Sandy Hair?

[inquiringmind]

This is a quote from Joseph Smith, and I was wondering if anyone who has the keys of the priesthood today could tell me why an angel with sandy colored hair should be viewed with caution?

...who can drag into daylight and develop the hidden mysteries of the false spirits that so frequently are made manifest among the Latter-day Saints? We answer that no man can do this without the Priesthood, and having a knowledge of the laws by which spirits are governed...There have also been ministering angels in the Church which were of Satan appearing as an angel of light. A sister in the state of New York had a vision, who said it was told her that if she would go to a certain place in the woods, and angel would appear to her. She went at the appointed time, and saw a glorious personage descending, arrayed in white, with sandy colored hair; he commenced and told her to fear God, and said that her husband was called to do great things, but that he must not go more than one hundred miles from home, or he would not return; whereas God had called him to go to the ends of the earth, and he has since been more than one thousand miles from home, and is yet alive. Many true things were spoken by this personage, and many things that were false. How, it may be asked, was this known to be a bad angel? By the color of his hair; that is one of the signs that he can be known by...

http://emp.byui.edu/marrottr/TryTheSpirits.htm

If there's anyone with the power of the priesthood here, could you tell me what it is about sandy hair that would mark an angel as a bad angel?

[blackstrap]

Have you been to Sandy UT? Nuf said!!

[The Nehor]

Sandy-haired people are blonde. If blonde jokes have taught me anything it's that blondes can't keep a coherent thought in their head. Angels are messengers and have to deliver messages. As a blonde cannot retain a message long enough to deliver it the messenger will, even with the best of intentions, get some bit of it wrong. They are a bad messenger and hence, a bad angel.

(Insert favorite blonde joke here)

[cdowis]

Nobody knows for certain. It is an issue of an angel from Satan vs a resurrected righteous messenger from the Lord. Apparently the latter has white hair.

[mercyngrace]

I'm going to hazard a guess but keep in mind, it's only a guess.

The angelic messengers which appeared to Joseph Smith were described as being briliiantly white - bathed in light, etc. Moroni what white skinned and haired, The Lord had hair "white like pure snow" when Joseph saw Him in the temple.

I'm looking up descriptions of Peter, James, and John that Joseph Smith gave to see if they are similar...

But there's my guess, fwiw.

edit: cdowis posted while I was researching at byu.edu.

edit 2: For some reason, I'm remembering something that I heard somewhere and can't place. If this rings a bell for anyone please help me out. Did Joseph Smith see Paul and describe him as a short man with a high pitched, whiny sounding voice? Did he describe Paul's hair color? I seem to remember the description being quite vivid but my memory on this is very vague.

edit 3: Dang my sketchy memory! I found the reference in Teaching of the Prophet Joseph Smith. Here's the quote:

Given by the Prophet Joseph, January 5, 1841, at the organization of a school of instruction: "He is about five feet high; very dark hair, dark complexion; dark skin; large Roman nose; sharp face; small black eyes, penetrating as eternity; round shoulders; a whining voice, except when elevated, and then it almost resembled the roaring of a lion. He was a good orator, active and diligent, always employing himself in doing good to his fellow man."

Not entirely sure this is relevant - depends on how Joseph knew Paul's hair color. Off to read DHC 4:226-232.

edit 4: So we don't know know how Joseph acquired info about Paul's physical appearance and mannerisms. This is apparently info he could have gotten through reading apocryphal writings rather than solely through a vision. See here: http://devotional.byuh.edu/node/160

So... looks like the white hair guess may have merit.

(PS Don't you just love it when someone muses aloud on a thread, derailing it with all kinds of irrelevant information? Yeah. Um. Sorry 'bout that. )

[David T]

edit 3: Dang my sketchy memory! I found the reference in Teaching of the Prophet Joseph Smith. Here's the quote:

Given by the Prophet Joseph, January 5, 1841, at the organization of a school of instruction: "He is about five feet high; very dark hair, dark complexion; dark skin; large Roman nose; sharp face; small black eyes, penetrating as eternity; round shoulders; a whining voice, except when elevated, and then it almost resembled the roaring of a lion. He was a good orator, active and diligent, always employing himself in doing good to his fellow man."

Not entirely sure this is relevant - depends on how Joseph knew Paul's hair color. Off to read DHC 4:226-232.

This isn't a description of a visitation or a revelation. It's a loose paraphrase of a New Testament Apocryphal text call the Acts of Paul and Thecla, which Joseph is confirmed to have owned.

1:5-7

For Titus had given them a description of Paul's personage, for as yet they did not know him in person but were only acquainted with his character. They went in the king's highway to Lystra and stood there waiting for him, comparing all who passed by with that description which Titus had given them.

At length they saw a man coming (namely Paul), of a small stature with meeting eyebrows, bald [or shaved] head, bow- legged, strongly built, hollow-eyed, with a large crooked nose; he was full of grace, for sometimes he appeared as a man, sometimes he had the countenance of an angel. And Paul saw Onesiphorus and was glad.

[mercyngrace]

This isn't a description of a visitation or a revelation. It's a loose paraphrase of a New Testament Apocryphal text call the Acts of Paul and Thecla, which Joseph is confirmed to have owned.

1:5-7

For Titus had given them a description of Paul's personage, for as yet they did not know him in person but were only acquainted with his character. They went in the king's highway to Lystra and stood there waiting for him, comparing all who passed by with that description which Titus had given them.

At length they saw a man coming (namely Paul), of a small stature with meeting eyebrows, bald [or shaved] head, bow- legged, strongly built, hollow-eyed, with a large crooked nose; he was full of grace, for sometimes he appeared as a man, sometimes he had the countenance of an angel. And Paul saw Onesiphorus and was glad.

See my 4th edit. Thanks for providing a reference, nack.

[urroner]

Sandy-haired people are blonde. If blonde jokes have taught me anything it's that blondes can't keep a coherent thought in their head. Angels are messengers and have to deliver messages. As a blonde cannot retain a message long enough to deliver it the messenger will, even with the best of intentions, get some bit of it wrong. They are a bad messenger and hence, a bad angel.

(Insert favorite blonde joke here)

Can't be a redhead. Redheads are just blondes from Hell.

[Ceeboo]

Hi inquiringmind,

If there's anyone with the power of the priesthood here, could you tell me what it is about sandy hair that would mark an angel as a bad angel?

I don't have the "power of the priesthood" but I have given two different second graders a wicked noogie. So, I'll give your question a go.

IMO (NOT DOCTRINE) an angel with sandy hair is assumed to have spent much of his/her time sluffing off at the beach (thus the sandy hair) instead of doing "good angel things" that they are suppose to be doing.

Peace,

Ceeboo

[mapman]

The original source for this quote can be found here. It's an editorial that wasn't signed by Joseph, but likely was written by him. Here's a fuller quote:

There have also been ministering angels in the Church which were of Satan appearing as an angel of light. A sister in the state of New York had a vision, who said it was told her that if she would go to a certain place in the woods, an angel would appear to her. She went at the appointed time, and saw a glorious personage descending, arrayed in white, with sandy colored hair; he commenced and told her to fear God, and said that her husband was called to do great things, but that he must not go more than one hundred miles from home, or he would not return; whereas God had called him to go to the ends of the earth, and he has since been more than one thousand miles from home, and is yet alive. Many true things were spoken by this personage, and many things that were false. How, it may be asked, was this known to be a bad angel? By the color of his hair; that is one of the signs that he can be known by, and by his contradicting a former revelation.

[mapman]

This isn't a description of a visitation or a revelation. It's a loose paraphrase of a New Testament Apocryphal text call the Acts of Paul and Thecla, which Joseph is confirmed to have owned.

1:5-7

For Titus had given them a description of Paul's personage, for as yet they did not know him in person but were only acquainted with his character. They went in the king's highway to Lystra and stood there waiting for him, comparing all who passed by with that description which Titus had given them.

At length they saw a man coming (namely Paul), of a small stature with meeting eyebrows, bald [or shaved] head, bow- legged, strongly built, hollow-eyed, with a large crooked nose; he was full of grace, for sometimes he appeared as a man, sometimes he had the countenance of an angel. And Paul saw Onesiphorus and was glad.

I'm not convinced that Joseph was paraphrasing this apocryphal text. In Understanding Paul by Richard Lloyd Anderson in Appendix B, he writes:

This ancient description [that you cited] may very well have been read by Joseph Smith, since it was printed in 1820 in a fascinating collection of the authentic Apostolic Fathers plus a fair sampling of imaginative apocrypha of the New Testament. William Hone wrote a preface critical of traditional Christianity and prefaced his selection with a typical title of the time: "The Apocryphal New Testament, being All Gospels, Epistles, and Other Pieces Now Extant, Attributed in the Four Centuries to Jesus Christ, His Apostles, and Their Companions, and Not Included in the New Testament by Its Compilers." One can argue that Joseph Smith might have read the "Acts of Paul and Thecla." The Nauvoo Library and Literary Institute was organized in early 1844, and minutes list titles of books donated by individuals, including Joseph Smith, who among other titles gave the "Apocryphal Testament." This does not prove that Joseph Smith picked up the book, turned to page 100, and read the early sketch. . . There are nine characteristics of Paul in the Thecla description, and twelve in Joseph Smith's. But the profiles only overlap in two respects: the ancient "crooked nose" compares to Joseph Smith's "large Roman nose," and the ancient "low stature" compares to Joseph Smith's "about five feet high." These two points of resemblence are important, for Joseph Smith adds a specific detail to each. . . Joseph Smith's description of Paul is stunning for that reason--it includes exact measurements, complexion, shapes, even sounds. The modern Prophet comments with precision of one who has seen and heard.

I would add that it is possible that Joseph saw Paul in his vision of the ancient Jerusalem council presided by Peter.

[jskains]

Have you been to Sandy UT? Nuf said!!

Hey, what's wrong with Sandy????

JMS

[urroner]

Hey, what's wrong with Sandy????

JMS

Ahhh, okay, nothing is wrong with Sandy.

Nothing at all.

[jskains]

Have been living in Sandy for about a year now and can say I have no clue where that photo, if real, comes from.

JMS

Ahhh, okay, nothing is wrong with Sandy.

Nothing at all.

[LDSToronto]

This is a quote from Joseph Smith, and I was wondering if anyone who has the keys of the priesthood today could tell me why an angel with sandy colored hair should be viewed with caution?

...who can drag into daylight and develop the hidden mysteries of the false spirits that so frequently are made manifest among the Latter-day Saints? We answer that no man can do this without the Priesthood, and having a knowledge of the laws by which spirits are governed...There have also been ministering angels in the Church which were of Satan appearing as an angel of light. A sister in the state of New York had a vision, who said it was told her that if she would go to a certain place in the woods, and angel would appear to her. She went at the appointed time, and saw a glorious personage descending, arrayed in white, with sandy colored hair; he commenced and told her to fear God, and said that her husband was called to do great things, but that he must not go more than one hundred miles from home, or he would not return; whereas God had called him to go to the ends of the earth, and he has since been more than one thousand miles from home, and is yet alive. Many true things were spoken by this personage, and many things that were false. How, it may be asked, was this known to be a bad angel? By the color of his hair; that is one of the signs that he can be known by...

http://emp.byui.edu/marrottr/TryTheSpirits.htm

If there's anyone with the power of the priesthood here, could you tell me what it is about sandy hair that would mark an angel as a bad angel?

It seems that this sister had a vision of an angel, and in this vision, the angel said something that contradicted Joseph's will (regarding the mission call of this sister's husband). It seems quite plausible that Joseph, upon hearing that the angel had sandy hair, made up a story to invalidate this sisters revelation.

H.

[blackstrap]

Urroners pic is most likely from Sandy,Brazil.

[urroner]

Urroners pic is most likely from Sandy,Brazil.

Nah, it's just across the street from the University of Utah. :ph34r: :diablo: :diablo:

[etana]

Nah, it's just across the street from the University of Utah. :ph34r: :diablo: :diablo:

Wow, that Kinkos has really gone down hill.

[Jigglysaint]

Makes sense that a fallen angel would have coloured hair since it's most likely usurping an image in the person's head to appear valid as a messenger. Heavenly beings have no need for pigmentation, and also no need to make a personal appeal by appearing in the form of somebody close or familiar in order to deliver their message. What strikes me interesting in this case is that the angel put a limit on God's power by stating a "must not". There are must nots, that's to be sure, but it seems unlikely that the Lord would place hoops for people to jump though in order to prepare them to serve. I mean would you believe an angel if they told you that you can only preach the gospel if you stand upside-down, drink a glass of water and sing "Yankee Doodle" in machine code? I believe that Heavenly Father would never perscribe a meaningless ritual of any sort to be practiced, nor would set a condition that doesn't involve avoiding a clear and present danger(like not going back down the Mississippi River).

[Hayds]

Makes sense that a fallen angel would have coloured hair since it's most likely usurping an image in the person's head to appear valid as a messenger. Heavenly beings have no need for pigmentation, and also no need to make a personal appeal by appearing in the form of somebody close or familiar in order to deliver their message. What strikes me interesting in this case is that the angel put a limit on God's power by stating a "must not". There are must nots, that's to be sure, but it seems unlikely that the Lord would place hoops for people to jump though in order to prepare them to serve. I mean would you believe an angel if they told you that you can only preach the gospel if you stand upside-down, drink a glass of water and sing "Yankee Doodle" in machine code? I believe that Heavenly Father would never perscribe a meaningless ritual of any sort to be practiced, nor would set a condition that doesn't involve avoiding a clear and present danger(like not going back down the Mississippi River).

Are you kidding me? The scriptures are full of crazy hoops the lord has put people through. How about Abraham being told he has to sacrifice his son? How about the israelites having to paint their door with blood and eat a specific meal to have their first borns spared from a plague? How about Job? How about marching around Jericho blowing trumpets for seven days? How about Sampson's powers being derived from not being able to cut his hair? How about having to chop off Laban's head who is seemingly already drunk and passed out? How about an angel threatening JS with a drawn sword if he continued to thwart the law of plural marriage? How about Correlation Meetings? I could go on and on, but there are plenty of seemingly meaningless hoops and tasks prescribed by God in the scriptures.