I’ve long been fascinated by the Hebrew language and found this to be pretty interesting.
Category: Religious
Do you believe in prophecy or do you believe prophecy?
***This post is not to create panic or worry, I’m just offering a reminder that these things are coming, and even if you don’t believe in prophesy, it’s not a bad idea to have some food and water and supplies stored up just in case of a natural disaster.***
Are you a member of the camp that reads the scriptures and thinks, “yep, that’ll happen someday” or are you actively preparing for the things that the scriptures have said would come to pass? If you’re in the first camp, please start preparing. The rest of us can’t carry all of you in spite of our desire to not see anyone suffer. It’s not like we haven’t been warned what is coming. We need to get our homes in order and be ready for these events that will come to pass. For the benefit of the readers who may not have studied scriptural prophesy, here’s a few things that are coming our way.
-Wars and rumors of wars (Matt 24:6)
-Famines, pestilences, and earthquakes in divers places (Matt 24:7)
-A hailstorm with hailstones that weigh 75 pounds (Rev. 16:21)
-The hailstorm will destroy the crops of the earth (D&C 29:16)
-A plague of flesh-eating flies & flesh falling from people’s bones (D&C 29:19) (ala Raiders of the Lost Ark?)
-An overflowing scourge and desolating sickness shall cover the land (D&C 45:31)
-The earth shall tremble and reel to and fro as a drunken man (D&C 88:87)
I believe these things are real but whether or not you do, the rate of disasters in the world has increased and it would just be a good idea for everyone to prepare for any disaster that might impact you.
A few weeks ago I stumbled upon something that mentioned a Twilight Zone episode called “The Shelter.” I never watched the show when I was a youth because I thought it would freak me out, not really knowing what the show was about. So I watched this episode with my wife and oldest children and it was a look at the panic that ensues when a disaster is about to strike and people are not prepared. You can watch it in 3 parts here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7aSXDxB3EdY (part 1)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vV8LpfQHOhA (part 2)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4LXShL69Li4 (part 3)
The main impetus for this post is that some time ago, someone sent me this video and I’ve been toying with posting it because I’m not trying to create a panic, or shout the sky is falling, but just trying to share a warning with people that prophecy is real and will come to pass. I also don’t know if this video is accurate in what it predicts for a massive earthquake this September and possibly November, but I did vet the information in this video about the tool being on NASA’s website and the dates of the major earthquakes in the last year and a half and it checks out. This makes me sufficiently intrigued to forward this on as an FYI in case you decide that now is a good time to stock up on a few extra supplies.
Earthquake dates (http://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/world/historical.php/)
JPL tool shown in the video (http://ssd.jpl.nasa.gov/sbdb.cgi?sstr=elenin&orb=1).
On the other side of this coin is this post by a senior researcher at JPL saying nothing is happening. However, it was posted in November 2009 so this “comet” entering our solar system would have been farther away and perhaps not on anyone’s mind the way it is now that this video has pointed out three major earthquakes tied into conjunctions with it since this researcher’s post.
http://blogs.jpl.nasa.gov/2009/11/2012-%E2%80%93-a-scientific-realty-check/
Some LDS people ask, “why isn’t the church talking about this if stuff like this is about to happen?” The answer is simple. They’ve been saying it for decades, warning people to prepare a year’s supply of food, water, and fuel where possible. I recently received an email from a friend that pointed out an important fact related to this. I will end with this email and my hope that you will take seriously the need to prepare for those things needed in this time of trial that lies ahead. Our preparation must be both temporal and spiritual. I don’t know when these events will take place, whether it’s this year or 50 years from now, but they will happen. This is not a cause for fear (unless you haven’t prepared), but for greater faith because as these things happen, so also can we take confidence that the great promises of the Lord will also be fulfilled.
Subject: Fw: Why the Church Leaders are talking about Faith, Hope, and Charity
Dear friends: (be sure to watch the 4 min. youtube clip at the bottom)
General Conference continues to resonate through my heart and mind as I ponder the whisperings of the Spirit that accompanied the music, talks and testimonies.
For the past couple of years, I have wondered why in General Conference, the Brethren have been relatively silent in warning, giving counsel in preparing for the last days etc. I have prayed and yearned for Samuel the Lamanite-like talks, or President Benson’s or Bruce R. McConkie’s talks… yet instead we have been getting talks on Faith, on Hope.. on Charity/Service etc.. Every conference that we have we seem to hear more on hope, on charity. President Monson’s talk on the mother that needed hope despite having to bury her children in frozen ground with a spoon was almost more than I could bare. Why these talks on the big 3 (Faith, Hope, and Charity) instead of one year’s supply of food, emergency preparedness, preparing for eminent catastrophes?
On my knees asking my Father [:] here the world is crumbling, disasters are eminent, people are not prepared and need to be. I was very frustrated and wondered WHY ARE WE NOT GETTING THE WARNINGS…
Well ask and you shall receive.
I then had a wonderful phone conversation with my mother-in-law, and she felt impressed to tell me one thing in particular. She said things are so very close to all of the “prophesied” things to begin happening. We talked about the “cycle” (talked about in the Boyd K Packer’s Priesthood Talk in given in conference in April 2009) .We noticed that just before things completely fall apart and collapse with utter destruction, the Lord’s anointed stop warning, and start speaking about faith, hope and charity. IT IS THE LAST STAGE IN THE CYCLE.
Then it hit me… The Book of Mormon is a template for this as well. Case in point. We read in Ether… we get all the warnings about secret combinations etc. and how the wickedness is abounding and that the people will be destroyed if they don’t repent.. then just before the entire civilization gets destroyed we get the 12th chapter on FAITH, HOPE and CHARITY.. then the destructions in the following chapter to the complete destruction of that civilization.Another example we find in Moroni chapter 8 just before telling us that the people will perish and the prophecies will be fulfilled, Mormon teaches his son Moroni (and us), about Faith, Hope and Charity.
(Note also, the Apostle Paul speaking to the Early Christian in I Corinthians 13 on Faith, Hope and Charity before the fall of Roman and the Christian persecution)Okay… fast forward to [recent] conferences.. what messages are we hearing… FAITH, HOPE, and CHARITY!!!!!
WOW.. it hit me like a ton of bricks.. It was the answer that I needed to hear about why we aren’t receiving the voice of warning like I wanted.
Here is how I see the cycle now: As a people we move from being Humble to Obedient to Blessed. to Living Righteously. to Ease to Laziness to Prideful. to Selfishness to Immorality/Sin. to Having the prophets warn us to repent.. to Wickedness. to Ripening to the Point of no return.. to No more on Warnings, but teaching the humble followers to have Faith, Hope, and Charity.. -THEN DESTRUCTION, CALAMITIES for the wicked, etc.- and purifying the righteous and unfortunately compelling us back to being HUMBLE…..
So, we probably won’t see the prophets speaking to us to warn us.. we are past that time, we are in the final stage. This is the Lord’s way, just as He has done with the 2 prior civilizations (Jaredites, and the Nephites).. It is my opinion, the more we hear about HOPE, don’t DESPAIR, etc. .. THE CLOSER WE ARE!
Just as a side note that just hit me, In one of my last videos, “Great
Trials Lie Ahead”.. Please watch if you haven’t already. Here is the link:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jTVECvTYpN0
I started out with all of the warnings of Elder McConkie, President Benson, President Eyring…. and felt very strongly to end the video with the statements of HOPE by President Uchtdorf… This is a pattern, it is pattern seen in the Book of Mormon and we are following that same pattern today… NEXT STEP for ALL OF US: The Destruction of the Wicked and the Saints being Humbled.. Which especially here in Salt Lake is needed. and by the way….the Book of Mormon is true.
One more time…I don’t know when things are going to happen or if this video is accurate, but I do know the prophecies contained in scripture are real and they will happen and we’ve been warned to prepare for a long time so we have no excuse if we are caught unprepared.
My Parents LDS Conversion Story
This is the story of how my parents came to join the LDS church. That act naturally was the greatest effect on my life and I am eternally grateful they joined. If you are not LDS and you have questions about the faith, feel free to email me for a friendly and non-pushy answer to your question, or get more information about the church at www.mormon.org.
Amazing Inspirational Art
What a gifted young lady to produce such stunning art. It’s not hard to believe she really has seen heaven.
Roots of the Bible Review
Years ago when I was in a religious institute class at Utah State, one of the great teachers I had shared with the class the concepts behind something called gematria, which is a system of examining the meaning behind the language of words and numbers in the Hebrew language. In a conversation with this teacher he told me to get a copy of the out-of-print book “Roots of the Bible” by Friedrich Weinreb and he gave me a reference to a man who was translating other of Weinreb’s works into English. I called this individual and he had one spare copy he sold me. For the last 15 years I’ve waited knowing someday I’d read the book and I finally felt the time was right recently and dove in. Here’s a smattering of what I’ve learned.
The Bible absolutely proves the existence of a God beyond all doubt. No mortal could have come up with a system so complex and amazing as that of the Hebrew language and assigned words numeric value that tell such an intricate story behind the scenes. A full treatise on the book isn’t possible, nor can I do it justice in a few paragraphs, but I will share a few highlights.
To begin, the Hebrew language consists of 22 consonants which all have meaning. The structure of a word that has different vowels but the same consonants as another word, changes the image, but not the core structure of the word. It is this structure that tells all.
The number 1, represented by the first letter in the alphabet “aleph” represents God, the unity of all things. The number 2, “beth,” represents the duality as the 1 creates something opposite himself. When the 2 multiplies into further life, the next extension, it becomes a 4, so the natural progression of things created is 1-2-4.
It is shown by the author over and over that in the creation, things go from 1-4, or from God’s perfect world, into something created which in turn creates on it’s own and thus became “as the God’s” knowing good and evil.
This amazing structure is seen in many ways. One set of this proportion is shown not just in language, but in relative proportions. “The tree of life” has a structural value of 233 when the values of the words are added together. “The tree of *the* knowledge of good and evil” has a value of 932. Comparing these values we see a 1 to 4 ratio. The word “the” which I’ve denoted does not appear in the King James Version of the Bible, but Weinreb says it does exist in the source material he has and points out that without the “the” in the phrase, it would change the value of the structure and thus alter the meaning of the language. This insertion gives a different flavor to the name and function of the tree.
Putting this into symbolic terms, the tree of life represents God while the tree of the knowledge of good and evil represents the multiplicity of God’s creations. The author spends considerable time building up to this understanding which is all good preparation and would no doubt be easier to comprehend through his build-up than my shortened explanation, but here are a few highlights which help to make sense of this concept.
The Hebrew word for man is denoted 1-4-40. Truth is 1-40-400 showing similar proportions to man. Weinreb explains the 40 and 400 are simply the 4 in another plane. Now this gets fascinating as by removing the 1 from man so we just have 4-40, we obtain the structure of the word for blood. Without the 1, or the tree of life, we are blood alone, missing out on the 1. When we drop the 1 from truth, we have 40-400, or the structure of the word for death. Without the tree of life, we experience death which is the ultimate multiplicity of creation shown as the 4 in higher planes. (ie. Ultimate spiritual death).
One more example of how this language is shown in the development of life. Man is 1-2, mother is 1-40. The words for son and daughter are 2-50 and 2-400 respectively, showing that sons and daughters are created (the 2’s) from the origin of man and woman which start with 1’s.
One development of this concept is the Hebrew word for create which has a structure of 2-200-1. Weinreb explains this that when something is created (2) it is then released by it’s creator to achieve all that it can in its sphere of existence and carry itself to the highest point outward from the creator (200), but then it must return to its creator (1) even though it may not have comprehended such a path was planned for it.
The word for “come” is 2-1 showing that a father (1-2) creates and then invites his creation to return to him (2-1). The word “lost” in Hebrew is 1-2-4 meaning the father created something and it failed to come to him and instead became unto itself a duality (lost in the world). These things fascinate me and prove to me the existence of a very high order of language far beyond something that man could create where the very structure of the word gives meaning to the words and to the purpose of life.
There are many examples in the book on a variety of subjects and I will only share one more here pertaining to the name of the Lord. In Genesis chapters 1 and 2 we read two accounts of the creation story. In the first chapter, God does everything, while in the second chapter, it changes to “Lord God”. We understand that the first chapter deals with a spiritual creation of the earth and the word for “God” is “Elohim”. In the second chapter, we have the word “Jehovah” being used and the structure for this name is 10-5-6-5. Forgive me for not going into great detail as the author spends considerable time on this name and I cannot say that I understand it well enough to dispense it to you except that the 6 is a “hook” or “joining” word so we see in the name of Jehovah that there is a 10, and then another 10 expressed as a duality of creation or “5 and a 5”. This is what the author says of the name’s proportion:
“All this is henceforth determined by what is expressed in the name of ‘Lord God’. This name is spelled in Hebrew yod-hee-waw-hee. (10-5-6-5) The name is not pronounced that way, because in pronouncing this proportion, or writing it down in the original Hebrew letters, one would create something of eminent force and power which one is not allowed to use for phenomenal proportions. Only in very special circumstances and in a very special place may this name be uttered, according to ancient lore.”
Interestingly, the author points out that knowledge of this name is called “shem” and one who possesses knowledge of this name is called a “baal-shem”. In the LDS religion we regard Shem as Melchizedek, the great high priest to whom the priesthood was named after and we read in scripture that the priesthood was given his name:
“But out of respect or reverence to the name of the Supreme Being, to avoid the too frequent repetition of his [Jehovah’s] name, they, the church, in ancient days, called that priesthood after Melchizedek, or the Melchizedek Priesthood.” (D&C 107:4)
If “sacredly fascinating” was a phrase in Hebrew, I would use that word to describe this knowledge.
