DEATH AND ATONEMENT, part 3 of Chapter 7 of Blood Atonement by OGDEN KRAUT

DEATH AND ATONEMENT, part 3 of Chapter 7 of Blood Atonement by OGDEN KRAUT

Although it is written that Judas “hanged himself” (Matt. 27:5), we also read that “his bowels gushed out.” (Acts 1:18) What sort of hanging was that? How could he be hanged about the neck and his “bowels” gush out? This is a conflicting story [84] which was clarified by Heber C. Kimball, when he said:

Jesus said to His disciples, “Ye are the salt of the earth and if the salt loses its saving principle, it is then good for nothing but to be cast out.” Instead of reading it just as it is, almost all of you read it just as it is not. Jesus meant to say, “If you have lost the saving principles, you Twelve Apostles, and you that believe in my servants the Twelve, you shall be like unto the salt that has lost its saving principles: it is henceforth good for nothing but to be cast out and trodden under the foot of men. Judas lost that saving principle, and they took him and killed him. It is said in the Bible that his bowels gushed out; but they actually kicked him until his bowels came out.

I will suffer my bowels to be taken out before I will forfeit the covenant I have made with Him and my brethren. Do you understand me? Judas was like salt that had lost its saving principles good for nothing but to be cast out and trodden under the foot of men. It is just so with you men and women, if you do not honour your callings and cultivate the principles you have received. It is so with you, ye Elders of Israel, when you forfeit your covenants. (J.D. 6:125-126)