excerpt from the visions of glory book somewhere, just liked the last paragraphs.
There was a law we followed. It was not a rule, but a law. When an individual or group threatened us, we knew their hearts. If there was any hope, even the slightest hope that they could be saved, even in the most telestial sense, we did not harm them. When we were confronted by someone who was fully ripe in iniquity, and who would never repent, then we were free to deliver them from mortality. Their death would then be a blessing to them because they could no longer add additional iniquity to their divine ledger.
In the beginning of our work of gathering, we most often hid behind God’s power. Toward the end, we were most often granted permission to display God’s power. Instead of hiding from them, we started them on their immortal journey. When we did this, it was not a bloodbath and rarely a consumption by fire. They just fell to the ground and slipped into the eternities. When this happened, we felt happy for them to be freed from the torment of their own delusions. With God they would eventually see clearly once again, and could choose to cease heaping condemnation upon their souls.”
Monday, March 25, 2013
Sunday, March 24, 2013
How long was Jesus in the grave?
For centuries, Christians have observed the crucifixion of Jesus as being on Friday afternoon and the resurrection at dawn the following Sunday. This is only a period of about 40 hours and certainly does not fit Jesus’ prediction of three days and three nights?
“For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of a whale, so the Son of Man will be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth,” Matthew 12:40.
The problem is neither with Jesus’ prediction nor with the Bible. The problem is with our tradition that misses a very important fact of the events of that week in Jesus’ ministry.
The Bible tells us that Jesus was crucified on the Day of Preparation for the Passover Sabbath (Mark 15:42, Luke 23:54, John 19:14, 31). The Hebrew calendar begins each day at the evening twilight of the previous day. For example, the Jewish Friday begins at what would be the beginning of Thursday evening on our calendars. The Day of Preparation for Passover was always the 14th of the Hebrew month Abib (also known as Nisan). Passover began that evening, the 15th.
Each year, Passover fell on a different day of the week. Passover was always a special Sabbath. So except for those years when Passover happened to fall on Saturday, which was the regular weekly Sabbath, there would be two Sabbaths during Passover week.
Jesus was raised from the dead on the morning after the regular weekly Sabbath. It is never said that He was raised the morning after the Passover Sabbath. This would indicate that, as was most often the case, Passover did not fall that year on the regular weekly Sabbath.
The events of this most detailed week of Jesus’ life come together perfectly if in that year the Passover Sabbath fell on Friday. That would place Jesus’ crucifixion on the day of Preparation for the Passover (Thursday), followed by the Passover Sabbath (Friday), followed by the weekly Sabbath (Saturday), followed by the resurrection Sunday morning. Jesus was in the grave, as He had predicated, three days and three nights.
The problem with our tradition is that those who established the tradition failed to realize that there are two Sabbaths during Passover week, rather than just one.
Read more at http://www.wnd.com/2013/03/how-long-was-jesus-in-the-grave/#Wq1vWBzx8XeRUjIh.99
Friday, March 22, 2013
In 1937 Joe Brandt saw an Earthquake sink Los Angeles, much of California and Japan
THE COMING EARTHQUAKE — Introduction by Jessica Madigan (Mei Ling)
On Christmas Eve, in 1965, my husband—my closest friend, Fran Brandt, and her husband, Joe, were celebrating with sandwiches, and coffee, and fruit cake, in the meditation room, downstairs. Carols poured from the TV, upstairs, a holiday dinner was in the making. For some reason, Joe—Fran's husband—ventured to speak of the coming California earthquake. It did not seem a moment to talk about earthquakes—because Christmas is the most precious time in the world. The huge tree, ablaze with tiny star-lights seemed to presage only goodness, and love, and beauty. Joe was saying that he had an accident—a fall from a horse when he was 17, and for days he had a concussion. During this period, a continuous dream came again and again—as if he were viewing a tremendous earthquake and inundation in California and other parts of the world.
I listened—politely—made some comment, and turned to talk to Fran about a new movie—or some equally world shaking event. I was vaguely aware that Joe had brought in a sheaf of papers—and he said he would put it in my downstairs desk [in 1965] until I had time to read the "dream". That time did not arrive, until, by accident, I came across them this last week [in 1967]—pages after pages after pages—written in a boy's handwriting, about the coming California earthquake. It would take weeks to research all this material—but I phoned my former geology professor and read portions to him. COULD THIS HAPPEN? COULD CALIFORNIA GO DOWN IN JUST THIS WAY? WOULD OTHER AREAS BE AFFECTED IN A MATTER OF HOURS? He answered in the affirmative. Joe had written (sleeping and dreaming—and in drowsy awakening—about positions of various FAULTS, strata of rock, earth movements, so much material that a geologist of many years would scarcely attempt such a work [this geological data was omitted from Jessica's book]. Yet—here it was—waiting for me to find it for two years. Since that night, Fran has changed worlds [in 1966 or 1967]—and my husband is very ill—other unforseen events which I could not have imagined have taken place—and all this, perhaps, precluded my finding of the "earthquake papers".
This book is already very long—double its size—and I realize that this vision given to a 17 year old boy must be placed, as it is, into a book. Consciously, he knew nothing of geology or of the possibility of a coming earthquake. The notes are 30 years old—yellowed with age—and yet there is a clarity and an unbelievable reality in them. Some of the highlights must be given—because, I am certain now, as I was not certain on Christmas Eve of 1965, that the California earthquake WILL come . . . and its coming is close at hand. Since Joe covered the AREAS AROUND THE WORLD WHICH WOULD BE AFFECTED, not all of these can be given (although perhaps we can write a booklet on this experience), but for those of us in THIS LAND . . . especially the CALIFORNIA LAND, these are the highlights of that vision.
I listened—politely—made some comment, and turned to talk to Fran about a new movie—or some equally world shaking event. I was vaguely aware that Joe had brought in a sheaf of papers—and he said he would put it in my downstairs desk [in 1965] until I had time to read the "dream". That time did not arrive, until, by accident, I came across them this last week [in 1967]—pages after pages after pages—written in a boy's handwriting, about the coming California earthquake. It would take weeks to research all this material—but I phoned my former geology professor and read portions to him. COULD THIS HAPPEN? COULD CALIFORNIA GO DOWN IN JUST THIS WAY? WOULD OTHER AREAS BE AFFECTED IN A MATTER OF HOURS? He answered in the affirmative. Joe had written (sleeping and dreaming—and in drowsy awakening—about positions of various FAULTS, strata of rock, earth movements, so much material that a geologist of many years would scarcely attempt such a work [this geological data was omitted from Jessica's book]. Yet—here it was—waiting for me to find it for two years. Since that night, Fran has changed worlds [in 1966 or 1967]—and my husband is very ill—other unforseen events which I could not have imagined have taken place—and all this, perhaps, precluded my finding of the "earthquake papers".
This book is already very long—double its size—and I realize that this vision given to a 17 year old boy must be placed, as it is, into a book. Consciously, he knew nothing of geology or of the possibility of a coming earthquake. The notes are 30 years old—yellowed with age—and yet there is a clarity and an unbelievable reality in them. Some of the highlights must be given—because, I am certain now, as I was not certain on Christmas Eve of 1965, that the California earthquake WILL come . . . and its coming is close at hand. Since Joe covered the AREAS AROUND THE WORLD WHICH WOULD BE AFFECTED, not all of these can be given (although perhaps we can write a booklet on this experience), but for those of us in THIS LAND . . . especially the CALIFORNIA LAND, these are the highlights of that vision.
I woke up in the hospital room with a terrific headache—as if the whole world was revolving inside my brain. I remember, vaguely, the fall from my horse—Blackie. As I lay there, pictures began to form in my mind—pictures that stood still. I seemed to be in another world. Whether it was the future, or it was some ancient land, I could not say. Then slowly, like the silver screen of the "talkies," but with color and smell and sound, I seemed to find myself in Los Angeles—but I swear it was much bigger, and buses and odd-shaped cars crowded the city streets.
I thought about Hollywood Boulevard, and I found myself there. Whether this is true, I do not know, but there were a lot of guys my age with beards and wearing, some of them, earrings. All the girls, some of them keen-o, wore real short skirts. . . and they slouched along—moving like a dance. Yet they seemed familiar. I wondered if I could talk to them, and I said, "Hello," but they didn't see or hear me. I decided I would look as funny to them as they looked to me. I guess it is something you have to learn. I couldn't do it.
I noticed there was a quietness about the air, a kind of stillness. Something else was missing, something that should be there. At first, I couldn't figure it out, I didn't know what it was—then I did. There were no birds. I listened. I walked two blocks north of the Boulevard—all houses—no birds. I wondered what had happened to them. Had they gone away? Again, I could hear the stillness. Then I knew something was going to happen.
I wondered what year it was. It certainly was not 1937. I saw a newspaper on the corner with a picture of the President. It surely wasn't Mr. Roosevelt. He was bigger, heavier, big ears. If it wasn't 1937, I wondered what year it was. . . My eyes weren't working right. Someone was coming—someone in 1937—it was that darned, fat nurse ready to take my temperature. I woke up. Crazy dream.
The next day: Gosh, my headache is worse. It is a wonder I didn't get killed on that horse. I've had another crazy dream, back in Hollywood. Those people. Why do they dress like that, I wonder? Funny glow about them. It is a shine around their heads—something shining. I remember it now. I found myself back on the Boulevard. I was waiting for something to happen and I was going to be there. I looked up at the clock down by that big theater. It was ten minutes to four. Something big was going to happen.
I wondered if I went into a movie (since nobody could see me) if I'd like it. Some cardboard blond was draped over the marquee with her leg six feet long. I started to go in, but it wasn't inside. I was waiting for something to happen outside. I walked down the street. In the concrete they have names of stars. I just recognized a few of them. The other names I had never heard. I was getting bored, I wanted to get back to the hospital in Fresno, and I wanted to stay there on the Boulevard, even if nobody could see me. Those crazy kids. Why are they dressed like that? Maybe it is some big Halloween doings, but it don't seem like Halloween. More like early spring. There was that sound again, that lack of sound. Stillness, stillness, stillness. The quiet is getting bigger and bigger. I know it is going to happen. Something is going to happen. It is happening now! It sure did. She woke me up, grinning and smiling, that fat one again.
"It's time for your milk, kiddo," she says. Gosh, old women of thirty acting like the cat's pajamas. Next time maybe she'll bring hot chocolate.
Where have I been? Where haven't I been? I've been to the ends of the earth and back. I've been to the end of the world—there isn't anything left. Not even Fresno, even though I'm lying here right this minute. If only my eyes would get a little clearer so I can write all this down. Nobody will believe me, anyway. I'm going back to that last moment on the Boulevard. Some sweet kid went past, dragging little boys (twins, I guess) by each hand. Her skirt was up—well, pretty high—and she had a tired look. I thought for a minute I could ask her about the birds, what had happened to them, and then I remembered she hadn't seen me. Her hair was all frowzy, way out all over her head. A lot of them looked like that, but she looked so tired and like she was sorry about something. I guess she was sorry before it happened—because it surely did happen. There was a funny smell. I don't know where it came from. I didn't like it. A smell like sulphur, sulfuric acid, a smell like death. For a minute I thought I was back in chem. [Chemistry class].
When I looked around for the girl, she was gone. I wanted to find her for some reason. It was as if I knew something was going to happen and I could stay with her, help her. She was gone, and I walked half a block, then I saw the clock again. My eyes seemed glued to that clock. I couldn't move. I just waited. It was five minutes to four on a sunny afternoon. I thought I would stand there looking at that clock forever waiting for something to come. Then, when it came, it was nothing. It was just nothing. It wasn't nearly as hard as the earthquake we had two years ago. The ground shook, just an instant. People looked at each other, surprised. Then they laughed. I laughed, too. So this was what I had been waiting for. This funny little shake. It meant nothing.
I was relieved and I was disappointed. What had I been waiting for? I started back up the Boulevard, moving my legs like those kids. How do they do it? I never found out. I felt as if the ground wasn't solid under me, knew I was dreaming, and yet I wasn't dreaming. There was that smell again, coming up from the ocean. I was getting to the 5 and 10 store and I saw the look on the kids' faces. Two of them were right in front of me, coming my way.
"Let's get out of this place. Let's go back East." He seemed scared. It wasn't as if the sidewalks were trembling—but you couldn't seem to see them. Not with your eyes you couldn't. An old lady had a dog, a little white dog, and she stopped and looked scared, and grabbed him in her arms and said: "Let's go home, Frou, Frou. Mama is going to take you home." That poor lady, hanging on to her dog.
I got scared. Real scared. I remembered the girl. She was way down the block, probably. I ran and ran, and the ground kept trembling. I couldn't see it. I couldn't see it. But I knew it was trembling. Everybody looked scared. They looked terrible. One young lady just sat down on the sidewalk all doubled up. She kept saying, "earthquake, its the earthquake," over and over. But I couldn't see that anything was different.
Then, when it came, how it came. Like nothing in God's world. Like nothing. It was like the scream of a siren, long and low, or the scream of a woman I heard having a baby when I was a kid. It was awful. It was as if something—some monster—was pushing up the sidewalks. You felt it long before you saw it, as if the sidewalks wouldn't hold you anymore. I looked out at the cars. They were honking, but not scared. They just kept moving. They didn't seem to know yet that anything was happening. Then, that white car, that baby half-sized one came sprawling from the inside lane right against the curb. The girl who was driving just sat there. She sat there with her eyes staring, as if she couldn't move, but I could hear her. She made funny noises.
I watched her, thinking of the other girl. I said that it was a dream and I would wake up. But I didn't wake up. The shaking had started again, but this time different. It was a nice shaking, like a cradle being rocked for a minute, and then I saw the middle of the Boulevard seem to be breaking in two. The concrete looked as if it were being pushed straight up by some giant shovel. It was breaking in two. That is why the girl's car went out of control. And then a loud sound again, like I've never heard before—then hundreds of sounds—all kinds of sounds; children, and women, and those crazy guys with earrings. They were all moving, some of them above the sidewalk. I can't describe it. They were lifted up.
And the waters kept oozing—oozing. The cries. God, it was awful. I woke up. I never want to have that dream again.
It came again. Like the first time which was a preview and all I could remember was that it was the end of the world. I was right back there—all that crying. Right in the middle of it. My eardrums felt as if they were going to burst. Noise everywhere. People falling down, some of them hurt badly. Pieces of buildings, chips, flying in the air. One hit me hard on the side of the face, but I didn't seem to feel it. I wanted to wake up, to get away from this place. It had been fun in the beginning, the first dream, when I kind of knew I was going to dream the end of the world or something. This was terrible. There were older people in cars. Most of the kids were on the street. But those old guys were yelling bloody murder, as if anybody could help them. Nobody could help anybody. It was then I felt myself lifted up. Maybe I had died. I don't know. But I was over the city. It was tilting toward the ocean—like a picnic table.
The buildings were holding, better than you could believe. They were holding. They were holding. They were holding.
The people saw they were holding and they tried to cling to them or get inside. It was fantastic. Like a building had a will of its own. Everything else breaking around them, and they were holding, holding. I was up over them—looking down. I started to root for them. "Hold that line," I said. "Hold that line. Hold that line. Hold that line." I wanted to cheer, to shout, to scream. If the buildings held, those buildings on the Boulevard, maybe the girl—the girl with the two kids—maybe she could get inside. It looked that way for a long time, maybe three minutes, and three minutes was like forever. You knew they were going to hold, even if the waters kept coming up. Only they didn't.
I've never imagined what it would be like for a building to die. A building dies just like a person. It gives way, some of the bigger ones did just that. They began to crumble, like an old man with palsy, who couldn't take it anymore. They crumbled right down to nothing. And the little ones screamed like mad—over and above the roar of the people. They were mad about dying. But buildings die.
I couldn't look anymore at the people. I kept wanting to get higher. Then I seemed to be out of it all, but I could see. I seemed to be up on Big Bear near San Bernardino, but the funny thing was that I could see everywhere. I knew what was happening. The earth seemed to start to tremble again. I could feel it even though I was high up. This time it lasted maybe twelve seconds, and it was gentle. You couldn't believe anything so gentle could cause so much damage. But then I saw the streets of Los Angeles—and everything between the San Bernardino mountains and Los Angeles. It was still tilting towards the ocean, houses, everything that was left. I could see the big lanes—dozens of big lanes still loaded with cars sliding the same way. Now the ocean was coming in, moving like a huge snake across the land. I wondered how long it was, and I could see the clock, even though I wasn't there on the Boulevard. It was 4:29. It had been half an hour. I was glad I couldn't hear the crying anymore. But I could see everything. I could see everything.
Then, like looking at a huge map of the world, I could see what was happening on the land and with the people. San Francisco was feeling it, but she was not in any way like Hollywood or Los Angeles. It was moving just like that earthquake movie with Jeanette McDonald and Gable. I could see all those mountains coming together. . . I knew it was going to happen to San Francisco—it was going to turn over—it would turn upside down. It went quickly, because of the twisting, I guess. It seemed much faster than Hollywood, but then I wasn't exactly there. I was a long way off. I was a long, long way off. I shut my eyes for a long time—I guess ten minutes—and when I opened them I saw Grand Canyon.
When I looked at Grand Canyon, that great big gap was closing in, and Boulder Dam was being pushed, from underneath. And then, Nevada, and on up to Reno. Way down south, way down. Baja, California. Mexico too. It looked like some volcano down there was erupting, along with everything else. I saw the map of South America, especially Colombia. Another volcano—eruption—shaking violently. I seemed to be seeing a movie of three months before—before the Hollywood earthquake. Venezuela seemed to be having some kind of volcanic activity. Away off in the distance, I could see Japan, on a fault, too. It was so far off—not easy to see because I was still on Big Bear Mountain, but it started to go into the sea. I couldn't hear screaming, but I could see the surprised look on their faces. They looked so surprised. Japanese girls are made well, supple, easy, muscles that move well. Pretty, too. But they were all like dolls. It was so far away I could hardly see it. In a minute or two it seemed over. Everybody was gone. There was nobody left.
[Brother Branham said: "Japan . . . she's ready to rock to pieces right now. And there's no way you can stop it, because they have neglected to do exactly what God told them to do. Instead of preach of Gospel, they have built buildings, and had fine scholarships, and educations" (Uncertain Sound, #61-0415E)].
I didn't know time now. I couldn't see a clock. I tried to see the island of Hawaii. I could see huge tidal waves beating against it. The people on the streets were getting wet, and they were scared. But I didn't see anybody go into the sea.
I seemed way around the globe. More flooding. Is the world going to be drenched? Constantinople. Black Sea rising. Suez Canal, for some reason seemed to be drying up. Sicily—she doesn't hold. I could see a map. Mt. Etna. Mt. Etna is shaking. A lot of area seemed to go, but it seemed to be earlier or later. I wasn't sure of time, now.
England—huge floods—but no tidal waves. Water, water everywhere, but no one was going into the sea. People were frightened and crying. Some places they fell to the streets on their knees and started to pray for the world. I didn't know the English were emotional. Ireland, Scotland—all kinds of churches were crowded—it seemed night and day. People were carrying candles and everybody was crying for California, Nevada, parts of Colorado—maybe even all of it, even Utah. Everybody was crying—most of them didn't even know anybody in California, Nevada, Utah, but they were crying as if they were blood kin. Like one family. Like it happened to them.
New York was coming into view—she was still there, nothing had happened, yet water level was way up. Here, things were different. People were running in the streets yelling—"end of the world." Kids ran into restaurants and ate everything in sight. I saw a shoe store with all the shoes gone in about five minutes. 5th Avenue—everybody running. Some radio blasting—bigger—a loud speaker—that in a few minutes, power might be shut off. They must control themselves. Five girls were running like mad toward the YMCA, that place on Lexington or somewhere. But nothing was happening in New York. I saw an old lady with garbage cans filling them with water. Everybody seemed scared to death. Some people looked dazed. The streets seemed filled with loud speakers. It wasn't daylight. It was night.
I saw, like the next day, and everything was topsy turvey. Loud speakers again about fuel tanks broken in areas—shortage of oil. People seemed to be looting markets.
I saw a lot of places that seemed safe, and people were not so scared. Especially the rural areas. Here everything was almost as if nothing had happened. People seemed headed to these places, some on foot, some in cars that still had fuel. I heard—or somehow I knew—that somewhere in the Atlantic land had come up. A lot of land. I was getting awfully tired. I wanted to wake up. I wanted to go back to the girl—to know where she was—and those two kids. I found myself back in Hollywood—and it was still 4:29. I wasn't up on Big Bear at all, I was perched over Hollywood. I was just there. It seemed perfectly natural in my dream.
I could hear now. I could hear, someplace, a radio station blasting out—telling people not to panic. They were dying in the streets. There were picture stations with movies—some right in Hollywood—these were carrying on with all the shaking. One fellow in the picture station was a little short guy who should have been scared to death. But he wasn't. He kept shouting and reading instructions. Something about helicopters or planes would go over—some kind of planes—but I knew they couldn't. Things were happening in the atmosphere. The waves were rushing up now. Waves. Such waves. Nightmare waves.
Then, I saw again. Boulder Dam, going down—pushing together, pushing together breaking apart—no, Grand Canyon was pushing together, and Boulder Dam was breaking apart. It was still daylight. All these radio stations went off at the same time—Boulder Dam had broken.
I wondered how everybody would know about it—people back East. That was when I saw the "ham radio operators." I saw them in the darndest places, as if I were right there with them. Like the little guy with glasses, they kept sounding the alarm. One kept saying: "This is California. We are going into the sea. This is California. We are going into the sea. Get to high places. Get to the mountains. All states west—this is California. We are going into the. . . we are going into the. . ." I thought he was going to say "sea," but I could see him. He was inland, but the waters had come in. His hand was still clinging to the table, he was trying to get up, so that once again he could say: "This is California. We are going into the sea. This is California. We are going into the sea."
I seemed to hear this, over and over, for what seemed hours—just those words—they kept it up until the last minute—all of them calling out, "Get to the mountains—this is California. We are going into the sea."
I woke up. It didn't seem as if I had been dreaming. I have never been so tired. For a minute or two, I thought it had happened. I wondered about two things. I hadn't seen what happened to Fresno and I hadn't found out what happened to that girl.
I've been thinking about it all morning. I'm going home tomorrow. It was just a dream. It was nothing more. Nobody in the future on Hollywood Boulevard is going to be wearing earrings—and those beards. Nothing like that is ever going to happen. That girl was so real to me—that girl with those kids. It won't ever happen—but if it did, how could I tell her (maybe she isn't even born yet) to move away from California when she has her twins—and she can't be on the Boulevard that day. She was so gosh-darned real.
The other thing—those ham operators—hanging on like that—over and over—saying the same thing:
"This is California. We are going into the sea. This is California. We are going into the sea. Get to the mountains. Get to the hilltops. California, Nevada, Colorado, Arizona, Utah. This is California. We are going into the sea."
I guess I'll hear that for days.
I thought about Hollywood Boulevard, and I found myself there. Whether this is true, I do not know, but there were a lot of guys my age with beards and wearing, some of them, earrings. All the girls, some of them keen-o, wore real short skirts. . . and they slouched along—moving like a dance. Yet they seemed familiar. I wondered if I could talk to them, and I said, "Hello," but they didn't see or hear me. I decided I would look as funny to them as they looked to me. I guess it is something you have to learn. I couldn't do it.
I noticed there was a quietness about the air, a kind of stillness. Something else was missing, something that should be there. At first, I couldn't figure it out, I didn't know what it was—then I did. There were no birds. I listened. I walked two blocks north of the Boulevard—all houses—no birds. I wondered what had happened to them. Had they gone away? Again, I could hear the stillness. Then I knew something was going to happen.
I wondered what year it was. It certainly was not 1937. I saw a newspaper on the corner with a picture of the President. It surely wasn't Mr. Roosevelt. He was bigger, heavier, big ears. If it wasn't 1937, I wondered what year it was. . . My eyes weren't working right. Someone was coming—someone in 1937—it was that darned, fat nurse ready to take my temperature. I woke up. Crazy dream.
The next day: Gosh, my headache is worse. It is a wonder I didn't get killed on that horse. I've had another crazy dream, back in Hollywood. Those people. Why do they dress like that, I wonder? Funny glow about them. It is a shine around their heads—something shining. I remember it now. I found myself back on the Boulevard. I was waiting for something to happen and I was going to be there. I looked up at the clock down by that big theater. It was ten minutes to four. Something big was going to happen.
I wondered if I went into a movie (since nobody could see me) if I'd like it. Some cardboard blond was draped over the marquee with her leg six feet long. I started to go in, but it wasn't inside. I was waiting for something to happen outside. I walked down the street. In the concrete they have names of stars. I just recognized a few of them. The other names I had never heard. I was getting bored, I wanted to get back to the hospital in Fresno, and I wanted to stay there on the Boulevard, even if nobody could see me. Those crazy kids. Why are they dressed like that? Maybe it is some big Halloween doings, but it don't seem like Halloween. More like early spring. There was that sound again, that lack of sound. Stillness, stillness, stillness. The quiet is getting bigger and bigger. I know it is going to happen. Something is going to happen. It is happening now! It sure did. She woke me up, grinning and smiling, that fat one again.
"It's time for your milk, kiddo," she says. Gosh, old women of thirty acting like the cat's pajamas. Next time maybe she'll bring hot chocolate.
Where have I been? Where haven't I been? I've been to the ends of the earth and back. I've been to the end of the world—there isn't anything left. Not even Fresno, even though I'm lying here right this minute. If only my eyes would get a little clearer so I can write all this down. Nobody will believe me, anyway. I'm going back to that last moment on the Boulevard. Some sweet kid went past, dragging little boys (twins, I guess) by each hand. Her skirt was up—well, pretty high—and she had a tired look. I thought for a minute I could ask her about the birds, what had happened to them, and then I remembered she hadn't seen me. Her hair was all frowzy, way out all over her head. A lot of them looked like that, but she looked so tired and like she was sorry about something. I guess she was sorry before it happened—because it surely did happen. There was a funny smell. I don't know where it came from. I didn't like it. A smell like sulphur, sulfuric acid, a smell like death. For a minute I thought I was back in chem. [Chemistry class].
When I looked around for the girl, she was gone. I wanted to find her for some reason. It was as if I knew something was going to happen and I could stay with her, help her. She was gone, and I walked half a block, then I saw the clock again. My eyes seemed glued to that clock. I couldn't move. I just waited. It was five minutes to four on a sunny afternoon. I thought I would stand there looking at that clock forever waiting for something to come. Then, when it came, it was nothing. It was just nothing. It wasn't nearly as hard as the earthquake we had two years ago. The ground shook, just an instant. People looked at each other, surprised. Then they laughed. I laughed, too. So this was what I had been waiting for. This funny little shake. It meant nothing.
I was relieved and I was disappointed. What had I been waiting for? I started back up the Boulevard, moving my legs like those kids. How do they do it? I never found out. I felt as if the ground wasn't solid under me, knew I was dreaming, and yet I wasn't dreaming. There was that smell again, coming up from the ocean. I was getting to the 5 and 10 store and I saw the look on the kids' faces. Two of them were right in front of me, coming my way.
"Let's get out of this place. Let's go back East." He seemed scared. It wasn't as if the sidewalks were trembling—but you couldn't seem to see them. Not with your eyes you couldn't. An old lady had a dog, a little white dog, and she stopped and looked scared, and grabbed him in her arms and said: "Let's go home, Frou, Frou. Mama is going to take you home." That poor lady, hanging on to her dog.
I got scared. Real scared. I remembered the girl. She was way down the block, probably. I ran and ran, and the ground kept trembling. I couldn't see it. I couldn't see it. But I knew it was trembling. Everybody looked scared. They looked terrible. One young lady just sat down on the sidewalk all doubled up. She kept saying, "earthquake, its the earthquake," over and over. But I couldn't see that anything was different.
Then, when it came, how it came. Like nothing in God's world. Like nothing. It was like the scream of a siren, long and low, or the scream of a woman I heard having a baby when I was a kid. It was awful. It was as if something—some monster—was pushing up the sidewalks. You felt it long before you saw it, as if the sidewalks wouldn't hold you anymore. I looked out at the cars. They were honking, but not scared. They just kept moving. They didn't seem to know yet that anything was happening. Then, that white car, that baby half-sized one came sprawling from the inside lane right against the curb. The girl who was driving just sat there. She sat there with her eyes staring, as if she couldn't move, but I could hear her. She made funny noises.
I watched her, thinking of the other girl. I said that it was a dream and I would wake up. But I didn't wake up. The shaking had started again, but this time different. It was a nice shaking, like a cradle being rocked for a minute, and then I saw the middle of the Boulevard seem to be breaking in two. The concrete looked as if it were being pushed straight up by some giant shovel. It was breaking in two. That is why the girl's car went out of control. And then a loud sound again, like I've never heard before—then hundreds of sounds—all kinds of sounds; children, and women, and those crazy guys with earrings. They were all moving, some of them above the sidewalk. I can't describe it. They were lifted up.
And the waters kept oozing—oozing. The cries. God, it was awful. I woke up. I never want to have that dream again.
It came again. Like the first time which was a preview and all I could remember was that it was the end of the world. I was right back there—all that crying. Right in the middle of it. My eardrums felt as if they were going to burst. Noise everywhere. People falling down, some of them hurt badly. Pieces of buildings, chips, flying in the air. One hit me hard on the side of the face, but I didn't seem to feel it. I wanted to wake up, to get away from this place. It had been fun in the beginning, the first dream, when I kind of knew I was going to dream the end of the world or something. This was terrible. There were older people in cars. Most of the kids were on the street. But those old guys were yelling bloody murder, as if anybody could help them. Nobody could help anybody. It was then I felt myself lifted up. Maybe I had died. I don't know. But I was over the city. It was tilting toward the ocean—like a picnic table.
The buildings were holding, better than you could believe. They were holding. They were holding. They were holding.
The people saw they were holding and they tried to cling to them or get inside. It was fantastic. Like a building had a will of its own. Everything else breaking around them, and they were holding, holding. I was up over them—looking down. I started to root for them. "Hold that line," I said. "Hold that line. Hold that line. Hold that line." I wanted to cheer, to shout, to scream. If the buildings held, those buildings on the Boulevard, maybe the girl—the girl with the two kids—maybe she could get inside. It looked that way for a long time, maybe three minutes, and three minutes was like forever. You knew they were going to hold, even if the waters kept coming up. Only they didn't.
I've never imagined what it would be like for a building to die. A building dies just like a person. It gives way, some of the bigger ones did just that. They began to crumble, like an old man with palsy, who couldn't take it anymore. They crumbled right down to nothing. And the little ones screamed like mad—over and above the roar of the people. They were mad about dying. But buildings die.
I couldn't look anymore at the people. I kept wanting to get higher. Then I seemed to be out of it all, but I could see. I seemed to be up on Big Bear near San Bernardino, but the funny thing was that I could see everywhere. I knew what was happening. The earth seemed to start to tremble again. I could feel it even though I was high up. This time it lasted maybe twelve seconds, and it was gentle. You couldn't believe anything so gentle could cause so much damage. But then I saw the streets of Los Angeles—and everything between the San Bernardino mountains and Los Angeles. It was still tilting towards the ocean, houses, everything that was left. I could see the big lanes—dozens of big lanes still loaded with cars sliding the same way. Now the ocean was coming in, moving like a huge snake across the land. I wondered how long it was, and I could see the clock, even though I wasn't there on the Boulevard. It was 4:29. It had been half an hour. I was glad I couldn't hear the crying anymore. But I could see everything. I could see everything.
Then, like looking at a huge map of the world, I could see what was happening on the land and with the people. San Francisco was feeling it, but she was not in any way like Hollywood or Los Angeles. It was moving just like that earthquake movie with Jeanette McDonald and Gable. I could see all those mountains coming together. . . I knew it was going to happen to San Francisco—it was going to turn over—it would turn upside down. It went quickly, because of the twisting, I guess. It seemed much faster than Hollywood, but then I wasn't exactly there. I was a long way off. I was a long, long way off. I shut my eyes for a long time—I guess ten minutes—and when I opened them I saw Grand Canyon.
When I looked at Grand Canyon, that great big gap was closing in, and Boulder Dam was being pushed, from underneath. And then, Nevada, and on up to Reno. Way down south, way down. Baja, California. Mexico too. It looked like some volcano down there was erupting, along with everything else. I saw the map of South America, especially Colombia. Another volcano—eruption—shaking violently. I seemed to be seeing a movie of three months before—before the Hollywood earthquake. Venezuela seemed to be having some kind of volcanic activity. Away off in the distance, I could see Japan, on a fault, too. It was so far off—not easy to see because I was still on Big Bear Mountain, but it started to go into the sea. I couldn't hear screaming, but I could see the surprised look on their faces. They looked so surprised. Japanese girls are made well, supple, easy, muscles that move well. Pretty, too. But they were all like dolls. It was so far away I could hardly see it. In a minute or two it seemed over. Everybody was gone. There was nobody left.
[Brother Branham said: "Japan . . . she's ready to rock to pieces right now. And there's no way you can stop it, because they have neglected to do exactly what God told them to do. Instead of preach of Gospel, they have built buildings, and had fine scholarships, and educations" (Uncertain Sound, #61-0415E)].
I didn't know time now. I couldn't see a clock. I tried to see the island of Hawaii. I could see huge tidal waves beating against it. The people on the streets were getting wet, and they were scared. But I didn't see anybody go into the sea.
I seemed way around the globe. More flooding. Is the world going to be drenched? Constantinople. Black Sea rising. Suez Canal, for some reason seemed to be drying up. Sicily—she doesn't hold. I could see a map. Mt. Etna. Mt. Etna is shaking. A lot of area seemed to go, but it seemed to be earlier or later. I wasn't sure of time, now.
England—huge floods—but no tidal waves. Water, water everywhere, but no one was going into the sea. People were frightened and crying. Some places they fell to the streets on their knees and started to pray for the world. I didn't know the English were emotional. Ireland, Scotland—all kinds of churches were crowded—it seemed night and day. People were carrying candles and everybody was crying for California, Nevada, parts of Colorado—maybe even all of it, even Utah. Everybody was crying—most of them didn't even know anybody in California, Nevada, Utah, but they were crying as if they were blood kin. Like one family. Like it happened to them.
New York was coming into view—she was still there, nothing had happened, yet water level was way up. Here, things were different. People were running in the streets yelling—"end of the world." Kids ran into restaurants and ate everything in sight. I saw a shoe store with all the shoes gone in about five minutes. 5th Avenue—everybody running. Some radio blasting—bigger—a loud speaker—that in a few minutes, power might be shut off. They must control themselves. Five girls were running like mad toward the YMCA, that place on Lexington or somewhere. But nothing was happening in New York. I saw an old lady with garbage cans filling them with water. Everybody seemed scared to death. Some people looked dazed. The streets seemed filled with loud speakers. It wasn't daylight. It was night.
I saw, like the next day, and everything was topsy turvey. Loud speakers again about fuel tanks broken in areas—shortage of oil. People seemed to be looting markets.
I saw a lot of places that seemed safe, and people were not so scared. Especially the rural areas. Here everything was almost as if nothing had happened. People seemed headed to these places, some on foot, some in cars that still had fuel. I heard—or somehow I knew—that somewhere in the Atlantic land had come up. A lot of land. I was getting awfully tired. I wanted to wake up. I wanted to go back to the girl—to know where she was—and those two kids. I found myself back in Hollywood—and it was still 4:29. I wasn't up on Big Bear at all, I was perched over Hollywood. I was just there. It seemed perfectly natural in my dream.
I could hear now. I could hear, someplace, a radio station blasting out—telling people not to panic. They were dying in the streets. There were picture stations with movies—some right in Hollywood—these were carrying on with all the shaking. One fellow in the picture station was a little short guy who should have been scared to death. But he wasn't. He kept shouting and reading instructions. Something about helicopters or planes would go over—some kind of planes—but I knew they couldn't. Things were happening in the atmosphere. The waves were rushing up now. Waves. Such waves. Nightmare waves.
Then, I saw again. Boulder Dam, going down—pushing together, pushing together breaking apart—no, Grand Canyon was pushing together, and Boulder Dam was breaking apart. It was still daylight. All these radio stations went off at the same time—Boulder Dam had broken.
I wondered how everybody would know about it—people back East. That was when I saw the "ham radio operators." I saw them in the darndest places, as if I were right there with them. Like the little guy with glasses, they kept sounding the alarm. One kept saying: "This is California. We are going into the sea. This is California. We are going into the sea. Get to high places. Get to the mountains. All states west—this is California. We are going into the. . . we are going into the. . ." I thought he was going to say "sea," but I could see him. He was inland, but the waters had come in. His hand was still clinging to the table, he was trying to get up, so that once again he could say: "This is California. We are going into the sea. This is California. We are going into the sea."
I seemed to hear this, over and over, for what seemed hours—just those words—they kept it up until the last minute—all of them calling out, "Get to the mountains—this is California. We are going into the sea."
I woke up. It didn't seem as if I had been dreaming. I have never been so tired. For a minute or two, I thought it had happened. I wondered about two things. I hadn't seen what happened to Fresno and I hadn't found out what happened to that girl.
I've been thinking about it all morning. I'm going home tomorrow. It was just a dream. It was nothing more. Nobody in the future on Hollywood Boulevard is going to be wearing earrings—and those beards. Nothing like that is ever going to happen. That girl was so real to me—that girl with those kids. It won't ever happen—but if it did, how could I tell her (maybe she isn't even born yet) to move away from California when she has her twins—and she can't be on the Boulevard that day. She was so gosh-darned real.
The other thing—those ham operators—hanging on like that—over and over—saying the same thing:
"This is California. We are going into the sea. This is California. We are going into the sea. Get to the mountains. Get to the hilltops. California, Nevada, Colorado, Arizona, Utah. This is California. We are going into the sea."
I guess I'll hear that for days.
Joe Brandt's Dreams agree with the Prophecies of William Branham
A prophecy that I made about 1935 or something like that, said: "The time would come (It's written in a book somewhere) that the sea would weep it's way into the desert." Look what'll take place. If that thousands of square miles falls down into the lava of the earth and slides in, there'll be millions die at one time. And that'll cause such a tidal wave. . . Remember, plumb up into the Salton Sea is a hundred or two hundred feet lower than the sea level. That water will probably come almost to Tucson with that tidal wave coming across there. And the sea shall weep its way into the desert (William Branham, Trying to do God a Service without being in the Will of God, p. 6:25).
[The Spirit of the Lord came upon the Prophet as he was preaching in Los Angeles]: "We don't know what time. And you don't know what time that this city one day is going to be laying out here in the bottom of this ocean."
"O, Capernaum," said Jesus, "Thou who exalted into heaven will be brought down into hell, for if the mighty works had been done in Sodom and Gomorrah, it'd have been standing till this day." And Sodom and Gomorrah lays at the bottom of the Dead Sea, and Capernaum's in the bottom of the sea. Thou city, who claims to be the city of the Angels, who's exalted yourself into heaven and sent all the dirty filthy things of fashions and things, till even the foreign countries come here to pick up our filth and send it away, with your fine churches and steeples, and so forth the way you do; remember, one day you'll be laying in the bottom of this sea. You're great honeycomb under you right now. The wrath of God is belching right beneath you. How much longer He'll hold this sandbar hanging over that, when that ocean out yonder a mile deep will slide in there plumb back to the Salton Sea. It'll be worse than the last day of Pompeii. Repent, Los Angeles. Repent the rest of you and turn to God. The hour of His wrath is upon the earth. Flee while there's time to flee and come into Christ." Let us pray." (Choosing a Bride, p. 35:3-5).
[And again]: "The last meeting I had in California, while speaking, and didn't know nothing happened till I got on the street, It told California, said, "Capernaum, Capernaum, the city that's called by the name of the angels (that's Los Angeles), you've exalted yourself into heaven, but you'll be brought down into hell. For if the mighty works had been done in Sodom that's been done in you, it would've been standing till this day."
"Now, the last few days, the great roaring and popping. Then, here come out a paper of science, said, "It's all honeycombed; it's got to go under." They just know it." "And you watch, the water will come plumb back into the Salton Sea. Los Angeles is doomed for judgment. I tell you before it happened, that you might know when it does happen. I never spoke that by myself. And I've never had Him to tell me one thing but what happened. And you can bear record of that. That's right. When? I don't know." "I went out, and they told me what I said. And I listened, went back and searched the Scripture. You know, Jesus said, almost in them same words about Capernaum; and Sodom and Gomorrah was in the bottom of the Dead Sea, I suppose was then. And later, about a hundred years later, Capernaum slid into the sea, and it's in the sea. The same God that put Sodom in the sea for its sins, the same God that put Capernaum in the sea for its sins, the same God will put Los Angeles in the sea for its sins, that city of corruption." (Works is Faith Expressed, p. 8:61-64).
[The Spirit of the Lord came upon the Prophet as he was preaching in Los Angeles]: "We don't know what time. And you don't know what time that this city one day is going to be laying out here in the bottom of this ocean."
"O, Capernaum," said Jesus, "Thou who exalted into heaven will be brought down into hell, for if the mighty works had been done in Sodom and Gomorrah, it'd have been standing till this day." And Sodom and Gomorrah lays at the bottom of the Dead Sea, and Capernaum's in the bottom of the sea. Thou city, who claims to be the city of the Angels, who's exalted yourself into heaven and sent all the dirty filthy things of fashions and things, till even the foreign countries come here to pick up our filth and send it away, with your fine churches and steeples, and so forth the way you do; remember, one day you'll be laying in the bottom of this sea. You're great honeycomb under you right now. The wrath of God is belching right beneath you. How much longer He'll hold this sandbar hanging over that, when that ocean out yonder a mile deep will slide in there plumb back to the Salton Sea. It'll be worse than the last day of Pompeii. Repent, Los Angeles. Repent the rest of you and turn to God. The hour of His wrath is upon the earth. Flee while there's time to flee and come into Christ." Let us pray." (Choosing a Bride, p. 35:3-5).
[And again]: "The last meeting I had in California, while speaking, and didn't know nothing happened till I got on the street, It told California, said, "Capernaum, Capernaum, the city that's called by the name of the angels (that's Los Angeles), you've exalted yourself into heaven, but you'll be brought down into hell. For if the mighty works had been done in Sodom that's been done in you, it would've been standing till this day."
"Now, the last few days, the great roaring and popping. Then, here come out a paper of science, said, "It's all honeycombed; it's got to go under." They just know it." "And you watch, the water will come plumb back into the Salton Sea. Los Angeles is doomed for judgment. I tell you before it happened, that you might know when it does happen. I never spoke that by myself. And I've never had Him to tell me one thing but what happened. And you can bear record of that. That's right. When? I don't know." "I went out, and they told me what I said. And I listened, went back and searched the Scripture. You know, Jesus said, almost in them same words about Capernaum; and Sodom and Gomorrah was in the bottom of the Dead Sea, I suppose was then. And later, about a hundred years later, Capernaum slid into the sea, and it's in the sea. The same God that put Sodom in the sea for its sins, the same God that put Capernaum in the sea for its sins, the same God will put Los Angeles in the sea for its sins, that city of corruption." (Works is Faith Expressed, p. 8:61-64).
Thursday, March 21, 2013
Our Paths Have Met Again BY PRESIDENT SPENCER W. KIMBALL
Our Paths Have Met Again
Long ago, an elderly Navajo brother told me something that I have reflected upon many times in the years that have intervened. He said: “This gospel is something we have been trying all our lives to remember; now all at once it comes back. Our fathers used to be with your fathers in the long ago, but then we came to a division in the road with a great stone in the middle. We went one way and you went the other. We went around that big rock for a long time; but now we are back together, and we will always walk together from now on.”
There is great understanding in this view of the history of the Lord’s dealings with his people.
Many times I have tried in my mind to span the long centuries that link us to our common fathers, this Lamanite brother and I; and my soul is stirred when I remember that in our veins flows the blood of the Lord’s elect—the great patriarchs of the Old Testament, such as Adam, and Enoch, and Noah. I am humbled to know that our common father was Abraham, of whom it is said there were no greater ones and through whose seed the Lord has chosen to carry out his holy purposes on the earth. Isaac, one of the great prophets of all time, and Jacob, the father of all the house of Israel, are our ancestors. Joseph who was sold into Egypt, a man of constant virtue who was in his day a savior to his father’s house, is also the father of most members of the Church today, including the descendants of Lehi, Ishmael, and Zoram.
I have thought of the parting of our ways, when our fathers began to take their separate paths around that great rock that has kept us apart these many centuries, when, through disobedience and rebellion, the words ofMoses began to be fulfilled: “The Lord shall cause thee to be smitten before thine enemies … and [thou] shalt be removed into all the kingdoms of the earth. …
“And the Lord shall scatter thee among all people, from the one end of the earth even unto the other; and there thou shalt serve other gods, which neither thou nor thy fathers have known, even wood and stone.” (Deut. 28:25, 64.)
How completely and thoroughly have these prophetic words come to pass! For although the scriptures are filled with examples of the Lord’s patience with ancient Israel—how he endured their pettiness, listened to their eternal complaining, recoiled from their filthiness, groaned at their idolatries and their adulteries, and wept at their faithlessness—yet his people finally did reject him through unrighteousness and rebellion. Then, true to the words of his holy prophets, the Lord suffered them to be scattered—first one branch, then another, and another—to the four corners of the earth: “For, lo, I will command, and I will sift the house of Israel among all nations, like as corn is sifted in a sieve.” (Amos 9:9.)
First, the northern kingdom of Israel was conquered and its people carried away captive to Assyria nearly 2,700 years ago. From thence these people, our fathers, known to us as the “ten lost tribes of Israel,” and principally Ephraim, were scattered among the heathen nations of the earth, to fall into the darkness of an apostasy that lasted for millennia.
Little more than a hundred years after this first captivity, the southern kingdom of Judah was attacked by Nebuchadnezzar’s armies; Jerusalem was sacked and its inhabitants, the Jews, taken into exile. After a time, some of them were permitted to return, but the remainder were scattered throughout western Asia. Following the ministry of the Lord Jesus Christand his apostles, however, Jerusalem was once again destroyed, and unrighteous and rebellious Judah was once again driven from the land of their inheritance to wander to and fro in darkness upon the earth to await the gathering of Israel in this day.
In 600 B.C., just prior to the exile of Judah, the Lord led yet another precious branch of the house of Israel out of Jerusalem. Father Lehi fled Jerusalem before the destruction and was directed by the Lord to establish his seed upon the American continents. These were a people with an impressive roster of great and inspired leaders. These were the people of the Book of Mormon, the Lord’s “other sheep” (John 10:16), whom he personally visited in the meridian of time, who at one time achieved for the space of 200 years a society of perfect peace and unity. Nevertheless, these too fell into disobedience and rebellion and wickedness and were cut off from the presence of the Lord, to be scourged, scattered, and “led about by Satan, even as chaff is driven before the wind, or as a vessel is tossed about upon the waves, without sail or anchor, or without anything wherewith to steer her.” (Morm. 5:18.) The remnant of this people are our brethren the Lamanites.
Many long centuries have come and gone since the momentous day of the parting of our ways. Countless peoples have lived and died; many kingdoms have risen and fallen. Within the limits of the vast horizon of world history we have seen the hand of the Lord; we have seen a great river divided into smaller streams, to wander over the face of the land, moving ever farther from the place of their origin; we have seen the wanderings of the many branches of Israel, natural branches once part of a strong and healthy tree, then broken from the living tree and scattered.
Yet the Lord has not forgotten Israel, for though Israel was to be sifted among all nations, the Lord nevertheless said, “Yet shall not the least grain fall upon the earth” and be lost. (Amos 9:9.) In our own time we have seen the political developments that have prepared the way for the gathering of Judah to old Jerusalem, to the land of their inheritance. Our comparatively recent history has also unfolded the preparation of the land of the Americas for the restoration of the gospel through the ProphetJoseph Smith, and we have witnessed much of the gathering of the remnants of Joseph in the land of the New Jerusalem and the grafting of the natural branches of Israel into the new tree of the restored gospel. We ourselves are witnessing the fulfillment of the words of the great prophet Isaiah:
“And it shall come to pass in the last days, that the mountain of the Lord’s house shall be established in the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills; and all nations shall flow unto it.
“And many people shall go and say, Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths; for out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.” (Isa. 2:2–3.)
And though we have seen the beginning only, yet shall the work of bringing Israel again to Zion expand to the uttermost parts of the earth. In this regard, I am reminded of the words of the prophet Habakkuk: “For I will work in your days, which ye will not believe, though it be told you.” (Hab. 1:5.)
“Therefore, behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that they shall no more say, The Lord liveth, which brought up the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt;
“But, The Lord liveth, which brought up and which led the seed of the house of Israel out of the north country, and from all countries whither I had driven them; and they shall dwell in their own land.” (Jer. 23:7–8.)
Of immense importance to this work of gathering the scattered branches of the house of Israel is the work of carrying the blessings of the restored gospel of Jesus Christ to the Lamanites, for the Lord’s work in these latter days can in no wise be complete until these children of great promise are brought back into the fold. The Lord said through his prophet Lehi, “Behold, I say unto you, Yea; they shall be remembered again among the house of Israel; they shall be grafted in, being a natural branch of the olive-tree, into the true olive-tree.” (1 Ne. 15:16.) We are witnesses to these events; we ourselves, both Lamanite and gentile, have seen the removal of the great stone of our separation.
This process of redeeming the Lamanite people has been far from easy, especially for the Lamanites themselves. For a thousand years after the closing of the Book of Mormon record, these people wandered in spiritual darkness and were scattered upon the American continents and the isles of the sea. They lost their written language, their high culture, and, worst of all, their knowledge of the living God and his work. Faith was replaced by fear, rich language by crippled dialects, and an understanding of God and his ways by idolatry, even human sacrifice. Since the coming of the white man to the Americas, they have been driven mercilessly, killed, and degraded. When Columbus came, these descendants of the Book of Mormon peoples and those with whom they had mixed numbered in the millions and covered the islands of the Pacific and the Americas from Point Barrow to Tierra del Fuego. But the conquerors found a prey, and in the land southward they robbed and despoiled and slaughtered in the name of gold and silver. In the land northward the 400-year “Battle of America” drove the tribal nations, much reduced in numbers, into the far corners of desolate lands. The peoples of the isles of the sea were corrupted by European and American seaman adventurers and were reduced nearly to extinction by disease. Someone said, “If my pen might have the gift of tears I would write a book and call it ‘The Indian,’ and I would make the whole world weep,” Only the most brazen soul could fail to weep when contemplating the fall of this people, and yet it was the decree of the Lord that the Lamanites should be preserved in the land, that this remnant of Joseph should again come into their promised inheritance.
When I was a young man living among the Lamanites more than seventy years ago, the destruction of the Lamanites was a stark reality. It seemed impossible to me that this broken people could ever rise from the destruction and become a mighty people once more, as the Lord had promised. I remember reading the words of President Wilford Woodruff, spoken in a day when the Lamanites were literally the “vanishing Americans”:
“The Lamanites will blossom as the rose on the mountains. I am willing to say here that, though I believe this, when I see the power of the nation destroying them from the face of the earth, the fulfillment of that prophecy is perhaps harder for me to believe than any revelation of God that I ever read. It looks as though there would not be enough left to receive the Gospel.” (Journal of Discourses 15:282.)
Yes, when I was a lad of ten I could read with perfect empathy the moving words of old Chief Tamenund in Cooper’s novel: “The anger of the Manitou is not done. Why should Tamenund stay? The pale-faces are masters of the earth, and the time of the redmen has not yet come again. My day has been too long. In the morning I saw the sons of Unamis happy and strong; and yet, before the night has come, have I lived to see the last … of the Mohicans.”
Yet the Lord’s promises with regard to the Lamanites began to be fulfilled with the coming forth of the Book of Mormon in this dispensation (seeEther 4:17), and I have lived to see them begin to flourish once more and to put on their beautiful garments.
My interest in the Indian people was nourished by a patriarchal blessing that came to me when I was a little lad of eleven years. My father took us children to get our patriarchal blessings. The man who gave mine to me was Samuel Claridge, a white-headed little Englishman, very short. I quote just a few lines of it:
“You will preach the gospel to many people, but more especially to the Lamanites, for the Lord will bless you with the gift of language and power to portray before that people the gospel in great plainness. You will see them organized and be prepared to stand as the bulwarks round this people.”
Certainly not a patriarch nor anyone else could ever have guessed that, because I was just a little ordinary country boy when I received that blessing. There was no evidence that I would ever go into the world and preach the gospel, and certainly not that I would go to nearly all the tribes in the world. So it was quite remarkable that these promises should come as they have. The Lamanite people are increasing in numbers and influence. When the Navajos returned from Fort Sumner after a shameful and devastating captivity, there were only 9,000 of them left; now there are more than 100,000. There are nearly 130 million Lamanites worldwide. Their superstitions are giving way. They are becoming active politically and responsible in their communities wherever they dwell. Their employment and standard of living are increasing.
The Church has been established among them to a degree, and it will continue to be established on an ever-increasing scale. There are now more than 350,000 Lamanite members of the Church. They attend their meetings faithfully. They have the priesthood among them. There are branch presidents, quorum leaders, bishops, stake presidents, high councilors, mission presidents, and leaders in all phases of the work among them. They are attending the temple and receiving the ordinances necessary for exaltation. They are intelligent and faithful; they are a great people and a blessed people.
Truly our paths have met once more—we a mixed remnant of Israel, principally Ephraim, even referred to as gentiles, now come forth out of captivity (see, e.g., 1 Ne. 13:19, 39), a people with a long history of apostasy and darkness and persecution, now only through the grace of Almighty God restored to the blessings of the gospel, that we in turn might be a blessing to the nations of the earth; and the Lamanites, also a people of disobedience now returned to the fold, whose sufferings have been sore, and punishment severe, and humiliation complete, whose affliction these many centuries must certainly be fruit meet for repentance. And what should be the nature of our reunion? We are relatives. We are brothers and sisters under the skin. We should receive each other with great joy, as the prodigal son was received, who, “when he was yet a great way off, his father saw him, and had compassion, and ran, and fell on his neck, and kissed him.” (Luke 15:20.)
I rejoice that it has been my privilege to carry the gospel to the Lamanites from the Pacific Ocean to the Atlantic, from the reaches of Canada to southern Chile, and in the islands from Hawaii to New Zealand. I have eaten with and visited with these my brethren and sisters and have been a guest in their homes.
I have met some who are a little bit ashamed that they are Lamanites. How can it be? Some would rather define themselves as Nephites, or Zoramites, or Josephites, or something else. Surely there must be a misunderstanding. Would they separate themselves from the great blessings the Lord has promised to his covenant people? Would they cast off their birthright? For the Lord himself has chosen to call these people Lamanites—all the mixed descendants of Father Lehi, and Ishmael, and Zoram, and Mulek, and others of the Book of Mormon record; all of the literal seed of the Lamanites, “and also all that had become Lamanites because of their dissensions.” (D&C 10:48.)
You who are Lamanites remember this: Your Lamanite ancestors were no more rebellious than any of the other branches of the house of Israel. All the seed of Israel fell into apostasy and suffered the long night of spiritual darkness, and only through the mercy of God have any of the branches been saved from utter destruction—the gentile-Ephraimite mixture first, and then the Lamanite remainder of Joseph, that the saying might be fulfilled, “the last shall be first, and the first last.” (Matt. 20:16.) You who are Lamanites remember: In your past are men such as the Nephi and his brother Lehi who, cast into prison while in the service of the Lord as missionaries, were so righteous and full of faith that though they were encircled by fire they could not be burned; whose faces shone like that of Moses when he descended from the mount; whose persecutors asked, “Who is it with whom these men do converse?” And the reply came: “They do converse with the angels of God.” (Hel. 5:38–39.) You are a chosen people; you have a brilliant future. You might possess all of the wealth of this earth, but you would be nothing compared to what you can be in this Church. You might rule over many nations, but you would have nothing compared to what you can have, through the holy priesthood, as a king or a queen unto the Most High God.
You non-Lamanites who, looking at these your brethren and sisters, can only see that which is “dark and loathsome,” take heed to yourselves! Look into your own past—any of our pasts—and you will find centuries of loathsomeness and unrighteousness. And then look to the scriptures and discover the Lord’s opinion of his chosen people, among whom the Lamanites are numbered. You who “pass by on the other side” when you meet one of these who have, as one may say, gone down from Jerusalem to Jericho and fallen among thieves and been stripped and beaten; in the words of the Prophet Joseph Smith, “you know no more concerning the destinies of this Church and Kingdom than a babe upon its mother’s lap. You don’t comprehend it.” (Wilford Woodruff, General Conference Report,April 8, 1898, p. 57.) if you had been with me recently to witness a chorus of small Lamanite children singing “I Am a Child of God,” you would have begun to see a vision of what the Lord has in mind for these, his people.
The Lord said, “I will soften the hearts of the Gentiles, that they shall be like unto a father to them [the Lamanite remnant of Joseph].” (2 Ne. 10:18.) A loving father does not despise his children. These are a chosen people and this Church has an important part in restoring them to their rightful inheritance. The chasm between what they are and what they will be is opportunity. The gospel furnishes that opportunity: it is ours to give. “And blessed are they who shall seek to bring forth my Zion at that day, for they shall have the gift and the power of the Holy Ghost; and if they endure unto the end they shall be lifted up at the last day, and … how beautiful upon the mountains shall they be.” (1 Ne. 13:37.)
There is one point I would like to make clear as I repeat what the Lord said: “I will give this land to you on one condition.” The title to the land of America is a conditional title, and only those who live the laws of God and serve him faithfully can inherit it. He wanted the Jaredites to come over. They found America. They lived for a long while here and ripened in iniquity before they encountered the people of Mulek. The land then was given to Lehi and to his sons and their families, but when a fulness of iniquity arose among these children of the land, they were swept off. Therefore, I want us to keep in our minds the fact that this land is ours only so long as we live the commandments of God. Whether it is Greeks or Italians or Norwegians or whoever is going to enjoy this land, they are going to serve God or they shall be swept off.
That is what makes me so frightened today when I read the magazines and the newspapers and see that the gentiles who are living upon this land today are failing, to some extent at least, to live the commandments. There is much evil, much wrong, much wrongdoing in this land of ours. Many people break the laws of God, and the day will come when he just cannot tolerate it. He says he won’t. When they become ripe in their iniquity, the day will come when they will be swept off. That day frightens us a little bit, doesn’t it, when people get so near the edge with their immoralities and their ugliness.
So, my appeal today is for the Lamanites, all the Lamanites, the Mexicans, the Polynesians, the Indians, to live the commandments of God and prove themselves worthy of this choice land. And a further word of caution: Keep your strength up to high purpose. Keep your eye single to the glory of God. Maintain your faith and live the principles of the gospel. Remember that the gospel of Jesus Christ is not compatible with radicalism or communism or any other of the “isms.” There could be those who would profess to be your saviors. They could enslave you with their force or their strange philosophies. If some of their leaders have motives that are selfish and questionable, have nothing to do with them. Perhaps some would even excite you to unwise actions. Beware of them. Keep your feet on the ground and your heads high. Listen to your duly elected tribal leaders and stay with those who want independence, equality, and full freedom for the Indian people by peaceful means alone. Only these kinds of successes will be enduring.
The Lord has a comprehensive plan, and I have a firm conviction that the blueprint he worked out many millennia ago will be carried out through the programs of the Church. Even now the Church is bringing to bear its resources to educate the Lamanites, to improve their living conditions and their health, to bring them to a knowledge of the gospel of their Redeemer. I have asked for increased effort in the missionary work among the Lamanites, and I have been most gratified by the response. The missions in the Lamanite areas are the most active and most productive of all, with many more converts per missionary than in any of the other missions. It is as in days of old: “And thus we see that the Lord began to pour out his Spirit upon the Lamanites, because of their easiness and willingness to believe in his words.” (Hel. 6:36.) We have many Lamanite missionaries in the field now, and there will be many, many more, I am sure.
And can we not exercise our faith to expand this work even further? Enos prayed a prayer of mighty faith and secured a promise from the Lord that the Lamanite would be preserved. How glorious it would be if a million Latter-day Saint families were on their knees daily asking in faith that the work among these their brethren would be hastened, that the doors might be opened.
The Lamanites must rise again in dignity and strength to fully join their brethren and sisters of the household of God in carrying forth his work in preparation for that day when the Lord Jesus Christ will return to lead his people, when the millennium will be ushered in, when the earth will be renewed and receive its paradisiacal glory and its lands be united and become one land. For the prophets have said, “The remnant of the house of Joseph shall be built upon this land; and it shall be a land of their inheritance; and they shall build up a holy city unto the Lord, like unto the Jerusalem of old; and they shall no more be confounded, until the end come when the earth shall pass away.” (Ether 13:8.)
In this I have great faith.
Borax cures arthritis
The Borax Conspiracy
How the Arthritis Cure has been Stopped
Walter Last
You may not be able to imagine that borax, this humble insecticide and laundry detergent, has the potential of singlehandedly bringing down our entire economic system. But you do not need to worry, the danger has been recognised and the necessary steps are already being taken to defuse the situation. I will start with the basics and you will understand what I mean as the story unfolds.
Borax is a naturally occurring mineral commonly mined from dried salt lakes, and is the source of other manufactured boron compounds. The main deposits are in California and Turkey. Chemical names are sodium tetraborate decahydrate, disodiumtetraborate decahydrate, or simply sodium borate. This means it contains four atoms of boron as its central feature combined with two sodium atoms and ten molecules (or sometimes less) of crystallisation water. All borax is naturally mined, there is no synthetic borax, the difference is only how much crystallisation water it contains - decahydrate means 10 water molecules, pentahydrate means 5, and anhydrite means 0 water; chemically it is all the same.
Borax is commonly sold as technical or agricultural grade with 99 to 99.5% minimum purity. Potential impurities consist of sodium, potassium, calcium, chloride, bicarbonate, carbonate, sulphate and phosphate but not toxic or heavy metals. This grade includes the borax commonly used as household cleaner. Pharmaceutical grade is not noticeably purer or better.
Borax is the sodium salt of the weak boric acid. Because sodium is more strongly alkaline, this makes a solution of borax strongly alkaline with a pH between 9 and 10 (pH 7 is neutral). When ingested, it reacts with hydrochloric acid in the stomach to form boric acid and sodium chloride. The boron content of Borax is 11.3% while for boric acid it is 17.5% or about 50% higher. Ingested boron compounds are rapidly and nearly completely excreted with the urine. Formerly boric acid was widely used as a preservative in foods but is now banned for this purpose in most countries, and is also banned from public sale in Australia.
According to conventional medicine it is not known if boron is essential for humans but research shows that we do need it. The reason why it was difficult to answer this question is the presence of boron in all plants and unprocessed foods. Diets with a fair amount of fruit and vegetables provide about 2 to 5 mg of boron per day, but this also depends on the region where the food was grown and how it was grown.
In reality the average intake in developed countries is 1-2 mg of boron per day. Institutionalized patients may receive only 0.25 mg of daily boron. Chemical fertilizers inhibit the uptake of boron from the soil: an organic apple grown in good soil may have 20 mg boron, but if grown with fertilizer it may have only 1 mg of boron. Fertilizers combined with poor food choices have greatly reduced our boron intake compared to 50 or 100 years ago.
Further, unhealthy cooking methods greatly reduce the availability of boron from food. The cooking water of vegetables containing most of the minerals may be discarded during home cooking or commercial processing; phytic acid in baked goods, cereals and cooked legumes may greatly reduce availability, while gluten sensitivity and Candida overgrowth inhibit the absorption of minerals. All this makes health problems due to boron deficiency now very common.
Health Effects of Boron
Due to their content of boron, borax and boric acid have basically the same health effects, with good antiseptic, antifungal, and antiviral properties but only mild antibacterial action. In plants as well as animals boron is essential for the integrity and function of cell walls, and the way signals are transmitted across membranes.
Boron is distributed throughout the body with the highest concentration in the parathyroid glands, followed by bones and dental enamel. It is essential for healthy bone and joint function, regulating the absorption and metabolism of calcium, magnesium and phosphorus through its influence on the parathyroid glands. With this boron is for the parathyroids what iodine is for the thyroid.
Boron deficiency causes the parathyroids to become overactive, releasing too much parathyroid hormone which raises the blood level of calcium by releasing calcium from bones and teeth. This then leads to osteoarthritis and other forms of arthritis, osteoporosis and tooth decay. With advancing age high blood levels of calcium lead to calcification of soft tissues causing muscle contractions and stiffness; calcification of endocrine glands, especially the pineal gland and the ovaries; arteriosclerosis, kidney stones, and calcification of the kidneys ultimately leading to kidney failure. Boron deficiency combined with magnesium deficiency is especially damaging to the bones and teeth.
Boron affects the metabolism of steroid hormones, and especially of sex hormones. It increases low testosterone levels in men and oestrogen levels in menopausal women. It also has a role in converting vitamin D to its active form, thus increasing calcium uptake and deposition into bone and teeth rather than causing soft tissue to calcify. Also other beneficial effects have been reported such as improvement of heart problems, vision, psoriasis, balance, memory and cognition.
The German cancer researcher Dr Paul-Gerhard Seeger has shown that cancer commonly starts with the deterioration of cell membranes. As boron is essential for cell membranes and boron deficiency widespread, this may be an important cause for the initiation of tumour growth. Boron compounds have anti-tumour properties and are "potent anti-osteoporotic, anti-inflammatory, hypolipemic, anti-coagulant and anti-neoplastic agents" (1).
This overview shows the wide-ranging influence of boron on our health. In the following I want to describe some of these health effects in greater detail.
The Arthritis Cure of Rex Newnham
In the 1960's Rex Newnham, Ph.D., D.O., N.D, developed arthritis. At that time he was a soil and plant scientist in Perth, Western Australia. Conventional drugs did not help, so he looked for the cause into the chemistry of plants. He realized that plants in that area were rather mineral deficient. Knowing that boron aids calcium metabolism in plants he decided to try it. He started taking 30 mg of borax a day, and in three weeks all pain, swelling and stiffness had disappeared.
He told public health and medical school authorities about his discovery but they were not interested. However, some people with arthritis were delighted as they improved. Others were scared to take something with a poison label on the container and meant to kill cockroaches and ants. Eventually he had tablets made with a safe and effective quantity of borax.
Within five years and only by word of mouth he sold 10,000 bottles a month. He could no longer cope and asked a drug company to market it. That was a major mistake. They indicated that this would replace more expensive drugs and reduce their profits. It so happened that they had representatives on government health committees and arranged that in 1981 Australia instituted a regulation that declared boron and its compounds to be poisons in any concentration. He was fined $1000 for selling a poison, and this successfully stopped his arthritis cure from spreading in Australia. (2)
Subsequently he published several scientific papers on borax and arthritis. One was a double-blind trial in the mid 1980's at the Royal Melbourne Hospital which showed that 70% of those who completed the trial were greatly improved. Only 12% improved when on placebo. There were no negative side-effects, but some reported that their heart ailment had also improved, and there was better general health and less tiredness. (3)
Most of his later research was devoted to the relationship between soil boron levels and arthritis. He found, for instance that the traditional sugarcane islands, due to long-term heavy use of fertilizers, have very low soil-boron levels. Jamaica has the lowest level and arthritis rates are about 70%. He noted that even most dogs were limping. Next comes Mauritius with very low boron levels and 50% arthritis. The daily boron intake in these countries is less than 1 mg/day. An interesting comparison is between Indian and native Fijians. The Indians are estimated to have an arthritis rate of about 40% and eat much rice grown with fertilizer while the native Fijians with an estimated arthritis rate of 10% eat mainly starchy root vegetables grown privately without fertilizer.
The US, England, Australia and New Zealand generally have average soil-boron levels with an estimated intake of 1 to 2 mg of boron and arthritis rates of about 20%. But Carnarvon in Western Australia has high boron levels in soil and water, and the arthritis rate is only 1%. It is similar in a place called Ngawha Springs in New Zealand with very high boron levels in the spa water which is curative for arthritis. Actually all spas reputedly curing arthritis have very high boron levels. These are also high in Israel with an estimated daily boron intake of 5 to 8 mg and only 0.5 - 1% arthritis.
Bone analysis showed that arthritic joints and nearby bones had only half the boron content of healthy joints. Equally, synovial fluid that lubricates joints and provides nutrients to the cartilage is boron deficient in arthritic joints. After boron supplementation bones were much harder than normal and surgeons found them more difficult to saw through. With additional boron bone fractures heal in about half the normal time in both man and animal. Horses and dogs with broken legs, or even a broken pelvis, have fully recovered.
Borax is also effective with other forms of arthritis, such as Rheumatoid Arthritis, Juvenile Arthritis, and Lupus (Systemic Lupus Erythematosus). For instance Dr Newnham saw a young girl aged 9 months with juvenile arthritis. He was able to cure her in 2 weeks.
He wrote that commonly people can get rid of their pain, swelling and stiffness in about 1 to 3 months. Then they can reduce treatment from 3 to 1 boron tablet (each 3 mg) per day as a maintenance dose so that they can avoid any future arthritis. He also stated that patients with rheumatoid arthritis commonly experienced a Herxheimer reaction and that this is always a good prognostic sign. They must persevere and in another 2 or 3 weeks the pain, swelling and stiffness will be gone. (4,5)
I found this statement not only interesting but also surprising. The Herxheimer reaction is an early aggravation of symptoms with increased pain. It is commonly due to toxins released by killed Candida and mycoplasma. This is very common with antimicrobial therapy, and borax definitely is an exceptionally good and strong fungicide. What surprises me, however, is that this fungicidal effect is already present at this rather low dose of 75 to 90 mg of borax. Equally surprising is the finding that also up to 30% of those with osteoarthritis experienced a Herxheimer reaction, suggesting that the border between osteoarthritis and rheumatoid arthritis is rather fluid. I believe that in long-standing and especially resistant cases it will be advisable to use other antimicrobials in addition. For co-factors in arthritis treatment also see my article Arthritis and Rheumatism or the booklet OVERCOMING ARTHRITIS.
Osteoporosis and Sex Hormones
Boron deficiency causes greatly increased amounts of calcium and magnesium to be lost with the urine. A borax supplement will reduce the daily loss of calcium by nearly 50%. As this calcium comes mainly from resorbed bone and teeth, boron deficiency may be the most important factor in causing osteoporosis and tooth decay.
It has been estimated that 55% of Americans over 50 have osteoporosis and of these about 80% are women. Worldwide 1 in 3 women and 1 in 12 men over the age of 50 may have osteoporosis, and this is responsible for millions of fractures each year. Rats with osteoporosis were given a boron supplement for 30 days with the result that their bone quality was now comparable with that of the healthy control group and of a group supplemented with oestradiol (6).
The beneficial effect of borax on bones seems to be due to two interrelated effects: a higher boron content of the bones which makes them harder, and a normalisation of sex hormones which stimulates the growth of new bone. Low oestrogen levels after menopause are thought to be the main reason why so many older women develop osteoporosis. In men testosterone levels decline more gradually which seems to be reflected in their later onset of osteoporosis as a group.
Research has now shown that boron supplementation in postmenopausal women doubles the blood level of the most active form of oestrogen, 17-beta oestradiol, to the level found in women on oestrogen replacement therapy. Equally, the blood levels of testosterone more than doubled (7). With HRT there is a higher risk of breast or endometrial cancer which is not known to happen with hormones produced by the body as with borax supplementation.
Some women get premenstrual problems because oestrogen levels are too high and progesterone too low, and therefore may be afraid of using boron. However, I found no evidence that boron raises oestrogen above normal healthy levels. Boron may balance levels of sex hormones similar to the action of maca root powder. Maca acts on the pituitary gland not only to increase but also to balance our sex hormones and seems to stimulate our own progesterone production as needed.
A recent study in younger men (29 - 50) showed that the level of free testosterone (the form that matters most) had risen by one third after a daily supplementation of about 100 mg of borax for one week (8). This is of special interest for bodybuilders.
Contrary to the medical preference of chemically castrating men with prostate cancer, research with boron has shown that elevated testosterone levels are beneficial by shrinking prostate tumours and PSA levels, PSA being a marker for tumours and inflammation in the prostate. Also significantly improved memory and cognition in elderly individuals may be partly due to increased levels of sex hormones and partly to improved membrane functions of brain cells (9).
I have been asked about boron supplementation for women with oestrogen-sensitive breast cancer. Breast cancer is related to calcifications in the breast. In my opinion it is more important to normalize the calcium-magnesium metabolism and cellular membrane functions rather than feel restricted by a possibly faulty medical concept, especially as I believe that cancer can usually be controlled with long-term antimicrobial therapy. Therefore I would use boron as well as maca in this case.
Fungi and Fluoride
Being such an excellent fungicide it is not surprising that borax is being successfully used to treat Candida. There is much interesting information on an Earth Clinic forum called Borax Cures (10). With low to medium-weight people use 1/8 teaspoon of borax powder and with heavier weight 1/4 teaspoon per litre of water. One drinks the water spaced out during the day, and does this for 4 or 5 days a week as long as required.
Many contributors wrote that it cured or greatly helped them. So for instance this post: "I also have psoriasis, so maybe the soreness in my joints is the psoriatic arthritis creeping in. I thought, after reading about borax here on this forum, I would give it a try. OMG! In one day, the soreness in my knees has vanished! .... Also, my psoriasis seems a lot better after 2 days drinking 1/4 tsp borax in 1 litre of water per day."
Another one about toe fungus: "He wet his feet and then took a handful (of borax) and rubbed it all over his feet. He said it stopped itching immediately! He was stunned. A few weeks later I asked him how his athletes foot was and he said: oh wow! it hasn't come back! that stuff totally cured it !!!"
Other enthusiastic posts were about vaginal thrush. Borax appeared to be more effective than other remedies. Commonly one large gelatine capsule filled with borax or boric acid was inserted at bedtime for several nights or up to 2 weeks. Alternatively the powder can be mixed with cool solidified coconut oil as a bolus or suppository.
A recent scientific study (11) confirms these positive observations with vaginal thrush. Boric acid at the dose of a filled capsule worked even in cases of drug-resistant Candida and against all the tested pathogenic bacteria. Because of the greater dilution, a douche may not be strong enough for bacteria and drug-resistant Candida but it should work for normal Candida. Borax, due to its alkalinity, was more effective than boric acid.
In normal healthy conditions Candida exists as harmless oval yeast cells. When challenged, chains of elongated cells called pseudohyphae develop, and finally strongly invasive long, narrow and tube-like filaments called hyphae. These damage the intestinal wall, and cause inflammation and Leaky Gut Syndrome. Pseudohyphae and hyphae can be seen in the blood of individuals with cancer and autoimmune diseases. Candida can also form tough layers of biofilm. This same study shows that boric acid/borax inhibits the formation of biofilms and also the transformation of harmless yeast cells into invasive hyphal form. In other articles I have shown that this process, commonly initiated by antibiotics, is a basic cause of most of our modern diseases, and this makes borax and boric acid primary health remedies. But this article shows that there are many more reasons to give them a top rating.
A scientific review in 2011 concluded: "... boric acid is a safe, alternative, economic option for women with recurrent and chronic symptoms of vaginitis when conventional treatment fails..." (12). But as it is so much better than drugs why not use it as a first option, or use the even more effective borax?
Another study from Turkey (13) shows the protective effect of boric acid on food contaminated with mycotoxins, especially fungal aflatoxins. Among these, Aflatoxin B1 (AFB1) causes extensive DNA damage and is the most potent carcinogen ever tested, especially affecting liver and lungs, also causing birth defects, immunotoxicity and even death in farm animals and humans. Boric acid treatment was protective and led to increased resistance of DNA to oxidative damage induced by AFB1. The strong antifungal action of boric acid is, of course, the reason why it has traditionally been used as a food preservative.
Borax, similar to the equally endangered Lugol's iodine solution, can also be used to remove accumulated fluoride and heavy metals from the body (14). Fluoride not only causes bones to deteriorate, but also the pineal gland to calcify and the thyroid to become underactive. Borax reacts with fluoride ions to form boron fluorides which are then excreted in the urine.
In a Chinese study borax was used to treat 31 patients with skeletal fluorosis. The amount was gradually increased from 300 to 1100 mg/day during a three month period, with one week off each month. The treatment was effective with 50 to 80% improvement.
One forum contributor suffered with Fibromyalgia/Rosacea, chronic fatigue and TMJ for over 10 years which she believed were caused by fluoride. She used 1/8 tsp of borax and 1/8 tsp of sea salt in a litre of de-chlorinated water, and drank this for 5 days each week. Within two weeks her face cleared, the redness faded, body temperature normalized, energy level increased, and she steadily lost excess weight. The only side-effect was an initial aggravation of her Rosacea symptoms.
Another post: "7 years ago thyroid cancer, the next year adrenal fatigue, then early menopause, the following year uterine prolapse followed by hysterectomy - the following year fibromyalgia and neuropathy. Early Childhood was fluorinated water along with fluoride tablets. Fall of 2008 I was looking at total disability. I could barely walk and couldn't sleep because of the pain and was throwing up daily from the pain in my back. ... After reading about fluoride I came to understand where all of my problems originated. ... I began the borax detox of 1/8 tsp in a litre of water and within 3 days my symptoms were almost gone."
Calcium-Magnesium Metabolism
There is antagonism as well as cooperation between calcium and magnesium. About half of the total body magnesium is found in bones and the other half inside the cells of tissues and organs. Only 1% is in the blood, and the kidneys try to keep this levels constant by excreting more or less with the urine.
In contrast, 99% of calcium is in bones, and the rest in the fluid outside of cells. Muscles contract when calcium moves into the cells, and they relax when calcium is again pumped out and magnesium moves in. This cellular pump requires much energy to pump calcium out, and if cells are low in energy, then calcium may accumulate inside cells. Low cellular energy may be due to Candida, faulty sugar or fat metabolism, deficiencies, or accumulating metabolic wastes and toxins.
This then leads to only partial relaxation of the muscles with stiffness, a tendency to cramps, and poor blood and lymph circulation. The problem gets worse the more calcium moves from bones into soft tissue. Nerve cells can also accumulate calcium, leading to faulty nerve transmission, in the lens it causes cataracts, hormonal output keeps reducing as endocrine glands increasingly calcify, and all other cells become handicapped in their normal functions. In addition it causes intracellular magnesium deficiency. Magnesium is needed to activate countless enzymes, and a deficiency leads to inefficient and blocked energy production.
A further problem is that excess calcium damages the cell membrane and makes it difficult for nutrients to move in and wastes to move out. When the intracellular calcium level gets too high the cell will die.
Here we can see the importance of boron as a regulator of cell membrane functions, especially in regard to movements of calcium and magnesium. With boron deficiency too much calcium moves into the cell while magnesium cannot move inside to displace it. This is the condition of old age and of the boron-deficiency diseases leading up to it.
While in good health and especially in younger years a calcium - magnesium ratio of 2 : 1 is normal and beneficial and supplied with a good diet. But with increasing age, boron deficiency and resulting disease conditions we need progressively less calcium and more magnesium.
For boron to be fully effective in reversing tissue calcification ample magnesium is required. For elderly individuals I recommend 400 to 600 mg of magnesium together with the daily borax supplementation spaced out during the day, and with protracted joint problems additional trans-dermal magnesium. However, oral magnesium may need to be adjusted according to its laxative effect. I am doubtful whether calcium supplements are needed and beneficial, even in case of osteoporosis. In my view these individuals have plenty of calcium stored in soft tissues where it does not belong, and supplementing boron and magnesium is expected to redeposit this misplaced calcium into bones. I regard the medical focus on a high calcium intake as a prescription for accelerated aging.
What and How Much to Use
In some countries (e.g. Australia, NZ, USA) borax can still be found in the laundry and cleaning sections of supermarkets. There is no "food-grade" borax available or necessary. All borax is the same and "natural", and usually mined in California or Turkey, whether it has been packed in China or any other country. The label usually states that it is 99% pure (or 990g/kg borax) which is safe to use, and is the legal standard for agricultural grade borax. Up to 1% mining and refining residues are permitted. Boric acid, if available, may be used at about ⅔ the dose of borax, it is not for public sale in Australia.
Firstly dissolve a lightly rounded teaspoonful (5-6 grams) of borax in 1 litre of good quality water. This is your concentrated solution, keep it out of reach of small children.
Standard dose = 1 teaspoon (5 ml) of concentrate. This has 25 to 30 mg of borax and provides about 3 mg of boron. Take 1 dose per day mixed with drink or food. If that feels right then take a second dose with another meal. If there is no specific health problem or for maintenance you may continue indefinitely with 1 or 2 doses daily.
If you do have a problem, such as arthritis, osteoporosis and related conditions, cramps or spasms, stiffness due to advancing years, menopause, and also to improve low sex hormone production, increase intake to 3 or more spaced-out standard doses for several months or longer until you feel that your problem has sufficiently improved. Then drop back to 1 or 2 doses per day.
For treating Candida, other fungi and mycoplasmas, or for removing fluoride from the body - using your bottle of concentrated solution:
Lower dose for low to normal weight - 100 ml (= 1/8 teaspoon of borax powder or 500 mg); drink spaced out during the day.
Higher dose for heavier individuals - 200 ml (= 1/4 teaspoon of borax powder or 1000 mg); drink spaced out during the day.
Always start with a lower dose and increase gradually to the intended maximum. Take the maximum amounts for 4 or 5 days a week as long as required, or alternatively periodically alternate between a low dose and your maximum dose.
For vaginal thrush fill a large size gelatine capsule with borax and insert it at bedtime for one to two weeks. With toe fungus or athlete's foot wet the feet and rub them with borax powder.
You may take borax mixed with food or in drinks. It is rather alkaline and in higher concentrations has a soapy taste. You may disguise this with lemon juice, vinegar or ascorbic acid.
In Europe borax and boric acid have been classified as reproductive poisons, and since December 2010 are no longer available to the public within the EU. Presently borax is still available in Switzerland (15), but shipment to Germany is not permitted. In Germany a small amount (20 - 50 grams) may be ordered through a pharmacy as ant poison, it will be registered.
Boron tablets can be bought from health shops or the Internet, commonly with 3 mg of boron. In some European countries, such as The Netherlands, these may still contain borax, but not in others, such as Germany, where boron is not allowed in ionic form as with borax or boric acid. While suitable as a general boron supplement, I do not expect them to work against Candida and mycoplasmas. Most scientific studies and individual experiences in regard to arthritis, osteoporosis, or sexual hormones and menopause were with borax or boric acid. It is not yet known if non-ionic boron is as effective as borax. To improve effectiveness I recommend 3 or more spaced-out boron tablets daily for an extended period combined with sufficient magnesium and a suitable antimicrobial program (16).
Possible Side-Effects
While side-effects from pharmaceutical drugs tend to be negative and often dangerous, with natural medicine such as borax therapy these are usually healing reactions with beneficial long-term effects. Most common is the Herxheimer reaction from eliminating Candida.
In some of the above forum posts rapid improvement was experienced within days. This is always a functional response. High cellular calcium levels cause muscle contraction with cramps or spasms as a common cause of pain. Boron, especially together with magnesium, can rapidly relax these muscles and take away the pain.
However, with long-standing severe calcifications a large amount of calcium cannot be redistributed in a short time. This leads to increased calcium levels in the affected area, especially the hips and shoulders, and can cause problems for a considerable time, such as a tendency to severe cramping and pain, or problems with the blood circulation, or nerve transmission. Nerve-related effects in hands and feet may be numbness, or reduced sensitivity or feeling in the skin. Higher amounts of calcium and fluoride passing through the kidneys may cause temporary kidney pain. Such healing reactions cannot be avoided when aiming for a higher level of health.
Whenever you experience an unpleasant effect reduce or temporarily stop borax intake until the problem subsides. Then gradually start increasing again. Helpful additional measures are a greatly increased fluid intake, using more organic acids such as lemon juice, ascorbic acid or vinegar, and improving lymph flow as with rebounding, walking or inverted positions.
Toxicity Issues
Government health agencies are concerned about boron toxicity. You might be concerned as well if you read the following, pertaining to sodium chloride or table salt (17): 'Acute oral toxicity (LD50 - the dose at which half of the tested animals die): 3,000 mg/kg [Rat]. Chronic Effects on Humans: Mutagenic for mammalian somatic cells. Slightly hazardous in case of skin contact, ingestion or inhalation. Lowest Published Lethal Oral Dose in Man: 1000 mg/kg. Causes adverse reproductive effects in humans (fetotoxicity, abortion) by intraplacental route, may increase risk of Toxemia of Pregnancy in susceptible women. May cause adverse reproductive effects and birth defects in animals, particularly rats and mice - fetotoxicity, abortion, musculoskeletal abnormalities, and maternal effects (on ovaries, fallopian tubes). May affect genetic material (mutagenic). Ingestion of large quantities can irritate the stomach with nausea and vomiting. May affect behavior (muscle spasicity/contraction, somnolence), sense organs, metabolism, and cardiovascular system. Continued exposure may produce dehydration, internal organ congestion, and coma.'
Now compare the sodium chloride toxicity with the Material Safety Data Sheet or MSDS for borax (18): 'Low acute oral toxicity; LD50 in rats 4,500 to 6,000 mg/kg of body weight. Reproductive/developmental toxicity: Animal feeding studies in rat, mouse and dog, at high doses, have demonstrated effects on fertility and testes. Studies with boric acid in the rat, mouse and rabbit, at high doses, demonstrate developmental effects on the fetus, including fetal weight loss and minor skeletal variations. The doses administered were many times in excess of those to which humans would normally be exposed. No evidence of carcinogenicity in mice. No mutagenic activity was observed in a battery of short-term mutagenicity assays. Human epidemiological studies show no increase in pulmonary disease in occupational populations with chronic exposures to borate dust and no effect on fertility.'
Here you see that table salt is 50 to 100% more toxic than borax, it changes the genetic material and is mutagenic, while borax is harmless in this regard. Infants are most at risk from high borax ingestion. It has been estimated that 5 to 10 grams can cause severe vomiting, diarrhoea, shock and even death, but it also says that lethal doses are not well documented in the literature.
The following toxicity data are from documents of the US Environmental Protection Agency and the Centers for Disease Control(19, 20).
A review of 784 accidental human poisonings from 10 - 88 grams of boric acid reported no fatalities, with 88% of cases being asymptomatic, meaning they did not notice anything. However, gastrointestinal, cardiovascular, hepatic, renal, and central nervous system effects, dermatitis, erythema, and death have been observed in some children and adults exposed to more than 84 mg boron/kg, corresponding to more than 40 grams of borax for 60 kg of body weight.
Animal studies have identified reproductive toxicity as the most sensitive effects of boron ingestion. Exposure of rats, mice, and dogs for several weeks showed some damage to the testes and sperm at doses of more than 26 mg boron/kg which corresponds to 15 grams of borax/day for 60 kg body weight.
Most at risk is the developing foetus, and in the studied animals rats were most affected. In one study slight reductions in the foetal body weight were already found at 13.7 mg boron/kg/day used during pregnancy. The no effect dose was set at less than 13.7 mg/kg/day corresponding to about 7 grams of borax per day for 60 kg body weight. With an added safety factor a no effect value of 9.6 mg boron/kg/day was calculated corresponding to 5 grams of borax for 60 kg.
However, a rat study lasting for 3 generations found no reproductive toxicity or effect on the parents or offspring at 30 mg boron/kg/day. This dose corresponds to 17 grams of borax for 60 kg ingested for 3 generations! In another 3-generation study no problem was found at 17.5 mg boron/kg/day, corresponding to 9 grams of borax/60 kg, while the next higher tested dose of 58.5 mg/kg/day, corresponding to 30 grams of borax/60 kg, resulted in infertility. Therefore we can assume that the safe reproductive dose is up to about 20 grams/60 kg/day.
Human studies of the possible association between impaired fertility and high boron levels in water, soil and dust in a Turkish populations, and boron mining and processing workers, found no effect. One study even reported elevated fertility rates in borax production workers as compared to the U.S. national average.
All this is important because possible reproductive toxicity is the official reason for the present assault on borax. The sodium chloride MSDS mentioned above also states: "While sodium chloride has been used as a negative control in some reproductive studies, it has also been used as an example that almost any chemical can cause birth defects in experimental animals if studied under the right conditions." Keep this in mind when you read the following.
The Assault on Borax
Arthritis in its various forms and its close relative osteoporosis affect about 30% of the population in developed countries. Osteoporosis is responsible for more long term hospital care than any other individual disease. This is due to the very high incidence of fractures, and especially the protracted nature of hip fractures. This is a main source of income for the medical-pharmaceutical system. If the boron-magnesium cure for these diseases should become widely known, this vital income stream would dry up and the system collapse. As this is the biggest and most profitable industry in the world, this cannot be allowed to happen.
When Dr Newnham discovered the boron-arthritis cure it was not a big problem for the pharmaceuticals because news travelled slowly and was easily suppressed. This is very different now with Internet communication. Most research funding comes from the pharmaceutical industry, and nothing has come forward to duplicate Dr Newnham's findings and other positive osteoporosis studies. Instead, funding goes into the development of patentable boron drugs for limited application as in chemotherapy, or even to discredit boron. A test-tube experiment found that a relatively low dose of about 4 grams of borax can damage lymphocytes, just like an earlier test-tube study showed that vitamin C supplements are toxic. Most positive borax studies now come from China, Japan and Turkey.
Furthermore, PubMed is a publicly funded search facility for bio-medical research publications. While other articles for Newnham R.E. and Zhou L.Y. are still listed, the two important borax publications mentioned earlier - about the arthritis trial at the Royal Melbourne Hospital and the treatment of skeletal fluorosis in China - are no longer listed, but they belong there and obviously had been there originally. I suspect that they have been deliberately removed to prevent them from being quoted in other research.
In addition, increasing effort goes into publicly demonizing borax for its alleged reproductive and infant toxicity. As an example I recently read an article by a 'senior scientist' of the supposedly 'green' Environmental Working Group. In it the perceived dangers of borax were so exaggerated that most comments in effect said: "Thank you for opening my eyes. I did not know how poisonous and dangerous borax is, I certainly will not use it anymore in my laundry, or for cleaning my toilet and kitchen" .
This is obviously a deliberate campaign to make people grateful for banning borax from public sale. For laundry and cleaning purposes Borax Substitute now replaces the product previously sold as Borax. The EU has spearheaded this campaign. In June 2010 borax and boric acid were reclassified as “Reprotoxic Category 2“, suggesting that they may be harmful to the reproductive functions of humans in high doses, and the product package must display the skull and crossbones symbol. From December 2010 these products were no longer available for public sale within the EU. While this classification now applies for all of Europe, non-EU countries still have some leeway in regard to public sales. This initiative is part of a Globally Harmonized System of Classification and Labelling of Chemicals (GHS) which is to be implemented as soon as possible. Australia is well-advanced on preparing regulations to implement the GHS for industrial chemicals, with new regulations expected in 2012 (21).
The European Chemicals Agency gave as reason for their reclassification of boron products (paraphrased):
'The available data do not indicate major differences between laboratory animals and humans, therefore it must be assumed that the effects seen in animals could occur in humans as epidemiological studies in humans are insufficient to demonstrate the absence of an adverse effect of inorganic borates on fertility. 17.5 mg boron/kg/day was derived as a NOAEL (no event level) for male and female fertility. For the rat decreased foetal weight occurred at 13.7 mg boron/kg/day, and a safe limit of 9.6 mg/kg/day has been derived.' (22)
What they are really saying is this: 'While we have no human data, animal studies suggest that for adult reproductive functions a daily ingestion of about 2 teaspoons of borax is safe. But to be absolutely sure that no-one is harmed, we will ban it totally.' Importantly, this ruling is not related to borax in foods or supplements where it is already banned, but only for general use as in laundry or cleaning products or as insecticides. Because borax is not readily inhaled or absorbed through intact skin, it is difficult to see how even a few milligrams daily could get into the body with the conventional use. If the same standard would apply to other chemicals there would be none left.
The key study in this assessment was published in 1972. Why is this being dug up now to justify banning borax when it was of no concern for the past 40 years? It does not make any scientific sense, especially if you consider that the main chemical in the new borax substitute, sodium percarbonate, is about three times more toxic than borax. Acute oral LD50 values for animals are from 1034 to 2200 mg/kg/day (23). Even the commonly used sodium bicarbonate, with an animal LD50 of 3360 mg/kg, is nearly twice as toxic as borax (24). Both of these chemicals have not been tested for long-term reproductive toxicity at the high doses that caused fertility problems in rats and mice.
The same applies to washing powders, it has been stated that no toxicity is expected if used in the approved way, or that reproductive tests have not been done. Ingredients in these products are more toxic than borax, why can they be used in the approved way but not borax? And how about really toxic items such as caustic soda and hydrochloric acid? Why do they remain available to the public when one of the safest household chemicals is banned despite the fact that it is absolutely impossible to cause any reproductive harm with the approved use?
Regardless of the lack of any scientific credibility, the stage has been set for borax and boric acid to be globally removed from public sale at short or no notice. Even low-level and less effective boron tablets are now tightly controlled by the pharmaceutical industry, and may be restricted at any time through Codex Alimentarius regulations. With this the medical-pharmaceutical system has safely defused any potential danger that borax may have posed to its profitability and survival.
Note:
This article is not about curing arthritis. Boron is essential for healthy bones and joints, and supplements may be able to help with arthritis, but chronic conditions often are associated with additional other deficiencies, allergies, microbial infestations and inflammation. All of these factors may need to be addressed. For further information see Arthritis and Rheumatism or the more detailed Overcoming Arthritis.
REFERENCES
(3) http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1566627/pdf/envhper00403-0084.pdf
(4) http://nah.sagepub.com/content/7/2/89.full.pdf
(4) http://nah.sagepub.com/content/7/2/89.full.pdf
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