Relief Mine, Chapter Two

2002-9-7 05:57:00

The Relief Mine
By Ogden Kraut
First Published 1978

Chapter 2

THE GIFT OF DREAMS

Dreams, and the interpretation of dreams, raised a Daniel from slavery or degrading captivity in Babylon, to wear a royal chain of gold, and to teach royalty how to rule, whilst himself presided over the governors and presidents of more than a hundred provinces. (Key to Theology, P.P. Pratt, p. 124)

Divine Instruction through Dreams

God in His wisdom, bestows many gifts and talents upon mortals so that His work on earth can be accomplished. The gift of dreams has been a common means of communication between God and mortals. He has conveyed instruction, warnings, prophecies and comfort through this wondrous manifestation. Many of God's servants who have been given these gifts were poor, unlearned and unpopular; yet they have been willing to endure scorn, ridicule and often persecution from the worldly. Man's opposition to the revelations of God has been a common occurrence throughout history.

It is the privilege of every child of God, in every age of the world, to receive divine revelation and spiritual gifts. He has promised to dispense His gifts to everyone. The Lord has revealed that we should--

[12] ". . . seek ye earnestly the best gifts, always remembering for what they are given; for verily I say unto you, they are given for the benefit of those who love me and keep all my commandments, and him that seeketh so to do; that all may be benefited that seek or that ask of me, ... (D & C 46:8-9)

Men may receive dreams, visions, the visitation of angels, etc., according to their worthiness, for these signs would follow true believers. If men cease to have faith in God's revelations, then the gifts and powers from God are lost. When King Saul offended God, then God refused to speak to him and "when Saul inquired of the Lord, the Lord answered him not, neither by dreams, nor by Urim, nor by the prophets." (I Sam. 28:6) This sad story has been repeated in nearly every generation of mankind.

Today there is as much necessity for Divine revelation and spiritual gifts as there ever was; but the wickedness, the transgression and the common disbelief of men have caused God to withhold many of His spiritual blessings. It is upon this premise that the men of this generation stand to suffer the wrath of God. Famines, wars, plagues and many other forms of destruction await this generation, for they have rejected more of God's light and revelation than any other generation of the world. With disaster impending upon this nation and the world, wise men should seek out and hold fast to the word of God for both their temporal and spiritual salvation.

Just prior to the time of destruction, God has always prepared a way and a means of protection and safety for His people. Abraham, Moses, Noah, and a host of other prophets and saints were spared because they believed in the revelations that God had given.

[13] Dreams are great and glorious gifts of God to man, and they are given for his benefit, or his holiest and most deserving servants would not alone receive them, or be called upon to interpret them. They are promised, however, by the Apostle to all believers, and that they are, indeed, believers, and that they are in that road which will lead them on to salvation. (Mill. Star 26:293)

The Lord spoke to Jeremiah saying, "The prophet that hath a dream, let him tell a dream; and he that hath my word, let him speak my word faithfully." (Jer. 23:28) But all too often men fail to acquaint themselves with this useful medium through which God often dispenses his wisdom and instruction. Thus, most of God's gifts are rejected, or misunderstood by men--and therein lies their condemnation.

. . . Now, reader, you need present revelation from God to your own dear self, in order to help you out of this nasty, confused labyrinth, and to set your feet firmly upon the solid rock of revelation. Mere flesh and blood cannot help you now. It requires an Almighty arm to effect your deliverance. Therefore, put no more trust in man, for a curse rests upon him that will be guided by the precepts of man. I do not ask you to be guided by what I say to you, unless the Lord from heaven shall reveal to you that I speak the truth, even as it is in Christ. Although I know that I am declaring heaven's truth to you, in all sobriety, yet my knowing it does not suffice for you. You also must know it for yourself, and not for another. This is your right and your privilege. For God has made this promise to you, and not to you, reader only, but to all others whom He calls to repentance. Now, go and get revelation for yourself. (Mill. Star 15:273)

[14] Often men are saved because they believed in the revelations of God, and just as often many are destroyed because they reject them. In times of peril or disaster, God may reveal strange and peculiar ways of saving those who believe in His revelations. God commanded Abraham and others to depart out of Babylon; both Noah and Nephi were told to build a boat; Moses had to take up a rod; and Joseph had to store up grain. These were a few of many unusual but tangible means of temporal salvation. Because they were obedient, they were protected. Hence, God may use similar or other peculiar means to save His people in these last days.

King Solomon

Anciently God periodically gave great power or wealth to his people when they were obedient to Him. One of the most striking examples was the sovereign powers and tremendous wealth He bestowed upon the Kingdom of David under the rule of his son Solomon.

The era of David and Solomon was called the Golden Age of Hebrew history. David established the kingdom, but Solomon contributed most to its splendor and completion. At that time Israel became the most powerful kingdom in all the world; Jerusalem was the most magnificent city, and the temple was the most beautiful building. People came from the ends of the earth to see the glory that belonged to Israel and to hear the wisdom of Solomon. When the Queen of Sheba came and saw it, she exclaimed, "The half was not told me."

Solomon began construction of the temple in about 966 B.C., during the fourth year of his reign (Kings 6:1) and finished it seven and a half years later. The Lord bestowed upon him wealth that has not been equalled since. God was piled upon his kingdom in great abundance. The temple was probably the most expensive edifice ever undertaken by man, for Solomon used as much as $4 billion [15] in gold and silver in its construction. Gold was used everywhere. It was used in shields, buckler's, the vessels of the palace, and his throne was ivory overlaid with gold. Gold in Jerusalem became as common as stones. (I Kings 10:10-22; 2 Chron. 1:15.)

King Solomon's mines were undoubtedly given to him by the Lord, in fulfillment of God's promise to him. These vast fortunes may have been shown to him through the gift of dreams, which Solomon possessed, for the Lord had occasions appeared to Solomon through this divine medium. (See I Kings 3:5, 9:2.)

In the last days God has also promised that the kingdom of David would again be established in much more power and wealth than it ever was before. Greater wealth of the earth and greater power with God will be manifest in the last days to His people. (See Isa. 23:18.)

Thus it is that often men are directed to the location and use of precious metals and minerals. Indeed the more righteous a people become, the more blessings of prosperity and peace the heavens will bestow upon them.

The gold and the silver belong to the Lord Almighty, and He will hand it over to us as fast as we know how to use it to His name's glory. (Brigham Young, J.D. 8:204)

Jesse Knight's Mine

A good example in our generation of God's intervention into the affairs of men's financial needs is best portrayed in the life of Jesse Knight. For many years the U.S. Government had been the cause of persecution, oppression and even confiscation of Church property and wealth. In the early 1890's the LDS Church made several major concessions to the Government in exchange for relief from such unjust persecutions. It was then that the [16] Church, the State and the Nation fell into a major depression and financial bondage. Saints and gentiles alike were crying for relief.

It was about this time that Jesse Knight had a most unusual but vivid manifestation. In 1896 he filed a mining claim stating to a friend that he was shown in a dream that he would find a great store of ore. The friend replied, "Humbug!" So that's what Jesse named his mining venture.

In a dream, or vision, there was revealed to him that Utah was for the Mormons; that the doctrines of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints were true; that Joseph Smith was a prophet of God; also if he went to a certain place (indelibly imprinted on his mind), that he would find a great vein of rich mineral--a mine.

He followed the instructions given him in his dream, which took him to the now well-known Eureka Mining District. Then, way up on the mountain, he found the spot he had seen in his dream, and he uncovered the vein which led to a vast mineral body, which was opened up, only by much hard labor and many vicissitudes. (Pioneers and Prominent Men of Utah, Frank Esshom, p. 8)

For awhile things looked very discouraging. But Jesse Knight was well acquainted with poverty and the struggles of a life of hardships. He had crossed the plains to Utah in 1850 with his widow mother, Lydia, when he was only a young lad. He held the reins of a wagon drawn by two cows; and when the wagon stopped, he searched for roots and plants for the family to eat.

When he grew to manhood and married, he lived in a two-room adobe home and had five children. Jesse was never very active in the Mormon Church, and was some-[17]times even critical of some who were. Once his daughters became severely ill and one of them died. It was then that Jesse vowed that he would do whatever God wanted him to do. After this experience, he was impressed to go to Eureka and stake a claim in the mining fields.

Jesse and his son Will set up a little one-room shack at Eureka. But it appeared there was not much chance of ever getting ore from their claim. But one day Jesse announced to the surprise of his son:

Will, I want to tell you something. We are going to have . . . all the money we want, as soon as we are in a position to handle it properly. We will also some day save the credit of the Church. (Towns of Tintic, Beth K. Harris, p. 161)

Jesse always c]aimed that he worked his mines under a Divine influence. No one could offer much of an argument otherwise, as the ore began to pour in. He even told his son and others when and where he would make his first big "strike". One of his sons later wrote:

Wealth to him was a great responsibility. He felt it had come to him through divine promptings, and he knew the use he made of the same was his answer to the trust imposed. (The Jesse Knight Family, Jesse Wm. Knight, 1940, p. 6)

One day Jesse met President Wilford Woodruff on the street and inquired of him how things were going with him. Woodruff replied that they were not very good--the government had caused the Church so much trouble during the crusades that they were in debt over $10,000, and he had no idea as to how they could raise that much money. Jesse reached into his pocket and pulled out a check for his first shipment of ore, which was for slightly more than $11,000, and gave it to President Woodruff. Such was the way he constantly used his wealth and how he "saved the credit of the Church".

[18] When he found his ore in the "Humbug Mine", he went to drilling in the "Uncle Sam". He told his men to make a sharp turn to the right. They did and broke into a great body of high-grade ore. He then went into the "Beck" shaft telling his men to "run the drift to the east from the bottom of the shaft." Following his instructions, they found a mother lode of silver. After leaving directional and particular instructions to his men in the "Colorado", they labored without any indication of success, but soon discovered the ore that Jesse had predicted would be found.

It was this way in mine after mine with Jesse repeating the performance and pointing the way. Time after time, he pointed to a black wall that showed nothing and said it contained ore. It is a story that cannot be equalled in the history of mining. In Tintic, Jesse Knight was known as "the Mormon Wizard". (Towns of Tintic, p. 162)

Money piled up in the banks as Jesse uncovered deposit after deposit of silver and lead. Oddly, his fortune was dedicated to a church, and according to his own prediction, he saved the credit of the Mormon Church. He poured his money toward wiping out over a million dollars of Church debts. Then, almost single-handed, he built the Brigham Young University.

Jesse's income was over $10,000 a month and for years he was the Church's largest tithe payer, and his mines poured out nearly $12 million in ore. Near Eureka he built a town which he called Knightsville. He constructed a chapel (which was also used for a school), and it was soon the leading ward for attendance and tithes. Anyone preparing to go on a mission could always find work with "Uncle" Jesse. His little town had a post office, a general store, a barber shop, and other businesses. One boarding house had 200 people in this town of a little over 1,000 population--Knightsville became so purged that people called it the place of the "Sunday School Mines". That [19] little mining town was perhaps the only one of its stature in the United States. But the workers were happy because "Uncle" Jesse paid higher wages than any other mine--plus he gave them Sunday off. He provided socials, parties, dances and other entertainments to keep the people from the saloons and gambling houses. He felt that his wealth was a stewardship and he was always willing to be a "soft touch" for people in need. For him wealth had a special purpose and he was conscientious in its use.

Jesse Knight became a leading spirit in a determination to do what was right. He provided work for hundreds and thousands of people in his mines, smelter, co-op stores, investment company, power company, coal company, bank, sugar company, irrigation company, woollen mills and cattle ranches. This young boy, who scratched for food among sego roots and watched his mother sewing by candlelight and taking in washing for a living, proved to be one of the few men who ever struck a bonanza and understood the true value of riches. His life became a life of service for others. During the depression years he provided work for many poor men, so that they could honorably provide food and clothes for their families. He also redeemed his church from its temporal bondage.

Eighty-year-old Karl Fields, Eureka's oldest living citizen, and a personal friend of Jesse Knight, said to the author: "Jesse Knight was one of the finest men ever born. It's too bad that men like him have to die."

"Uncle" Jesse Knight was a rare miner and a rare man. He left behind more value in his example than in the multi-millions of dollars of ore that came from his mines.

Hence we see that God saved His Church from its financial bondage by revealing the source of ore from mines. Today the nation and the world are on the brink of another depression, more terrible and dreadful than any [20] other in the nation's history. Under such conditions it may well be that God will save Israel by the use of gold and minerals from out of the earth.

The Ancient Nephites

Anciently the Nephites were blessed with untold amounts of rich ores. The Lord blessed His Church more than other people with these riches.

And now, because of the steadiness of the church they began to be exceeding rich, having abundance of all things whatsoever they stood in need--an abundance of flocks and herds, and fatlings of every kind, and also abundance of grain, and of gold, and of silver, and of precious things, and abundance of silk and fine-twined linen, and all manner of good homely cloth. And thus, in their prosperous circumstances, they did not send away any who were naked, or that were hungry, or that were athirst, or that were sick, or that had not been nourished; and they did not set their hearts upon riches; therefore they were liberal to all, both old and young, both bond and free, both male and female, whether out of the church or in the church, having no respect to persons as to those who stood in need. And thus they did prosper and become far more wealthy than those who did not belong to their church. (Alma 1:29-31; see also Helaman 6:9, 11)

The Modern Israelites

The Lord has in our time hinted that this people would become wealthy by similar means--and He also adds a warning that it should not be the means of our destruction as it was to the Nephites.

[21] And if ye seek the riches which it is the will of the Father to give unto you, ye shall be the richest of all people, for ye shall have the riches of eternity; and it must needs be that the riches of the earth are mine to give; but beware of pride, lest ye become as the Nephites of old. (D. & C. 38:39)

Many mines have been and still are being worked as the result of some form of spiritual direction. Peter Hurkos, the world famous psychic, used his gift to locate the renowned "Lost Dutchman Mine" near Phoenix, Arizona. He turned over the mine and its wealth to a psychic research organization for further study and research into the gift and power of such manifestations.

The Bumble Bee Mine in Oregon Gulch, the Star Mine, the Wallace Mine and the Utica Mine, all located in California, were successful ventures having been found by spiritual means.

Around the turn of the century a poor man working as a ranch hand in Larson County, California, dreamed of a rich vein of ore. He clearly saw the ore, how it could be found, and where it was located. For three nights in succession he saw the same dream. The third night he was commanded to act upon the instructions given to him in the dream or else his chance for wealth would be lost forever. He immediately set out to comply to the instructions given to him. As a result, he became a millionaire.

A woman in Sacramento also had a dream or vision given to her of the location of a vast treasure. She was shown that an old abandoned mine in Nevada City still possessed a vast fortune in wealth and she could easily find it if she would go to the place and file claim to it. But her husband wouldn't listen to such "nonsense". Later someone else was looking through that old mine and discovered the ore. The mine was soon into production and became the fabulously wealthy Murchie Mine.

[22] Of course, not all mines are discovered by spiritual means, nor are all spiritualists able to locate mines. The Holy Ghost Mine at Angels Camp, California, was worked by spiritualists but never produced. Another mine was worked by some spiritualists who zigzagged back and forth through the mountain until they broke out of the other side of the mountain.

Nevertheless, too often the spiritual gifts and the revelations of God are debunked, rejected and condemned with disbelief when actually they may prove to be the means of temporal or spiritual salvation. The eternal destiny of man is decided by his faith or his disbelief in the workings of God.

It is when men reject the things of God that they are taken up with deception, disbelief and perhaps influenced by the spirit of revelation from the devil. Brigham Young explained:

I can say to all the inhabitants of the earth that before what is called spiritualism was ever known in America, I told the people that if they would not believe the revelations that God had given, He would suffer the devil to give revelations that they--priests and people--would follow after. Where did I declare this? In the cities of New York, Albany, Boston, throughout the United States and in England. Have I seen this fulfilled? I have. I told the people that as true as God lived, if they would not have truth, they would have error sent unto them, and they would believe it. (Deseret News, p. 308, June 18, 1873)

Too often men reject the spiritual messages of God in preference to their own whims or will. Once they reject a revelation of God, they are open to deception and are darkened in their minds.

[23] The gold and the silver will be given to the Saints; the riches of the world will be put in their possession, and they will be legal heirs. We are now passing through a day of trial, to determine whether we will prove worthy of all we may enjoy and possess, for it must be enjoyed and possessed without the spirit of covetousness. * * * The fulness of the heavens and the earth--the mountains, the gold, and the precious things in them--will all be devoted to those who are devoted to their God and their religion. (Brigham Young, J.D. 8:82)

The Lord has promised untold wealth to His people in this last dispensation. His prophets have described fabulous treasures to be used in the New Jerusalem and to redeem His people from their temporal and spiritual bondage. God is to employ wise and cautious means to test and prove His people to determine those He can trust with such power and wealth. If men are easily deceived or if they place their trust in the arm of flesh, they are unworthy of such tremendous responsibility. Men in our time must be wholly dedicated to the Gospel of Jesus Christ and all of His revelations. To them He will bestow the riches of heaven and earth.

-- End Of Chapter --

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Chapter Three

Chapter One

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