Ralph,

You nailed it as to why the Church isn't talking about this and won't be
talking about it any time soon. Their task is to minister to the
mainstream, which is not ready for such a discussion, for, after all, they
are too busy building up the counterfeit system of Babylon to pay attention
to such a discussion as this.

That is why the idea of "David's Outcasts" and other such gatherings of
likeminded thinkers and seekers has such merit. "Greater Things" by very
definition is "new wine" in nature and has no welcome in the "old bottles"
of the mainstream traditions.

I think you would be impressed with just how activist the participants in
these kinds of forums have been and are. For me, my editorial chapter of my
life happened ten years ago in earnest. Since then, I've targeted my
writings more to those who are already awake, and such writings have no
place in mainstream forums -- too 'far out' for them.

So yes, I applaud your activity. Keep it up. The world needs your voice.
Each of us in the body of Christ plays our part, and it is glorious.

Sincerely,

Sterling D. Allan
----- Original Message -----
From: "Grethe Hughes" <grethe.and.ralph@...>
To: <hawkiye@...>; <sterlingda@...>
Sent: Friday, July 27, 2001 10:57 AM
Subject: Re: Laws in Zion -- Working Model]


I'm all in favour of discussing it amongst ourselves. And you guys and
others have come up with lots of good ideas. But what I am concerned
about, for others' sake more than mine, is that it's going to turn into a
free for all.

I definitely am not one to wait for the Church to tell me to get into
these issues, as you, Sterling especially, ought to know. How many
others in the chat group have written to Bush and Cheney, and their
congressmen, or letters to the editor (which by the by, do get our
messages out to those who manage to get beyond the sports pages - I'm
still getting calls at home from people who were woken up by some of the
letters I had printed lately - about 60% - 70%, I've lost count of how
many I've had printed just in this year since January. My bishop lookjs
at me kind of funny these days, but like you, I calls'em as I sees'em,
and he's on my email list.

And I think I understand why the Church is not telling us where our
political allliances should lie as they did X years ago. I've no problem
with that.

But I do think that if God is going to reestablish the US government, or
better yet, when, I would do well to follow the Prophet in jumping into
any particular faction, if possible. It may not be possible to do that
when the time comes. This comes from a personal source, but H. Verlan
Andersen once said somethink like "When I see the Prophet strap on a .45,
so will I." I thought that was kind of cute, if not appropriate to our
discussion.

My concern is not all the discussion, but the possiblity of various
factions with identical goals but different ideas on how to get there
squabbling among themselves and getting nowhere beyond the arguing stage.
And I am concerned that some of my friends criticize the Church leaders
for not telling us what we would like them to tell the Church membership
in general. I have my inside sources, too, and having supervised the
microfilming operations in Europe for nearly 3 years way back when, I
learned not to expect the GAs to speak as prophets on every subject
whenever I would like.

Remember, I've lived and worked in Europe some 10 years and some (as
little as possible) in the Mid-East and other garden spots, and I think I
can say with some authority that if the Church started in preaching as we
do to each other, it would come unglued quick enough. The vast majority
of active Church members in European countries have been weaned on
socialism and telling them they are wrong is not, in my opinion, going to
fix things. In my opinion they need to increase their knowledge and
understanding of the Gospel, and the rest will follow. I've taught
priesthood lessons on the proper role of government and observed the
discouraging reactions to such lessons. Even with quotes from prophets
past and present. They got a long way to go, although I notice that
those with deeper understanding of the Gospel are receptive to such
messages. At least they don't call me mean spirited and criticize the US
for not doing anything for its people, as lots do.

Make sense? I appreciate your timely response.

Cheers
Ralph Hughes