I agree with Harold Bloom on both issues. First, the LDS Church has gone "mainstream" in many ways. It has been accepted by many (if not most) as a standard Christian religion in the United States. We don't have the federal government or state governments trying to eliminate us. We have moderated some of our practices and teachings, though we still believe them. While Brigham Young would teach extremely esoteric ideas from the pulpit, today's prophets have gone back to the key doctrines of salvation.
Second, the Church will become a very powerful organization over the next couple decades. Why? Because it is a firm foundation in a world that is sliding continuously. We have what once were honorable and decent religions accepting sinful men and practices as "mainstream" for their churches (such as in the Episcopalian Church). As the chasm grows bigger between the good and evil, we will see many churches choose to dwell on the other side of the murky river in the great and spacious building. While they will have many converts, there will be many that will be disgusted with the open acceptance of sin, and they will seek truth and light elsewhere. Many will grasp onto the iron rod and find themselves before the Tree of Life. We may not be a majority of the Americans in 2020, but our influence will be very strong. And, if my reading of D&C 87 is correct, we will see continued attacks by the modern day Gadiantons - the remnant of the slaves who are angered with the Gentile nations. And with that we shall soon begin to see great destructions in the world, both natural and manmade. But Zion and her stakes will be places where the saints can stand firm and safe; even if some have to gather together physically, as in the days of Lachoneus. And many others will join us, seeing thee is safety and righteousness in Zion. The Council of 50 will be made up of good men, not necessarily just members of the Church. It could easily replace our current government, if it were to collapse, with representatives from many upright religious groups working together to establish peace and prosperity; and with the LDS Church as a key component to that preparation for the Second Coming. Oh, and BTW, I'm here, too. Perhaps I'll stay a while, depending on the tenor of the discussions. K'aya K'ama Gerald Smith [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.geocities.com/rameumptom/ Freedom Forever ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 30 Oct 2003 18:25:33 -0900 From: "John W. Redelfs" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subject: Mainstreaming Mormonism Harold Bloom, the noted literary critic, wrote in his book THE AMERICAN RELIGION: "It is weirdly true, in 1991, that the Mormons are as mainstream as you are, whoever you are, at least in terms of the religion of politics and the politics of religion." ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 30 Oct 2003 18:55:38 -0900 From: "John W. Redelfs" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subject: A Dangerous Book Harold Bloom, a highly renowned literary critic, makes two outrageous claims in his book THE AMERICAN RELIGION: 1) The LDS people will resume the practice of plural marriage, probably by 2020, and 2) The Mormons will set up the political Kingdom of God before the Second Coming, right here in the United States, and probably by 2020. Is this guy totally wacked? Or does he see something that we Mormons can't see? On page 91 he writes: --- quote --- Daniel 2:44 [Nebuchadnezzar's Dream], quote earlier, inspired Joseph Smith to a grand declaration on May 12, 1844: 'I calculate to be one of the instruments of setting up the kingdom of Daniel by the word of the Lord, and I intend to lay a foundation that will revolutionize the whole world.' That foundation was the Council of Fifty, set up early in 1844, a year in which Smith rather quixotically declared himself a candidate for the Presidency of the Unites States, and also the year of his martyrdom. There are several reasons why 1844 so far has been the crucial year in the history of Mormonism, to be superseded only sometime in the twenty-first century, when there could be the establishment of a Mormon Kingdom of God in some substantial part, if not all, of the United States. For everything that Joseph Smith had come to prophesy gathers itself together in his vision of kingship over the Kingdom of God. Nauvoo was not Geneva, and the joyous Prophet Joseph was anything but a repressed or repressive personality. His sense of the Kingdom was not metaphorical, though modern Mormonism, for understandable reasons, has attempted to interpret it only figuratively, at least to Gentiles." --- unquote --- Is that wild or what? A Jewish intellectual, Professor of Literature at Yale, thinks that we Mormons are going to carve our own country out of the United States in realization of Joseph Smith's dream of the literal Kingdom of God on earth. I just hope that nobody was listening to him when he wrote this book. Much of the persecution that was waged against the LDS people in times past was motivated by a fear of Mormon political power. It is only as we have been able to mollify our Gentile neighbors that we are no political threat that we have been able to escape the persecution that was so important a part of our early history as a Church. I think that Bloom's book could be very dangerous to us as a people. What do you think? John W. Redelfs [EMAIL PROTECTED] ////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// /// ZION LIST CHARTER: Please read it at /// /// http://www.zionsbest.com/charter.html /// ///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// --^---------------------------------------------------------------- This email was sent to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] EASY UNSUBSCRIBE click here: http://topica.com/u/?aaP9AU.bWix1n.YXJjaGl2 Or send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] TOPICA - Start your own email discussion group. FREE! http://www.topica.com/partner/tag02/create/index2.html --^----------------------------------------------------------------
