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Lay Up Grain for Seven Years

December 1, 2008 in Religion by Greg | 3 comments

Lay up grain for seven years was mentioned in a talk given by Heber C. Kimball in 1857. A number of years ago, Gordon B. Hinckley1 spoke to the general body of the priesthood and told us:

Now, brethren, I should like to talk to the older men, hoping that there will be some lesson for the younger men as well. I wish to speak to you about temporal matters. As a backdrop for what I wish to say, I read to you a few verses from the 41st chapter of Genesis.

Pharaoh, the ruler of Egypt, dreamed dreams which greatly troubled him. The wise men of his court could not give an interpretation. Joseph was then brought before him:

Joseph, the Butler and the Baker by Alexander Ivanov “Pharaoh said unto Joseph, In my dream, behold, I stood upon the bank of the river: And, behold, there came up out of the river seven kine, fatfleshed and well favoured; and they fed in a meadow: And, behold, seven other kine came up after them, poor and very ill favoured and leanfleshed . . . . And the lean and the ill favoured kine did eat up the first seven fat kine: . . . And I saw in my dream … seven ears came up in one stalk, full and good: And, behold, seven ears, withered, thin, and blasted with the east wind, sprung up after them: And the thin ears devoured the seven good ears: . . . And Joseph said unto Pharaoh . . . God hath shewed Pharaoh what he is about to do. The seven good kine are seven years; and the seven good ears are seven years: the dream is one . . . What God is about to do he sheweth unto Pharaoh. Behold, there come seven years of great plenty throughout all the land of Egypt: And there shall arise after them seven years of famine . . . . And God will shortly bring it to pass” (Genesis 41:17–20, 22–26, 28–30, 32).

Now, brethren, I want to make it very clear that I am not prophesying, that I am not predicting years of famine in the future. But I am suggesting that the time has come to get our houses in order. So many of our people are living on the very edge of their incomes. In fact, some are living on borrowings.

We have witnessed in recent weeks wide and fearsome swings in the markets of the world. The economy is a fragile thing. A stumble in the economy in Jakarta or Moscow can immediately affect the entire world. It can eventually reach down to each of us as individuals. There is a portent of stormy weather ahead to which we had better give heed. I hope with all my heart that we shall never slip into a depression.2

Following his talk, I decided to go back in time as far as I could in this dispensation to find references to Pharaoh’s dream of seven years of plenty (grain) and seven years of famine. The following is an excerpt of Heber C. Kimball’s3 talk on this subject, one of the earliest talks I could find.

Will you be slack, brethren, and let the evil come upon us, when we forewarn you of the future events that are coming? Now, supposing that I had not the spirit of prophecy upon me, then I had better sit down. If a man gets up here and lets the Spirit of God dictate him, he cannot help prophesying, for the Holy Ghost is the Spirit of prophecy, and he will foretell future events, and you cannot help it. We are telling of what the prophets have said–of what the Lord has said to Joseph. Wake up, now, wake up, O Israel, and lay up your grain and your stores. I tell you that there is trouble coming upon the world. They have a pretty good drouth in some places this year. I do not know whether brother Amasa has told you, but almost everything is burnt up in Southern California. They have got to live there and get bread, and probably will be glad to take a handcart.

A wheat field with blue sky background Is it so in the United States? It is. They have got to eat that dish; and when famine, pestilence, and starvation come upon us in a small degree, it will increase upon them fourfold, packed down and running over, and they cannot help it. Let them exult. There never was such a prejudice existing against this people as there is at this day. The Devil is stirring them up because we have commenced that Temple; and we will build it, and they cannot help themselves; and we will lay up the grain for seven years, and thousands of them will worship us for a little johnny cake, and I will live to see it: so will you. And when you see it, you will then have knowledge, won’t you?4

A few years later, I came across J. Reuben Clark’s reference to Pharaoh’s dream and began to see more clearly the divine wisdom in the counsel to lay up grain for seven years (see Pharaoh’s Dream - A Modern Interpretation). Perhaps this is all just preparation for those events spoken of concerning the redemption of Zion.

What are your thoughts on this subject?

Sources:

  1. Gordon B. Hinckley served as the 15th President and prophet, seer and revelator of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints from March 12, 1995 until his death on January 27, 2008, at the age of 97.↩
  2. Hinckley, Gordon B. “To the Boys and to the Men.” 3 October 1998. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. 1 December 2008.↩
  3. President Heber C. Kimball served as one of the original members of the Quorum of Twelve Apostles of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. He served as a counselor to Brigham Young in the First Presidency from 1847 until his death in 1868. Of the original Twelve Apostles, only Brigham Young and Heber C. Kimball did not “lift their heels” against the Prophet Joseph Smith. See for example, D&C 121:16; cf. John 13:18.↩
  4. Kimball, Heber C. Journal of Discourses. 4:338-339.↩

Saint-Simon and Charlemagne

November 16, 2008 in Government by Greg | No comments

While in prison, Henri de Saint-Simon - a French utopian socialist1 - was visited in a dream by Charlemagne.2 I thought it of interest that the man who many believe to be one of the modern founders of socialist thought and “social science”3 claimed to have been visited by one of his ancestors in a dream. Saint-Simon wrote:
Henri de Saint-Simon

During the cruelest period of the Revolution, and during a night of my imprisonment at Luxembourg, Charlemagne appeared to me and said: “Since the world began no family has enjoyed the honor to produce both a hero and philosopher of first rank. This honor was reserved for my house. My son, your successes as a philosopher will equal mine as a soldier and a statesman.”4

Sources:

  1. “Claude Henri de Rouvroy, comte de Saint-Simon“. Wikipedia. 16 November 2008.↩
  2. “Charlemagne“. Wikipedia. 16 November 2008.↩
  3. “Claude Henri de Rouvroy, comte de Saint-Simon“. History of Economic Thought. 16 November 2008. See also “The Utopian Socialists: Robert Owen and Saint-Simon“. The History Guide. 16 November 2008.↩
  4. Heilbroner, Robert L. The Worldly Philosophers. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1999. 118. Google Book Search. 16 November 2008.↩

The Gift of Spiritual Experiences

October 21, 2008 in Religion by Greg | 2 comments

The Gift of Spiritual Experiences is an excerpt from a book entitled Mine Errand from the Lord: Quotations and Teachings from Boyd K. Packer on Meridian Magazine. I personally appreciate the timeliness of this wise counsel:

The Gift of Spiritual Experiences by Boyd K. PackerIt is not wise to continually talk of unusual spiritual experiences. They are to be guarded with care and shared only when the Spirit itself prompts you to use them to the blessing of others. I am ever mindful of Alma ’s words:

It is given unto many to know the mysteries of God; nevertheless they are laid under a strict command that they shall not impart only according to the portion of his word which he doth grant unto the children of men, according to the heed and diligence which they give unto him. (Alma 12:9).

I heard President Marion G. Romney once counsel mission presidents and their wives in Geneva, “I do not tell all I know; I have never told my wife all I know, for I found out that if I talked too lightly of sacred things, thereafter the Lord would not trust me.” (82–04, p. 53)

I have learned that strong, impressive spiritual experiences do not come to us very frequently. And when they do, they are generally for our own edification, instruction, or correction. Unless we are called by proper authority to do so, they do not position us to counsel or to correct others. (82–04, p. 53)

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Book of the Plagues

September 23, 2008 in Religion by Greg | No comments

The following article concerning a vision from The Book of the Plagues was printed in The Contributor magazine in 1884. The author is unknown.

The ContributorThe present times seem to be more than usually prolific of prophetic dreams among the Latter-Day Saints. In nearly every settlement the people have been warned of events soon to occur; and visions of the future glory of the Kingdom of God upon this earth have passed like a panorama before many of those who love god and obey His commandments.

Some two or three years ago, (1881-1882) I had retired for the night, when suddenly a glorious messenger appeared at my bedside and awoke me from my slumber. The light of his presence filled the room, so that objects were discerned as clearly as at noonday.

He handed me a book, saying, “Look, and see what is coming to pass.” I took the book in my hands and, sitting up in the bed, examined it carefully and read its contents. In size this book was about seven by ten inches, opening like a copybook and bound in beautiful covers, on the front of which was stamped in gold letters its title, which was The Book of the Plagues. The leaves were printed only on the front side of each, and were composed of the very finest quality of pure white linen, instead of paper. The typography throughout was in the finest style of the printer’s art. Each page was composed of a picture printed in colors as natural as art can copy nature, which occupied the upper half of the space, below which was the printed description of the scene represented.

On the first page was a picture of a feast in progress, with the long table set upon a beautiful lawn, over which were interspersed clumps of fine shrubs and towering trees. In the background through the foliage, could be discerned a stately suburban villa, adorned with all the ornaments of modern architecture. The landscape presented the appearance of midsummer. The sky, and indeed the whole atmosphere, appeared of a peculiar sickly brassy hue, similar to that which may be observed when the sun is wholly eclipsed, and the disc is just beginning again to give its light.

Throughout the atmosphere small white specks were represented, similar to a scattering fall of minute snow flakes in winter. About the table a party of richly dressed ladies and gentlemen were seated in the act of partaking of the rich repast with which the table was laden. The minute specks falling from above were into the food apparently unheeded by all, for a sudden destruction had come upon them. Many were falling backward in the agonies of a fearful death; others drooping upon the table, and others pausing with their hands still holding the untasted food, their countenances betraying a fearful astonishment at the peculiar and unlooked for condition of their companions. Death was in the atmosphere, the judgments of God had come upon them as silently and swiftly as upon the proud Sennacherib and his host of Assyrians.

In one corner of this picture was a small circular vignette, showing the front of the store of a dealer in pork. The wide sidewalk was covered by an awning supported on posts at the outer edge, and on this walk were shown barrels of park, long strings of sausages, fresh slaughtered hogs, piles of smoked bacon and headcheese; and along the edge of the walk, next to the store, beneath the front windows, leaned a number of large hams and pieces of side meat, reaching across the whole front, except a small space at the doorway. There were twelve of these pieces, and on each piece was painted a large letter, in order to make as a whole the word abominations.

Below this scene was the description: “A Feast among the Gentiles, Commencement of the Plague.” And in smaller type below, a note saying that The Particles of Poison, though represented in the picture, are so small as to be invisible to the naked eye.

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Spirit of the Lord

September 17, 2008 in Religion by Greg | No comments

Hosea Stout In February 1847, the Prophet Joseph Smith appeared to Brigham Young in a dream and instructed him to tell the brethren to “keep the spirit of the Lord.” Hosea Stout recorded in his journal the following:

This morning there was to be a private meeting of the high Council at sun rise. About 9 o’clock I went & found only three members present so we staid awhile and come away home

In the afternoon I went to the Council house to a meeting at which Elder Henry G. Sherwood spoke after that I was around as usual At six went to a High Council as usual There was not much done of interest except some remarks of President Young which I will give in short It is in relation to a spell of sickness he had had lately.

He spoke as follows.

“Another subject which I wanted to speak of is this.

On Wednesday morning I was taken ill and it has been asked if I had a vision I was taken so suddenly sick. Just as I was getting out of my bed that I could not go out. I tried to return to the bed again, but could not even get back

As to how I felt, No one can tell how I felt, until he dies and goes through the vail and when he does that he can then tell how I felt

All that I know, is what my wife told me about it since. She said that I said, I had been where Joseph & Hyrum was.

And again that I said, it is hard coming to life again.

But I know that I went to the world of spirits; but what I saw I know not, for the vision went away from me, as a dream which you loose when you awake.

The next day I had a dream.

I dreamed that I saw Joseph sitting in a room, in the South West corner, near a bright window.

He sat in a chair, with his feet, both on the lower round.

I took him by the hand and kissed him on both cheeks, and wanted to know why we could not be together, as we once was.

He said that it was all right, that we should not be together yet.

We must be separated for a season.

I said it was hard to be separated from him.

He said, it was all right and putting his feet down on the floor.

Now all you who know, how he looks, when he used to give council, know all about, how he looked then

I told him that the Latter Day Saints was very anxious to know about the law of adoption, and the sealing powers &c and desired word of council from him.

Joseph said; do you be sure and tell the people one thing.

Do you be sure and tell the brethren that it is all important for them to keep the spirit of the Lord, To keep the quiet spirit of Jesus, and he explained how the spirit of the Lord reflected on the spirit of man and set him to pondering on any subject, and also explained how to know the spirit of the Lord from the spirit of the enemy.

He said the mind of man must be open to receive all spirits, in order to be prepared, to receive the spirit of the Lord; otherwise it might be barred so as not to receive the spirit of the Lord, which always brings peace and makes one happy and takes away every other spirit. When the small still voice speaks always receive it, and if the people will do these things, when they come up to the father, all will be as in the beginning, and every person stand as at the first.

I saw how we were organized before we took tabernacles and every man will be restored to that which he had then, and all will be satisfied. After this I turned away & saw Joseph was in the edge of the light; but where I had to go was as midnight darkness.

He said I must go back, so I went back in the darkness.

I want you all to remember my dream for I it is a vision of God and was reveated through the spirit of Joseph.”1

Sources:

  1. Brooks, Juanita, ed. On the Mormon Frontier: The Diary of Hosea Stout, 1844 – 1861. Salt Lake City: University of Utah Press, 1964: 237-239.↩

The Glory of Zion Shall Return

September 3, 2008 in Government by Greg | No comments

“The Glory of Zion Shall Return” is the title of a dream given to Charles D. Evans of Springville, Utah that appeared in The Contributor magazine in 1893. Charles D. Evans served as a patriarch in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints when he received this vision. He recorded:

Wasatch MountainsWhile I lay pondering in deep solitude on the events of the present, my mind was drawn into a reverie such as I had never felt before,–a strong solicitude for my imperiled country utterly excluded every other thought, and raised my feelings to a point of intensity which I did not think it possible to endure.

While in this solemn, profound, and painful reverie of mind, to my infinite surprise, a light appeared in my room, which seemed to be soft and silvery as that diffused from a northern star. At the moment of its appearance, the acute feeling I had experienced instantly yielded to one of calm tranquility.

Although it may have been at the hour of midnight, and the side of the globe whereon I was situated, was excluded from the sunlight, yet all was light and bright and warm as an Italian landscape at noon, but the heat was softer or more subdued.

As I gazed upward, I saw descending through my bedroom roof, with a gently gliding movement, a personage clothed in white apparel, whose countenance was smoothly serene, his features regular, and the flashes of his eye seemed to shoot forth scintillations, to use an earthly comparison, strongly resembling those reflected from a diamond under an intensely illumined electric light, which dazzled but did not bewilder.

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The Kingdom of God

September 2, 2008 in Government by Greg | No comments

In the New Testament, the Savior admonished the people of his day to enter into the “kingdom of God.” By seeking to interpret Nebuchadnezzar’s dream, Daniel was shown the interpretation of the stone cut out of the mountain without hands which eventually destroyed the image and filled the whole earth (Daniel 2:31-45).

Daniel Interprets Nebuchadnezzar’s Dream

The stone which Nebuchadnezzar saw in his dream was the kingdom of God in the latter days. This kingdom was restored under the hand of the Prophet Joseph Smith shortly before his martyrdom in 1844. When this kingdom is fully implemented at some point in the future, it “will throw their protecting arms around the whole human family, protecting them in their rights”.

Concerning the kingdom of God, in 1874 Brigham Young taught:

I will say to you with regard to the kingdom of God on the earth—Here is the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, organized with its rules, regulations and degrees, with the quorums of the holy Priesthood, from the First Presidency to the teachers and deacons; here we are, an organization. God called upon Joseph, he called upon Oliver Cowdery, then others were called through Joseph, the Church was organized, he with his two counselors comprised the First Presidency. In a few years the Quorum of the Twelve was organized, the High Counsel was organized, the High Priests’ quorum was organized, the Seventies’ quorums were organized, and the Priests’ quorum, the Teachers’ quorum and the Deacons’. This is what we are in the habit of calling the kingdom of God. But there are further organizations. The Prophet gave a full and complete organization to this kingdom the Spring before he was killed. This kingdom is the kingdom that Daniel spoke of, which was to be set up in the last days; it is the kingdom that is not to be given to another people; it is the kingdom that is to be held by the servants of God, to rule the nations of the earth, to send forth those laws and ordinances that shall be suitable and that shall apply themselves to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints; that will apply themselves to the mother Church, “the holy Catholic Church,” they will commend themselves to every Protestant Church upon the earth; they will commend themselves to every class of infidels, and will throw their protecting arms around the whole human family, protecting them in their rights. If they wish to worship a white dog, they will have the privilege; if they wish to worship the sun they will have the privilege; if they wish to worship a man they will have the privilege, and if they wish to worship the “unknown God” they will have the privilege. This kingdom will circumscribe them all and will issue laws and ordinances to protect them in their rights–every right that every people, sect and person can enjoy, and the full liberty that God has granted to them without molestation… The kingdom of God, when it is set up upon the earth, will be after the pattern of heaven, and will compel no man nor woman to go contrary to his or her conscience… Now I want to give you these few words–the kingdom of God will protect every person, every sect and all people upon the face of the whole earth, in their legal rights. I shall not tell you the names of the members of this kingdom, neither shall I read to you its constitution, but the constitution was given by revelation. The day will come when it will be organized in strength and power. Now, as the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, we work our way along the best we can. Can you understand this?1

Sources:

  1. Young, Brigham. Journal of Discourses. 17:157-158.↩

Pharaoh’s Dream - A Modern Interpretation

August 24, 2008 in Government by Greg | No comments

Pharaoh’s dream of seven years of plenty and seven years of famine (see Genesis 41) was given a modern interpretation by J. Reuben Clark. In January 1945, some seven months before the Japanese surrender that signaled the end of WWII, President Clark gave a speech entitled “Some Elements of Post-War American Life” and said, in part:

Joseph Interpreting Pharaho's Dream - Reginald ArthurWe shall come into postwar America in substantial part . . . regimented for a . . . State and Government which deifies the State and makes of men its slaves. We have gone a long distance down this trail, too . . . .  The fundamentals of this technique are as old, certainly, as Joseph, who was sold into Egypt. For he, acting for Pharaoh, first purchased from the people with the taxes extorted from the people, all the grain produced by the people; then when the famine came Joseph sold this grain back to the people, in the first year for all the cash they had, which he turned over to Pharaoh; in the second year for all the flocks and herds they owned, which all went to Pharaoh; next, for all their lands, which he turned over to Pharaoh and finally, he gave them grain in exchange for their bodies and they became “servants unto Pharaoh”. The enslavement of the people was complete, Joseph saying to them, “Behold, I have bought you this day and your land for Pharaoh,” (Genesis 47:23) and thereafter Joseph moved the people as he willed, and they rented back their lands on the terms he prescribed. There is more than one lesson in Egypt’s seven years of plenty and seven years of famine.1

Sources:

  1. Newquist, Jerreld L., comp. Prophets, Principles and National Survival. Salt Lake City: Publishers Press, 1964. 323-324.↩