440: FACES OF CHRIST

This is an important, historic weekend as it aligns the Jewish Faith, all Christian Religions and the Mormons with the sacred days of Passover, Easter and LDS General Conference respectively ( and not to mention maybe the Pagans with their April Fools Day.)

Today is Good Friday. A Somber Day to think of all the events that occured today. My family plan to go see the latest movie, Paul, Apostle of Christ. As most  know,  Paul went from being the most infamous persecutor of Christians to Jesus Christ's most influential apostle.

Also,Tonight at sundown begins the Jewish Holiday of Passover.

Christians believe that the resurrection took place on a Sunday. After the First Council of Nicaea in 325, it was determined that Easter should always fall on the first Sunday after the first full moon following the spring equinox. The Full Moon is on Saturday and it will also be a Blue Moon. The moon rises about 7:09 PM tonight and will set at 7:37 AM tomorrow morning.. and then rise tomorrow night at 8:16 PM.  I hope to take a photo of it and post it later but wanted to post this beforehand.

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SIDENOTE:
For millennia now, believers and nonbelievers have wondered what Jesus may have looked like and grasped at any and all evidence in their search. In 2011, a 2,000-year-old, credit-card-sized, lead booklet was found in a cave overlooking the Sea of Galilee bearing what looks to be the oldest portrait of Jesus Christ, perhaps made during the lifetime of those who knew what he looked like and, perhaps, the “true” face of Jesus.

From the earliest days of Christianity up until Rembrandt’s 17th century, the idea of portraying Jesus as anything other than a supernatural Divine being was considered blasphemy. 

Rembrandt shifted away from Jesus as the heroic superbeing of antiquity towards a more human,  and painted a more accessible to believers, and, perhaps, truer face of Christ.

He used as his model a young Sephardic Jew from the neighborhood in which he lived and worked. He painted portraits of Jesus Christ from various angles and shown in various states of mind and mood. Below are a few of these paintings that have been preserved.. some of which are believed to have been painted by his students.  There is only one that is believed to have been painted by the master's hand.

Rembrandt loved the story of Jesus at Emmaus for its depiction of Christ as teacher, opening the eyes of His disciples to the truth of his being and his continued connection to them. Rembrandt reconnected in a deeply personal way with Jesus by choosing a Jewish model—an outcast, like the outcasts with whom Christ (and Rembrandt himself) chose to keep company.

These faces were used as inspiration for the cover on the newly published scriptures. The beholder of the books will see a faint resemblance of some of the."Faces of Christ" which Rembrandt painted. It is only through reading the scriptures will we ever be able to see Christ and know His True Identity.

In the final version, the image of Christ's Face is almost undetectable to the viewer.. but only a fingerprint like image to allow the reader to come to know Christ themselves. 

439: PRESERVING OUR DIFFERENCES

Words of Wisdom:

People are very different one from another. Not only are men and women different from one another, women are different from each other and men are different from each other. Personalities are always going to be ill-fitted. Getting people to mesh together… that is not going to result in somehow this universal “similarity of personality”. 

It is important that people preserve their differences. It is important that people have the gifts that have been given to them by God preserved intact and not suppressed because someone doesn’t like the way their gifts get expressed. It is important that people preserve their differences.

Zion is going to have people whose artistic outpouring is going to be fabulously different from one another.

Look at the:

• Totem pole artistry of the Native Americans
• Carved artistry of the Hawaiian Islands
• Sculptures of Michangelo

These examples are Radically Different one from another. So much so that you are bridging these enormous cultural divides to look at these different sculptures.

Why would we ever want to have a studies school of artistic discipline that produces nothing more than some uniform product when beauty and artistry can find so many unique forms of expression. Why would we ever want that?

(Sidenote: Why would you want to go to a church meeting in Uganda, a fellowship in the Phillipines and a fellowship meeting in Spain and hear the same lesson on the same Sunday everywhere throughout the world. That is managerial overkill designed to destroy the unique spirits of the  sons and daughters of God.)

Facial recognition works because no one else has the same face as you. Fingerprints distinguish everyone of us from one another. So much so that is you leave a print and everyone else leaves a print, we can distinguish yours from everyone else. Every single snowflake crystal is unique. Every leaf of every tree is unique. Nature cries out that God treasures the differences that exists from one soul to the next.

And when describing the gifts that are given, the gifts are very different but how the gifts manifest themselves even if one possess the exactly the same gift.

Everyone one of us are unique, and when we deal with one another, the objective is not to compel you to be me.  The objective is not to compel anyone of us to be the same as another one of us. The objective is to rejoice, and to respect and to hallow the work that God has been done in making us so unique from one another. Even twins are dissimilar.

Headbutting is not a bad thing, as long as It is not done in a way as to break hearts, create division and make people hold ill will toward one another.

Below are a few more photos I took on my trip down to Arizona. Notice the beauty of all the different rock formations. The beauty of God's artwork indeed.!

And lastly... a small tree with the best view on earth. The Grand Canyon. May we all survive with deep roots in our testimonies of Christ and thrive the difficult circumstances where we find ourselves.

438: RUMORS AND PREDICTIONS FOR THIS WEEKEND'S LDS GENERAL CONFERENCE

Prediction: A new buzz word will likely emerge from this upcoming LDS General Conference. The word is 'minister'.

The word 'minister' and other forms of word like "ministry" are already starting to circulate in the headlines on LDS.org. Below are some of the latest headlines found on Mormon Newsroom  which is the official resource for the Church News.

President and Sister Nelson to Embark on Global Ministry Tour

and

Elder Stevenson Ministers to Shooting Victims in Florida

Like the catchy word "ponderize" which became infamous from Elder Devin Durrants Talk in the October 2015 General Conference or "Hastening the work" in the 2013-2014 conferences, the word "minister" might be heard more times in this upcoming Conference than the words "Beloved Prophet"

In Christianity, the title of minister is defined as a person authorized by a church, or other religious organization, to perform functions such as teaching of beliefs; leading services or otherwise providing spiritual guidance to the community. 

While used primarily in other religions, the term 'ministry' has not be commonly been used in our LDS lingo. However I vaguely remember it being used prior to the 1990's  in a report given by Peter, James, and John after being down to observe the telestial world where they reported finding the Satan there, with his ministers, preaching all manner of false doctrine and striving to lead the posterity of Adam astray. 

And for those who recall hearing this, they will remember that the man Adam didn't want to have ministers. He was looking for Messengers. And if I might add, not just any type of messengers, but Adam was looking for Messengers that were sent from the Father.  He was found waiting for the further light and knowledge that Elohim (plural for Gods.. or more specifically, God the Father and Our Mother in Heaven) that They would send through Their Messengers, not ministers. 

I wonder if it would be better to follow the example set forth by.Adam and Eve and listen to "True Messengers" sent from the Father instead of "ministers."

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In addition to above predication, there are rumors circulating that there will be an announcement in General Conference that home teaching and visiting teaching will being replaced by “Ministering Brethren” and “Ministering Sisters.”

Interesting to see what unfolds in the coming days, ...months and years. 

437: A "MONUMENTAL" WEEKEND

The word 'monumental' is defined as something that is great in importance, extent, or size.  This past weekend was monumental for me....not only because of the things I saw and heard, but also because I spent the weekend camping in Monument Valley on the Navajo Indian Reservation.  Monument Valley is located on the Utah-Arizona border not far from the Four Corners region. It is a Tribal Park owned and managed by the Navajo Nation. There is a 17-mile loop that you can drive that takes you to the main sights, however there are restricted areas that can only be accessed with a Navajo Guide.  

We were able to spend the night with a Navajo family on their land next to their hogan and witness one of their ceremonies that lasted the entire night and into the morning. Below are some photos I took on our trip. Difficult to put into words the sites and sounds we experienced so I will just let the photos speak for themselves.  

436: RESTORING LIGHT

Today is the Spring Equinox. A time when everything is in balance, light and dark are balanced and nature everywhere from pole to pole is showered equally with the light and life of heaven. During the equinox, most places on Earth will see approximately 12 hours of daylight and 12 hours of night.

Today for a brief moment, light and dark seem to be equal, however, it is not possible for us to remain static. We are either gaining more light or losing light. We are either involved with restoring truth or in apostasy by removing, forgetting, and/or altering truth.  

Below is the first video in a new series that will focus on the The Christian Reformation. There will be seven videos in this second series. Releasing this video today is further attempt to remember and  restore truth that has been lost.

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Sidenote #1:

It was reported yesterday that President Nelson has decided to discontinue with the nearly 50 year tradition of writing a First Presidency monthly message that was published in the Ensign. 

Starting in January 1971, the First Presidency's appeared each month as the first article in the magazine and was to be used as the Home Teaching lesson. That tradition will end next month with the final official message from the First Presidency that will appear in the Ensign. Below is the link to the Deseret News article:

Discontinuation of the monthly First Presidency Message

Sidenote #2: 

A few weeks ago my friend was contacted by the Correlation and Research Department of the Church to participate in an online survey. The survey was an option poll to gather feedback on two new videos produced by the Church. Questions were asked on the viewers overall impression of the videos. Below are links to watch the videos. This video is a "pilot" project and not available to the general public yet. Not sure how long the link will be available. 

Newest "Pilot" Church Video on the Restoration

I  found it interesting that in one of the last segments of this video on the Restoration only shows Jesus Christ appearing to Joseph Smith. One of the main tenants of the LDS Religion was the fact that both God the Father and His Son, Jesus Christ appeared to the young 14 year old boy. I realize that the video is a highly simplified, almost Saturday morning cartoon style video to hopefully appeal to a mass audience and therefore  might not what to get into more complex truths about the Restoration.

Newest Church Video on the Plan of Happiness

One thing I found interesting was the use of black man and a white woman flirting with each other. In the past, the Brethren have consistently opposed marriage between different ethnicities.  Nearly every decade beginning with the church's formation until the 1970s has seen some denunciation against miscegenation, with most focusing on black-white marriage. President George Albert Smith stated.  "Social intercourse between the Whites and the Negroes should certainly not be encouraged because of leading to intermarriage, which the Lord has forbidden."  For instance, Church apostle Mark Petersen said in a 1954 address that church doctrine barred black people and white people from marrying each other.  In 1966, a white woman who had received her endowments was banned by local leaders from going to the temple and was told her endowments were invalid because she had since married a black man. Church president David O McKay agreed with the ban on going to the temple, but said her endowments were still valid.

The current President Russell M Nelson gave a Conference talk in 1995 where he said that probabilities of a successful marriage are known to be much greater if both the husband and wife are united in their same ethnic background. 

The discouragement of marriage between those of different ethnicities by church leaders continued being taught until 2013.

On December 6, 2013 the LDS Church published an essay entitled Race and the Priesthood on its official website. The essay disavowed the theories advanced in the past that interracial marriage was a sin, indicating that it was influenced by the racism of the era.

Today the Church is now producing videos that appear to encourage romantic interracial marriages.