Thursday, December 18, 2014

Self-Reliance Tip Of The Week - Beauty and The Beast


How do I know if I stepped on her toes? 

One of my favorite fairy tales of all time is Beauty and the Beast. The way Disney portrays it is that Belle softens the heart of the Beast and he becomes kind, and that beauty is only skin deep. Ahhh....to blave...and when the beast is changed into a man at the end...wow, what a looker!

There is a Beast prophesied in the last days. The Beast might symbolize a person, a group of people, or countries (or all three, symbolism is funny that way). This particular beast will not however become kind. There are certain things we need to watch out for when it comes to the "sign of the beast" because it can affect every aspect of our own lives and the lives of our family. 

What I am about to say might sound a little Sci-Fi'ish (is that even a word?) because frankly...40 years ago you might have been laughed out of a room for what I am about to say; however, how can we avoid something if we don't see it coming (kind of like a smart-car)?  Let's do a little background check on this humdinger of a "fella" . We find a lot of our information from Revelation's 13.

Elder John Patmos ( The Apostle John who was sent to remote desert peninsula of Patmos as a prisoner) around the age of 92 had this crazy vision about all kinds of things that would take place in the last days. Daniel had the same vision. This vision is loaded with literal and symbolic things. Sometimes the symbolism can throw any reader for a loop...unless you know what certain symbols mean. Then, like a parable, it can open up and be as easy to understand as your favorite movie. 

The heading to chapter 13 in the Bible says, "John sees fierce-looking beasts that represent degenerate earthly kingdoms controlled by Satan—The devil works miracles and deceives men. "

 And I stood upon the sand of the sea, and saw a beast rise up out of the sea, having seven heads and ten horns, and upon his horns ten crowns, and upon his heads the name of blasphemy.
Symbol meanings: 

  • seven - is the Hebrew symbol (throughout scripture) meaning "whole or complete" 
  • head - your head is who you are - who you choose to be. 
  • ten - a whole part (part of something else, but is also complete by itself)...an example could be a child, the child is complete by itself, but is part of something else - the parents
  • crowns - their authority, royalty, kingdoms

Here are some other juicy tidbits about the second less powerful beast: 

 13 And he doeth great wonders, so that he maketh fire come down from heaven on the earth in the sight of men,
 14 And deceiveth them that dwell on the earth by the means of those miracles which he had power to do in the sight of the beast; saying to them that dwell on the earth, that they should make an image to the beast, which had the wound by a sword, and did live.
So, these beast...things... are pretty ugly, but he/they appear(s) to do miracles and deceive those that dwell on earth. It sounds like our favorite felted strawberry (the anti-christ) is a part of the whole process. If I were a betting woman, I'd say that is the "blasphemy" written on the heads of the beasts. This "beast" also has a financial system:

 17 And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name.
 18 Here is wisdom. Let him that hath understanding count the number of the beast: for it is the number of a man; and his number is Six hundred threescore and six.
Six - means incomplete (because 7 is whole and complete) so triple six is complete incompleteness (how does that sucker compute?) 
Here is where I apply this to our day. Picture this...a world in economic upheaval, a great need to become "unified", a financial system in need of "rescuing"...

What if all your financial, personal, and health information were located in one convenient place? A little microchip smaller than the size of a grain of rice literally in your hand? Below are two real commercials trying to sell this very idea. If I were trying to sell someone on an idea that they weren't on board with, I would use these marketing strategies to sell it (see if you see any of these in the commercials):

  • Convenience - why carry a wallet or keys? Your money, ID and electronic key are with you all the time. 
  • Safety - Do you have a family member with a memory illness that you want to know where they are? Or a wayward teenager? Problem solved. Just track them.
  •  Everybody is doing it - that one speaks for itself. 
  •  Freebies! - How would you like your credit score cleared? What would you say to free fuel or groceries for a year? Healthcare? Would you do it then?
  • We will get you a job!
  •  It is for your own good - We really do care about you *wink wink*    and a   * tooth sparkle*

This is an IBM commercial: 

This is a verichip commercial: 


How can families avoid being a part of this? 
  • Get and stay out of debt 
  • Be self-reliant
  • Be aware
  • Refuse to be a part of it
The funny thing about symbols in scripture is that often times, it happens more than once. The things prophesied also happened in the days of Nero, but know...the latter-day story of Beauty and the Beast also has a happy ending (minus the mushy kiss). Good will triumph. That is Heavenly Father's plan. 

If you would like to learn more about some of the questions Joseph Smith had in regards to John's "Revelations", read D&C 77 : https://www.lds.org/scriptures/dc-testament/dc/77?lang=eng

2 comments:

  1. I would like to comment on the Mark of the Beast. It is in the forehead or the wrist of man. I believe that in this there is great symbolism as well. For the forehead speak of the mind and the wrist speak of action. So their thoughts and deeds are of the Beast's or in line with the Beast.

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  2. Excellent! I think it is also literal because many of the RFID's have been injected into the hand. I have seen news reports where New Hampshire House of Representatives are trying to regulate how they can be used to track people. There are also reports that cancer of the hand trying to rid itself of the RFID appears on the hand of many who have been injected.

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