The Mosaic Law - Stage 6
The Mosaic Law
The Sixth Commandment
as seen through Stage 7
The Omission of Love
Stage 6. Force - Violence - Absolute Obedience / "Perfection" - Sacrifice
The Sixth Commandment
"Thou shalt not kill."
Ex. 20:13
"The Sixth Commandment was a counsel of perfection (absolute obedience to Yahwah's word); nowhere is there so much killing as in the Old Testament; its chapters oscillate between slaughter and compensatory reproduction ... Despite a magnificent verse about ploughshares and pruning-hooks, the Prophets were not pacifists, and the priests ... were almost as fond of war as of preaching. Among nineteen kings of Israel eight were assassinated. Captured cities were usually destroyed, the males put to the sword, and the soil deliberately ruined ..." (Durant, "The Story of Civilization," Vol. 1, p. 334-5. Cf. 2 Kings iii, 18-19; Joshua vi, 21, 24) (Italicized insertion, mine.)
"Yet, Thou shalt kill" ... in the name of Yahwah. Joshua, 6:16. ... Joshua said unto the people, "Shout; for the Lord hath given you the city" (Jericho). Verse 21; And they utterly destroyed all that was in the city, both man and woman, young and old, and ox, and sheep, and ass, with the edge of the sword. Verse 24; And they burnt the city with fire, and all that was therein: only the silver, and the gold, and the vessels of brass and of iron, they put into the treasury of the house of the Lord (Yahwah).
Yahwah and King Sihon Deut. 2:30-36. But Sihon king of Heshbon would not let us pass by him: for the Lord thy God hardened his spirit, and made his heart obstinate, that he might deliver him into thy hand, as appeareth this day. And the Lord said unto me, Behold, I have begun to give Sihon and his land before thee: begin to possess, that thou mayest inherit his land. Then Sihon came out against us, he and all his people, to fight at Jahaz. And the Lord our God delivered him before us; and we smote him, and his sons, and all his people. And we took all his cities at that time, and utterly destroyed the men, and the women, and the little ones, of every city, we left none to remain: only the cattle we took for a prey unto ourselves, and the spoil of the cities which we took.
(This story of King Sihon and Yahwah parallels the story of Yahwah and Pharoah. The same means of justification was used for the killing of all the firstborn in Egypt, plus the means to comply was also taken away.) (See: Fourth Commandment.)
Deut., 3: 6-7. And we utterly destroyed them (Bashan), as we did unto Sihon king of Heshbon, utterly destroying the men, women, and children, of every city. But all the cattle, and the spoil of the cities, we took for a prey to ourselves.
Josh., 10:28; 8:1-29 (Here, Joshua uses an ambush, takes the city of Ai, then slays utterly its 12,000 inhabitants.)
Josh. 10:35; 10:37; 10:39; 10:40; 11:11, and Josh. 11:12: And all the cities of those Kings, and all the kings of them, did Joshua take, and smote them with the edge of the sword, and he utterly destroyed them, as Moses the servant of the Lord (Yahwah, the Lord God of Israel) commanded.
(For other cities and individuals utterly destroyed, see: Deut. 7:2; 12:2; 13:15; 20:16-17.)
But "No, ... being one with Yahwah, ... it is not you who kills." Josh. 11:20. For it was of the Lord (Yahwah) to harden their hearts, that they should come against Israel in battle, that he might destroy them utterly, and that they might have no favor, but that he might destroy them, as the Lord commanded Moses.
Yahwah says, "Not I, but they are the aggressors." The Binder causes the problem (through the double-bind, in order to exterminate and plunder), takes away from His enemies the means (the choice) of complying to His commands, then "cures" the problem by killing those who defended themselves and their land from invasion, labeling them the "aggressors," which then becomes His "justification" for the breaking of His own law, "Thou Shalt not Kill."
The above list of scriptures is only a partial listing of the utter extinction (genocide) with no quarter given by Yahwah, of men, women and children slaughtered by means of the sword in order to conquer and plunder cities and lands of the so-called "aggressors."
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Perfection in Obedience to Yahwah expected - Punishments for Disobedience Genesis 6:9. Noah was a just man and perfect in his generations, and Noah walked with God (Yahwah).
Genesis 17:1. And when Abram was ninety years old, the Lord appeared to Abram, and said unto him, I am the Almighty God (Yahwah); walk before me, and be thou perfect.
Deut. 18:13. Thou shalt be perfect with the Lord thy God (Yahwah).
O. T. Methods of Punishment for Lack of Perfection in Obedience Infliction in kind (A life for a life; eye for eye.) ........... Genesis 9:6; Lev. 24:19-20.
Burning .................................................................... Lev. 20:14
Mutilation (Amputation) ............................................ Deut. 25:11-12
Hanging ................................................................... Deut. 21:22-23
Stoning .................................................................... Lev. 24:16
Beating .................................................................... Deut. 25:2-3
Excommunication .................................................... Ezra 7:26; 10:8
Genesis 17:14. And the uncircumcised man child whose flesh of his foreskin is not circumcised, that soul shall be cut off from his people; he hath broken my covenant.
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The Sixth Commandment as Expressed in Mormonism
Brigham Young said, "As it was in ancient days, so it is in our day; ... the law is precisely the same. (Journal of Discourses, Vol. 4, p. 54.)
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The Mountain Meadows Massacre
and Brigham Young
From "The Life and Confessions" of the Mormon Bishop, by John D. Lee.
Preface--by Wm. W. Bishop, Confidential Att'y of John D. Lee.
Preface "The Mountain Meadows Massacre stands without a parallel amongst the crimes that stain the pages of American history. It was a crime committed without cause or justification of any kind to relieve it of its fearful character. Over one hundred and twenty men, women and children were surrounded by Indians, and more cruel whites, and kept under constant fire, from hundreds of unerring rifles, for five days and nights, during all of which time, the emigrants were famishing for water. When nearly exhausted from fatigue and thirst, they were approached by white men, with a flag of truce, and induced to surrender their arms, under the most solemn promises of protection. They were then murdered in cold blood, and left nude and mangled upon the plain. All this was done by a band of fanatics, who had no cause of complaint against the emigrants, except that the authorities of the Mormon Church had decided that all the emigrants who were old enough to talk, should die--revenged for alleged insults to Brigham Young, and the booty of the plundered train being the inciting causes of the massacre."
"John D. Lee was one, and only one of fifty-eight Mormons, who there carried out the orders of the Mormon Priesthood." (http://www.xmission.com/~country/reason/lee_pref.htm)
---------------- WRITTEN AT HIS DICTATION AND DELIVERED TO WILLIAM W. BISHOP, ATTORNEY FOR LEE, WITH A REQUEST THAT THE SAME BE PUBLISHED
Except from
LAST CONFESSION AND STATEMENT OF JOHN D. LEE.
CHAPTER XVIII
"...I did not act alone; I had many to assist me at the Mountain Meadows. I believe that most of those who were connected with the Massacre, and took part in the lamentable transaction that has blackened the character of all who were aiders or abettors in the same, were acting under the impression that they were performing a religious duty. I know all were acting under the orders and by the command of their Church leaders; and I firmly believe that the most of those who took part in the proceedings, considered it a religious duty to unquestioningly obey the orders which they had received. That they acted from a sense of duty to the Mormon Church, I never doubted."
(http://www.xmission.com/~country/reason/lee_mm.htm)
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"The Circleville Massacre:
A Brutal Incident in Utah's Black Hawk War"
Albert Winkler, Utah Historical Quarterly 55 (Winter 1987): 4-21, which describes Mormon militiamen shooting males, while slitting the throats of the women and children, identical to the pattern in the Mountain Meadows Massacre. (Quinn, Ibid., pp. 89, 329)
Black Hawk War "The Black Hawk War erupted as a result of the pressures white expansion brought to Native American populations. White settlement of Utah altered crucial ecosystems and helped destroy Indian subsistence patterns which caused starvation. Those who did not starve often succumbed to European diseases. Contemporary sources indicate that Indian populations in Utah in the 1860s were plummeting at frightening rates."
"The Black Hawk Indian War was the longest and most destructive conflict between pioneer immigrants and Native Americans in Utah History. The traditional date of the war's commencement is 9 April 1865 but tensions had been mounting for years. On that date bad feelings were transformed into violence when a handful of Utes and Mormon frontiersmen met in Manti, Sanpete County, to settle a dispute over some cattle killed and consumed by starving Indians. An irritated (and apparently inebriated) Mormon lost his temper and violently jerked a young chieftain from his horse. The insulted Indian delegation, which included a dynamic young Ute named Black Hawk, abruptly left, promising retaliation. The threats were not idle - for over the course of the next few days Black Hawk and other Utes killed five Mormons and escaped to the mountains with hundreds of stolen cattle. Naturally, scores of hungry warriors and their families flocked to eat "Mormon beef" and to support Black Hawk, who was suddenly hailed as a war chief."
"The years 1865 to 1867 were by far the most intense of the conflicts.......Unable to distinguish "guilty" from "friendly" tribesmen, frustrated Mormons at times indiscriminately killed Indians, including women and children."
(http://www.media.utah.edu/medsol/UCME/b/BLACKHAWKWAR.html)
----------------------- As in "ancient days" under Moses and Yahwah, these massacres had the same pattern of reversal behind it 2500 years later under the rule of Brigham Young. After the Indians had been forced, through the plunder of their lands and starvation, to be defenders of self and property, their defense was reversed to their being labeled "aggressors;" the avenging of "aggressors" then "justified" the Mormon covenant for blood atonement which mainly included the "slitting of the throats," or more generally, shedding the blood of "sinners."
Moses / BrighamYoung
-------------------------- Death by slitting the throat (the shedding of blood) ......... Quinn, Ibid. p. 181; ref. p. 405
Under Joseph Smith:
Methods of Punishment for Dissenters and anti-Mormons - Nauvoo, Illinois
(A few examples)
Shot and Killed (*) ........................................................... " p. 180-1; ref. p. 404-5
Mutilation and Castration (*) (of an anti-Mormon) ........... " p. 181; ref. p. 405
Stoning (a suspected spy) .............................................. " p. 180; ref. p. 404
Beating ( ... a man almost to death in the temple) .......... " p. 177; ref. p. 403
Throwing excrement on "traitors" ...................................... " p. 176-7; ref. p. 402
Physical Threat and Intimidation (with Bowie knives) ..... " p. 177; ref. p. 402
Excommunication (for "cursing the President of the Church) " p. 180; ref. p. 404
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Theocratic Shedding of Blood in Various Ways, as Preached by Mormon Leaders
"Sidney Rigdon publicly preached in April 1844: "There are men standing in your midst that you cant [sic] do anything with them but cut their throat & bury them" (Sidney Rigdon sermon on 6 Apr. 1844, manuscript compiled by Thomas Bullock on 24 Apr. 1844, LDS archives, Quinn, Ibid, p. 335.)
Death by Blood Atonement (*) (the shedding of blood) Joseph Smith: "In debate, George A. Smth said imprisonment was better then hanging. I replied, I was opposed to hanging, even if a man kill another, I will shoot him, or cut off his head, spill his blood on the ground, and let the smoke thereof ascend up to God; and if ever I have the privilege of making a law on that subject, I will have it so." (History of the Church, by Joseph Smith, Vol. 5, p. 296)
Mutilation (*)
Joseph Smith. (From "Confessions of John D. Lee," pp. 284-286) "In Nauvoo it was the orders from Joseph Smith and his apostles to beat, wound and castrate all Gentiles that the police could take in the act of entering or leaving a Mormon household under circumstances that led to the belief that they had been there for immoral purposes. I knew of several such outrages while there."
(Quotes and references by LDS church historian D. Michael Quinn are from his book "The Mormon Hierarchy - Origins of Power.")
----------------------
Brigham Young and other Presidents of the Mormon Church
on Theocratic Punishments for "Refusing to Obey Counsel" -
Perfect Obedience
The Shedding of Blood Judge Cradlebaugh, a judge in the United States Federal Court in the Utah Territory, in a letter dated January 18, 1860, and printed in the Valley Tan, February 22, 1860, p. 2, stated:
Utah Territory
"Now to the end that the country may know the truth respecting these matters, ... I assert ---
"1st. That the Mormon people are subject to a theocratic government, and recognizes no law as binding which does not coincide with their pretended revelations ...
"4th. That they teach the doctrines of 'the shedding of human blood for the remission of sin,' as defined by their own ecclesiastical code, and these teachings are carried into practice...
"5th. That they teach the doctrine that it is right and godly that Mormons should rob Gentiles whenever they can do so with facility and escape public exposure...
"6th. That they teach the doctrine and practice it, of castrating men, and have declared from their pulpit, with public acquiescence, that the day was near when their valleys would resound with the voice of eunuchs.
"I am prepared here and now with proofs to sustain these charges,..."
A Bloody Death Penalty in Utah for Disobedience Jedediah M. Grant, second counselor to Brigham Young: "Brethern and sisters, we want you to repent and forsake your sins. And you who have committed sins that cannot be forgiven through baptism, let your blood be shed, and let the smoke ascend, that the incense thereof may come up before God as an atonement for your sins, and that the sinners in Zion may be afraid." (Journal of Discourses, Vol. 4, pp.49-51)
Heber C. Kimball, first counselor to Brigham Young: "... for if men turn traitors to God and His servants, their blood will surely be shed, or else they will be damned, and that too according to their covenants." (Journal of Discourses, Vol. 4, p. 375)
Brigham Young: "I say, rather than that apostates should flourish here, I will unsheath my bowie knife, and conquer or die." (Journal of Discourses, Vol. 1, p. 83)
Perfect Obedience through Fear Heber C. Kimball: "God designs we should be pure men, holding the oracles of God in holy and pure vessels; but when it is necessary that blood should be shed, we should be as ready to do that as to eat an apple ... we will let you know that the earth can swallow you up, as it did Korah with his host: and as brother Taylor says, you may dig your graves, and we will slay you, and you may crawl into them." (Journal of Discourses, Vol. 6, pp. 34-35.)
Cf. with Old Testament: Numbers 26:9-10
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Castration In Utah - The Second worst Punishment next to Death
For Lack of Complete Obedience to Leaders
Regarding Selection of a Wife
John D. Lee: "In Utah it has been the custom with the Priesthood to make eunichs of such men as were obnoxious to the leaders. This was done for a double purpose: first, it gave a perfect revenge, and next, it left the poor victim a living example of the dangers of disobeying counsel and not living as ordered by the Priesthood. .... it was the favorite revenge of old, worn-out members of the Priesthood, who wanted young women sealed to them, and many a young man was unsexed for refusing to give up his sweetheart at the request of an old and failing, but still sensual apostle or member of the Priesthood." (From "Confessions" of John D. Lee.)
Heber C. Kimball: July 12, 1857: "... if I am not a good man, I have no just right in this Church to a wife or wives, or to the power to propagate my species. What, then, should be done with me? Make a eunuch of me, and stop my propagation." (Journal of Discourses, Vol. 5, p. 29.)
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"Crimes Worthy of Death" in Theocratic Mormonism
1. Murder
2. Adultery and Immorality
3. Stealing
4. Using the Name of the Lord in Vain
5. For Not Receiving the Gospel
6. For Marriage to an African
7. For Covenant Breaking
8. For Apostasy
9. For Lying
10. For Counterfeiting
For further Documentations and References to this essay on the Sixth Commandment in Mormonism and this final list of "Crimes Worthy of Death," see Jerald and Sandra Tanner's "Mormonism - Shadow or Reality," Chapter 25, "Blood Atonement" and Chapter 36, "Blood Flows in Utah."
Because of the vast amount of documentation for this essay, I necessarily had to limit my choices so that it would not become too lengthy; the object being to point out that Mormonism, at its roots and in its ongoing mind-set today, is based on the Mosaic Book of the Law of Blood Atonement, with its Omission of Love. The slitting of the throat and disembowelment were the threatened punishments for members ... for revealing or going against covenants taken in the Mormon temple. This Blood Atonement punishment was not dropped from the temple ceremonies until 1990, less than ten years ago. Although this basis is presently being obfuscated by the Mormon church, if not denied, it is still operating under the same psychological Mosaic pattern of force and fraud; only the "clothes" (temporarily covering it) have changed; its aims are still the same ... that aim being the restoration of this ancient, political, theocratic order ... for the whole world ... under Mormon Priesthood leadership.
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The Seventh Commandment: "Thou Shalt Not Commit Adultery"
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