Oh. Right.
It was "We Didn't Start the Fire." Back in July, when I had that dream about the Background Brethren singing an updated version of that Billy Joel song (see "Some say the world will end in fire"), I had wondered whether anyone had created an updated version in real life. It turned out that Fall Out Boy had, in 2023. I had completely forgotten about that.
Now "Circle of Steel":
The last time I'd listened to that was probably back around the time I posted about it, so I searched out the post: "Gordon Lightfoot's UFO song," posted in January 2023. The post was occasioned by a dream in which Christopher Walken, playing Whitley Strieber, quotes a line from "Circle of Steel" in reference to aliens, and so the post begins and ends with Christopher Walken, opening with a description of his wacky portrayal of Strieber (a Catholic from San Antonio) as "a neurotic New York Jew" in Communion (1989) and ending with a reference and link to the SNL "More Cowbell" sketch.
As it happens, I just posted a link to "More Cowbell" two days ago (October 20), in "Rub-a-dub-dub, it was the Summer of Love." And on the very same day, Chris Knowles posted "Return to the Year that Broke Reality." Although the year referred to in his title is 1983, he ends the post with a reference to a certain film released in 1989:
1983 would have an impact both on Whitley Streiber and the world with the start of the Hudson Valley UFO wave, which lasted for several years. Streiber would document his own UFO wave in his Hudson Valley vacation home in the 1987 blockbuster Communion.That book would make alien abduction a household world [sic] and later be adapted into a film starring -- you guessed it -- Christopher Walken.
Finally, "Coming Up Roses":
The moon is a sickle cellIt'll kill you in timeYour cold white brother will ride in your bloodLike spun glass in sore eyes
On October 13, I posted "Cold Brother," also a line from a dream.
In the Elliott Smith song, the Cold Brother appears to be connected with the Moon. This could be a link back to the Background Brethren (i.e. Brothers), who dress as blue (a cold color) rabbits (a lunar animal).
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My dreams last night involved some notion of Cain and Abel, and I had their story running through my head and a bunch of thoughts as I was waking up. The mythology around Abel is that he was the first recorded murder, and in LDS theology this murder was tied to secret combinations.
Later I came here to see you mention yet again a "cold brother", and this seemed to fit in with Abel. In your interpretation, a person being cold has stood in for being dead, and we have had plenty of other references around murder.
One of the thoughts or phrases in my head when I woke up was "innocent blood" (so also interesting to see more mention of blood here in your post as well) and I searched for that phrase in the Book of Mormon. It's first instance is in, of course, the story of Abinadi's murder. I read that part again, and Abinadi tells Noah and his priests that if they murder him, it will be held against them at "the last day":
"... I will not recall my words, and they shall stand as a testimony against you. And if ye slay me you will shed innocent blood, and this shall also stand as a testimony against you at the last day".
Abinadi prophesied several things about Noah and his priests that would happen in those lifetimes - I had forgotten that his prophecy also extended to a future time at what is meant by the last day.
The next instance of that phrase (well, in this case "blood of the innocent") occurs in Alma 14, as Alma and Amulek are forced to watch innocent people being thrown into a fire. Amulek tells Alma that they should use the power of God to stop these murders, but Alma says that they must not, and that these murders would stand as a judgment against those people also "at the last day". The interesting thing about Alma's words is he says a word that had been also ringing in my head when I woke up: Just. I had been trying to remember a word, and kept repeating to myself "it was just... it was just..." seeming to imply that the words was just something or had just now been in my head but it slipped away. In repeating the phrase, however, I realized that the word I was looking for was in fact "Just", and interpreted it in this new way as Justice.
Here is the end of Alma's reply to Amulek:
"... [the Lord] doth suffer that they may do this thing, or that the people may do this thing unto them, according to the hardness of their hearts, that the judgments which he shall exercise upon them in his wrath may be just; and the blood of the innocent shall stand as a witness against them, yea, and cry mightily against them at the last day".
I think somewhat remarkable that in both of these stories the form of murder involved Fire, and you cited here the Fall Out Boy/ Background Brethren song "We didn't start the Fire".
The mention of Just and Justice gets back to the notion of Grace and the Grace-hopers. It would also seem to tie to my dream phrase from several days ago about "Rahm won't be coming anytime soon... and you know why", with Rahm being a name that means "Mercy, Compassion".
Alma is quoted later giving a discourse on justice and mercy to his son Corianton, and talking about how mercy cannot rob justice, otherwise "God would cease to be God." This ties back to Amulek's own remarks in his showdown with Zeezrom in events that led up to all of those innocent people being thrown in the fire, where he taught that people cannot be saved in their sins - they follow us through death, and will stand against us.
Going back to Alma's words, it is interesting that he suggests that the shedding of innocent blood and denying the Holy Ghost are the two most grievous sins a person can commit. One of my guesses is that Abinadi is actually an incarnation of the Holy Ghost, and if so, Noah and his priests got a two-for-one deal in that encounter.
It was also interesting to note in those "Coming up Roses" lyrics you highlighted the moon is a sickle, and looking up the other lyrics, that it "does its division". One of the major aspects of Nephi's prophesy related to the last days is that God would cause a great division between the righteous and the wicked, and Fire once again comes into play:
"For the time speedily cometh that the Lord God shall cause a great division among the people, and the wicked will he destroy; and he will spare his people, yea, even if it so be that he must destroy the wicked by fire."
My guess has been this great division involves the the Book of the Lamb, which I've guessed is currently on the Ithil Stone, or Moon, and will be conveyed to the Rose Stone.
The symbology of the a division and the righteous being destroyed by fire is a direct reference to the symbolism of the wheat and tares, and thus the idea of a sickle.
"Coming Up Roses" fits with some of the traditional lore about Cain, namely that his life was spared but he was marked with black skin, making the dead unmarked Abel the "cold white brother" by contrast. Sickle cell anemia is a condition that primarily affects those who used to be considered the "seed of Cain."
An old tradition preserved in Dante (who dismisses it as an old wives' tale) has it that Cain is the man in the moon.
The sickle (Saturn symbol) is also the logo of the Blue Oyster Cult. A Nazi joke, supposedly.
The mention of a the cold brother being "white" can also mean more or something different than skin color. As mentioned in other posts on this topic (like white Nephites and black/ dark Lamanites), white can refer to luminescence. Etymonline has white coming from a base word meaning "to shine".
This is interesting to me for two reasons. First, the Rose Stone itself was said in some phrases from 2021 that it would cause a family "to shine":
"The story on the stone is the story of our family. It is meant for our family, to cause them all to shine. "
This leads into the second interesting reason, which comes from that movie again, The Shining. With the talk of murder, innocent blood, people riding/ swimming/ being immersed in blood, I had the mental image of those elevators in the movie, and the blood being poured out from them. We get little clips of it during the movie, but in the original theatrical teaser trailer, you get one complete scene:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GUu2l8gb1Dw
The two red elevators seemed important. "Elevation" is the name of the game, as well as an "Elevator", with the word referring to "one who raises up". The prime Elevator of scripture is Jesus, in this literal sense. A lot of blood comes from the elevator in The Shining clip above, and from the viewer's perspective we become immersed in it, so much so we view things through a red lens at the end.
As I've mentioned before, my guess is the Rose Stone isn't all Roses, and there is plenty on there that would seem like a horror movie when all is said and done. The same would seem to apply to the Interpreters or Spectacles that will also apparently be further used at a future time. Of these Spectacles, Alma told Helaman:
"And now, my son, these interpreters were prepared that the word of God might be fulfilled, which he spake, saying:
"I will bring forth out of darkness unto light all their secret works and their abominations; and except they repent I will destroy them from off the face of the earth; and I will bring to light all their secrets and abominations, unto every nation that shall hereafter possess the land."
The Shining, in this specific way Alma uses it, involves bringing horrible things to light. The role of the Spectacles specifically, in this sense, seems to be captured in those lyrics from Coming Up Roses mentioning "spun glass in sore eyes". The spectacles are stones/ glass(es) that might make ones eyes sore depending on what was viewed through them, with Alma's words suggesting this would be a lot of really bad things.
Alma's words around "secrets" ties back to the mythology or symbolism of Cain, who after he murdered Abel pronounced himself Mahan:
"Truly I am Mahan, the master of this great secret, that I may murder and get gain"
To clarify, I meant to to say "Elevation is the name of the game in my story" - I left off the "in my story". Meaning this concept or storyline of Beings being raised up, literally.
TIL the expression "coming up roses" was coined by Stephen Sondheim in 1959, with the stated intention of inventing a new phrase that would sound as if it had been part of the language for ages. He succeeded, I think, insofar as I can judge at this late date. The only similarly successful effort that comes to mind is Justin Zackham's 2007 invention of "bucket list."
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