Going to the source

Going to the source

When I was young we used to go to visit my Uncle Howard and Aunt Evelyn at the ranch that my uncle managed at Eight Mile outside of Soda Springs.  They had a spring on the property.  That is where they got their culinary water.  The spring water was artesian.  That means that it flowed freely without a pump all year long.  Down the slight hill there was a pipe that carried the flowing water into what they called a spring box.  The cold water flowed from the pipe into a box where they kept the butter, milk and other things they wanted to keep cold.  This water was pure.  It came from deep in the earth where melting snow had percolated thru layers of rock into an aquifer.  When we wanted uncontaminated pure water we would rely on this spring.

The overflow water then flowed into an irrigation ditch that ran just below and across the road from the spring.  There was plenty of water in the ditch.  It looked clear just like the spring water.  We were cautioned, “Don’t drink out of the ditch!”  At the time we were young and did not understand the danger of drinking out of the ditch. Now, at a more mature age with an understanding of the germ theory, I know why the warning; ”Don’t drink out of the ditch!” We needed to go to the source of the pure water.

Upstream the ditch ran through a farmyard where there were cows and sheep and other farm animals deposited their bodily waste on the ground that drained into the irrigation ditch when it rained. Further up the source of the water that was in the irrigation ditch deer and other animals came to drink out of the flowing water.  The water flowed through beaver dams where beaver swam and dispensed bodily fluids into the water.  One of the parasites that the beaver carried was Giardia Lamblia.  We used to call the disease of this parasite in humans “Beaver Fever”. If you want more information click on the link.

Would you want to drink out of the ditch?

Later our family moved to Lander, Wyoming. The culinary water in Lander came from the Popo Agie River.  This water was cold and clear and tasted really good to a boy who came from Denver, Colorado.  There was a chlorinating plant that was installed to help with bacterial contamination.  There was a problem with the water.  We called it spring runoff. In the spring the snows that accumulated in the mountains surrounding Lander melted and the river, which was usually clear water, turned muddy and at the height of the runoff the water in the pipes in the city was more than turbid.  Some people even reported seeing small minnows coming out of the taps at this time. During Spring runoff there were people who got sick.  They called it “Landeritis”. It was an intestinal infection.  Some even got Giardia and had to be treated. Moose were often reported wading in the collecting basin where the city water came from.  While we were living there, the city decided to put in a water treatment facility and filter all the impurities and upgrade the chlorinating equipment.  My friend Wayne Nelson, the pharmacist, said that if they did that he would lose a lot of business selling Pepto Bismol during the spring runoff. Eventually Lander had pure water during the spring runoff.

Would you want to drink the Lander water during spring runoff?

I have one more example from the distant past.  In the history of the church there was a group of saints that went from Kirtland to Missouri called “Zion’s Camp”.  During their trek to Missouri members of this army developed Cholera.  Cholera is caused by a bacterium called Cholera Vibrio.  It was in the water that some of the members drank and then they got ill.  The symptoms were rice water diarrhea and a sudden loss of serum electrolytes and seizures and death.  This was caused by contaminated water.  The people at that time knew the disease, but did not know the cause. They did not know it was caused by contaminated water.  Our ancestor Lysander Gee was driven out of Nauvoo and went to St. Louis, Missouri with his wife Amanda Melvin Sagers and her son Orlando Lysander.  While living there, prior to traveling to Utah, Amanda died.  There was at that time an epidemic of Cholera among the saints and many died.  Perhaps Amanda died of Cholera too. 

There are lessons that we can learn from this.

Always go to the unadulterated source.

When we are looking for information about the church or the doctrine of Christ we need to go to the source.  These sources are not found in Google or on the Internet or in Wikipedia. Google and the Internet and Wikipedia are not unadulterated sources. They have many errors and many contaminated articles containing the opinions of men.

Adulterated sources can infect innocent people by perpetuating contamination. Just as the beaver may not become ill from Giardia, the parasite can be transmitted to humans from water contaminated by the beaver. A human infected with the parasite may not be symptomatic, but can transmit it to someone else and that person may become ill.  This is what is known as a carrier state.  In a similar manner Cholera can be transmitted in water from a person that is ill or one who is an asymptomatic carrier. 

The classic example that was taught us in medical school was that of Typhoid Mary.

Mary Mallon (September 23, 1869 – November 11, 1938), better known as Typhoid Mary, was the first person in the United States identified as an asymptomatic carrier of the pathogen associated with typhoid fever. She was presumed to have infected 22 people, three of whom died, over the course of her career as a cook. She was twice forcibly isolated by public health authorities and died after a total of nearly three decades in isolation. Just as Mary, those who publish articles on the Internet may not have their faith challenged, there are those who read their articles who die spiritually, because they drank from contaminated, adulterated sources for their information. 

Would you want Mary Mallon to cook for you?

Where can we find the unadulterated source?

The scriptures contain the word of God.  We believe that as far as the Bible is translated correctly we can hear the voice of God and his son Jesus Christ as if they were speaking directly to us.

The Book of Mormon contains the word of God.  The translation was given by the gift and power of God. We have direct quotations from Christ and from the prophets. For my experience Clickhere.

Latter-Day scriptures, such as; the Doctrine and Covenants and the Pearl of Great Price.

Contemporary documents from reliable sources; such as the History of the Church, The Documentary History of the Church, the Joseph Smith Papers. The teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith and the reports of General Conference.

The voice of the Lord through the ministration of the Holy Ghost; Joseph Smith is not the only person that can hear the voice of the Lord.  He is your father as well as mine.

Do not expect to receive the word of the Lord with out sincere effort on your part by going to the unadulterated sources. Do not give it what my mother used to say “a lick and a promise”.  And “Anything worth doing is worth doing well.”

Drink from the pure source.

Love,

Grandpa