Dear Thomas, Saturday, January 27, 2007

The clarification you seek is extremely simple. You assumed I lied when I hadn’t. I did not do any of the things you suggested. I did not teach anything different than what the Lord and His prophets have taught. I have not sought a following, nor have I tried to lead anyone away from the Lord or the LDS Church. If you go back and reread the letter you will realize I also did not claim these records were scriptures. I know I don’t have the authority to call them scriptures. Yes, those things given and received by the power of the Holy Ghost are scripture, but that is an individual thing and not my place to announce. Certainly there are groups like the Church that can and do canonize records. But what the Church chooses to do or not do on that matter has nothing to do with me. Again, all of these things you thought evil of me you assumed and I cannot take responsibility for your assumptions. Those belong to you.

Thomas, I honestly do not know what I can do for you on this. The assumptions you came up with are almost a universal response among the LDS community. It is a cultural thing, just like with the Jews. Remember when the Savior told them about His other sheep? They too made an assumption. The Lord did not correct them because His Father didn’t command Him to do so. I suppose if I had come among the Jews talking about the Lord’s other sheep from the clarifications the Lord had given to His other sheep, the Jews too would have made similar judgment calls as you have about me because the truth of His other sheep would not support their assumption. The only thing I can think to suggest to you is to study the words of the Lord and His prophets now that a new perspective has been presented to you. I believe you will find their words will read differently to you concerning the conditions of the Church in our day, the records coming forth and especially the chronological history of the House of Israel as it relates to the descendants of Lehi. Most of all I encourage you to take your findings back to the Lord and get a proper confirmation from the Holy Ghost. It is only through the Holy Ghost we can come to know the truth of all things and our value of things should only be based on those confirmations.

I don’t know what else to tell you. I do know there are those who are LDS who believe the assumptions of the culture are the doctrines of the Church. To them I will always be viewed as going against the Lord and His Church because I often do not support their assumptions. They had good guesses, but like the Jews, those guesses were wrong. There is nothing I can do about what they choose to believe. The Lord has made clarifications if they wish to accept them. But even if I took the time to verify each assumption is not doctrine according to the records they claim are legitimate, like the scriptures and the words of the prophets, it would not change their beliefs. In fact, they will believe all the more I am what they think I am. No one likes being corrected by someone who they believe is wrong. On the other hand, there are those who realize the assumptions are not the doctrine. They have generally gone through a lot to get to that point. They know that the Lord works with stewardships, so it doesn’t surprise them, for example, that the Lord went to the record keepers and told them it was time to release the records. They have no problem that the Lord provided the way for them to accomplish the things He commanded them including giving them types of Urim and Thummins to reveal and verify accuracy. They know that only the Holy Ghost is the final word on what is true and what is not. They have no problem doing what it takes to get a proper confirmation of the authenticity of these records. They understand the Lord promised we would have His dealings with other Nations. It doesn’t surprise them to find the Lord had revealed to other nations more than He has to ours on different subjects and they are glad to get a confirmation and add those beliefs to their own. They recognize the callings those of us have in bringing forth these records and they are grateful we are willing to do those things. They know our motivation is right, that are desire is not to pull people away from God but to give them more to add to what they already have. There is no way to harmonize these two points of view among the LDS. It was prophesied that Good and evil would be spoken of Joseph Smith. It is the same with anyone else the Lord calls to do a similar work. Only the Holy Ghost can verify which it is and that is on an individual bases. Until a person properly goes through what is needed to get that confirmation they will only be left to their own assumptions and opinions. If we are not careful, our opinions can be quite damaging to the work of the Lord. So it is best to overcome them as quickly as possible using the principles the Lord has established for that purpose and cease using the philosophies and logics that man has established hoping to accomplish that which can not be accomplished outside using the principles of the Lord.

May God bless you and yours.

Sincerely,
Ea-lea Powitz Peopeo

P.S. I notice some posted questions from others. Four of the five translators are done, but the fifth is extremely busy with his responsibilities and gets to the translations as he can. Four of the volumes are released with more to come. They can be downloaded without cost at Mentinah.com. Click on the down loads button. I don’t know why it is universally accepted among the LDS that the LDS Church must release such things. Of the countless ancient records that have already come forth, I am aware of none that has come forth since the Pearl of Great Price (not even the Book of Mormon was originally released by the Church) and Joseph’s translations of the Bible. I would be appreciative if someone could let me know of any translations the Church has put out in the last 125 years, it would be quite interesting to see.