What all this means to me

I sat at the dining room table with my daughter Madison yesterday eating lunch and talking. We talked about this blog and some of the findings that have come out of this research. Maddie has not read the blog primarily because I have done nothing to draw anyone's attention to it. My daughter Lauren has read parts of it and posted about it on face book and that was the source of the only comment that appeared here. Notoriety is not my purpose in writing this blog.

My purpose in writing this blog is to give a written record of my findings for when it is needed. When current events make this content interesting, it will be available to friends, family and anyone else the Lord may guide to it. Clearly we are not there yet as evidenced by the limited readership. I have no idea who has read this and who has not. I do know from experience there are few people interested in this type of in depth research. Most of us are like Joe Friday from "Dragnet". "Just the facts ma'am!" The few who expressed interest want to know how I study so this is pretty much how I do it. For most this is probably like chloroform in print. For me it is exciting.

Anyway, while talking to Maddie at lunch the other day she listened patiently for a while and then said, "I'll be honest with you, I don't understand much of what you just said." Maddie is never one to mince words and I love that about her. She speaks her mind. I suspect many who try to read this are in the same boat. So, this is what all this means to me. Hopefully, seeing it through my eyes, (in a manner of speaking) will help understand why these findings excite me.

I have studied this subject for a very long time and had a sense of where this particular study might take us. I suspected a pattern or type would emerge at some point. In fact, I was certain of it because of previous patterns identified in the scriptures. I believe there truly is nothing new under the sun and that history is simply repeating itself. That being the case, if we see how the Lord worked anciently, we can study those events and patterns and see their repetition in the future. Names and faces may change but the patterns stay the same.

Our inability to understand prophecy comes from trying to "bend the prophecies" to fit our preconceptions. For example, we are raised to believe the Church is going to magically waltz into Zion and Israel will just kind of miraculously follow when the Lord is ready. We resist considering alternatives the scriptures discuss because what that might mean. Among Church scholars is a resounding fear that any conclusion that threatens conventional wisdom among scholars is unacceptable because it opens the possibility the cynic's and skeptics of the Church might be right. Somehow Church leadership may lead us astray or worse, fail in their mission. Anything but the fairy tale ending in establishing Zion is more than the body of the Church can handle in the minds of Church scholars. The scholars speak the truth amongst themselves privately but you rarely hear their candor in public forums.

This does not mean I am a cynic or skeptic. Ultimately the Church will prevail. Ultimately Israel will be led to the Church and the Church will administer ordinances of the Holy Melchizedek Priesthood to the lost tribes. I do not believe the leadership of the Church will fail or mislead us. I do believe, (and this is where I do part company with Church scholars) that there are two projects in progress here. The first involved the restoration of Priesthood keys and the organization of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The second project is the gathering of Israel that occurs prior to Israel's reunion with the tribes of Joseph. The second project, I believe may be away from the organizational structure of the Church initially but not from the Priesthood keys. The second project will be performed in accordance with Priesthood keys but not follow the conventional path so many assume will be the case.

The pattern we have studied is repeated in both the Bible and the Book of Mormon. When I find the pattern repeated in both ancient and modern scripture I believe the Lord reveals to us exactly what is going to happen but we prefer to listen to scholars tell us, "It has not been revealed" or more accurately, "Not been revealed to me! Therefore, it has not been revealed." The responsibility to keep an open mind seems to dissipate when someone gets tenure and assumes they know all there is worth knowing.

These things are hidden in plain sight and the Lord will not excuse our ignorance because we were too busy with life to look for answers ourselves. Instead we trust in the arm of flesh, waiting for some scholar or Church leader to explain what the Lord would have learn ourselves.