Tuesday, September 29, 2009

By 'Rabbi' James Trimm
Jeremiah 31:31-33    Behold, the days come, saith YHWH, that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah:  Not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt; which my covenant they brake, although I was an husband unto them, saith YHWH:  But this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel; After those days, saith YHWH, I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their Elohim, and they shall be my people.

When the Book of Mormon talks about the 'unfolding of the revelation of John' at Ether 4:7-16, it is refering to this time in Biblical history in the future, when the seals will be opened for a complete manifestation of the renewed covenant with Israel.
The Book of Mormon tells us that the sealed portion will not be opened in the day of wickedness, so the final sealed portion would be at the culmination of renewed covenant with Israel [Jer 31] and is a reference to a book mentioned in Isaiah 29:

For YHWH has poured out on you the spirit of deep sleep...
The whole vision has become to you like the words of a book
that is sealed...
therefore, behold I will again do a marvelous work among this
people, a marvelous work and a wonder...
In that day the deaf shall hear the words of the book, and
the eyes of the blind shall see out of obscurity and out of
darkness.
(Is. 29:10, 11, 14, 18)


Dt. 30:1-4:

Now it shall come to pass, when all these things come upon
you, the blessing and the curse which I have set before you,
and you call them to mind among all the nations where YHWH
your God drives you, and you return to YHWH your God and
obey his voice, according to all that I have commanded you
today, you and your children, with all your heart and with
all your soul, And YHWH your God will bring you back from
captivity, and have compassion on you, and gather you again
from all the nations where YHWH your God has scattered you.


Many passages skipped


All of these things demonstrate that the Book of Mormon is a fulfillment of the typology of Rosh HaShanna and Yom Kippur. 

 Joseph Smith received the Book of Mormon on Sept. 21, 1827 and that day was Rosh HaShanna and the year was the birth of Zionism wherein the beginning of the restoration of the children of Israel to the land of Israel occured.  More importantly, it also marked the beginning of the days of repentance leading to the fulfillment of  Yom Kippur with the revealing of the sealed portion. 

The Lamanites are descendants of the Jews, as Manasseh attached to Judah while Ephraim was dispersed.  The last ‘Gentiles' to receive the gospel in Judea, were the ‘first' to receive the gospel of the Book of Mormon which is in the hand of Ephraim.  Ephraim was last born, but given the firstborn position for a time by Jacob and that time is ending with the fullness of the gentiles.  At that time, the first, who is Ephraim will become last again, so that Manasseh, who is the true firstborn will be given the keys of the priesthood, due to the lack of repentance from the Gentiles and he will take his position and rule as the Jewish progeny of the House of Israel/Joseph.
Yahushua predicted that when the Lamanites came into the knowledge of the true gospel, that a parallel event would be that the Gentiles would reject Torah [3 Ne 16:4-17/Isaiah 52:8-10].  Those Gentiles are the Gentiles who brought the Book of Mormon gospel to the Lamanites and many of them will not repent and hear the Torah, due to listening to the precepts of men over the Word of YHWH.
 

Sunday, September 27, 2009

To the latter day saints

The Lord provided a means to dispel the partial spiritual blindness resting on the Jews when he commanded Latter-day Saints to “seek diligently to turn … the hearts of the Jews unto the prophets, and the prophets unto the Jews. …” (D&C 98:16-17.) As the mission of Ephraim unfolds, we may expect great things from Judah.

Elohim plural - singular

Virtually all Hebrew scholars do recognize that the word Elohim, as it stands by itself, is a plural noun. Nevertheless, they wish to deny that it allows for any plurality in the Godhead whatsoever. Their line of reasoning usually goes like this: When "Elohim" is used of the true God, it is followed by a singular verb; when it is used of false gods, it is followed by the plural verb.
However, there are places where the word is used of the true God and yet it is followed by a plural verb:
Genesis 20:13: "And it came to pass, when God (Elohim) caused me to wander
[literally: They caused me to wander] from my father's house...
Genesis 35:7: "...because there God (Elohim) appeared unto him..."
Literally: They appeared unto him.
The singular form for Elohim (Eloah) exists and is used in such passages as Deuteronomy 32:15-17 and Habakkuk 3:3. This singular form could have easily been used consistently. Yet it is only used 250 times, while the plural form is used 2,500 times. The far greater use of the plural form again turns the argument in favor of plurality in the Godhead rather than against it.

Tuesday, July 14, 2009

On Death

These two snippets are from the periodical Shabbat Shalom.
  1. In Mishna Avot 2:9, we read "repent one day before your death." Because no person knows when that time will be, each of us ought to view each day as if it were possibly our last.
  2. The current prayer book of the Reform movement in Judaism: We do best homage to our dead when we live our lives more fully, even in the shadow of our loss. For each of our lives is worth the life of the whole world."

    In this way we are challenged to create lives of meaning in which we strive to fulfill the blessing of being created b'tzelem elohim -- fashioned in the image of God.

Surely the latter is something to reflect on. While you do, also reflect that Covey's 8th Habit speaks to this in an indirect but very definite and inspiring way.

Wednesday, July 8, 2009

From book Mistakes were Made

"When you enter the Museum of Tolerance in Los Angeles", you find yourself in a room of interactive exhibits designed to identify the people you can't tolerate. The familiar targets are there (blacks, women, Jews, gays), but also short people, fat people, blond-female, disabled... You watch a video on the vast variety of prejudices, designed to convince you that everyone has at least a few, and thenyou are invited to enter the museum proper through one of two doors; one marked PREJUDICED, the other marked UNPREJUDICED. the latter door is locked, in case anyone misses the point, occasionally some people do. When we were visiting the museum one afternoon we were treated to the sight of four [men] Pounding angrily on the unprejudiced door, demanding to be let in."

The point of this, in the book, is that those men had a blind spot. I'm not going to say those men were. I will let you wonder. Baptists, Catholics, blacks, Jews, Mormons, or who were they. The real point was that they wanted to pretend that they had no prejudices. the truth is that we all do. The truth is that we all have blind spots. That's what that book is about.

The name of the book is "Mistakes Were Made (but not by me)." Why we justify foolish beliefs, bad decisions, and hurtful acts. It will make an honest person out of you if anything will.

Mark Paredes response: Museum of Tolerance, LA

Yes, I'm good friends with the rabbis at the Museum of Tolerance and its parent organization, the Simon Wiesenthal Center.