By James D. Harmston
OBTAINING KEYS & WORDS OF POWER:
“Well, how do you perceive spiritual things? Okay, how do you pierce the veil? Just maybe, you need some keys. Okay, maybe you need some words of power. This is what all the ancients were after, they wanted the words of power. Give me the words of power, in fact, they wanted—some of the ancients were afraid to give people the words of power for fear they would start going and creating things. You’ve got Jacob running around in the Book of Mormon saying, even the trees obey. Christ comes off the mount and he sees—with his disciples, and he sees this olive tree. Oh, good something to eat! Anyway, they walk up, and they are sour olives or there aren’t any. And so, what does he do? ‘You failed your mission’ and curses it, and it withers and dies. Even the trees obey. Isn’t that interesting? “
DEFINITION OF THE ETERNAL CHURCH:
“So, there’s the veil. This is their side and this is our side. On their side, it is called—there’s a kingdom. It’s the Kingdom of Heaven. Alright, now in this kingdom of Heaven which embraces the entire universe, there is a Church over there. And this Church over there, right here, is called the Church of the First Born. (CFB) What is the Priesthood like up there? What type of a Church is this? This is an Eternal Church, isn’t it. It always exists. Adam set up the Church of the First Born. He was the First Born man. Okay. Alright, now, the Priesthood is the Fullness, and I’ll just put an acronym down here, the FOP, the Fullness of the Priesthood; it’s the power of creation, the power to create and hold things in their created condition, the power to govern things across the expanse of eternity.”
DEFINITION OF THE TEMPORAL CHURCH:
“Alright, now, down here, we have this little thing right here, and I’m going to look at it from the beginning part of the dispensation. It’s the LDS Church, but it acts as an agent of the Church of the First Born. Okay. What are the characteristics of this Church? Well, it’s temporal in nature. It’s in a temporal world. What does temporal mean? Tem-por-ary, temporary Church. It’s not an eternal church. It’s only eternal in the sense that it’s always used on Telestial Worlds. When a Telestial World is created, you put a temporal Church on it, and you’ll see why. What is the Priesthood like in this? It is apostolic, apostolic in nature; that means that those who are fatherless as to the Priesthood can come through the institution and receive Priesthood. Okay. Now, this (the LDS) is not God’s objective. God’s objective is to bring this thing right here (CFB) across the veil. When it comes across the veil, what is it known as? Zion. The objective is to bring this across is known as Zi-on.”
CALLING AND ELECTION PROCESS:
“Alright, this Church (LDS) was commissioned to reach out into the world and it was designed to bring people in from the world and process them through a labyrinth, and eventually it was designed to shoot them on over here (Zion) so that they might become the elect of God. That meant they’d have to go through the Calling and Election process. Remember, I put that up over there, the calling and election process? Right there. So this thing (LDS) is just a flipping stepping stone. It’s not an end; it’s a means to an end. Unfortunately, this thing got to thinking it WAS the end, and did away with this.” (Zion)
FIRST PRINCIPLES OF THE GOSPEL OF SALVATION & EXALTATION:
“So the first principles are faith, repentance; alright? Now those are the first principles of what gospel? The gospel of salvation, and that’s whose gospel? The gospel of the Son. Okay, now let’s go over here and let’s take a look at the gospel according to this Church. (Zion) What are the first principles of the gospel according to this Church? Did your minds go blank? Want to tell me? Church of the First Born.”
“Okay, why don’t we use Joseph’s words? Yeah, that is what it turns out to be. Joseph says it’s the first principle in referring to this doctrine; remember, he just said, you have to learn how to become gods the same way all gods have become gods by going from—I think that’s an interpretation of what he intended to say—okay, he says, we have to learn how to become gods the same way all gods have become gods by going from a small capacity to a great capacity, from grace to grace, from exaltation to exaltation until we attain unto the resurrection. Hmm, and he says, it’s the first principle of the gospel to know for a certainty the character of God. That God, himself, once lived on an earth as we do now. And a man can talk to God face to face, as one man talks to another. Hmm, okay. So, he said, the first principle of the gospel is to know God. Wow! That is so heavy! You mean I have to know God? Yes! And this is life eternal, to know Thee, the only true God and Jesus Christ whom Thou has sent.”
Okay, so, to know God. To know God, then, is to participate in the gospel of exaltation. And the gospel of exaltation is the Gospel of the Father. Okay, and so they have two entirely different things to deal with here. Something that most restorationists have never even thought about. Certainly, the Christian world, they don’t have a clue about the difference between these two perceptual concepts. Okay.
THE LESSER PORTION & THE GREATER PORTION:
“And so no wonder that we would draw this little line right down here like this and say that on this side, we have the lesser portion and on this side we have the greater portion. Hmm. So where do you expect to find the mysteries of godliness? The great mufalah about becoming God; where are you going to find it? Of course, and so over here, we have the mysteries of godliness. Hmm. Now that’s kind of interesting, isn’t it. Which do you want? Now notice, I drew a broken line cause there is kind of an overlap. You know, it’s not like taking a cleaver and go whaaa! There is an overlap between these two. But this is the lesser portion and this is the greater portion. If you harden your hearts, what do you get? The lesser portion. And what did Alma say if you kept hardening your heart, would happen? You’d get less and less until you knew nothing concerning the mysteries, then you’re taken captive by the devil and led by the chains of hell.”
“And so, what do you want? Do you want the lesser portion? Most people haven’t even got that. Are you going to be satisfied with the lesser portion? Well, I hope not, too. Because, at the last day, you’re going to curse God and die if that’s the case. “
A TRUE ENDOWMENT GIVES YOU THE KEYS OF THE PRIESTHOOD:
“Where did you get the keys of the Priesthood? Where? In an endowment; that’s the only place you can get the keys of the Priesthood. You can be ordained in the Priesthood and be appointed in an office, but you do not have the keys of the Priesthood until you’ve had an endowment. Hmm. Why? Stop and think about it. He says they got the keys of the Priesthood, the keys of the Melchizedek Priesthood. Well, what are the keys? Operate in the ordinances of the gospel. No kidding! So stop and think about it. If they got the keys of the Priesthood, they just wouldn’t have one of these little experiences. Well, who gives you an endowment?
When you go through a true endowment, who gives you the endowment? Peter, James & John. Peter welcomes you, turns the time over to James, he gives you this lecture and then they send you on your way through an endowment. You know, you go through the creation scene and then in the Garden of Eden with Eloheim and Jehovah. Well, you start with Eloheim, Jehovah and Michael and then in the garden room which represents pre-mortality, you experience Eloheim and Jehovah, and then you’re sent out into the lone and dreary world and the minute you come into the Telestial realm, Peter, James, and John take over and conduct the endowment. “
“Okay. And you have the whole experience in the endowment where he becomes the man, Adam, and he’s presented with a wife, and then they are taken from the creation room into the Garden room. There, in the Garden room, certain events take place where they receive the garment. Eloheim commands Jehovah to place cherubim and the flaming sword to guard the way of life lest Adam and Eve put forth their hand and partake of the fruit thereof and live forever in their sins.
And it is done and so forth and then, they are given the covenant of obedience. It is that women will obey the law of their husband and abide in his council. There are no words of doing it in righteousness and all that kind of stuff, because in a real endowment, in a true endowment, you are only invited there by revelation, anyway. So those who have responsibility for issuing the call to the endowment house, they have to interview you and then go to the Lord and find out if He wants to give you an endowment.”
ORDINANCES CANNOT BE ALTERED OR CHANGED:
“Now, once you have done this, then you have Priesthood keys. Joseph says they obtained the keys of the Priesthood from Peter, James and John in May or June of 1829, so what do you think they had to get? They had to get an endowment! Ordinances instituted in the heavens before the foundation of the world, in Priesthood, for the salvation of the human family cannot be altered or changed. All men must be saved on the same principle. And so Peter, James and John gave Joseph and Oliver an endowment. So what do you think they got? No wonder Joseph never wrote down a first hand account of it. Oh, he knew what he had, but how do you write it down, I mean, you say well, Peter, James and John gave us the keys of the Priesthood. These dummies didn’t know any better, so why tell them anymore. Well, they didn’t have a temple, God had to do it where he could, didn’t He. Okay, well that’s pretty interesting, so here they get an endowment. I think we’ve got something to learn about Priesthood, for crying out loud.”
THERE ARE THREE PRIESTHOODS:
“There’s the Aaronic Priesthood, what we call the Melchizedek Priesthood, all Priesthood is Melchizedek, if you want to use that term, because Melchizedek’s name was adopted in the place of the Holy Priesthood after the order of the Son of God. That’s the Fullness of the Priesthood. So what is called Melchizedek Priesthood to us, today, is really Patriarchal Priesthood. Joseph says that there are three Priesthoods. There the Levitical or lesser the Aaronic Priesthood, then there’s the Melchizedek Priesthood which, when we build the temple to its capstone and perform the ordinances therein, a man can become a Patriarch and have the Patriarchal Priesthood. Then there’s something else. When a man is anointed a King and Priest to God and receives the full powers of that Priesthood, then he has the fullness of the Priesthood, the power to administer the law of Eternal Lives, calling and election made sure. Okay, so there are three Priesthoods. And Joseph says, the Holy Ghost administers in all of these Priesthoods.”
UPON MY HOUSE IT SHALL BEGIN:
“Where does it being? First among those among you, saith the Lord, who have professed to know my name and have not known me. Who is that? Well, look at the heading to the section. Who is it written to? The president of the quorum of the twelve, for and on behalf of the quorum of the twelve. Ohhhh, first among those among you, saith the Lord, now there’s our second witness, who have professed to know my name and have not known me,and have done what? Blasphemed against me—what’s blasphemy? False witness, like that, and have blasphemed against me in the midst of my house, saith the Lord, the third witness. This is potent stuff. God gives us a double witness to start with and a triple witness to close with and tells us where it begins and where does it begin? Right here.”
“Do you want to see the consistency of God? I believe that God is the same yesterday, today, and forever. Do you want to see something really interesting? I’ll show you how consistent God is. He says, well, there’s priest craft in my Church, and then he says because of that, they are an abomination, and then he says, because of that, there’s going to be desolation. And where does it start? Right here and so the desolation of abomination begins on His House. God’s footprints and fingerprints are all over the place when you look for them.”
PRIESTHOOD FIRST BEFORE YOU CAN HAVE A CHURCH:
“Before that could happen, Joseph had to live all the law. Remember, he received an endowment in 1829, and of course, Priesthood comes first. You can’t have the Church without Priesthood. And there has to be Priesthood first, so that you can have the Church. You can’t have the church before the Priesthood. Okay, so he receives an endowment. He’d made covenants; he received keys. 4:29
Now he has to live by all the law so he can receive the fullness of the Priesthood. Between 1829 and 1836, did he live the principle of gathering? Of course. Did he live the law of consecration? Of course. Did he live Celestial Plural Marriage? Yes, between 1832 and 1835, he married Fannie Alger.”
“Now, in that process the Lord came to him; he was the angel with the drawn sword, you know, and he said, you either land these principles on the ground or you’re gone, we’ll get somebody else. And he gave him five years to finish the work, and that was 1839, so now he works his way over to Missouri to Quincy, Illinois, then up to Commerce which is a swamp, so they buy the swamp and drain it, and turn it into the ‘city beautiful,’ so now they’ve got a city going by the winter of 1841.”
NO ONE KNOWS JOSEPH’S HISTORY:
Joseph made some really interesting statements right about this period of time and so do some of the other brethren. Joseph, remember, right toward the end, Heber records in his journal and Orson Whitney puts in the Book, The Life of Heber C. Kimball, the recorded diary entry, where he says, Joseph stood up before the brethren, and he says, why, if you knew who I am? Blasphemy would be nothing to it, but you would put me to death. And in the King Follett discourse, he said, no man knows my history. I cannot tell it, I shall not try. And he says, kind of tongue in cheek, Why I wouldn’t have believed it myself, if I hadn’t lived it. And then he says but when the trumpet sounds and I’m weighed in the balance, you’ll all know me then. Okay. He made all kinds of statements like that, as to who he was. Some of the close brethren knew who he was.
PARLEY P. PRATT’S OPEN VISION: JOSEPH SHALL STAND IN DUE TIME IN THE FLESH UPON THE EARTH:
“He says, when I could endure it no longer, I cried out aloud, saying: O Lord in the name of Jesus Christ, I pray thee, tell me what these things mean, and what should I shall say to thy people? On a sudden, the Spirit of God came upon me and filled my heart with joy and gladness indescribable, and while the spirit of revelation glowed in my bosom with a visible warmth and gladness as if were fire, the Spirit said unto me, Lift up your head and rejoice for behold it is well with my servants, Joseph and Hyrum. My servant, Joseph still holds the keys of my kingdom in this dispensation and he shall stand in due time—in due time, that means before the end of time, in the flesh, on the earth, in the flesh and fulfill that to which he is appointed.”
JOSEPH SMITH HOLDS THE KEYS OF THIS DISPENSATION:
“Franklin D. Richards, 1885, in giving a talk says—I mean right out of the clear, blue sky—he says, So it is with the prophet, Joseph Smith, he has gone before with the keys of this dispensation, after having and lived and conferred them on the authorities of the church, even all that was necessary until he shall come again to build up this kingdom preparatory to the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ.”
YOU MUST HAVE THE CONSENT OF JOSEPH SMITH TO ENTER INTO THE CELESTIAL KINGDOM:
Here’s one from Brigham Young. October the 9th, 1859, Brigham Young in the tabernacle, and it’s a fascinating discourse, we’ll return to it two or three times, but he says: Joseph Smith holds the keys of this last dispensation is now engaged behind the veil in the great work of the last days. He goes on talking and then he says: No man or woman in this dispensation will ever enter into the Celestial Kingdom of God, without the consent of Joseph Smith. From the day that the Priesthood was taken from the earth, to the winding up scene of all things, every man and woman must have the certificate of Joseph Smith, Jr. as a passport to their entrance into the mansion to where God and Christ are. I, with you, and you with me, I cannot go there without his consent. He holds the keys of that kingdom for the last dispensation, the keys to rule in the Spirit World, and he rules there triumphantly, for he gained full power and a glorious victory over the power of Satan while he was yet in the flesh, and was a martyr to his religion and to the name of Christ, which gives to him a most perfect victory in the Spirit world. He reigns there as supreme a being in his seer capacity as God does in heaven. Many will exclaim, O, that is very disagreeable! It is preposterous! We cannot bear the thought! But it is true. I will now tell you something that ought to comfort every man and woman on the face of the earth: Joseph Smith, Jr. will again be on this earth, dictating plans, and calling forth his brethren to be baptized for the very characters who wished that this was not so.”