44).

In addition, Jesus repeatedly called Himself the Son of Man during His time on earth (Matt. 8:20, 9:6, 10:23). This confirmed Daniel’s prophesy. The Son of Man (Dan. 7:13) would be fulfilled in Jesus and completely fulfilled in the return of Jesus (Matt. 24:27, 30), at the appointed time of God in the end time. The stone is represented as not being cut of the mountain by hands in order to show that it is prepared, not by men, but by God.

Jesus further spoke of His Kingdom:
Luke 17:

20 And when he was demanded of the Pharisees, when the kingdom of God should come, he answered them and said, The kingdom of God cometh not with observation:

21 Neither shall they say, Lo here! or, lo there! for, behold, the kingdom of God is within you.
 
22 And he said unto the disciples, The days will come, when ye shall desire to see one of the days of the Son of man, and ye shall not see it.

23 And they shall say to you, See here; or, see there: go not after them, nor follow them.

24 For as the lightning, that lighteneth out of the one part under heaven, shineth unto the other part under heaven; so shall also the Son of man be in his day.

25 But first must he suffer many things, and be rejected of this generation.

26 And as it was in the days of Noe, so shall it be also in the days of the Son of man. 
 

 

What is the Kingdom of God? 
It is unlike all other kingdoms. In King Nebuchadnezzar's dream he is shown a great image which represents worldly kingdoms "...whose brightness was excellent...and the form thereof was terrible." This image’s head was of fine gold, his breast and his arms of silver, his belly and his thighs of brass, His legs of iron, his feet part of iron and part of clay."

Then Nebuchadnezzar saw something miraculous..."a stone was cut out without hands, which smote the image upon his feet that were of iron and clay, and brake them to pieces."

So great was the stone that it destroyed the entire image made of fine metals and the image, "...became like the chaff of the summer threshing floors; and the wind carried them away, that no place was found for them."

Then miraculously, "...the stone that smote the image became a great mountain, and filled the whole earth." (Daniel 2:31-35.) This symbolism is important to make note of. The stone was cut from a mountain, and then, as it filled the earth it became it's own mountain.

When Daniel spoke of the iron and clay feet, he said that, "...the kingdom shall be partly strong, and partly broken." Daniel saw that the iron and clay could not cleave together, "...even as iron is not mixed with clay." Then Daniel said that "...in the days of these kings shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom, which shall never be destroyed: and the kingdom shall not be left to other people, but it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand for ever. Forasmuch as thou sawest that the stone was cut out of the mountain without hands, and that it brake in pieces the iron, the brass, the clay, the silver, and the gold."(Daniel 2:38-45.)

Two weeks ago I had a dream. Before I awoke I saw a drawing placed in front of me of the mountain that brought forth that great stone. I drew almost exactly what I saw with the help of online images.


Question: 

What is the Great Mountain from which the Stone was cut?

Answer: 

The great mountain spoken of by Daniel is Heavenly Father and His Kingdom which is separate from Jesus Christ and His coming Kingdom as illustrated by there being two separate mountains. From our Heavenly Father we are given a miraculous stone that was cut without hands - Jesus Christ. A stone cut without hands is like a baby being born to a virgin, without the help of man but by the power of God (Hebrews 8:2, 9:11).

Question: 

Who will set up the Kingdom of God? 

Answer: 

"...the God of heaven (will) set up a kingdom, which shall never be destroyed." (Daniel 2:44)

Question: 

Is the LDS Church the Kingdom of God? 

Answer: 

No, the Kingdom of God that will destroy all other kingdoms is not a 501(c)3.

The church is a corporation. President Nelson's official title is: The President of the Corporation of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. The Kingdom "...shall not be left to other people, but it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms..."

Again, the Church is a corporation with a 501(c)3 status. This corporation is not something miraculous that was cut out of the mountain without hands. The way that a corporation comes into being is through contracts and legal documents which are designed and brought to fruition by he hands of men. In addition, the church has stopped being transparent (link here) and reporting their full statistics. But the membership is on the decline (link here), and is not gaining miraculous momentum that could or would grind kingdoms of this world to dust.

Can you imagine what it would take to grind all these powerful kingdoms to dust? Such destruction won't come about by building shopping malls and rubbing shoulders with world leaders. 


Cutting ribbon's for shopping mall's



The Stone that crushes all other kingdoms surpasses all comprehension. A stone that grows until it becomes a mountain? Who can explain it? None but God. 


Because we are living in the time of the feet where Iron and Clay are mixed together, it is important to understand the dream as we are approaching the time when the stone that was cut without hands will roll forth and decimate all other kingdoms.

Three of the reasons the LDS church believes they are the Kingdom of God on the earth are:

1. Vanity
2. Pride
3. The lack of the understanding of symbolism.

I have spoken of the vanity and pride of the church in other posts (link). Symbolism is the way God chooses to communicate with His children. Symbolism can communicate hundreds of things through one small thing. And so it is with 
King Nebuchadnezzar's dream.

All of the metals 
King Nebuchadnezzar sees are metals that can be pulled from the earth and heated to take shape and form. But he saw one thing that could not be heated and shaped. It was a great stone that was cut *without hands.* This stone is a material found within the mountain that surpasses all materials. Nebuchadnezzar saw that human glory would be decayed from the best value to the least as they grew stronger in power. At the end, human power and all earthly kingdoms, together with their advanced technologies and their best modern civilizations, would not only be crushed, but absolutely decimated to dust by a mere humble rock from heaven (Dan. 2:28-35).

God can create, so Satan creates a counterfeit. If God can make a human being, then Satan will seek to corrupt that human being into worshiping a false god and to walk after their own image. Christ was the one who repeatedly said, "Follow Me." It is no coincidence Twitter's phrase is, "Follow me". Instagram..."Follow me"... Facebook... "Follow me". We are living in the iron and clay of 
King Nebuchadnezzar's dream. If you haven't read part 1 to this two part series, please do. It is important to understand what 666 is and why it matters in connection to King Nebuchadnezzar's dream.

The iron can be symbolically represented in technology and the clay symbolically represented in the human race. We are so intertwined with technology, we can not function without it, yet the mixture of humans dependent on technology makes us a very weak kingdom indeed. Technology is present in nearly every transaction we make. The feet of the great image represent where the image begins to take movement. We are moving towards a perfect man-made god (further integrating technology with the human race) and everyone is walking after their own image. 
D&C 1: 

16 They seek not the Lord to establish his righteousness, but every man walketh in his own way, and after the image of his own god, whose image is in the likeness of the world, and whose substance is that of an idol, which waxeth old and shall perish in Babylon, even Babylon the great, which shall fall.
We are nearing the end of the age. It is best described in this quote: 

The Camels are on the Horizon

The founder of Dubai, Sheik Rashid, was asked about the futu­re of his country, and he replied, "My grandfather rode a camel, my father rode a camel, I ride a Mercedes, my son rides a Land Rover, and my grandson is going to ride a Land Rover…but my great­-grandson is going to have to ride a ca­mel again. “Why is that, he was asked?

And his reply was, “Hard times create strong men, strong men create easy times. Easy times create weak men, weak men create difficult tim­es.

Many will not unders­tand it, but you have to raise warrior­s, not parasites." And add to that the historical reality that all great empire­s...the Persians, the Trojans, the Egy­ptians, the Greeks, the Romans, and in later years, the Brit­ish...all rose and perished within 240 years.

They were not conque­red by external enem­ies; they rotted from within. America has now passed that 240 year mark, and the rot is starting to be visible and is accelerating. We are past the Mercedes and Land Rover Yea­rs….the camels are on the horizon.

The greatest generat­ion consisted of 18-­year-old kids stormi­ng the beaches at Normandy. And now, two generations late­r, some 18-year-old kids want to hide in safe rooms when they hear words that hurt their feelings. They also want free stuff from the gov­ernment because they think they are enti­tled to it.

The "camels are on the horizon" for sur­e.

As Jesus Christ told the Pharasees concerning His coming Kingdom, "...as it was in the days of Noe, so shall it be also in the days of the Son of man." To paraphrase Jordan Peterson:

These are non trivial realities that are being pointed to and we ignore them at our peril. Anciently there was a hunger to learn and appreciate the world...but that gradually narrowed down. It happens to any human civilization as soon as they say, "We have reached perfection. We don’t need to learn anything from the outside world." That attitude is the tower of Babel...the minute we build a structure and believe it has reached the heights of God...as soon as you begin to believe you have achieved that, God steps in and everyone who exalted themselves is brought low and everyone speaks a different language and are unable to understand each other. Then from there, everything descends at a rapid pace. And all of that is followed by the flood...and that’s not an accident.

The camels are on the horizon. The great image which represents the kingdoms of this world will not be able to be destroyed by a 501(c)3. The King of Kings and Lord of Lords is the only one worthy and powerful enough to grind ALL other kingdoms...to dust.

"The weak things of the world shall come forth and break down the mighty and strong ones, that man should not counsel his fellow man, neither trust in the arm of fleshBut that every man might speak in the name of God the Lord, even the Savior of the world." (D&C 1: 19-20)