Posts by Cold Steel

37

Why would Adam or Eve choose the tree of knowledge instead of the tree of life.

by smiddy in

please help me out here .. in genesis 2:16 it says " and jehovah god also laid this command upon the man: from every tree of the garden you may eat to satisfaction.

17 but as for the tree of the knowledge of good and bad you must not eat from it , for in the day you eat from it ,you will positively die.. ok we get that , but what about this ?.

wouldnt it make more sense to forbid the eating of the tree of life first ?

Cold Steel

Smiddy: Wouldnt it make more sense to forbid the eating of the tree of life first? He says: "you can eat from every tree in the garden to satisfaction," that includes the tree of life. But he says the only restriction is eating the tree of knowledge of good and bad??

No, it would not make more sense, actually. Remember, Adam and Eve were already immortal. The tree of the knowledge of good and evil was forbidden because it made man wise, which is one of the primary attributes of God. My belief is that God intended for Adam and Eve to fall, but it had to be their decision. In the primordial first council, spoken about in many non-canoncial writings as well as the Bible, it's clear that the Father knew our first parents would sin. (He knows all, sees all, right? It wouldn't speak well for him if the fall of man caught him off guard.) But even though man was immortal, he had no glory, no understanding. He was not like Christ. So, to coin a phrase, it became a situation where man had to fall, but not make it look as though God pushed him.

Coming from our first estate to the earth was a risky proposition for us. God, being Just, could not force a terrestrial life on us without first procuring our agreement beforehand. Those who followed Satan in his rebellion were defeated by Michael and swept down to the earth, and, as John saw in the book of Revelation, bringing one third of the host of heaven with him.

The Plan formulated in the Beginning was designed to exalt man through the atonement of Christ; in short, God was to condescend to man's level to raise man to God's level, a process known as theosis in which man can, in the words of Peter, become partakers of [the] divine nature." (1 Peter 1:4) Adam and Eve were incapable of doing this in their immortal state. But by falling and being redeemed, Adam and his children are eligible to receiving free upgrades -- not remain garden dwellers, but to become beings of great power and glory ("a little below the gods," as the psalmist puts it.) And as Athanasius of Alexandria puts it, theosis is "becoming by grace what God is by nature" (De Incarnatione, I).

So the atonement did not just restore man to what he was before the fall, it was, as I noted, eligibility to receive a significant and yes, planned, upgrade. As the apostle John states: "Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is." (1 John 3:2:)

Adam and Eve had the chance, opportunity, choice, to eat of the tree of life, but they failed to do so. Were they perfect? were they stupid?

If Adam and Eve had put their hands forth to partake of the tree of life, they would have immediately lost what they had just gained. They would have reverted to being immortal beings with no glory and no potential. Only through Christ could they become like Christ. “Dusty, dark, cold, and hard, coal has no beauty of its own,” wrote Frederica Mathewes-Green, “but when it is consummated by fire it is beautiful and becomes what it was designed to be.” (Source) In a real sense, Adam and Eve were born as clumps of coal, but through Christ they have the potential to become diamonds.

19

Do Wills Ever Affect Shunning?

by Cold Steel in

a man has several sons and daughters who are active jehovah's witnesses.

so was his wife, who died two years ago.

he has since lapsed into apostasy and has been openly critical of the governing body.

Cold Steel

Etude: My siblings, on the other hand, have not only avoided me but have taught their children (my nephews and nieces) to do that same. I recently re-wrote my trust to not leave them a dime when I kick the bucket. I really feel it’s not me doing it but that this the way they chose for me to do it. What I really should do is leave them the money on the condition that they leave the Organization with an official written statement. Otherwise, zip, nada, niente, zilch.

If you put that condition in your will, it may fortify their convictions to the Society by creating within them the feeling of sacrifice for the organization. It may also cause ill will with those in the Society who have stood with you, or at least harbored favorable feelings towards you. If the little snits have avoided you, they cannot reasonably be expected to be angered or upset if you leave them nothing. A better way to handle it, in my view, is to leave them your parting advice. Tell them you wished your relationship with them had been better and tell them how devisive the Society is in peoples' lives. Then you can leave each of them a copy of Ray Franz's book and a DVD of the movie Gran Torino.

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12

A letter from my brother Nathan to my uncle in 1978 when Nathan was at Bethel

by Magwitch in

my uncle recently died and apparently he never threw anything away.

among many things he held onto was a letter that my brother wrote to my uncle in 1978 from bethel.

my brother was in the same hall as howard zenke (a real heavy at bethel) and nathan rode to all the meetings with howard and beana.

Cold Steel

TruJW: It reminds me of a story I heard about Heavens Gate cult. They bought a telescope from a local shop. Not just any telescope but a $3,645 computerized Telescope. When they took it back to the compound and looked for the spaceship in Hale bopp comet tail guess what it wasn't there. The story goes they then returned the telescope and asked for their money back. The reason given by the cult members was it is defective.

The telescope may have been defective, but the cocktails worked like a charm.

After Stargate SG-1 and Stargate Atlantis, the franchise turned a bit darker with the introduction of Stargate Universe. The storyline was that a group of people, to escape an alien attack, escaped through a stargate to a destination they really had never had the means or resources to check out. When they arrived on the other side of the wormhole, they found themselves on a giant, and unoccupied, starship that had been launched by an ancient race ten thousand years earlier. They knew it was a one-way trip, but with everything coming down around them and an assured destruction facing them, they had little choice.

The starship needed a lot of work, but the new crew were able to find ways to survive. But I thought about Heaven's Gate cult members wanting to commit suicide so they could end up a ship occupied by who knows who headed for who knows where. It's amazing how many people will give up what they have for what they don't know. Another example of this was that great Twilight Zone episode entitled "To Serve Man." People were lining up by the hundreds to board a space ship to visit a world where they end up on an extraterrestrial menu!

By the way, does the WTS have a position on UFOs and extraterrestrial life?

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6

What Armageddon is the book of Revelation refering to?

by Vienna Angelika in

someone asked me what revelation was talking about when it mentions armageddon.

if it's not like witnesses say, then what is it, and when?

i would really appreciate some info on this as i have not seen too much on this subject..

Cold Steel

End_of_Mysteries: Also it's interesting how in the Ezekiel version, the Israelites are NOT serving God when he returns. And how they were scattered then regrouped as a nation. Paul even talked about the olive tree, how Israelites were temporarily blinded until all the gentiles come in.

ARMAGEDDON is all about the final battle during which Christ comes and converts the Jewish nation. As EoM notes above, Ezekiel teaches that Judah is not serving God when Yahweh, or Christ, returns.

It’s a complex prophecy, or set of prophecies, that basically goes like this. Judah is scattered to the four corners of the earth after Jerusalem is destroyed in about 76 A.D. During the end times, the Lord brings them back and establishes them as a nation. But instead of repenting, they become just as wicked as other nations. John, in fact, compares them with Sodom and Egypt.

Somewhere along the line, a kingdom arises in the Old World — a kingdom which was, is not, and is again. Many have taken that to mean Rome, but more recently scholars have come to believe it will be a revitalized Turkish Caliphate. This kingdom will unite the Muslim world and, once the United States is out of the way as a world power, it will bring a ruinous war against the Jews. (See Zech. 12-14; Ezek. 38-39; Revelation 11, 16) During the battle, the Lord will preserve the city by raising up two prophets who, like Elijah and Moses, will use the power of God against the “beast” (also known as “Gog”). After three years, however, the enemy will succeed in killing the prophets (and I’ve always suspected it will be through treachery by Jewish elements). John says their bodies will lay on the streets of Jerusalem for three and a half days, during which the beast will declare a holiday. But at the end of that time, the two prophets will be physically resurrected, then, in the plain sight of their enemies, ascend into heaven. Meanwhile, the remaining body of the Jews will be gathered in the eastern part of the city. At this moment, the prophets say, there will be a great earthquake. The Mount of Olives will split in twain and their Messiah will make his appearance.

Now Zechariah is very plain in saying that the Messiah will be Yahweh, the Lord their God, and that he will appear and all his saints with him. Because no man can see God and live unless protected by the power of the Holy Spirit, the Jews will behold him as a man; however, his glory, and that of his accompanying saints (or “holy ones”) will instantly destroy Gog and his entire army, except for one-sixth, and they will flee westwards towards the sea. Why aren’t they killed? The prophets don’t say, but I suspect they will be honorable men, perhaps conscripts into Gog’s army throug And I will turn thee back, and leave but the sixth part of thee, and will cause thee to come up from the north parts, and will bring thee upon the mountains of Israel.... (Zech. 39:2)

When the Jews fall at the feet of their Messiah and God, they will see the wounds in his hands and feet, and they will ask about them. Zechariah reports that the Lord will say, “These are the wounds I received in the house of my friends.” Then the Jews will suddenly realize that the one standing before them is Jesus, whom their fathers crucified. Then, the prophets say, there will be a spirit of mourning and of lamentation throughout Jerusalem. The Jews will, on the one hand, rejoice in their salvation; however, on the other they will be stricken with the realization that the Christians were right:

In that day shall there be a great mourning in Jerusalem, as the mourning of Hadadrimmon in the valley of Megiddon. And the land shall mourn, every family apart; the family of the house of David apart, and their wives apart; the family of the house of Nathan apart, and their wives apart.... (Zech. 12:11-12)

Zechariah writes:

And the Lord my God shall come, and all the saints with thee. And it shall come to pass in that day, that the light shall not be clear, nor dark: but it shall be one day which shall be known to the Lord, not day, nor night: but it shall come to pass, that at evening time it shall be light. And it shall be in that day, that living waters shall go out from Jerusalem; half of them toward the former sea, and half of them toward the hinder sea: in summer and in winter shall it be. And the Lord shall be king over all the earth in that day, and there shall there be one Lord, and his name one. (Zech. 14)

Then, at that point, he’ll destroy everyone but the Jehovah’s Witnesses. But the prophets don’t actually say that...or imply it. But the Governing Body has declared it as the result of new light.

When will all these things happen? No one knows for sure. The Jews have to build their temple, which John was commanded to measure with a rod (see Revelation 11). But one thing we know for sure. It’s right around the corner.

Seriously, if you read the scriptures cited and then read the red book on Revelation published by the WTS, you’ll see that the Governing Body has really pulled one over on the Organization. Of particular interest is its interpretation of the two prophets.

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19

Do Wills Ever Affect Shunning?

by Cold Steel in

a man has several sons and daughters who are active jehovah's witnesses.

so was his wife, who died two years ago.

he has since lapsed into apostasy and has been openly critical of the governing body.

Cold Steel

St. George: I remember a case of a man who left money to the WTS and was subsequently disfellowshipped. The WTS still accepted the money and fought (and won) a contested will against the man's autistic son.

The man must have forgotten to re-do his will after being disfellowshiped. If one doesn’t follow through and rewrite the will, the present will pretty much always prevails unless one can show outright manipulation of the deceased before his death. I’d love to know the details of the case, though.

For those of you out there who have not re-written their wills, for whatever reason, you’re probably locked in until you do.

I’m amazed at how much influence the Society has on things like education. Would I keep my kid in a local school so they could be under scrutiny of the Society? Ha!

From a theological standpoint, there are no eternal ramifications to sending yourself or your children to a university for higher education. If you’re an anointed Christian, you can’t be bumped down to the lower class; and if you’re not of the anointed class, you won’t be destroyed at Armageddon because you or your children sought a higher education. It just astounds me that the Society seeks as much control as it does in things that, in other churches, are a person’s personal business. What if someone just hid those details from the Society? (Like their wills, where their children go after they get out of high school, or what they do with their money, where and how long they go on vacation?)

If a person becomes a Jehovah’s Witness, how long is it before the elders and other leaders begin sticking their noses into his or her personal business? And don’t new members offer any resistance?

Skeeter1: Theocratic lying would probably trump shunning. They want your money. Honorable JWs would use it for Kingdom interests, like buying a brand new 4 door car. But, there are plenty of greedy JWs.

Do most Jehovah’s Witnesses leave the Society in their wills? Are they encouraged to? And are they encouraged to share personal info with WTS leaders? For example, if I were baptized two months ago and now my wife and I are thinking about taking our kids to Disneyland for a 10-day vacation while we visit family, a) am I already cued in enough to the WTS to know that I’m on a leash? And b) am I likely to be approached and counseled by WTS leadership? The same question would apply to education. By the time I’m baptized, am I cued in to the current position on that?

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19

Do Wills Ever Affect Shunning?

by Cold Steel in

a man has several sons and daughters who are active jehovah's witnesses.

so was his wife, who died two years ago.

he has since lapsed into apostasy and has been openly critical of the governing body.

Cold Steel

A man has several sons and daughters who are active Jehovah's Witnesses. So was his wife, who died two years ago. He has since lapsed into apostasy and has been openly critical of the Governing Body. Naturally he is disfellowshiped and his JW friends no longer speak to him.

Now this man is loaded...money up the gazoo. And he has a will. His family is supposed to give him "the treatment," but there's the matter of the money, and Armageddon just hasn't been around the last few corners.

QUESTION: Does this man's financial position affect the extent to which he is not shunned by his family, some of whom expect to inherit comfortable nest eggs? They also know the old man has a will and that he's used to being listened to and obeyed. Does anyone know of anything similarly happening in the Society? Are people more apt to be more chatty with disfellowshiped wealthy parents, or parent, than they would be if said parents or parent were dirt poor?

I don't know how many wealthy people there are in the Society, nor how much influence they wield in their respective Kingdom Halls. When wealthy members insist on sending their children to pursue higher educations, do they escape the criticisms often experienced by the lone student struggling to secure an education?

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34

Revelation written to the 1st century churches

by maccauk11 in

im suggesting revelation was not for us today but to the seven churches in minor asia.

they 1st centruy faithful ones were waiting for the promised return of messiah, like he promised them.

he did in fact return on the lcouds to take them to heaven.

Cold Steel

Maccuk11: All those things did happen and every eye did see, they came to realisation of who the messiah was when Jerusalem was destroyed. It is symbolic, metaphoric, hyperbole language. The third temple is built it is spiritual cannot be seen not made with human hands....

Okay, show me me one other prophecy where this is so. Please cite the prophecy and the fulfillment.

With all due respect, you’re stretching scripture to fit your own interpretations. When, for example, did “every eye see” and just who came to the realization of the messiah’s identity? How do you know the third temple is spiritual? When the messiah is led into the city through the East Gate of the city and into the temple, is it going to magically appear? The thing about prophecy is, once you start making things invisible, metaphoric and symbolic, you lose ALL credibility. When Zechariah wrote, “Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion; shout, O daughter of Jerusalem: behold, thy King cometh unto thee: he is just, and having salvation; lowly, and riding upon an ass, and upon a colt the foal of an ass” (Zechariah 9:9), was that fulfilled symbolically? Was it a spiritual prophecy? No, actually it was a literal fulfillment.

You’re wrong about these prophecies, and most scholars can tell which are the figurative fulfillments and which are the literal. If you have beasts, crowns, scepters, harlots, stars, dragons and such, yes, you can tell when these prophecies are apocalyptic. But when lands, earthquakes and wars are spoken of, you can pretty much figure they’re literal.

The two prophets of Revelation 11, the temple, the “beast” who seeks to destroy Jerusalem and the Jews in the end times are literal and it’s spelled out. Verse 8, for example, speaks of the death of the two prophets. It reads: “And their dead bodies shall lie in the street of the great city, which spiritually is called Sodom and Egypt, where also our Lord was crucified.”

We see here a reference to “the great city.” But what city is it? The apostle says it’s “spiritually” called Sodom and Egypt, which means it will be a wicked city, but not literally Sodom and Egypt. The next verse provides the literal answer: “where also our Lord was crucified.” Where was that? It’s Jerusalem, because that’s where the Lord was crucified.

Since no prophecy is intended for any personal interpretation, the instant you say it’s not what it says it says, you’re putting your own personal spin on it. So then you have to show where it’s invisible, symbolic or metaphoric.

You also stated that one needed to understand how the Jews used apocalyptic language, and you’re correct. But your interpretation shows you lack that knowledge because apocalyptic fulfillment still needs to make sense. So if you have some “key” for unlocking these prophecies, I’d like to hear you explain how to determine when something is spiritual or literal. And why would John be asked to measure a metaphoric temple? And, especially, to leave out the outer court which will be overrun by the gentiles? How can gentiles overrun a metaphoric temple’s outer court? Are they metaphoric gentiles? Are the two prophets metaphoric prophets?

Terry: Occam's Razor calls for the simplest logical rendering of facts.

Occam’s Razor quite frequently goes dull when miracles, prophecy and speaking to God are involved. Thomas Jefferson and other great minds of his day ridiculed the idea that rocks could fall out of the sky. Jefferson is reported to have said in regard to an 1807 meteorite that reportedly fell in Weston, Conn.: “I would rather believe two Yankee professors would lie, than that stones have fallen from the heavens.” Lying, or conspiring even, was, to him, was the simplest logical explanation of the notion that rocks could fall out of the heavens. Occam’s Razor also didn’t work well when it came to the first medical doctors who were said to be quacks because they said germs could cause sickness in people. Many were disciplined for requiring medical staff to wash their hands before procedures or patient examinations.

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21

If you knew that you might have pain, suffer disasters, certainly end up dead,-- given the choice, the power, would you have prevailed upon your parents not to have brought you into the world?

by prologos in

or changed the outworkings of your ancestors' lifes to suit you?--.

Cold Steel

How do you know you didn't come here of your own free volition? Remember the Lord's words to Jeremiah: Before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee; and before thou camest forth out of the womb I sanctified thee, and I ordained thee a prophet unto the nations.Then said I, Ah, Lord God ! behold, I cannot speak: for I am a child. But the Lord said unto me, Say not, I am a child: for thou shalt go to all that I shall send thee, and whatsoever I command thee thou shalt speak. (Jeremiah 1:3-6)

Or when Jesus healed the man who was blind from birth? Master, who did sin? This man or his parents that he was born blind? (John 9:2)

If the man could have sinned before he was born, it means he most likely existed. Nevertheless, the Lord made no attempt to correct his disciples. He simply said, "Neither this man or his parents sinned," he said, explaining it was to show forth the power of God. Personally, I don't believe that God would send anyone to a world like this without first gaining their approval. Imagine sending people into hell holes all over this planet without them agreeing beforehand. The JWs teach that God creates men and women from the womb, then subjects them to hard lives and he threatens them with destruction if they don't choose the correct religion. It's not only unjust, it robs his creations of their free agency. Add to that that the Lord creates each man differently with varying intelligences, talents and opportunities, then expects them to find the "narrow path" which, the Lord himself admits, "few" there be who find it. Is that fairness? Doesn't it rob man of his free agency? What did any of us do to be treated like this? Does being all powerful justify any being to do that?

The only way it becomes just is if we had a first estate, and that we've moved from that to this "second" estate, and that we've all agreed to come to the earth for one reason or another. If the atheists are right, this is all stuff that just happens. No one's in charge.

34

Revelation written to the 1st century churches

by maccauk11 in

im suggesting revelation was not for us today but to the seven churches in minor asia.

they 1st centruy faithful ones were waiting for the promised return of messiah, like he promised them.

he did in fact return on the lcouds to take them to heaven.

Cold Steel

OP: I’m suggesting Revelation was not for us today but to the seven churches in Minor Asia. The 1st century faithful ones were waiting for the promised return of Messiah, like he promised them. He did in fact return on the clouds to take them to heaven.

And when did he return in the clouds with “all the saints” with him? We’re also told that “every eye” would see him, including those who put him to death: “Behold, he cometh with clouds; and every eye shall see him, and they also which pierced him: and all kindreds of the earth shall wail because of him.”

The problem with your interpretation is that you’re ignoring an entire body of prophecy that has not yet happened. For example, the apostles knew that before Jesus returned, 1) Jerusalem had to be destroyed, 2) the temple leveled, right? They also knew that 3) the Jews had to be scattered throughout the nations of the earth, and that in the future, 4) the Lord would set his hand again to recover his people (see Isaiah 11), 5) the building of the third Jewish temple (Revelation 11). And they knew there must be 6) a “restoration of all things” which all the holy prophets had written and spoken about (Acts 3).

Remember that the apostles also were prophets. They knew prophecy and all the things that had to come to pass before Jesus could return. Jesus continued to teach the apostles for 40 days after his resurrection. What did he tell them? Why isn’t any of it in the scriptures? We have traditions, but the only thing we’re told is that he taught them the mysteries of the kingdom of God. If Jesus was resurrected, then we have to acknowledge that he knew what the future would be. After the 40 days he ascended into heaven on the Mount of Olives and you’ll recall that two angels stood by and told them that Jesus would one day come “in like manner” in the clouds of heaven. The two prophets in Revelation 11 were never recorded as coming, nor the despot mentioned in Ezekiel 38-39 and Revelation 16. Again, this despot was the one many of the other prophets said would come (as Ezekiel notes in 38:17-18). Since the Lord did not come to the aid of Judah when the Romans sacked Jerusalem, we can only assume it would be fulfilled far in the future!

So how could all this happen in one generation?

In my mind it’s a bit presumptuous to think one knows what these scriptures were meant for. As one scholar writes:

All the 40-day teaching is described as very secret, delivered to a closed cult group. There is no desire to intrigue and mystify, however, as with the Gnostics, but rather the clearly stated policy that knowledge should be given always but only to those who ask for it, with the corollary that the higher and holier a teaching the more carefully it should be guarded. As “the last and highest revelation,” the teaching of the 40 days was top secret, and has not come down to us.

Since Irenaeus, churchmen have strenuously denied that there ever was a secret teaching or that anything really important has ever been lost. To profess otherwise would be perilously close to an admission of bankruptcy; yet Christian scholars do concede that the Apostles had information that we do not have, allow the existence of an unwritten Apostolic tradition in the church, and grant that there was a policy of secrecy in the early church—though insisting that it began with the catechetical schools. The catechists, however, appeal to a much earlier tradition of secrecy, and when the Fathers attempt to reproduce the unwritten tradition which they claim for the church they have nothing to offer but the commonplaces of the schools. Plainly things have been lost. [Source]

In other words, I believe the first century apostles knew exactly where they were in the grand scheme of things. I don’t think they expected Jesus’ return in their day or even their great grandchildren’s day.

The modern day churches especially since the 1830s are in delusion to think it is written for us today [or] some future generation. The language used is symbolic, metaphors and hyperbole and taken mostly from the Old Testament prophets like Ezekiel and Isaiah. They also used the same language which in fact was how the Jews used language to make descriptions of events.

This is an opinion, of course. One may also surmise that Ezekiel and Isaiah were written for us today. Ezekiel, after all, goes so far as to address the Beast (Gog) in Ezekiel 38: “Thus saith the Lord God; Art thou he of whom I have spoken in old time by my servants the prophets of Israel, which prophesied in those days many years that I would bring thee against them?”

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Messiah told those 1st century [ones] that all things would occur in their generation and it did! Just like he said. The Apostles all confirmed the expectation of Messiah’s return in their lifetime.

Uuuuugh...yeah. When did Jesus return in the clouds? What was the coming of the sign of the Son of Man? When were the two prophets killed, and who killed them? The Beast came down upon Jerusalem to destroy it, but the Lord came to the rescue of Judah and Jerusalem and destroyed Jerusalem's enemies. How did that go down?

Sorry...it just does not compute.

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12

The American Constitution versus the 'Kingdom of God'.

by yadda yadda 2 in

i thought this comparison between the american constitution and the 'kingdom of god' was very interesting from an article in this ex-mormon's excellent website http://packham.n4m.org/us-xian.htm.

the article notes how america's founding father's were deists, not bible-believing christians.. but our nation is also a system of government, not just a society.

the constitution is about government, not about society.

Cold Steel

The reason Mormons are strict constitutionalists is that it's the BEST form of government when man must govern himself. Theocracy works BEST when the leaders receive revelation from God. The kingdom in Daniel 2 implies that no human dominion will be needed as we slip into the Millennium. Also, a righteous people need almost no governing, for they govern themselves. A wicked people need despotic government to maintain peace.

Mormon prophecy indicates severe tribulation in the earth just prior to the return of Christ. Now, Israel is under the nuclear umbrella of the United States and no nation dares move against it. But the time is rapidly coming when the United States will rather suddenly cease to being a world superpower. It's ability to project military strength will decline to unsustainable levels. Then, without the United States, a major kingdom will arise (most likely in Turkey), which will consolidate power in the Mediterranean and Middle East. Then it will at some point decide to attack Israel and retake Jerusalem. That will be the great battle of Armageddon which leads to the return of the Messiah.

When the government of God is established, it will be a theocracy, with a strong connection to the freedoms contained in the bill of rights. People will have the freedom to believe as they choose and if people sin, it will be because they choose to. These are, in a nutshell, the beliefs of the LDS faith. With the return of Christ, many will be destroyed at his coming. But these will be murderers, despots, and the lowest element of people. But those who are decent, honorable people of the earth, will be spared.

Will everyone be happy with a theocracy? Probably not. But people will see the incredible improvement with the way the nations are governed. The only scriptural resistance noted by the prophets is that spoken by the prophet Zechariah, who in Chapter 14 indicates that many Muslims at first will not be cooperative with the new government. Those among those nations that will not go up to Jerusalem to take part in the feast of tabernacles will be "encouraged" to reconsider, partially through drought and physical plagues. Eventually, Zechariah states, they'll go.

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