THE MIDAS TOUCH . . . and his number is Six Hundred threescore and six(Part IV)

Before proceeding, the reader is encouraged to review, in the order shown below, previous blogs concerning this same topic:

1. THE SEALED BOOK UNFOLDED TO VIEW

2. HIS NUMBER IS 666

3. THE FOOLISH BEAST

4. THE INCARNATION OF MOLOCH

THE FIRST AND GREAT COMMANDMENT

As recalled by the apostle John, Christ was slain to receive power, and riches, and wisdom, and strength, and honour, and glory, and blessing" (Revelation 5:12). The fact that the Lamb of God was worthy to receive such things does not, thereby, suggest that receiving such things makes one worthy, or even that such things will be for one's good. For example, riches, which can serve to bless may, in other instances, function as a curse. It is not the mere possession, but the use to which they are directed that determines whether riches bless or curse their possessor. Recall that the same gold used to build the ancient tabernacle (see Exodus 25: 1-8; Exodus 35:20-29), at which "every one [who] sought the Lord" gathered (Exodus 33:7), was also used to fashion a golden calf (Exodus. 32:1–6, 21, 24, 35). In the end, the gold used to construct either came from Egypt, "which in the Chaldean signifies . . . that which is forbidden" (Abraham 1:23).

Hence, the extent of one's wealth does not serve as the measuring cup of his love for God.

Both rich and poor are made by God (see D&C 38:16), both rich and poor have need of repentance (see D&C 58:47), and both rich and poor can possess the eyes of greediness (D&C 56:16-17). Rather, love for God is measured by the desires of one's heart and, thus, it is by the desires of one's heart that he shall be judged (D&C 137:9). Jeremiah proclaimed that "the heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked . . ." (Jeremiah 17:9). When describing its deceitful nature, James declared that "out of the same mouth proceedeth blessing and cursing." James afterwards cautioned that "these things ought not so to be [for] . . . no fountain both yield salt water and fresh" (James 3:10-12). In short, "a man being evil cannot do that which is good" (Moroni 7:3-11). This focus on the intents of one's heart does not suggest that good works are of no consequence, or unnecessary; it only suggests that every man's works must be tried by fire (see 1 Corinthians 3:12-14) to determine whether those works spring forth from desires that are good or designs that are evil (compare Alma 41:3-6).

The first commandment recorded by Moses (Exodus 20:3), therefore, is a directive that one's love for God is to stem from motives that are pure. Although Shakespear taught that "all the world's a stage," there is no room for playacting when it comes to loving God! To have "no other gods before [Him]" means turning one's desires towards Him who is the "desire of all nations" (Haggai 2:7); it means one's doing all things with an eye, mind, and heart single to His glory such that no other god obscures his view of God (see D&C 88:67-68). It is "obeying from the heart" (Romans 6:17) and "doing the will of God from the heart" (Ephesian 6:5-6). It was in this context that the Savior addressed his disciples and used Solomon as the example of one who sought to serve two gods:

THE PACKARD FAMILY

Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and thieves break through and steal; 

But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal. 

For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also. (3 Nephi 13:19-21)

Restated, if one's heart is on earth where thieves reside, then thieves will undoubtedly break through and steal. Anciently, the Lord raised up thieves "to march through the breadth of the land and [steal] the dwellingplaces that [were] not theirs (Habakkuk 1:5-7). In these days, this same "terrible and dreadful" nation called Babylon serves the same purpose and is no less raised up to do God's bidding. The windows through which these latter-day thieves enter the unguarded dwellings (see Joel 2:9) are the careless hearts of the children of men, the very same throne from which Satan reigns with blood and horror (see 2 Thessalonians 2:3-4 and D&C 86:3; compare Mosiah 3:6). These "treacherous dealers" (see Habakkuk 1:13; compare Isaiah 24:16) form the fourth beast that Daniel described as "dreadful and terrible, and strong exceedingly" (see Daniel 7:7 compare Habakkuk 1:7). This fourth beast is also the same that the apostle John saw "rise up out of the sea and stand on the sand" . . . whose number is six hundred three score and six (see Revelation 13:1, 18). This beast is king Solomon, under whose sovereignty[1] every vicitim is "eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage" (see 1 Kings 4:20; compare Joseph Smith-Matthew 1:42 and 2 Nephi 28:7-8), walking 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" (D&C 1:16).

THE GREAT PRETENDER

Solomon spent a lifetime laying up for himself treasures on earth (see Ecclesiastes 2:3-11) and, although it appears that he initially refrained from asking God for riches, the record suggests his heart, nonetheless, was overly-exercised in desired them. In fact, a small variation of 1 Kings 3:3, noted in the Joseph Smith Translation, brings into serious question Solomon's love for, and loyalty towards, God. The King James version of this verse declares, without qualification, that "Solomon loved the Lord, walking in the statutes of David his father." The Joseph Smith Translation of this same verse states:

And BECAUSE THE LORD BLESSED SOLOMON as he was walking in the statutes of David, his father, HE BEGAN TO LOVE THE LORD, and he sacrificed and burnt incense in high places, and he called on the name of the Lord. (JST 1 Kings 3:3; emphasis added).

The slight variation in this verse changes everything. Solomon's love for God was akin to a child's love for his parents because of the weekly allowance. Love that is devised is the worst form of love. Even hatred is preferred over a pretentious love that seeks to deceive. Like a small child on Christmas morning, any inaugural feelings Solomon may have had for the LORD were veiled by his preoccupation with "the gifts under the tree." The command to love God comes without conditions, gifts, or expectations. "We love him," John wrote, "because he first loved us. (1 John 4:19). No other reason summons our love for God.

KING MIDAS

KING MIDAS

It is ironic that, for one who supposedly did not ask for wealth, the biblical record spends so much time discussing the riches that Solomon obtained. Initially, the wealth obtained by Solomon appears to have come without any personal effort or sacrifice. In a dream (see 1 Kings 3:15), Solomon sought for understanding from the LORD to judge the people (1 Kings 3:9). Because he constrained himself from asking for riches, the record states that Solomon's "speech pleased the LORD" (1 Kings 3:10). Other individuals of dubious character have likewise crafted their speech to be pleasing to the LORD (see JS-History 1:19 and 2 Kings 23:9). In response to his inquiry, the LORD told Solomon: "And I have also given thee that which thou hast not asked, both riches, and honour: so that there shall not be any among the kings like unto thee all thy days. (1 Kings 3:13; compare 1 Kings 10:23).

In time, the procurement of wealth became Solomon's life-ambition. But there was something a little peculiar about his ambition . . . Solomon had a fetish for gold. According to the Old Testament record, all of "king Solomon’s drinking vessels were of gold, and all the vessels of the house of the forest of Lebanon were of pure gold; none were of silver: it was

nothing accounted of in the days of Solomon" (1 Kings 10:21; compare 2 Chronicles 9:20). I worked nearly 8 years in hard-rock mining for Coeur Mines Corporation. Our entire business was devoted to gold and silver extraction. We moved countless tons of earth to obtain 100,000 ounces of gold and 80,000,000 ounces of silver annually. I can understand developing an affinity for gold, but to despise silver because of that affinity seems rather idiotic for one who was then thought to be so wise.

Because of his love for this precious metal, Solomon's temple and many of the instruments therein were overlaid with pure gold:

And the porch that was in the front of the house, the length of it was according he overlaid it within with pure gold. 
to the breadth of the house, twenty cubits, and the height was an hundred and twenty: and 

And the greater house he ceiled with fir tree, which he overlaid with fine gold, and set thereon palm trees and chains. 

And he garnished the house with precious stones for beauty: and the gold was gold of Parvaim. 

ARTIST RENDITION OF SOLOMON'S TEMPLE

He overlaid also the house, the beams, the posts, and the walls thereof, and the doors thereof, with gold; and graved cherubims on the walls. 

And he made the most holy house, the length whereof was according to the breadth of the house, twenty cubits, and the breadth thereof twenty cubits: and he overlaid it with fine gold, amounting to six hundred talents. 

9 And the weight of the nails was fifty shekels of gold. And he overlaid the upper chambers with gold. 

10 And in the most holy house he made two cherubims of image work, and overlaid them with gold.

CELESTIAL ROOM OF SALT LAKE TEMPLE

Today, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints likewise builds temples after the true pattern given to Moses in the mount (see Exodus 25:9, 40; compare D&C 115:10-61; contrast 1 Chronicles 28:10-21). These temple are also constructed of the finest materials and, undoubtedly, cost a substantial amount of money to build. They are simple, yet elegant. The celestial room in each latter-day temple is one of the more beautiful and costly rooms to construct. But when the present day value of a talent of gold is considered, latter-day temples cannot, and should not, be compared to the temple that Solomon built.

So . . . what is the value of a talent of gold? In an article published in the August 1987 edition of Ensign Magazine, the following extract answers this question:

The answer comes from what we learn about the shekel and the talent. Since the Jews did not begin using coinage until the Exile (the time of Daniel and Ezekiel), business transactions before then were done by bartering or by paying a predetermined weight of a precious metal, usually silver. Three of the most common weights were the half-shekel (or bekah), shekel, and talent—the largest standard. (The smallest was the gerah, identified in Exodus 30:13 as 1/20 of a shekel. It is rarely mentioned in the Bible.) From Exodus 38:25–26, we can figure the relationship of a shekel to a talent: 3000 shekels to one talent. 

The Hebrew bekah weighs approximately 6.02 grams, and the shekel 11.4 grams. Excavators have uncovered numerous ancient stone weights, but none of the shekel or half-shekel stones weigh precisely the same, probably due to the difficulty of carving stones into exactly the same weight. The talent, then, if we take the average weight of a shekel at 11.4 grams, amounts to about 75.5 pounds. (Tice, Richard, Bekahs, Shekels, and Talents: A Look at Biblical References to Money, Ensign, August 1987).

MOST HOLY PLACE, SOLOMON'S TEMPLE

Using the August 27, 2014 New York gold spot price of $1,280.60, the present-day value of a talent of gold is $1,546,965. Hence, the present-day value of the gold that Solomon used to overlay the Holy Place was $928,178,880. Nearly $1 billion! That would certainly make for a fine celestial room!

How did Solomon procure all of this gold?

For starters, he sent "ships to Tarshish with the servants of Huram: every three years once came the ships of Tarshish bringing gold, and silver, ivory, and apes, and peacocks" (2 Chronicles 9:21). Aside from what commentaries have to say concerning this port city of trade, it is worthy to note that most scriptural references to Tarshish are decidedly negative. One particular reference provides an abstract description of the locale of Tarshish. I suggest that this abstract description is a key element that ties Solomon to the world.

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SHIPS OF TARSHISH

When asked by the LORD to go to Ninevah and cry against "that great city . . . for their wickedness," the prophet Jonah instead "rose up to flee unto Tarshish from the presence of the Lord, and went down to Joppa; and he found a ship going to Tarshish: so he paid the fare thereof, and went down into it, to go with them unto Tarshish from the presence of the Lord" (Jonah 1:2-3). Just as residing in spiritual Babylon is the same being in "the midst of wickedness," (see D&C 133:14), traveling to Tarshish is the same as traveling from the presence of the LORD. As a result of this regular journey from the presence of the LORD by Solomon's servants , the Bible states that "Solomon passed all the kings of the earth in riches and wisdom" (2 Chronicles 9:22). With respect to the latter-days, the ships of trade continue to sail drawing all who are willing away from the presence of the LORD.

BUT . . . there were at least three other sources whereby Solomon obtained significant gold reserves:

1. Hiram sent his naval servants with the servants of Solomon. And they came to Ophir, and fetched from thence gold, four hundred and twenty talents, and brought it to king Solomon. (1 Kings 9:27-28) 

2. The Queen of Sheba gave the king an hundred and twenty talents of gold (1 Kings 10:10) 

3. Hiram, king of Tyre, sent to Solomon sixscore talents of gold. (1 Kings 9:14) 

These talents, together with six more, came to Solomon. Hence, the Old Testament record notes that "the weight of gold that came to Solomon in one year was SIX HUNDRED THREESCORE AND SIX talents of gold" (1 Kings 10:14; compare 2 Chronicles 9:13).

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 (Revelation 13:18).

ENDNOTES

[1] In connection with John's vision, the sovereign's horses, prepared for war and violence, "are swifter than the leopards, and are more fierce than the evening wolves." And the army of the horsemen, which number "two hundred thousand thousand" (see Revelation 9:16), come from far and spread themselves abroad (see Habakkuk 1:8). They transgress the laws, change the ordinance, and break the everlasting covenant (see Isaiah 24:5; compare D&C 1:15). Wickedness, as a fire (Isaiah 9:18-19), "devoureth before them; and behind them a flame burneth: the land is as the garden of Eden before them, and behind them a desolate wilderness" (Joel 2:3). Their scortched-earth methods "devour the earth, and they that dwell therein are desolate: therefore the inhabitants of the earth are burned" (Isaiah 24:6) wherein the abomination, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, that leaveth the temple of God desolate, is fulfilled (see Joseph Smith-Matthew 1:32, D&C 84:117, and D&C 88:85).

THE INCARNATION OF MOLOCH (Part III)

MOLOCH

Before proceeding, the reader is encouraged to review, in the order shown below, previous blogs concerning this same topic:

1. THE SEALED BOOK UNFOLDED TO VIEW

2. HIS NUMBER IS 666

3. THE FOOLISH BEAST

THE INCARNATION OF MOLOCH 

Although many consider Solomon to be a righteous leader during the initial years of his reign, the scriptures suggest otherwise . . . as does his conduct. It is true that God blessed him, but it was't because Solomon had qualified himself for such blessings through righteous living. His throne was secured through bloodshed (see 1 Kings 2:12-25, 28-34, 36-46), his kingdom was built upon the back of Israelite slaves (see 1 Kings 5:13-16) and, as depicted in the picture shown to the left, he was the first king to build up the altar of Moloch, whereby, he introduced child-sacrifice as a form of worship to Israel (see Leviticus 18:21 and Leviticus 20:1-5; compare 1 Kings 11:7 and Moloch).

Although his name means "peaceable", Solomon was no less of a tyrant to Israel than Pharaoh, king of Egypt, and no less of a butcher than Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon. No other person can measure up to his extreme moral wickedness. For this reason, he has been revealed in scripture that we may expose Lucifer and his methods of treachery.

WINSTON CHURCHILL

Other literary works have also referred to him in conjunction with his pagan god, Moloch. In The Gathering Storm (1948), the first volume of Winston Churchill's history of World War II, Churchill compares Solomon's pagan god with Hitler's triumph at the moment he finally achieved total power in 1933:

ADOLPH HITLER

He had called from the depths of defeat the dark and savage furies latent in the most numerous, most serviceable, ruthless, contradictory and ill-starred race in Europe. He had conjured up the fearful idol of an all-devouring Moloch of which he was the priest and incarnation (Churchill, Winston S., The Gathering Storm (The Second World War), Houghton Mifflin Company, New York, NY, 1948, p. 64).

JOHN MILTON

Likewise, in John Milton's poetic masterpiece containing more than ten thousand verses of Biblical history regarding the fall of man, Moloch is depicted as a brutish spirit, obsessed with war and violence. He urges the devils to return to battle Heaven even after their defeat has landed them in Hell. Important for purposes of this blog, Milton portrayed Moloch as the fallen angel who caused Solomon to build a temple against God wherein children, in sacrifice to his idol, were burned alive:

HINNOM, TOPHET, GEHENNA, or HELL

First MOLOCH, horrid King besmear'd with blood
Of human sacrifice, and parents tears,
Though, for the noyse of Drums and Timbrels loud,
Their children's cries unheard that passed through fire
To his grim Idol. Him the AMMONITE
Worshipt in RABBA and her watry Plain,
In ARGOB and in BASAN, to the stream
Of utmost ARNON. Nor content with such
Audacious neighbourhood, the wisest heart
Of SOLOMON he led by fraud to build
His Temple right against the Temple of God
On that opprobrious Hill, and made his Grove
The pleasant Vally of HINNOM, TOPHET thence
And black GEHENNA call'd, the Type of Hell (Milton, John, Paradise Lost, Book I, 392-405). 

SATAN CAST OUT

In this literary work, Moloch is further listed among the chief of Satan's angels and, to those cast out of Heaven and assembled at the parliament of Hell, argues for immediate warfare against God. Although somewhat lengthy, this appeal is worthwhile reading (note: to facilitate understanding, the plain-english translation in used below):

SATAN SUMMONS HIS COUNCILS

Satan sat on his throne.

It was fancier than the richest kings of Persia or India had. He had become the king of evil.

It was more than he hoped for, and now he was greedy for more.

Instead of learning from his defeat, he just wanted to fight God some more.

So he began to tell his dream to the assembly.Gods of Heaven! - I still call you that because no place, however deep and dark, can weaken immortal power.

I'm not giving up on Heaven.

We will rise up more glorious and more feared than if we never fell, and not be afraid that we might lose again. 

Heaven's law made me your leader. The rights of justice gave us free will. And our achievements gave us honor and glory. 

Now we have it all back again, and in a much safer place. He willingly gave us this kingdom. Nobody would want to take it away from us. 

The powers that rule in the comfort of Heaven might be envied, but who's going to envy whoever rules in Hell and is in constant pain and under constant threat of attack from above? 

Where there's nothing to steal, there are no thieves. Nobody wants to gain worse pain for himself than he already has. 

That makes us more firmly united. Now we can fight for what is rightly ours. 

We have a better chance of succeeding now than when we were in the comforts of Heaven. Now it's just a matter of deciding how to go about it. Who wants to speak?

Moloch stood up. He was the strongest and fiercest angel in the war.

He wanted to be as strong as God, otherwise to him life wasn't worth living.

He was willing to risk everything.

MOLOCH

I vote for war, he said. I don't know anything about trickery. Those of you who want to sit around conspiring, do it on your own time! What do you expect the rest of us to do--sit around and wait in this hell-hole while our warden sits above on his comfortable throne? No! Let's take these damned hell-flames and attack his angels with them. He invented these tortures. Let's return them to him and dump sulfur and black fire on his throne. It won't be as hard as you think. Being chased downward and falling like we did is unnatural to us. But we can fly upward more easily, and take them by surprise. Are you afraid to make him mad again? What more can he do to us? What's worse than this?--where fire tortures us without end, and we're slaves at his mercy to punish whenever and in whatever way he wants. How much worse could things get? If he decides to kill us, let him. At least we'll be out of here. And if we really are immortal and can't die, then we can make his life miserable with repeated attacks forever. If not victory, at least we can get our revenge (Milton, John, Paradise Lost, Book II, 1-105).

To the people he served, Solomon was the INCARNATION OF MOLOCH.

THAT WHICH THEY DESIRED

So . . . why did the Lord bless one whose kingdom was full of darkness?

Whatever work

SOLOMON'S WIVES AND IDOLATRY

God desired to accomplish with Israel, He generally sought to do so through those who had power over them. Hence, there was an occasional changing of the guard. At times, those placed in power were foreign nations used to chasten God's people; at times, prophets and kings from within were placed as rulers that God might bless His people. At this specific time in Israel's history, the Lord blessed a king from within--Solomon--to chasten His people; and that the words of the prophet Samuel would not fall to the ground (see 1 Samuel 3:19). Surely, God could have removed Solomon out of his place. Nevertheless, God chose to retain Solomon because he was what God's people desired. 

When the Book of Mormon prophet, Mosiah, neared death, he established judges to reign over the Nephites according to the commandments of God (see Mosiah 29:21-27). This political structure, however, was not an original idea. Following the death of Joshua, the Bible notes that "the Lord raised up judges, which delivered [Israel] out of the hand of those that spoiled them. And when the Lord raised them up judges, then the Lord was with the judge, and delivered them out of the hand of their enemies all the days of the judge: for it repented the Lord because of their groanings by reason of them that oppressed them and vexed them" (Judges 2:16, 18). True to form, the record states that the Lord's people . . .

SAMUEL DEDICATED BY HANNAH

. . . would not hearken unto their judges, but they went a whoring after other gods, and bowed themselves unto them: they turned quickly out of the way which their fathers walked in, obeying the commandments of the Lord; but they did not so.

And when the judge was dead, that they returned, and corrupted themselves more than their fathers, in following other gods to serve them, and to bow down unto them; they ceased not from their own doings, nor from their stubbornway (Judges 2:17, 19)

This form of leadership continued until Samuel, the prophet. Unfortunately, those of Samuel's sons who were appointed judges in Israel "walked not in his ways, but turned aside after lucre, and took bribes, and perverted judgment" (1 Samuel 8:2-3). By then, Israel had grown weary of this particular form of leadership. As a result, all the elders of Israel gathered themselves together, and came and said unto Samuel, "Behold, thou art old, and thy sons walk not in thy ways: now make us a king to judge us like all the nations" (1 Samuel 8:4-5). Their simple request marked a critical turning point for Israel. Although displeased and discouraged, Samuel took the matter to the Lord:

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. 

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. 

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 (1 Samuel 8:7-9).

Samuel returned and, as requested, rehearsed to the elders the manner of king that would reign over them. Neither the first nor second kings of Israel fit within Samuel's description. Solomon, however, fits his description in every detail. Following each verse of the description Samuel gave, a fulfillment of his description, as it pertains to Solomon, is provided below:

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. (1 Kings 4:26-28; 1 Kings 9:19; 2 Chronicles 1:14, 17; 2 Chronicles 8:6; 2 Chronicles 9:25).

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. (1 Kings 9:22, 27; 2 Chronicles 8:9-10).

And he will take your daughters to be confectionaries, and to be cooks, and to be bakers. (1 Kings 4:7, 22-23, 27; 1 Kings 10:5; 2 Chronicles 9:4)

And he will take your fields, and your vineyards, and your oliveyards, even the best of them, and give them to his servants. (2 Chronicles 2:15; 2 Chronicles 9:7)

And he will take the tenth of your seed, and of your vineyards, and give to his officers, and to his servants. (1 Kings 4:2-19)

And he will take your menservants, and your maidservants, and your goodliest young men, and your asses, and put them to his work. (1 Kings 5:13-16; 2 Chronicles 2:2)

He will take the tenth of your sheep: and ye shall be his servants. (1 Kings 8:63; 2 Chronicles 5:6; 2 Chronicles 7:4-5)

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.

Nevertheless, it is recorded that ". . . the people refused to obey the voice of Samuel; and they said, Nay; but we will have a king over us; 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" (1 Samuel 8:11-20).

It is at this point, that an important lesson should be brought to the forefront: God grants to men according to the desires of their hearts, whether they desire good or whether they desire evil. After declaring his wish to cry repentance unto every people (Alma 29:1) that there might not be more sorrow upon all the face of the earth (Alma 29:2), the Book of Mormon prophet, Alma, mildly rescinded his declaration:

I ought not to harrow up in my desires the firm decree of a just God, for I know that he granteth unto men according to their desire, whether it be unto death or unto life; yea, I know that he allotteth unto men, yea, decreeth unto them decrees which are unalterable, according to their wills, whether they be unto salvation or unto destruction.

Yea, and I know that good and evil have come before all men; he that knoweth not good from evil is blameless; but he that knoweth good and evil, to him it is given according to his desires, whether he desireth good or evil, life or death, joy or remorse of conscience (Alma 29:4-5).

The Israelites were raised in an environment whereby they knew good from evil, and to them it was given according to the desires of their heart. Hence, when Samuel rehearsed all that he had heard from the elders, the Lord said to Samuel, "Hearken unto their voice, and make them a king" (1 Samuel 8:21-22). A king he did make, and as Solomon began his reign, the Lord plainly declared that He was not pleased with Solomon, but was willing to prosper him because the people desired it:

And the Lord was not pleased with Solomon, for he made affinity with Pharaoh, king of Egypt, and took Pharaoh's daughter to wife, and brought her into the house of David until he had made an end of building his own house, and the house of the Lord, and the wall of Jerusalem round about. And the Lord blessed Solomon for the people's sake only (JST 1 Kings 3:1; emphasis conspicuously added).[1]

Hence, the first and ONLY reason the Lord prospered Solomon was for the people's sake. 

ACQUIRING ALL THINGS

Of the seven things which Solomon received in the likeness of Christ, I wish to address RICHES first. This is because doing so provides the most immediate and obvious connection to the antichrist of which John speaks.

To be continued in Part IV . . .

ENDNOTES

[1] The emphasized elements of the foregoing verse are contributions by the prophet, Joseph Smith. The fact that they did not find their way into the footnotes of the LDS edition of the Old Testament is an unfortunate mishap, for they provide the best doctrinal explanation as to why Solomon received power, riches, wisdom, strength, honour, glory, and blessing from God. 

THE FOOLISH BEAST (Part II)

"In relation to the kingdom of God,
the devil always sets up his kingdom
at the very same time in opposition
 to God" (Joseph Smith, Teachings, 365).

Before proceeding, the reader is encouraged to review, in the order shown below, previous blogs concerning this same topic:

1. THE SEALED BOOK UNFOLDED TO VIEW

2. HIS NUMBER IS 666

That Spirit of Antichrist

When it comes to placing a preposition before "christ", the word "anti" has an illusive meaning. According to the 1828 Webster's American Dictionary, it is a preposition "signifying against, opposite, contrary, or in place of." From this definition, two types of antichrists are possible.

First, as demonstrated by characters such as Nehor, Korihor, Zeezrom, and Sherem, antichrist is teaching against, opposite, or contrary to Christ. The apostle John described this antichrist as a deceiver "who confesses not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh" (2 John 1:7). He  provided an addition insight concerning this spirit of antichrist to those who received his writings. In 1 John 2:22, he posed an instructive question, "Who is a liar but he that denieth that Jesus is the Christ?" John subsequently described the liar as one who hates his brother:

If a man say, I love God, and hateth his brother, he is a liar: for he that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen? (1 John 4:20).

Where hatred exists, antichrist reigns.

Unlike this first type, the second antichrist comes declaring that he is Christ. This devil is, far and away, the most treacherous. If one comes forward saying there is no Christ, believers may easily turn a deaf ear to his ravings and continue with their lives unhindered. Such antichrists are found littered on the sidewalks near Temple Square in Salt Lake City, Utah, jeering and ridiculing Saints who attend General Conference or engage in temple worship. But, as noted by the prophet Joseph Smith, "when a man goes about prophesying, and commands men to obey his teachings, he must either be a true or false prophet. False prophets", he continued, "always arise to oppose the true prophets and they will prophesy so very near the truth that they will deceive almost the very chosen ones" (Joseph Smith, Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, 365). Hence, if the spirit of antichrist is to prevail among believers, this is the flavor to which they are most apt to succumb.

In his second letter to the Thessalonians, the apostle Paul warned that the day of the Lord's coming would be preceded by wide-spread apostasy. As explained by early Church historians, ". . . another and different religion was to be substituted for the Christian religion: that another church, one founded by men, was to take the place of the Church of Christ, a worldly church dominated by the very spirit of Lucifer . . ." (History of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints,1:42). More specifically, apostle Paul described  that, within this worldly church, the man of sin would be revealed, noting that he would "oppose and exalt himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God" (2 Thessalonians 2:3-4). 

Again, it is easy for the world to hyperventilate looking for some insidious person who fits the foregoing description. However, the world need only look in the mirror to find him, for the apostle taught that this antichrist would "sit in the temple of God." In context with Paul's other letters and latter-day revelation, "the elements are the tabernacle of God; yea, man is the tabernacle of God, even temples" (D&C 93:35; compare 1 Corinthians 3:16). Accordingly, just as God walks in holy temples (see 2 Corinthians 6:16) and "dwelleth . . . in the hearts of the righteous" (see Alma 34:36) by virtue of the Holy Spirit (see Alma 34:35; compare D&C 130:3 and D&C 130:22), Satan likewise dwells in the hearts of the children of men (see Mosiah 3:6). God's temple is the place from where Satan reigns in the last days (see 2 Nephi 28:20). Confirming this conclusion to the prophet, Joseph Smith, in his commentary on the parable of the wheat and the tares, the Lord explained:

Verily, thus saith the Lord unto you my servants, concerning the parable of the wheat and of the tares: 

Behold, verily I say, the field was the world, and the apostles were the sowers of the seed; 

And after they have fallen asleep the great persecutor of the church, the apostate, the whore, even Babylon, that maketh all nations to drink of her cup, in whose hearts the enemy, even Satan, sitteth to reign—behold he soweth the tares; wherefore, the tares choke the wheat and drive the church into the wilderness (D&C 86:1-3).

Thus, even though the individual identity named Lucifer is, in fact, "the man of sin" referred to by Paul,[1] each of us have a "man of sin" that embraces this spirit of antichrist. Unless this "man of sin" is put away, we become the temple from whom the son of perdition reigns. In a discourse given to the Church on October 8, 1876, President Brigham Young taught:

We find a pure spirit inhabiting the tabernacle of the creature which is always prompting the individual to good, to virtue, to truth and holiness; all of which emanate from that source of purity from which this spirit came. And here the evil that came through transgression that is in this tabernacle, is warring with this pure spirit, it seeks to overcome it, and is striving with all its power to bring this spirit into subjection, into bondage to the law of sin. This is the warfare which Paul refers to when speaking of the “thorn in the flesh,” which is no more or less than the spirit contending against the flesh, and the flesh against the spirit. This pure spirit will remain in a condition to receive the operations of the spirit of God, which has gone forth into the world, and which lightens every man that comes into the world, regardless of his condition, birth or education; the spirit of Christ lightens them all, and instructs their pure spirits, which are organizations in the germ and in their growth, to become independent beings, even sons and daughters of the Almighty; and it will continue to thus operate until this body, this sinful tabernacle, has warred against the spirit and overcome it to such a degree as to entirely subject it to the man of sin.

And when the flesh attains this victory over the spirit, then is the time spoken of when man has sinned to that degree that, says the Apostle, “ye shall not pray for them, for they have sinned a sin unto death.” Then the spirit of the Lord ceases to strive with them, they no longer receive light, having passed the day of grace (President Brigham Young, Philosophy of Man Upon The Earth, delivered at the Semi-Annual General Conference, Salt Lake City).

Importantly, President Harold B. Lee taught that "baptism by immersion symbolizes the death and burial of the man of sin; and the coming forth out of the water, the resurrection to a newness of spiritual life" (Lee, Harold B., Teachings of Presidents of the Church, Chapter 4: The First Principles and Ordinances of the Gospel).

Hence, as I proceed to develop Solomon as the beast possessing the number "Six hundred threescore and six", it is worthy to note that, in the last days, Solomon comes disguised as the nations of the world. Satan can lift no sword, shed no blood, speak no evil, and cause no strife unless there exists among men the arm, sword, mouth, and heart that is willing to serve him (see D&C 45:55). 

To be continued . . .

FOOTNOTES

[1] The man of sin has been revealed in various ways and times throughout history. In the early latter-day Church, the prophet Joseph Smith recorded the following event:

On the 3rd of June, the Elders from the various parts of the country where they were laboring, came in; and the conference before appointed, convened in Kirtland; and the Lord displayed His power to the most perfect satisfaction of the Saints. The man of sin was revealed, and the authority of the Melchizedek Priesthood was manifested and conferred for the first time upon several of the Elders.

The manner in which the man of sin was revealed and the authority of the Melchizedek Priesthood manifested, is related by John Whitmer, in his History of the Church. After giving the names of those who were ordained High Priests the day on which the two powers were manifested, he says:

Joseph Smith, Jun., prophesied the day previous that the man of sin would be revealed. While the Lord poured out His Spirit upon His servants, the devil took a notion to make known his power. He bound Harvey Whitlock and John Murdock so that they could not speak, and others were affected but the Lord showed to Joseph, the seer, the design of the thing; he commanded the devil in the name of Christ, and he departed, to our joy and comfort (see History of the Church, Volume 1, Chapter 15, Footnote 2).