A glimpse at the Church in 1932 reveals a few historical tidbits

           The LDS Church used to own Weber State, when it was a junior college. This is Weber's graduation ceremony in May of 2021.

LOOKING at a directory of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints from June of 1932 reveals a few surprising historical tidbits.

HOSPITALS:
For example, the LDS Church owned 5 hospitals in that era:
1. Cottonwood Stake Maternity Hospital, Murray, Utah.
2. Thomas D. Dee Memorial Hospital, Ogden, Utah. 
3. The Idaho Falls LDS Hospital, Idaho Falls, Idaho.
4. Dr. W.H. Groves LDS Hospital, Salt Lake City, Utah.
5. LDS Children's Hospital, Salt Lake City, Utah.

The Cottonwood and Idaho Falls hospitals are an obscure part of LDS Church history, as is that the LDS Hospital was originally named after a specific doctor.

SCHOOLS:
Of course the LDS Church had Brigham Young University, LDS Business College and Ricks College (now BYU-Idaho) back then.
But it also owned Weber College in Ogden and Dixie College in St. George back then.
In addition, there two other former properties, mostly obscure in today's knowledge: 
Gila Junior College in Thatcher, Arizona and the Juarez Stake Academy in Mexico.

NOTE: This article and all of the NighUntoKolob blog are NOT an official website of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. They are the author's conclusions and opinions only.

Jesus Christ is NOT in the Spirit World

                    One of the oversimplified pieces of LDS artwork that's out there.



I recently heard a widower of a few years -- and a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints -- reflecting on his wife's passing. His wife had said that she looked forward to meeting Jesus in "Paradise" (the Spirit world) -- and her departed family members.
I did not have the heart to correct he, nor his late wife's incorrect understanding directly.
A significant number of newspaper obituaries of LDS Church members wrongly declare that a deceased person has gone back to their Heavenly Father.

I wish more LDS Church members would have a more accurate understanding of the Spirit World.
Jesus Christ is NOT present in the Spirit world, nor does he likely visit there.
Why?
Because he could only spend 3 days there, as a spirit, after his mortal death.
It IS the world of spirits after all, and all inhabitants do live by faith there, much as they do here. To have Christ, or God the Father there defeats the purpose of the Spirit world.
Yes, the Holy Ghost and Light of Christ can be felt in the Spirit world by the repentant, but that's all. I suspect even prayer is present in the Spirit world.
(One's knowledge of life before birth also ISN'T automatically restored in the Spirit world, despite some past teachings that it is.)
This myth of meeting your make right after death keeps being perpetuated most often in the LDS Church during funerals -- he or she was "called home" or they will "meet their maker."
This incorrect doctrine may make people feel "comforted," but it simply isn't accurate. (Saying someone has "transferred" or "graduated" from life would be more accurate terms.)
This myth is also present in some oversimplified LDS artwork (see the above photograph from a St. George, Utah funeral home).
Perhaps only those who have been dead briefly and then returned to life have ever been to the Spirit world before. So, how can one correctly say "they were called home" when they have never been there before?
No deceased person likely meets Christ until they are at the judgment bar, or after they are resurrected.

NOTE: This article and all of the NighUntoKolob blog are NOT an official website of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. They are the author's conclusions and opinions only.

A Washington, D.C. Temple in 1913?

                                                      The Current Washington, D.C. Temple.

"Mormon Temple at National Capital" was a Dec. 12, 1913 headline in the Ogden Standard-Examiner newspaper.

Even back then, Church members were very serious about trying to have an LDS Temple constructed there.
This article reported despite having just 150 Church members in the area at the time, this small group was organizing to propose that a temple be built in the nation's capital.
Of course, no temple was built then and it would be another 61 years in 1974 before such a sacred building would open near Washington, D.C.
The article even quoted U.S. Senator Reed Smoot (Utah) as being in favor of this project in 1913, though "the plan to build has not taken tangible form."
-WHEN THE LDS CHURCH FIRST ESPOUSED VIDEO PRODUCTIONS: The Ogden Standard-Examiner of Aug. 30, 1913 reported that The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints adopted the use of motion pictures very soon after their invention.
The Church in 1913 reported wanting to use motion pictures in Sunday School classes in particular, as a way to instill the details of Christ's life into them minds of its members.
The story noted that some Sunday School officials did not initially  favor the use of motion pictures, though.
  
NOTE: This article and all of the NighUntoKolob blog are NOT an official website of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. They are the author's conclusions and opinions only.

What about alcohol and tea being used in foods from a Word of Wisdom standpoint?

                                                             -Photograph from Wikipedia Commons.

I'm seeing this more than ever now -- substances that are against the Word of Wisdom used in various food products.
I'm betting no General Authority is likely to ever address this gray area, but I will ...
If something's consumption is against the Word of Wisdom, then why is it OK to use it for cooking or in other things you eat?

EXAMPLE 1: Whiskey (and other alcohol) is sometimes used in cooking meat. I personally say that should be avoided whenever possible. 
Yes, the alcohol itself may evaporate in the cooking process, but the flavor of whiskey remains in the food. Why is that OK?
Seems as much as anything like the alcohol companies' ploy to get consumers to use more alcohol than anything else.
I don't think a temple worthy member should be doing it. If an LDS Church member has to buy whiskey to cook with, then they have certainly already patronized the alcohol companies.
If you buy meat with a whiskey flavor, then at the very least this has the appearance of evil.
(Now some may argue, what about mouthwash -- it has alcohol in it ....? Yes, it does. But you don't swallow much and alcohol is an antiseptic agent as its natural, God-given use and that's what the alcohol in mouthwash is being used for -- to clean, not to consume.)

EXAMPLE 2: Some other products just contain names that are things to avoid in the Word of Wisdom and yet they don't really contain the harmful products themselves. "Root beer," for instance; or "beer nuts."
No problem really here, but what can you expect from an alcohol-crazed world like ours????


Yes, these are gray areas of the Word of Wisdom. Members can do what they think best, but I've given you my advice to ponder.
Perhaps this is being too picky, or concerned about a small matter, but the Scriptures seems to stress that small things matter ....

NOTE: This article and all of the NighUntoKolob blog are NOT an official website of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. They are the author's conclusions and opinions only.

Handcart 'Treks' -- Missing the Pioneer mark

      Handcart lore is so popular in Utah, that the Rainbow Greenery Restaurant, in Ogden,  now uses it          in their latest logo -- even though handcart travel was only used by less than 4 percent of pioneers.

OK, let's make this clear -- I've never been on a so-called handcart "trek," but every four years my LDS Stake sponsors one for all its youth, age 14 and older. Several of my children have been on a 'trek.'
Notwithstanding, I have some concerns about what these pseudo activities really teach LDS youth.
First and foremost, a "trek" like this would not be my personal choice for a mega stake event. No, I fail to see much rationale in having one. 

If you want to give youth a rugged wilderness experience, 

then youth need to backpack somewhere remote and really 

see how it is to live for a few days with only what you 

have on your back...

--Still, if you have a handcart trek, here are 2 things to 

remember:



1. You've got to realize that handcart treks were NOT a vastly popular way of LDS pioneer travel. Only 4.23 percent of all Mormon Pioneers traveled by handcart. That is just 1,962 travelers vs. the total of some 70,000 pioneers before the railroad came along.

(-Source: Deseret News, July 24, 2008.)



The problem historically I see is that youth come away from 

a handcart trek thinking that was the "normal" mode of

travel for pioneers, when it really wasn't. Trek leaders need 

to stress this.



2. Also, the only really way I see that a pioneer trek has much 

value is by making it come alive and that is best done

if  it is actually done on the trail, or at least near where actual 

pioneers would have traveled  to Utah.


-Furthermore, the handcart disaster is a good example of 

man's mistakes and misjudgment.

"There are several causes for the unhappy disaster which 

overtook these two handcart companies," Milton R. Hunter 

wrote in his "Utah in Her Western Setting" history book (pages 395-396). The  emigrants themselves were somewhat foolhardy in their over-enthusiasm to reach Utah Much of the blame is due those officials who permitted them to start on their journey so late in the year, contrary to the instructions of Governor (Brigham) Young, which were so emphatic on this subject."

Hunter said adjustments were made in the next handcart companies so none ever left so late in the season -- and had better equipment. 

NOTE: This article and all of the NighUntoKolob blog are NOT an official website of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. They are the author's conclusions and opinions only.

Not all Church Artwork is doctrinally correct

THERE'S some great, inspiring artwork out there in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. However, sometimes the best of art takes significant liberties in accuracy. That factor is almost expected.
Artwork doesn't have to be totally doctrinally correct to be spiritually uplifting, but it is nice to always know correct doctrine.
Take the above artwork, found in several mortuaries in Utah. Done with a Church accent, it is inspiring and uplifting, but not strictly correct in doctrine.

For example:

Christ’s influence is in the Spirit World, but he personally is not. No person meets Christ in the Spirit World after death. Only spirits can reside or visit there. Hence, why during the 3 days of Christ’s body in the tomb, that’s where his Spirit was – in the Spirit World, setting up missionary work there that continues to this day. 

Also, the popular painting of Christ with angels in the clouds that hangs in many temples is also not perfectly doctrinally correct as Christ will be dressed in red at the Second Coming, not white.
My roughly colored in red alteration to the original white painting (see picture below) is doctrinally more accurate.

In addition, there's one popular artist who uses people she knows to paint and represent church prophets and their families.
One Sunday some years ago, I was puzzled over who was represented in a painting at the entrance to the Relief Society Room in my ward meetinghouse. My wife said, "That's Joseph and Emma!"
I replied, "It can't be ... Doesn't look anything like them."
Sure enough, this popular artist gets by with such outrageous liberties, though I would never buy her work when they don't even resemble the originals.
-And it isn't just artwork in the Church that can be doctrinally incorrect, so can some popular hymns be so.

"Praise to the Man," "Come, Come Ye Saints" and "If You Could Hie Unto Kolob" are examples of LDS hymns, though very rousing tunes, contain a little incorrect doctrine in their words.


NOTE: This article and all of the NighUntoKolob blog are NOT an official website of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. They are the author's conclusions and opinions only.

Can the evil dead return to earth?

                                    This LDS Church book examines the spirit world.

THERE'S mention of "unclean spirits" in the New Testament (Mark chapter 5, Luke 11:24 are two examples).

How are these different from "evil spirits"? I'm not sure of that.
However, I am certain that "unclean spirits" are NOT any of the evil dead who have returned to earth.
Yes, the spirit world may also be on earth, but it is in a different dimension.
Also, when an evil (or unclean) person dies, they are in spirit PRISON.
A prison denotes confinement, being bound. So, how does an evil person die and return to haunt their house, or possess the body of a living person? They don't. 
(Yes, men may sometimes escape from the prisons of men, but I'm sure God's prison is escape-proof ...)
Repentance is the only possible means of escape from spirit prison.
On the other hand, the one-third of the host of heaven who were cast out in the pre-earth life for rebellion are loose all over earth, tempting us and are eager to possess even in a swine's body for a brief time.
These evil spirits have watched the lives of people, so they can impersonate them, perhaps even mimic their appearance.
If the righteous dead can only interact with mortals on very special occasions, then why can the evil dead run loose on earth? No, that's not consistent with an orderly plan of God.
(Such a scenario also unbalances the "temptation equation," if the evil dead have such power ... and the righteous dead do not.)
When Ted Bundy or Hitler died, they went to spirit prison and are confined there, tormented by their own heavy weight of sins. They are NOT roaming about the planet tempting, impersonating or possessing anyone.
Yet, I don't doubt that those 1/3rd of the host of Heaven cast out are eager to impersonate Hitler or Bundy to fool, confuse and further torment, afflict and lead mortals away from the truth of the Gospel.
It is these 1/3rd evil spirits who keep getting mistaken for the real deal -- the departed dead -- and they probably get a thrill out of that deception.

-This, of course, also means there are no REAL ghosts on Earth. No one who lived before as a mortal haunts any place. That is all done by impersonators, whose entire existence resolves around deception.

-So, it is looking more as if "unclean spirits" and "evil spirits" are pretty much the same -- both of the 1/3rd of the host of heaven who were cast out. 
The Biblical translation is confusing at the least in that regard. Too bad the Prophet Joseph Smith didn't have time to finish his revision of the Bible.

NOTE: This article and all of the NighUntoKolob blog are NOT an official website of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. They are the author's conclusions and opinions only.