#451: The Power of Consciousness

Aphrodite is alive and well and inspiring a profitable sex industry grossing billions. Ares/ Mars is alive and well and devouring more money, material, scientific creativity, and human flesh for past, present, and future wars than all the gods combined. Dionysus is alive and well and staging a major revival in voodoo, Macumba, the charismatic movement, the drug culture, the rock scene, and generally mocking to derision the rigid etiquette and emotional sterility of the traditional religions. Christians have been afraid to admit the existence of gods for fear people would succumb to worshiping them. That danger is great, but no greater than the opposite danger of denying their existence and being unconsciously tyrannized by them. The only sane course would appear to be to acknowledge their reality, learn their characteristics, raise to consciousness their ineluctable workings in our depths, and subject them to the sovereignty of the God of gods.*

--------------------------------------/
*Wink, Walter. Unmasking the Powers: The Invisible Forces That Determine Human Existence: 2 (Powers, Vol 2) (Kindle Locations 3652-365p). Fortress Press. Kindle Edition.

#450: King Jacob – Americas circa 30 A.D.

Brief years before the resurrected Lord appeared in the Americas, the people were fighting again about kingship and had destroyed the government of the of land. Are we following a similar pattern of destroying our government?

1 NOW behold, I will show unto you that they did not establish a king over the land; but in this same year, yea, the thirtieth year, they did destroy upon the judgment–seat, yea, did murder the chief judge of the land.
2 And the people were divided one against another; and they did separate one from another into tribes, every man according to his family and his kindred and friends; and thus they did destroy the government of the land.
3 And every tribe did appoint a chief or a leader over them; and thus they became tribes and leaders of tribes.
4 Now behold, there was no man among them save he had much family and many kindreds and friends; therefore their tribes became exceedingly great.
5 Now all this was done, and there were no wars as yet among them; and all this iniquity had come upon the people because they did yield themselves unto the power of Satan.
6 And the regulations of the government were destroyed, because of the secret combination of the friends and kindreds of those who murdered the prophets.
7 And they did cause a great contention in the land, insomuch that the more righteous part of the people had nearly all become wicked; yea, there were but few righteous men among them.
8 And thus six years had not passed away since the more part of the people had turned from their righteousness, like the dog to his vomit, or like the sow to her wallowing in the mire.
9 Now this secret combination, which had brought so great iniquity upon the people, did gather themselves together, and did place at their head a man whom they did call Jacob;
10 And they did call him their king; therefore he became a king over this wicked band; and he was one of the chiefest who had given his voice against the prophets who testified of Jesus (Book of Mormon | 3 Nephi 7:1–10).

#449: Ancient Americas - circa 30 A.D.

This describes the condition of a part of the Ancient Americas about three years before Christ was crucified in Jerusalem; being about three years before His appearance in the Americas in 34 A.D. Are we manifesting any of the same conditions?

22 Now there was no lawyer nor judge nor high priest that could have power to condemn any one to death save their condemnation was signed by the governor of the land.
23 Now there were many of those who testified of the things pertaining to Christ who testified boldly, who were taken and put to death secretly by the judges, that the knowledge of their death came not unto the governor of the land until after their death.
24 Now behold, this was contrary to the laws of the land, that any man should be put to death except they had power from the governor of the land—
25 Therefore a complaint came up unto the land of Zarahemla, to the governor of the land, against these judges who had condemned the prophets of the Lord unto death, not according to the law.
26 Now it came to pass that they were taken and brought up before the judge, to be judged of the crime which they had done, according to the law which had been given by the people.
27 Now it came to pass that those judges had many friends and kindreds; and the remainder, yea, even almost all the lawyers and the high priests, did gather themselves together, and unite with the kindreds of those judges who were to be tried according to the law.
28 And they did enter into a covenant one with another, yea, even into that covenant which was given by them of old, which covenant was given and administered by the devil, to combine against all righteousness.
29 Therefore they did combine against the people of the Lord, and enter into a covenant to destroy them, and to deliver those who were guilty of murder from the grasp of justice, which was about to be administered according to the law.
30 And they did set at defiance the law and the rights of their country; and they did covenant one with another to destroy the governor, and to establish a king over the land, that the land should no more be at liberty but should be subject unto kings (Book of Mormon | 3 Nephi 6:22-30).

#448: The Way of King Manasseh*

(died circa 643 B.C.)

21 And Hezekiah [of Judah] slept with his fathers: and Manasseh his son reigned in his stead.
CHAPTER 21
1 MANASSEH was twelve years old when he began to reign, and reigned fifty and five years in Jerusalem. And his mother's name was Hephzi-bah.
2 And he did that which was evil in the sight of the LORD, after the abominations of the heathen, whom the LORD cast out before the children of Israel.
3 For he built up again the high places which Hezekiah his father had destroyed; and he reared up altars for Baal, and made a grove, as did Ahab king of Israel; and worshipped all the host of heaven, and served them.
4 And he built altars in the house of the LORD, of which the LORD said, In Jerusalem will I put my name.
5 And he built altars for all the host of heaven in the two courts of the house of the LORD.
6 And he made his son pass through the fire, and observed times, and used enchantments, and dealt with familiar spirits and wizards: he wrought much wickedness in the sight of the LORD, to provoke him to anger.
7 And he set a graven image of the grove that he had made in the house, of which the LORD said to David, and to Solomon his son, In this house, and in Jerusalem, which I have chosen out of all tribes of Israel, will I put my name for ever:
8 Neither will I make the feet of Israel move any more out of the land which I gave their fathers; only if they will observe to do according to all that I have commanded them, and according to all the law that my servant Moses commanded them.
9 But they hearkened not: and Manasseh seduced them to do more evil than did the nations whom the LORD destroyed before the children of Israel.
...
16 Moreover Manasseh shed innocent blood very much, till he had filled Jerusalem from one end to another; beside his sin wherewith he made Judah to sin, in doing that which was evil in the sight of the LORD (Old Testament | 2 Kings 20:21–21:1-9, 16; bold emphasis added).

-----------------------------------------/
* The Hebrew Bible documents Manasseh in 2 Kings 21:1–18 and 2 Chronicles 32:33–33:20. He is also mentioned in Jeremiah 15:4, where the prophet Jeremiah predicts "four forms of destruction" for the people of Judah because of the evil done by Manasseh in Judah.[1] ...//
After a reign of 55 years, the longest in the history of Judah, he died c. 643 BC and was buried in the garden of Uzza, the "garden of his own house" (2 Kings 21:17–18; 2 Chronicles 33:20), and not in the City of David, among his ancestors. The biblical narratives report Manasseh's accession to the throne at the time of his father's death.[4] However, Edwin Thiele concludes that he had commenced his reign as co-regent with his father Hezekiah in 697/696 BC, with the co-regency lasting 12 years and his sole reign beginning in 687/686 BC and continuing until his death in 643/642 BC.[5]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manasseh_of_Judah

#447: WARNING – “[A King] Has His Friends in Iniquity”

16 Now I say unto you, that because all men are not just it is not expedient that ye should have a king or kings to rule over you.
17 For behold, how much iniquity doth one wicked king cause to be committed, yea, and what great destruction!
18 Yea, remember king Noah, his wickedness and his abominations, and also the wickedness and abominations of his people. Behold what great destruction did come upon them; and also because of their iniquities they were brought into bondage.
19 And were it not for the interposition of their all–wise Creator, and this because of their sincere repentance, they must unavoidably remain in bondage until now.
20 But behold, he did deliver them because they did humble themselves before him; and because they cried mightily unto him he did deliver them out of bondage; and thus doth the Lord work with his power in all cases among the children of men, extending the arm of mercy towards them that put their trust in him.
21 And behold, now I say unto you, ye cannot dethrone an iniquitous king save it be through much contention, and the shedding of much blood.
22 For behold, he has his friends in iniquity, and he keepeth his guards about him; and he teareth up the laws of those who have reigned in righteousness before him; and he trampleth under his feet the commandments of God;
23 And he enacteth laws, and sendeth them forth among his people, yea, laws after the manner of his own wickedness; and whosoever doth not obey his laws he causeth to be destroyed; and whosoever doth rebel against him he will send his armies against them to war, and if he can he will destroy them; and thus an unrighteous king doth pervert the ways of all righteousness.
24 And now behold I say unto you, it is not expedient that such abominations should come upon you.
25 Therefore, choose you by the voice of this people, judges, that ye may be judged according to the laws which have been given you by our fathers, which are correct, and which were given them by the hand of the Lord.*

----------------------------------------------
*Book of Mormon | Mosiah 29:16-25 (Bold emphasis added.)

#446: WARNING - The Manner of Kings (Then & Now)

(but it is as nothing, percentage wise, compared to the dreamers of WEF and WO)

6 ¶ But the thing displeased [the Prophet] Samuel, when they said, Give us a king to judge us. And Samuel prayed unto the LORD.
7 And the LORD said unto Samuel, Hearken unto the voice of the people in all that they say unto thee: for they have not rejected thee, but they have rejected me, that I should not reign over them.
8 According to all the works which they have done since the day that I brought them up out of Egypt even unto this day, wherewith they have forsaken me, and served other gods, so do they also unto thee.
9 Now therefore hearken unto their voice: howbeit yet protest solemnly unto them, and shew them the manner of the king that shall reign over them.
10 ¶ And Samuel told all the words of the LORD unto the people that asked of him a king.
11 And he said, This will be the manner of the king that shall reign over you: He will take your sons, and appoint them for himself, for his chariots, and to be his horsemen; and some shall run before his chariots.
12 And he will appoint him captains over thousands, and captains over fifties; and will set them to ear his ground, and to reap his harvest, and to make his instruments of war, and instruments of his chariots.
13 And he will take your daughters to be confectionaries, and to be cooks, and to be bakers.
14 And he will take your fields, and your vineyards, and your oliveyards, even the best of them, and give them to his servants.
15 And he will take the tenth of your seed, and of your vineyards, and give to his officers, and to his servants.
16 And he will take your menservants, and your maidservants, and your goodliest young men, and your asses, and put them to his work.
17 He will take the tenth of your sheep: and ye shall be his servants.
18 And ye shall cry out in that day because of your king which ye shall have chosen you; and the LORD will not hear you in that day.
19 ¶ Nevertheless the people refused to obey the voice of Samuel; and they said, Nay; but we will have a king over us;
20 That we also may be like all the nations; and that our king may judge us, and go out before us, and fight our battles.
21 And Samuel heard all the words of the people, and he rehearsed them in the ears of the LORD.
22 And the LORD said to Samuel, Hearken unto their voice, and make them a king.*

------------------------------------------------/
*Old Testament | 1 Samuel 8:6-22 (Bold emphasis added.)
Compare: Book of Mormon | Mosiah 29

#445: “Conspiracy for the Overthrow of Civilisation”

[These words apply now, especially to North America; words we must not ignore because the war against freedom always begins as a war against free speech and quickly escalates from there. On this last day of 2023, we are in the midst of such a war and 2024 will reveal things that most of us could never have imagined (sms).]

“From the days of Spartacus-Weishaupt to those of Karl Marx, and down to Trotsky (Russia), Bela Kun (Hungary), Rosa Luxembourg (Germany), and Emma Goldman (United States), this world-wide conspiracy for the overthrow of civilisation and for the reconstitution of society on the basis of arrested development, of envious malevolence, and impossible equality, has been steadily growing. It played, as a modern writer, Mrs. Webster, has so ably shown, a definitely recognisable part in the tragedy of the French Revolution. It has been the mainspring of every subversive movement during the Nineteenth Century; and now at last this band of extraordinary personalities from the underworld of the great cities of Europe and America have gripped the Russian people by the hair of their heads and have become practically the undisputed masters of that enormous empire.”*

---------------------------------------------/
*Winston Churchill, "Zionism versus Bolshevism", Illustrated Sunday Herald [London], (8 February 1920), pg. 5. [Bold emphasis added.] Note that Churchill wrote this before the Protocols of the Elders of Zion were thoroughly discredited [??, i.e., psy-oped and blamed on "easy targets" by a cabal of diverse, criminal, psycopathic characters] https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Conspiracy
[Read Stealth Power by Peter Duke.]

Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill KG OM CH TD FRS PC (November 30, 1874 – January 24, 1965) was a British politician and statesman, best known for his leadership of the United Kingdom during World War II. He was Prime Minister of the UK from 1940 to 1945 and again from 1951 to 1955. https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Winston_Churchill

#444: Millennial Promise

4 And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away.*

--------------------------------------------/
*New Testament | Revelation 21:4

#443: “Religious Persecution”

“That religious persecution is a greater evil than any other, is apparent, not so much from the enormous and almost incredible number of its known victims, as from the fact that the unknown must be far more numerous, and that history gives no account of those who have been spared in the body, in order that they might suffer in the mind. We hear much of martyrs and confessors— of those who were slain by the sword, or consumed in the fire; but we know little of that still larger number who, by the mere threat of persecution, have been driven into an outward abandonment of their real opinions; and who, thus forced into an apostasy the heart abhors, have passed the remainder of their lives in the practice of a constant and humiliating hypocrisy. It is this which is the real curse of religious persecution. For in this way, men being constrained to mask their thoughts, there arises a habit of securing safety by falsehood, and of purchasing impunity with deceit. In this way, fraud becomes a necessary of life; insincerity is made a daily custom; the whole tone of public feeling is vitiated, and the gross amount of vice and of error fearfully increased. Surely, then, we have reason to say, that, compared to this, all other crimes are of small account; and we may well be grateful for that increase of intellectual pursuits, which has destroyed an evil that some among us would even now willingly restore.”*

-----------------------------------------/
*Jones, Alonzo T. . The American Sentinel: Volume 1 (pp. 317-318). Adventist Pioneer Library. Kindle Edition.

Alonzo Trévier Jones (1850 – May 12, 1923) was a Seventh-day Adventist known for his impact on the theology of the church, along with friend and associate Ellet J. Waggoner. He was a key participant in the 1888 Minneapolis General Conference Session regarded as a landmark event in the history of the Seventh-day Adventist Church. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alonzo_T._Jones

#442: “It Cannot Be Otherwise”

“Any ecclesiastical power, be it Protestant, Catholic, or Pagan, if joined with civil power, will persecute dissenters. It cannot be otherwise.”*

----------------------------------------/
*Jones, Alonzo T. . The American Sentinel: Volume 1 (p. 278). Adventist Pioneer Library. Kindle Edition.

Alonzo Trévier Jones (1850 – May 12, 1923) was a Seventh-day Adventist known for his impact on the theology of the church, along with friend and associate Ellet J. Waggoner. He was a key participant in the 1888 Minneapolis General Conference Session regarded as a landmark event in the history of the Seventh-day Adventist Church. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alonzo_T._Jones

#441: “Be Not Afraid”

25 Be not afraid of sudden fear, neither of the desolation of the wicked, when it cometh.
26 For the LORD shall be thy confidence, and shall keep thy foot from being taken.*

------------------------------------------------/
*Old Testament | Proverbs 3:25-26

#440: "Above All Liberties"

"Give me the liberty to know, to utter, and to argue freely according to conscience, above all liberties."*

------------------------------------------/
*John Milton, Areopagitica: A Speech for the Liberty of Unlicens'd Printing, to the Parliament of England (published November 23, 1644) | https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Freedom_of_speech

John Milton (9 December 1608 – 8 November 1674) was an English poet and intellectual. His 1667 epic poem Paradise Lost, written in blank verse and including over ten chapters, was written in a time of immense religious flux and political upheaval. It addressed the fall of man, including the temptation of Adam and Eve by the fallen angel Satan and God's expulsion of them from the Garden of Eden. Paradise Lost elevated Milton's reputation as one of history's greatest poets.[1][2] He also served as a civil servant for the Commonwealth of England under its Council of State and later under Oliver Cromwell. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Milton

#439: Millennial Promise

12 As a shepherd seeketh out his flock in the day that he is among his sheep that are scattered; so will I seek out my sheep, and will deliver them out of all places where they have been scattered in the cloudy and dark day.
13 And I will bring them out from the people, and gather them from the countries, and will bring them to their own land, and feed them upon the mountains of Israel by the rivers, and in all the inhabited places of the country.
14 I will feed them in a good pasture, and upon the high mountains of Israel shall their fold be: there shall they lie in a good fold, and in a fat pasture shall they feed upon the mountains of Israel.
15 I will feed my flock, and I will cause them to lie down, saith the Lord GOD.
16 I will seek that which was lost, and bring again that which was driven away, and will bind up that which was broken, and will strengthen that which was sick: but I will destroy the fat and the strong; I will feed them with judgment.*

-----------------------------------------------------/
*Old Testament | Ezekiel 34:12-16

#438: Freedom of Thought

"Without Freedom of Thought, there can be no such Thing as Wisdom; and no such Thing as public Liberty, without Freedom of Speech; which is the Right of every Man, as far as by it, he does not hurt or control the Right of another. And this is the only Check it ought to suffer, and the only bounds it ought to know. This sacred Privilege is to essential to free Governments, that the Security of Property, and the Freedom of Speech always go together; and in those wretched Countries where a Man cannot call his Tongue his own, he can scarce call any Thing else his own. Whoever would overthrow the Liberty of a Nation, must begin by subduing the Fteeness [sic! Freeness] of Speech; a Thing terrible to Publick Traytors."*

------------------------------------------/
* Cato's Letters, John Trenchard and Thomas Gordon (Letter Number 15, Freedom of Speech, That the Same is inseparable from Publick Liberty, February 4, 1720). https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Freedom_of_speech

#437: “A Contradiction of Terms”

“Legal Christianity is a solecism, a contradiction of terms. When Christianity asks the aid of government beyond mere impartial protection, it disowns itself. Its essential interests lie beyond the reach and range of human governments. United with government, religion never rises above the merest superstition; united with religion, government never rises above the merest despotism; and all history shows us that the more widely and completely they are separated the better it is for both.” — Supreme Court of Ohio.*

-------------------------------------/
*as quoted in Jones, Alonzo T. . The American Sentinel: Volume 1 (p. 277). Adventist Pioneer Library. Kindle Edition.

#436: “Somewhere I Read ...”

All we say to America is, "Be true to what you said on paper."
If I lived in China or even Russia, or any totalitarian country, maybe I could understand the denial of certain basic First Amendment privileges, because they hadn't committed themselves to that over there.
But somewhere I read of the freedom of assembly.
Somewhere I read of the freedom of speech.
Somewhere I read of the freedom of the press.
Somewhere I read that the greatness of America is the right to protest for right.
And so just as I say, we aren't going to let any injunction turn us around. We are going on.*

------------------------------------------------------------/
*https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Martin_Luther_King_Jr. (Bold emphasis added.)

Martin Luther King Jr. (born Michael King Jr.; January 15, 1929 – April 4, 1968) was an American Baptist minister and activist who became the most visible spokesperson and leader in the American civil rights movement from 1955 until his assassination in 1968. King advanced civil rights through nonviolence and civil disobedience, inspired by his Christian beliefs and the nonviolent activism of Mahatma Gandhi. He was the son of early civil rights activist Martin Luther King Sr.  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martin_Luther_King_Jr.

#435: “Somewhere Somebody Must Have Some Sense.”

“Somewhere somebody must have some sense. Men must see that force begets force, hate begets hate, toughness begets toughness. And it is all a descending spiral, ultimately ending in destruction for all and everybody. Somebody must have sense enough and morality enough to cut off the chain of hate and the chain of evil in the universe. And you do that by love.”*

-----------------------------------------------/
*https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Martin_Luther_King_Jr.

Martin Luther King Jr. (born Michael King Jr.; January 15, 1929 – April 4, 1968) was an American Baptist minister and activist who became the most visible spokesperson and leader in the American civil rights movement from 1955 until his assassination in 1968. King advanced civil rights through nonviolence and civil disobedience, inspired by his Christian beliefs and the nonviolent activism of Mahatma Gandhi. He was the son of early civil rights activist Martin Luther King Sr. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martin_Luther_King_Jr.

#434: A Plea for Religious Liberty

... God requireth not a uniformity of religion to be enacted and enforced in any civil state; which enforced uniformity (sooner or later) is the greatest occasion of civil war, ravishing of conscience, persecution of Christ Jesus in his servants, and of the hypocrisy and destruction of millions of souls.

... in holding an enforced uniformity of religion in a civil state, we must necessarily disclaim our desires and hopes of the Jew's conversion to Christ.

-------------------------------------------/
*Williams, Roger. A Plea for Religious Liberty (1644) (p. 2). . Kindle Edition.

Roger Williams (c. 1603 – March 1683) ... was an English-born New England Puritan minister, theologian, and author who founded Providence Plantations, which became the Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations and later the State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations. He was a staunch advocate for religious freedom, separation of church and state, and fair dealings with the American Indians.[2] | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roger_Williams

#433: A Plea for Religious Liberty

“... that the blood of so many hundred thousand souls of Protestants and Papists, spilt in the wars of present and former ages, for their respective consciences, is not required nor accepted by Jesus Christ the Prince of Peace.

“... the doctrine of persecution for cause of conscience is proved guilty of all the blood of the souls crying for vengeance under the altar.”*

------------------------------------------/
*Williams, Roger. A Plea for Religious Liberty (1644) (p. 1). . Kindle Edition.

Roger Williams (c. 1603 – March 1683) ... was an English-born New England Puritan minister, theologian, and author who founded Providence Plantations, which became the Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations and later the State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations. He was a staunch advocate for religious freedom, separation of church and state, and fair dealings with the American Indians.[2] | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roger_Williams

#432: The Duty of Christians

“To let their light shine, not to force on them their interpretations of God’s designs, is the duty of Christians towards their fellows. If you, who set yourselves to explain the theory of Christianity, had set yourselves instead to do the will of the Master, the one object for which the Gospel was preached to you, how different would now be the condition of that portion of the world with which you come in contact!

“Had you given yourselves to the understanding of his word that you might do it, and not to the quarrying from it of material wherewith to buttress your systems, in many a heart by this time would the name of the Lord be loved where now it remains unknown. The word of life would then by you have been held out indeed. Men, undeterred by your explanations of Christianity---for you would not be forcing them of their acceptance---and attracted by your behavior, would be saying to each other, as Moses said to himself when he saw the bush that burned with fire and was not consumed, “I will now turn aside and see this great sight!”  They would be drawing nigh to behold how these Christians loved one another, and how just and fair they were to every one that had to do with them!  To note that their goods were the best, their prices most reasonable, their word most certain!  That in their families was neither jealousy nor emulation!  That mammon was not there worshiped!  That in their homes selfishness was neither the hidden nor the openly ruling principle!  That their children were as diligently taught to share, as some are to save, or to lay out only upon self!  Their mothers more anxious lest a child should hoard than lest he should squander!  That in no house of theirs was religion one thing, and the daily life another!   That the ecclesiastic did not think first of his church, nor the peer of his privileges! Refusing to obey him in your life, how can you trust him for your life?”*

--------------------------------------------/
*Quoted from Hein, Rolland. Through the Year with George MacDonald: 366 Daily Readings (Kindle Locations 5146-5160). Winged Lion Press. Kindle Edition.

George MacDonald (10 December 1824 – 18 September 1905) was a Scottish author, poet and Christian minister. He was a pioneering figure in the field of modern fantasy literature and the mentor of fellow writer Lewis Carroll. In addition to his fairy tales, MacDonald wrote several works of Christian theology, including several collections of sermons. / ...
C. S. Lewis wrote that he regarded MacDonald as his "master": "Picking up a copy of Phantastes one day at a train-station bookstall, I began to read. A few hours later", said Lewis, "I knew that I had crossed a great frontier." G. K. Chesterton cited The Princess and the Goblin as a book that had "made a difference to my whole existence". | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_MacDonald

#431: Church & State - Justice Joseph Story

First Amendment: Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

"Judge Story,^[1] in his “Exposition of the Constitution,” speaks thus of the object of the First Amendment:

“The same policy which introduced into the Constitution the prohibition of any religious test, led to this more extended prohibition of the interference of Congress in religious concerns. We are not to attribute this prohibition of a national religious establishment to an indifference to religion in general, and especially to Christianity (which none could hold in more reverence than the framers of the Constitution), but to a dread by the people of the influence of ecclesiastical power in matters of Government; a dread which their ancestors brought with them from the parent country, and which, unhappily for human infirmity, their own conduct, after their emigration, had not, in any just degree, tended to diminish. It was also obvious, from the numerous and powerful sects existing in the United States, that there would be perpetual temptations to struggles for ascendency in the National councils, if any one might thereby hope to found a permanent and exclusive national establishment of its own; and religious persecutions might thus be introduced, to an extent utterly subversive of the true interests and good order of the Republic. The most effectual mode of suppressing the evil in the view of the people, was, to strike down the temptations to its introduction.”²(Bold emphasis added.)

----------------------------------/
1. Joseph Story (September 18, 1779 – September 10, 1845) was an associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States, serving from 1812 to 1845. He is most remembered for his opinions in Martin v. Hunter's Lessee and United States v. The Amistad, and especially for his Commentaries on the Constitution of the United States, first published in 1833. Dominating the field in the 19th century, this work is a cornerstone of early American jurisprudence. It is the second comprehensive treatise on the provisions of the U.S. Constitution and remains a critical source of historical information about the forming of the American republic and the early struggles to define its law. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Story
2. as quoted in Jones, Alonzo T. . The American Sentinel: Volume 1 (p. 162). Adventist Pioneer Library. Kindle Edition. <

#430: Warning - “Unto the Ends of the Earth"

11 Wherefore the voice of the Lord is unto the ends of the earth, that all that will hear may hear:
12 Prepare ye, prepare ye for that which is to come, for the Lord is nigh;
13 And the anger of the Lord is kindled, and his sword is bathed in heaven, and it shall fall upon the inhabitants of the earth.
14 And the arm of the Lord shall be revealed; and the day cometh that they who will not hear the voice of the Lord, neither the voice of his servants, neither give heed to the words of the prophets and apostles, shall be cut off from among the people;
15 For they have strayed from mine ordinances, and have broken mine everlasting covenant;
16 They seek not the Lord to establish his righteousness, but every man walketh in his own way, and after the image of his own god, whose image is in the likeness of the world, and whose substance is that of an idol, which waxeth old and shall perish in Babylon, even Babylon the great, which shall fall.
17 Wherefore, I the Lord, knowing the calamity which should come upon the inhabitants of the earth, called upon my servant Joseph Smith, Jun., and spake unto him from heaven, and gave him commandments;
18 And also gave commandments to others, that they should proclaim these things unto the world; and all this that it might be fulfilled, which was written by the prophets—
19 The weak things of the world shall come forth and break down the mighty and strong ones, that man should not counsel his fellow man, neither trust in the arm of flesh—

--------------------------------------------------------/
Doctrine and Covenants | Section 1:11-19 (bold emphasis added)

The Doctrine and Covenants (sometimes abbreviated and cited as D&C or D. and C.) is a part of the open scriptural canon of several denominations of the Latter Day Saint movement. Originally published in 1835 as Doctrine and Covenants of the Church of the Latter Day Saints: Carefully Selected from the Revelations of God, editions of the book continue to be printed mainly by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) and the Community of Christ (formerly the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints [RLDS Church]).
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doctrine_and_Covenants

#429: Promise: To Them that Walk Uprightly

11 For the LORD God is a sun and shield: the LORD will give grace and glory: no good thing will he withhold from them that walk uprightly.
12 O LORD of hosts, blessed is the man that trusteth in thee.

----------------------------------------------------/
Old Testament | Psalms 84:11-12

#428: Promise: In Every Age

10 Ye that love the LORD, hate evil: He preserveth the souls of his saints; He delivereth them out of the hand of the wicked.
11 Light is sown for the righteous, and gladness for the upright in heart.

-------------------------------------------/
Old Testament | Psalms 97:10-11