Before introducing the final part of this series of papers, it is appropriate to explain my logic behind three parts. The first part examined what the Lord said to Joseph Smith regarding the parable of the hen gathering her chicks and how it applies to Israel’s prior attempts at gathering.
Part 1 examined what the Lord said to Joseph Smith. Part 2 offered Joseph Smith’s explanation of what the Lord revealed to him, including the importance of studying the subject of the gathering. Part 3 addresses additional light and knowledge added to the explanations offered by Joseph Smith.
The methodology used to compile the information was simple. The word “hen” was studied topically and references derived from concordances and search engines to identify the subject matter and aggregate the content into three layered parts. What the Lord said, what Joseph Smith said about what the Lord said, and what Denver said about his predecessors words.
It would be a mistake to conclude the three parts form a comprehensive picture of the subject matter. Denver states what Joseph Smith revealed was a thimble of the information and it is impossible to incorporate knowledge to be revealed about the gospel fullness into our current understanding.
The material in Part 3 is drawn from a series of blogposts found at DenverSnuffer.com and like Joseph Smith’s content, only represents a thimble of what Denver has said in his books and talks. Be that as it may, the blogposts are an excellent starting point or springboard into a deeper dive into his writings on the subject of Israel’s gathering. A dive strongly encouraged by Joseph Smith.
It would be another mistake to assume the content in these blogposts is rudimentary. I consider much of this content some of the most profound I’ve read on the gathering but also on the salvation of mankind. That said, the following is offered to you without commentary.
These writings are appropriately timed for the celebration of Thanksgiving and represent in its purest form one of the reasons we should rejoice and give thanks. God is speaking again, will we listen?
Like Jim Malone (Sean Connery) speaking to Elliot Ness (Kevin Costner) in the “Untouchables,” we should ask of ourselves, “What are you prepared to do?” We are invited by the Lord to gather today. Will we respond? Time will tell.
June 10, 2010
Alma 13:7
The record continues in Alma 13:7:
This high priesthood being after the order of his Son, which order was from the foundation of the world; or in other words, being without beginning of days or end of years, being prepared from eternity to all eternity, according to his foreknowledge of all things —
Now we encounter comments that everyone seems to use about this priesthood. It is “without beginning of days or end of years.” It is “from the foundation of the world.”
It is “prepared from eternity to eternity.” When did eternity end and mortality begin?
When does mortality end and eternity begin again?
What does the phrase “from eternity to eternity” really refer to?
Do we pass “from eternity” then back “to eternity” as part of this mortal experience?
What went on before, back in the first “eternity?” We read elsewhere of this peaceful existence during “millennial” conditions, which end with rebellion, disputes and a war. Was Satan loosed in an earlier eternity after some season of peace to stir the hearts of men to anger one with another? (See Rev. 20 :7–9). Was he cast out to hell, or the Telestial Kingdom, where we presently reside? What went on? How often would the Lord have gathered us as a hen gathers her chicks, but we would not be gathered? (I suppose His asking and the lack of an answer implies a great number.)
What is it about what went on before, in the earlier “eternity,” that allows God to possess His perfect “foreknowledge of all things” now?
What is this strange doctrine and the implications which flow from them? Was Joseph Smith trying to tell us this in the later Nauvoo talks? (Maybe we should read them again…)
How is one to take it all in? How is the priesthood tied to this prior eternity? Why do we get side-tracked into the subject of “from eternity to eternity” when we learn about this endless priesthood which is without beginning of days or end of years?
What is really going on? How can we learn of the truth? Is there no prophet who can declare it to us?
The suspense is killing me. I’m hoping to get answers. I’m hop- ing you want them too. I’m confident if you ask the Lord, He will answer you. He intends to pour out knowledge upon the heads of the Saints. If we will stop making others accountable for what we learn, and go to Him to receive what He offers, by the power of the Holy Ghost you may know the truth of all things. I read that somewhere…But the words are mine, now.
(/Alma 13/Alma 13:5–6/16–Alma 13:7/13)
December 25, 2014
Things Now Underway
For the first time since Joseph and Hyrum died, there is actual progress now being made. Instead of the atrophy of three and four generations merely marking time, we now see new life begun. There are two important, interrelated challenges before us.
The first is remembering the restoration and reclaiming its truths, ordinances and vitality. This began in earnest with the final talk given in Phoenix on September 9, 2014. Since then, hundreds have gone through the simple but necessary process to reclaim authority and obtain the now required sustaining vote to exercise that authority with God’s approval.
Fellowship groups are collecting tithing and using it to assist the poor among them, and when their group’s needs are met they support others who are in need. I have received wonderful accounts of how local groups are organizing themselves.
One group has two boxes when they meet. In one they deposit tithing, all in cash to make it easy to distribute immediately. In the other, those with needs write down their need. Following sacrament, the needs are reviewed and prioritized based on the group’s agreement of greatest need requiring the most immediate attention, and then ranking second, third, and so on. After agreement is reached, the tithing money is counted and, if all needs can be met, the funds are given to those in need. If only part of the needs can be addressed, the money is distributed according to the agreed priority.
In some accounts sent to me, children of the fellowship see the gospel in action and are impressed with the power of faith to bless and care for one another’s needs. They see this immediately. They see people ministering to one another as the result of the faith they share in Christ and the effort to obey Him.
This renewal allows the great financial power of Christ’s teachings to be fully devoted to immediate needs. No one administers the tithes, nor does anyone control the resources. Common consent is used to accomplish good and address immediate needs. No one is paid to serve, and nothing is required to support an administrative or professional class.
In this new pattern the great evil of priestcraft condemned by the Book of Mormon is avoided. No one can profit, and no one can obtain money and earn their living through this system. The poor alone receive the benefit of the tithing collected.
This pattern mirrors the one commended by the Book of Mormon:
Alma 1:26: And when the priests left their labor to impart the word of God unto the people, the people also left their labors to hear the word of God. And when the priest had imparted unto them the word of God, they all returned again diligently unto their labors; and the priest, not esteeming himself above his hearers, for the preacher was no better than the hearer, neither was the teacher any better than the learner; and thus they were all equal, and they did all labor, every man according to his strength.
It avoids the practice of priestcraft condemned in that same chapter:
The man Nehor preached in favor of a professional and popular clergy.
Alma 1:3: he had gone about among the people, preaching to them that which he termed to be the word of God, bearing down against the church; declaring unto the people that every priest and teacher ought to become popular; and they ought not to labor with their hands, but that they ought to be supported by the people.
Nehor was popular because he did not preach repentance. Quite the opposite, he reassured his audience that they would certainly be saved, appealing to their pride.
Alma 1:4: And he also testified unto the people that all mankind should be saved at the last day, and that they need not fear nor tremble, but that they might lift up their heads and rejoice; for the Lord had created all men, and had also redeemed all men; and, in the end, all men should have eternal life.
In competition with this false priestcraft, there was an unpaid clergy offering an unpopular message. These true priests warned people to repent and follow God. The Book of Mormon shows in plain simplicity the religion Christ wants mankind to follow.
The simple but necessary steps have been declared again with God’s approval. In response hundreds now have authority and several thousand have returned to the root of the restoration. These will survive the Lord’s return, because their authorized and authoritative baptism is the sign now accepted by God as proof of faith by obedience.
This will continue to roll forward. Even in this cold weather, over the last two weeks there have been baptisms in the Boise River, northern Utah, and elsewhere. It is delicate and vulnerable, but I do not believe it will go backward. The season is upon us.
This vital new growth from a dead root is a sign heaven told us to watch for in the last days. It is fulfilling the prophecy of Zenos, and the promises given by Christ. This is a new beginning. With this beginning, I think there is every reason to rejoice and take heart. The second challenge is to see Zion gathered from among the scattered into a single place in the mountains where an ensign will be built. There the Lord will gather some under His wings, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings. However, Zion must wait for strength to develop in the first fellowships.
Like men in all generations, I too want to see the foundation of Zion built in my day. This desire sometimes leads me to have unreasonably high expectations for others. This is wrong of me, and leads to my disappointment. Disappointment is always a product of expectations. Because I expect more, when I should not, I am led to want more than is possible for others to give or do. That is wrong of me, and I acknowledge my misplaced expectations.
The Lord is patient, and He knows what will follow and how it all will unfold to fulfill His promises. I have seen the potential of some of you and want that to turn into more than perhaps it ever will or can. For the last few days I have reflected on Sidney Rigdon. He was so important, useful and valuable to Joseph’s work as it began. With time, Sidney became a hindrance. So much so that Joseph asked the church to vote him out as a counselor to Joseph — but instead, the church reelected Sidney. Like Sidney, many others of Joseph’s inner circle proved themselves incapable of rising up and realizing the opportunity presented to them. In the end, Sidney and others skewed the restoration, and in many ways opposed and hindered what the Lord might have accomplished with more obedient and humble people.
In the same January 1841 revelation reminding the church it had forfeited the “fulness of the priesthood” (d&c 124:28), the Lord confirmed upon Hyrum “the office of Priesthood and Patriarch” (d&c 124:91). In Hyrum, like the prophets of old, God gave us a “prophet, and a seer, and a revelator unto [God’s] church” (d&c 124:94). Hyrum was a man who could “bind on earth, bind in heaven, loose on earth, and loose in heaven” (d&c 124:93). He was the means to preserve the restoration, had he lived. By June 1844, it appears to me only Joseph and Hyrum were equal to fulfilling the Lord’s requirements.
But Joseph and Hyrum were brothers, and therefore both “pure blooded Ephraimites” (JD 2:269; see also Ensign, January 1991, “Of the House of Israel”). The ancient covenants required this bloodline to bring forth the Book of Mormon and commence the restoration. However, they, and the priesthood line through them, needed to end before other covenants could be fulfilled. Zion will come through both Judah (king) and Joseph (priest), to fulfill the promises of our Lord (d&c 113:5 – 6; Isa. 11:10). Accordingly, both Joseph and Hyrum were taken, Hyrum the first to fall.
Hyrum’s line was to be kept “in honorable remembrance from generation to generation, forever and ever” (d&c 124:96). Even after the Patriarch’s office, held by Hyrum’s descendants, was discontinued in 1979, the church still held some tenuous claims. In 1979 Eldred G. Smith was released and never replaced, but he lived on for decades. The office has now altogether ended according to church publications.
Upon his death in April 2013 at 104 years of age, the sign of the passing of the fourth generation was given. By April of the next year the Lord concluded His work through the LDS Church and set His hand to begin something new, now underway.
The first process of fellowshipping in local groups today is saving souls. It is a required first step, and therefore anyone who claims to have faith in Christ must now come and receive their baptism as a sign of faith in Christ through this required manner. Even if the recipient chooses to continue activity in the LDS Church, or any other church or group, all people of faith must receive the baptism now being offered.
But the second challenge, to have Zion return, is the true object of our Lord’s heart. For that to come, the challenge is an order of magnitude greater than fellowshipping, and will require much of us.
One word of caution: new things taught using the scriptures always give pretenders, ambitious and cunning men an opportunity to improve their deception. Information can be abused, and there are those who are eager to deceive to get power, popularity and financial gain. You must assume the burden of distinguishing light from darkness, truth from error, and pretenders from those sent by the Lord with counsel from Him. Trust no man. Go to God and ask Him about everyone who teaches and everything taught.
(/Things Now Underway/Christmas/15–Things Now Underway/32)
March 26, 2015
A Great Whole
It is impossible to re-establish the earliest form of the Gospel of Christ with its associated teachings, rites, ordinances, covenants and organization if we insist it fit into our current prejudices. We think so many things are necessary that are not, and we think many necessary things cannot possibly be required.
In the beginning, the Gospel was disseminated through a family. A church was added later. The church was an imitation of the family of Abraham. Abraham-Isaac-Jacob imitated by First Presidency. Twelve sons of Jacob imitated by the Twelve Apostles. Family of Israel entering Egypt (Exo. 1:5) imitated by the Seventy. Church is an imitation, not the real thing.
We think the “priesthood” must be organized into quorums and groups with presiding authorities, presidencies and then integrated into the church. But in the beginning there was a family, and the family had a father who was set at the head by covenant (Moses 6:3 – 27; d&c 107:40 – 55). The covenant required the father to teach and serve, with God’s approval and authority, in ways to bless his family and have it accepted by God. He taught as a father, mirroring the Father above, filled with the Spirit of His Son, as it was in the beginning. The order of the family is heavenly. God rules through a family structure in eternity. He established a family on earth through Adam. For the first ten generations, it remained intact as a family organization. It eventually ended in apostasy. Then Abraham sought to reconnect to that original priesthood belonging to the fathers, and succeeded in reuniting with the original family line despite generations of apostasy (Abr. 1:2). Abraham’s restoration lasted five generations before it was compromised. Moses was not able to bring any other than himself into the family (d&c 84:19 – 25). Moses was able to connect to himself Joshua, Caleb and his immediate family, but Israel did not benefit.
We think ordinances are required and everyone can receive them ad hoc and be saved. Heaven does not have unorganized crowds milling about, arriving fresh from receiving and accepting vicarious ordinances and claiming the right to be rewarded by entering Celestial glory. If anyone enters the kingdom of God, she will be there as part of God’s family, not as a freelance believer. Those faithful who received the assurance before death that they would one day enjoy a glorious resurrection (d&c 138:14) were unable to leave the spirit world with Christ, but remained behind to minister to others there (d&c138:30).
We think the temples are primarily a place for work for the dead. It is required mainly to organize the living into a family. The organization cannot happen outside a temple. That is the only place God will allow the restoration, rites, ordinances, and covenant to be ministered. Heaven and earth will reunite and angels will attend to many of the required things when an acceptable temple is built. We think a temple can be built following a pattern based on current ordinances. There is no understanding of the ordinances necessary to organize the family of God again.
Trying to fit the original Gospel plan into our incomplete and corrupt model, and make it conform to our expectations will not work. There is not enough information to understand this Gospel, but that does not stop people from complaining and jarring one another with foolish reactions.
Hopefully people will realize there is something now moving forward which will become God’s family on earth. Something far greater than the apostate, fallen and corrupt systems of this world. But ambitious men and women want to mirror the corruption and power of earthly organizations with which they are familiar. Or they fear what is coming will be likewise corrupt and degrading of those who participate. Our fears and experiences become obstacles to what God offers.
We know almost nothing at this point. Even all that came through Joseph is but a glimpse. We are not worthy of the full view (3 Ne. 26:9 – 11; Ether 4:4 –7). The question is whether we will become meek and humble enough to endure giving it a hearing before we corrupt it with a flood of errors based on unbelief.
Recall Joseph Smith predicted that although a return to the law of Moses would never happen, the Gospel as practiced before Moses (among the fathers) would return:
Thus we behold the keys of this Priesthood consisted in obtaining the voice of Jehovah that He talked with him [Noah] in a familiar and friendly manner, that He continued to him the keys, the covenants, the power and the glory, with which He blessed Adam at the beginning; and the offering of sacrifice, which also shall be continued at the last time; for all the ordinances and duties that ever have been required by the Priesthood, under the directions and commandments of the Almighty in any of the dispensations, shall all be had in the last dispensation, therefore all things had under the authority of the Priesthood at any former period, shall be had again, bringing to pass the restoration spoken of by the mouth of all the Holy Prophets; then shall the sons of Levi offer an acceptable offering to the Lord….
It will be necessary here to make a few observations on the doctrine set forth in the above quotation, and it is generally supposed that sacrifice was entirely done away when the Great Sacrifice [i.e.,] the sacrifice of the Lord Jesus was offered up, and that there will be no necessity for the ordinance of sacrifice in future; but those who assert this are certainly not acquainted with the duties, privileges and authority of the Priesthood, or with the Prophets.
The offering of sacrifice has ever been connected and forms a part of the duties of the Priesthood. It began with the Priesthood, and will be continued until after the coming of Christ, from generation to generation. We frequently have mention made of the offering of sacrifice by the servants of the Most High in ancient days, prior to the law of Moses; which ordinances will be continued when the Priesthood is restored with all its authority, power and blessings…
These sacrifices, as well as every ordinance belonging to the Priesthood, will, when the Temple of the Lord shall be built, and the sons of Levi be purified, be fully restored and attended to in all their powers, ramifications, and blessings. This ever did and ever will exist when the powers of the Melchizedek Priesthood are sufficiently manifest; else how can the restitution of all things spoken of by the Holy Prophets be brought to pass? It is not to be understood that the law of Moses will be established again with all its rites and variety of ceremonies; this has never been spoken of by the prophets; but those things which existed prior to Moses’ day, namely, sacrifice, will be continued.
It may be asked by some, what necessity for sacrifice, since the Great Sacrifice was offered? In answer to which, if repentance, baptism, and faith existed prior to the days of Christ, what necessity for them since that time? The Priesthood has descended in a regular line from father to son, through their succeeding generations. (October 5, 1840; dhc 4:207 – 212; tpjs pp. 172 – 173)
Joseph only hinted at some of the remaining doctrines of the restoration that will be required to walk back to the beginning. We hardly yet comprehend the Lord’s plans. But to fulfill all that has been foretold, we or some future generation will need to build a temple acceptable to God in the boundary of the everlasting mountains, which will tremble at their presence, where all scattered Israel can return to receive an inheritance at the hands of Ephraim (d&c 133:31 – 32). The promised inheritance can only be received in a temple. It will include uses, layout, design and elements which will themselves testify of God and His Gospel in a way we do not presently have here on earth.
You can choose how much to receive or reject. You can walk away from the gathering by Christ—a hen gathering her chicks. This is not the first generation that has done that. But God has promised that some generation will receive what He offers, allow themselves to be gathered, and receive an inheritance as a part of His Covenant with the Fathers.
You may think this can be done in isolation as a faithful individual, but Zion will not be built by solitary souls. Nor will the required covenant be offered to an isolated individual. This is about God’s family. This is why the jarring and contention, envying and strife of Joseph’s time was so toxic. Heaven weeps at us when it might instead rejoice over us.
(/Circumscribed/1–A Great Whole/24)
April 29, 2016
Why a Temple?
Baptism for the dead first appears in scripture in Paul’s writings where he mentions the practice in passing. (1 Cor. 15:9.) Because it is only a lone-reference and not an explanation, it is not enough of a scripture-basis to build any clear understanding.
The idea of work by the living for the dead is not mentioned to include any ordinance in the promised return of Elijah. The prophecy of his return is vaguely described as “turning the hearts of the children to the fathers” and the father’s hearts in turn to the children. However vague this passage may be, it is clearly important because this prophecy is repeated in all volumes of scripture (Old T, New T, Bk of Mormon, d&c, PofGP). Joseph elaborated on the meaning of Elijah’s return and role as part of the justification for baptism for the dead and other temple rites.
There is a relationship between ascension in this life and the right to ascend in the afterlife which is mentioned, but not well explained, in scripture. It is undeniably present in one verse of the d&c. That verse states:
All covenants, contracts, bonds, obligations, oaths, vows, performances, connections, associations, or expectations, that are not made and entered into and sealed by the Holy Spirit of promise, … by revelation and commandment through the medium of mine anointed [meaning Christ], … are of no efficacy, virtue, or force in and after the resurrection from the dead; for all contracts that are not made unto this end have an end when men are dead.”
There are two ascents. One is temporary and happens when men are “caught up,” but then return to this world. It represents overcoming the world and returning the individual back to the presence of God. It is called “redemption from the fall” (Ether 3:13) because it brings the individual back into God’s presence. That form of temporary ascent is designed to establish a covenant or promise related to the other, more gradual ascent through development of the individual. The temporary mortal ascent secures a promise for the individual that they will be permitted to make the eternal ascent to where God and Christ dwell in the afterlife.
The second form is the actual ascent, involving redemption and securing eternal life. It is a methodical process over eons of time to bring those who ascend to reside where God and Christ dwell. (d&c 76:62, 112.) In the King Follett Discourse Joseph Smith said this:
“Thus you learn some of the first principles of the gospel, about which so much has been said. When you climb a ladder, you must begin at the bottom and go on until you learn the last principle; it will be a great while before you have learned the last. It is not all to be comprehended in this world; it is a great thing to learn salvation beyond the grave.”
This is the growth, by degrees, which results in exaltation.
Here, then, is eternal life — to know the only wise and true God. And you have got to learn how to be Gods yourselves — to be kings and priests to God, the same as all Gods have done — by going from a small degree to another, from grace to grace, from exaltation to exaltation, until you are able to sit in glory as do those who sit enthroned in everlasting power. (Id.)
The second form of ascent cannot happen in mortality, but is accomplished over time. It requires attaining to the resurrection, meaning that death has no claim on you because you merit eternal life. This is what Christ gained in His life and through His sacrifice here. We are dependent upon His merits to overcome death. But we will have to attain the same thing before we finish the second form of ascent. Christ is the “prototype of the saved man” and we must “be precisely what he is and nothing else” or not be saved according to The Lectures on Faith. (Lecture Seventh, Paragraph 9.) For mortals, the first form of ascent is possible. The scriptures,
in particular the Book of Mormon, contain accounts of those who have ascended to God’s presence and overcome the fall of mankind. Many Old Testament prophets did likewise, but their accounts were redacted by the Deuteronomists because of hostility to the doctrine. The reality is that most people, even very good believing people whose lives are filled with Christian charity and love for their fellow man, are not going to ascend even temporarily while they live in this fallen world. The first ascent is covenant-filled. God brings us before Him to establish a covenant assuring the eternal ascent. Most people will ascend over eons, because that process is based on the determination and commitment people have to follow God and His Christ.
In this fallen world, the great challenge is to lay hold of the covenant right to ascend to God’s throne. (Rev. 3:20 – 21.) It is true that God is no respecter of persons and everyone can, but the truth is that very few will obtain the covenant while in the flesh. In His mercy, God has made provisions for all people. He loves all mankind equally, has planned for allowing those good and believing people who will not qualify in their own right to ascend the “mountain of the Lord” into His presence to receive it through more ordinary means. God’s purposes cannot be defeated, even by man’s weakness. God has other means to qualify people to be His covenant family.
The purpose of a temple (meaning an actual temple commissioned, ordered, blessed, accepted and visited with His presence) is to substitute for the temporary ascent of a mortal into God’s presence. A real temple becomes “Holy Ground” and the means for making available to faithful people in every state of belief and hope the opportunity to receive, by authorized means, the same covenant, obligation, association, expectation and sealing through an authorized and binding arrangement in sacred space. This is the same thing they can receive from God directly if they enter into His presence while still in the flesh. In effect, the temple becomes an extension of heaven. God, angels and mankind are able to associate there as in Eden. It is a return to Eden, where “God walks in the cool of the day.” (Gen. 3:8.)
The ordinances or rites of the temple are presented in ritual form. This is required. God’s House is a House of Order because it is reoriented to point away from this world in order to reflect the order of heaven and the actual eternal ascent into His presence. The volume of information conveyed by God would be too vast to set out in non-ritual form. In ritual, it is possible to convey a great body of information with symbolism, metaphor, relationships, and types that work on the mind of man the same way that visionary experiences directly with God convey. The mind is expanded and the ritual allows something of God’s viewpoint to be transmitted into the mind of man.
The temple has only one real purpose: To convey God’s promise to exalt those who experience it; provided they abide the conditions for exaltation. It portrays the real, second eternal-form of ascent in a way that gives the initiate a promise that if they walk in the path shown them they will arrive at the Throne of God in the afterlife.
A real temple is required for Zion because it is the mechanism for reorienting society. Through it, the standard of conduct for ordering peaceful lives is established, and society becomes centered on the temple for law, education, social structure,
government and coexistence. A real temple is a repository for knowledge and learning. It will include a library for study, teaching and learning. A real temple is indispensable for Zion because such a society is always built upon a heavenly pattern of cooperation and equality, making a city of peace or city of righteousness possible. It is the means to provide people with the information necessary to allow them “to govern themselves.”
Since the temple can easily become corrupted, and the things revealed there can cause greater wickedness if men knew of the great revelation of heaven, the times when an actual temple with all the attendant contracts, bonds, obligations, covenants, performances and expectations are set out plainly have been few indeed. The Lord visited a damaged temple in Bountiful to minister to the Nephites. The events at Bountiful mirror the highest ideals and instruction of the LDS Temple. In the Nephite record, the Lord conducted ceremonial revelation which extended beyond what men are allowed to openly reveal. The Book of Mormon does not contain a full record of what transpired. Recording it was forbidden.
The pattern of treating some things as off limits is not only set out in the visit of Christ to the Nephites, it is repeatedly the case in scripture. As Paul said, “But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him.” (1 Cor. 2:9.)
There is also d&c 76:114 – 118:
But great and marvelous are the works of the Lord, and the mysteries of his kingdom which he showed unto us, which surpass all understanding in glory, and in might, and in dominion; Which he commanded us we should not write while we were yet in the Spirit, and are not lawful for man to utter; Neither is man capable to make them known, for they are only to be seen and understood by the power of the Holy Spirit, which God bestows on those who love him, and purify themselves before him; To whom he grants this privilege of seeing and knowing for themselves; That through the power and manifestation of the Spirit, while in the flesh, they may be able to bear his presence in the world of glory.
I preach, teach, exhort and expound to encourage every soul to rise up in this life and make the first ascension to God while in the flesh. Some have done so. Others will. Perhaps a great many will. I hope so. But if there are believers who cannot or will not do so in this life, the temple is the means God will provide to allow the “least of the Saints” to likewise obtain a hope in Christ by an authorized covenant which will bind on earth and in heaven. Then they become likewise heirs of salvation and part of the great congregation to whom the Lord will proclaim: “Well done!” They will have a legitimate and authorized means for laying ahold of the promise of eternal life and continuing the long path of ascent to the Throne of God to dwell with Him and Christ.
The LDS version of temple rites is insufficient to allow anyone to obtain the right to ascend to God’s presence in eternity. The Lord will fix this, as He intends to establish an Ensign to which all nations (meaning scattered covenant Israel) will return in the last days and there receive their crowns at the hands of servants who will minister covenants for this purpose (d&c 133:31 – 34).
Mankind has generally failed to rise up to the place where God and mankind can meet. He has offered to do so repeatedly. His lament, “How oft would I have gathered you as a hen gathers her chicks, but ye would not” (3 Ne. 10:5) is not just empty rhetoric. It is the actual, historical fact of how men have responded to God. God offers. We refuse. God withdraws. Generations come and go and God offers again. We refuse. God withdraws. Time passes. Again, He speaks and makes the offer.
You mustn’t confuse the fact I hear His voice and teach what He asks with any personal significance on my part. I have no value for others’ salvation — the second form of ascent. That role is confined to Christ alone. He is the “keeper of the gate” and “employs no servant there.” (2 Ne. 9:41.) But what I am teaching is true. What I am saying is not speculation or conjecture.
The people who went before, and are now beyond this veil are real. They still live, just in a different state. They still care about us. They were resurrected with Christ and are working as our fathers in heaven (d&c 132:37) to cause the fulfillment of covenants made long ago to them in their generation. God is behind the last-days effort to vindicate His word. Whether we like who He sends, or believe what He is doing, or even recognize His involvement, it is nevertheless the case that God is involved very directly in bringing about the accomplishment of His foretold latter-day work.
(/A Pattern In All Things/1–Why a Temple?/30)
August 7, 2021
Jehovah and Jesus, Part 2
Aside from the necessary direction given to ancient Israel to defend and protect itself from violent and perverse adjoining tribes, there are four events in scripture where Jehovah/Jesus directly cause the deaths of significant numbers of people. Two were (or will be) global. Two were local.
The first of the two global events took place at the time of Noah. In that generation a mass killing happened at Jehovah’s hands. People separated themselves. On the one hand, there was a city of peace and righteousness, called Zion. “the Lord called his people Zion because they were of one heart, and of one mind, and dwelled in righteousness, and there was no poor among them.” (Gen. 4:14) On the other hand, “there were wars and bloodsheds among them,” and “God saw that the wickedness of man had become great in the earth. And every man was lifted up in the imagination of the thoughts of his heart, being only evil continually.” (Gen. 4:14;5:9) Jehovah saved the righteous, and killed the wicked.
The second global event will take place in very similar circumstances and for very similar reasons. That future event will happen at Jesus Christ’s hands. It is described in one section of the t&c as follows:
And with one heart and with one mind gather up your riches that you may purchase an inheritance which shall hereafter be appointed you, and it shall be called the New Jerusalem, a land of peace, a city of refuge, a place of safety for the saints of the Most High God. And the glory of the Lord shall be there, and the terror of the Lord also shall be there, insomuch that the wicked will not come unto it. And it shall be called Zion. And it shall come to pass among the wicked that every man that will not take his sword against his neighbor must needs flee unto Zion for safety, and there shall be gathered unto it out of every nation under heaven, and it shall be the only people that shall not be at war one with another. And it shall be said among the wicked, Let us not go up to battle against Zion, for the inhabitants of Zion are terrible, wherefore we cannot stand. And it shall come to pass that the righteous shall be gathered out from among all nations, and shall come to Zion singing with songs of everlasting joy. (t&c 31:14–15)
Contemporaneous with this separation there will come destruction of the wicked:
For behold, the day comes that shall burn as an oven; and all the proud, yea, and all that do wickedly shall be stubble. And the day that comes shall burn them up, says the Lord of Hosts, that it shall leave them neither root nor branch. But unto you that fear my name shall the Sun of Righteousness arise with healing in his wings, and you shall go forth and grow up as calves of the stall. And you shall tread down the wicked, for they shall be ashes under the soles of your feet in the day that I shall do this, says the Lord of Hosts. (Mal. 1:10)
Of the two local destructions, the first was at the hand of Jehovah. “The Lord said unto us, Because the cry of Sodom and Gomorrah is great, and because their sin is very grievous, I will destroy them.” (Gen. 7:37) the Lord rained upon Sodom and upon Gomorrah, for the angels called upon the name of the Lord for brimstone and fire from the Lord out of heaven. And thus they overthrew those cities, and all the plain, and all the inhabitants of the cities, and that which grew upon the ground. (Gen. 7:43)
The second was at the hand of Jesus Christ:
And the city of Zarahemla did take fire; and the city of Moroni did sink into the depths of the sea and the inhabitants thereof were drowned. And the earth was carried up upon the city of Moronihah, that in the place of the city thereof, there became a great mountain. And there was a great and terrible destruction in the land southward. But behold, there was a more great and terrible destruction in the land northward; for behold, the whole face of the land was changed because of the tempests, and the whirlwinds, and the thunderings, and the lightnings, and the exceeding great quaking of the whole earth. (3 Ne. 4:2)
Jesus Christ explained why He caused this destruction, it is because of their iniquity and abominations that they are fallen. Behold, that great city Zarahemla have I burned with fire, and the inhabitants thereof. And behold, that great city Moroni have I caused to be sunk in the depths of the sea, and the inhabitants thereof to be drowned. And behold, that great city Moronihah have I covered with earth, and the inhabitants thereof, to hide their iniquities and their abominations from before my face, that the blood of the prophets and the saints shall not come up anymore unto me against them. And behold, the city of Gilgal have I caused to be sunk, and the inhabitants thereof, to be buried up in the depths of the earth; yea, and the city Onihah and the inhabitants thereof, and the city of Mocum and the inhabitants thereof, and the city of Jerusalem and the inhabitants thereof. And waters have I caused to come up in the stead thereof, to hide their wickedness and abominations from before my face, that the blood of the prophets and the saints shall not come up anymore unto me against them. And behold, the city of Gadiandi, and the city of Gadiomnah, and the city of Jacob, and the city Gimgimno — all these have I caused to be sunk, and made hills and valleys in the places thereof; and the inhabitants thereof have I buried up in the depths of the earth, to hide their wickedness and abominations from before my face, that the blood of the prophets and the saints should not come up anymore unto me against them. (3 Ne. 4:6)
Jesus Christ then explained that He never wanted any of this to have happened. Instead, He offered a different outcome: Zion. He would have gladly gathered them under His arms, as He had done with Enoch’s people, but they refused to come embrace Him:
O ye people of the house of Israel, how oft have I gathered you as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and have nourished you! And again, how oft would I have gathered you as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, yea, O ye people of the house of Israel who have fallen! Yea, O ye people of the house of Israel, ye that dwell at Jerusalem as ye that have fallen, yea, how oft would I have gathered you as a hen gathereth her chickens, and ye would not! O ye house of Israel whom I have spared, how oft will I gather you as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings if ye will repent and return unto me with full purpose of heart! But if not, O house of Israel, the places of your dwellings shall become desolate until the time of the fulfilling of the covenant to your fathers. (3 Ne. 4:9)
Following the destruction, and His explanation for it, Jesus Christ descends to teach the survivors the Sermon at Bountiful (which mirrored the Sermon on the Mount). Destroying the wicked did not make Him any less kind, nor make His teaching any less noble, inspiring and edifying.
As I read the scriptures, and note the choices people make and the response from Jehovah/Jesus, I can see no difference. They both will exalt and welcome the righteous. They both will prevent the despoiling of this creation. They both permit the freedom of choice for mankind. They both enforce the consequences of those free choices. They both put limits on what mankind will be permitted to do when they become depraved and violent. They appear to me to be “one” — or more correctly, to be the same individual, as I read the scriptures.
(/Jehovah and Jesus/Jehovah and Jesus/15–Jehovah and Jesus, Part 2/20)
June 26, 2022
Comment on T&C 154
Section 154 of the Teachings and Commandments was included in the Scriptures project to preserve some important material that would otherwise be missing. Its content deserves some careful attention.
The material begins with this explanation:
When God delivers a dispensation of the gospel to the earth, the head of that dispensation is granted the right and privilege of organizing the dispensation. As the head organizes their dispensation according to righteous principles and receives God’s approval of the pattern, the dispensation is established and remains in effect until apostasy necessitates another restoration. Adam was given the first dispensation, and he patterned it after the order of Heaven. Abraham was also given a dispensation, which he patterned after Adam’s dispensation.
This confirms that from the time of Adam until the time of Abraham dispensations were organized in the same way: After “the order of Heaven”–which means after a family. The generations between them had one designated “father” figure who was the family representative presiding and receiving from God the Father the word of counsel and direction for the family. Their names were Adam, Seth, Enos, Cainan, Mahalaleel, Jared, Enoch, Methuselah, Lamech, Noah, Shem, and then some generations later Abraham was adopted into that line to receive “the blessings of the Fathers, and the right whereunto [he] should be ordained to administer the same.” Which held the promise to be a Father of many nations, a prince of peace, and desiring to receive instructions and to keep the commandments of God [he] became a rightful heir, a high priest, holding the right belonging to the Fathers. (t&c 145 - boa 1:1)
But later following apostasy Moses received a new dispensation, but did not reestablish the original Order. Instead, Moses found the hardness of heart of Abraham’s descendants prevented the Order from being established, and so reorganized his dispensation to reflect the challenge of that hardness. “Moses was given a dispensation, but established a different pattern for the children of Israel according to the hardness of their hearts, which dispensation John the Baptist brought to a lawful close” (t&c 145:4). When Moses was taken, the opportunity for the original Order ended:
Therefore, he took Moses out of their midst, and the Holy Priesthood also. And the lesser priesthood continued, which priesthood holds the key of the ministering of angels, and the preparatory gospel, which gospel is the gospel of repentance, and of baptism, and the remission of sins, and the law of carnal commandments, which the Lord in his wrath caused to continue with the house of Aaron, among the children of Israel, until John[.] (t&c 82:14)
Jesus Christ organized His dispensation after Abraham’s. (t&c 145:5) Joseph Smith organized an imitation of Christ’s dispensation. (t&c 145:6)
It has always been the obligation and right of Adam, who was given dominion over this creation at the beginning, under the guidance of Jesus Christ to establish each dispensation.
And again, God purposed in himself that there should not be an Eternal fullness until every dispensation should be fulfilled and gathered together in one, and that all things whatever that should be gathered together in one, in those dispensations, unto the same fullness and Eternal glory, should be in Christ Jesus. Therefore, he set the ordinances to be the same for ever and ever, and set Adam to watch over them, to reveal them from Heaven to man or to send angels to reveal them. (t&c 140: 5–6)
You can know from this that each of these dispensations, however organized by the head, was approved and permitted by Father Adam. Although the original fit a specific pattern, later dispensations were ordered according to the faithfulness, heed and diligence of the respective generations. We have not seen the original Order for millennia. In Adam’s day, The Order of this Priesthood was confirmed to be handed down from father to son, and rightly belongs to the literal descendants of the chosen seed to whom the promises were made. This Order was instituted in the days of Adam, and came down by lineage[.] (t&c 154:9)
In the present dispensation we have not yet been organized, and there is a reason for that. If we are not going to accomplish all that needs to be done to vindicate the Lord’s covenants, then having another incomplete organization linger as a dead relic is something I refuse to accept. I will not leave behind an institution to be corrupted by the cares of this world, accumulate wealth, power, influence and popularity, as has been done with each of the prior dispensations as they lapse into apostasy. If all we accomplish is an incomplete gesture, as has always been the case before, then I do not want to usher in such a tool for the adversary to use.
Adam kept a book in which he recorded teachings, testimony and sacred events:
And a book of remembrance was kept, in which was recorded in the language of Adam, for it was given unto as many as called upon God to write by the spirit of inspiration. And by them their children were taught to read and write, having a language which was pure and undefiled. Now this same Priesthood which was in the beginning shall be in the end of the world also (now this prophecy Adam spoke as he was moved upon by the holy ghost). (Gen. 3:14)
Interestingly, Adam did not record his own baptism in the record he kept. Enoch later recorded that event. But what Adam did record testifies about the “same Priesthood which was in the beginning [that] shall be in the end of the world also.” He wrote that God the Father commanded him (Adam) to, believe on his Only Begotten Son, even him who he declared should come in the meridian of time, who was prepared from before the foundation of the world. And thus the gospel began to be preached from the beginning, being declared by holy angels sent forth from the presence of God, and by his own voice, and by the gift of the holy ghost. And thus all things were confirmed unto Adam by a holy ordinance, and the gospel preached, and a decree sent forth that it should be in the world until the end thereof. And thus it was. Amen. (Gen. 3:13)
It was through a “holy ordinance” that the mission of God’s Only Begotten Son that should come in the meridian of time was declared to Adam. The ordinance taught Adam that this Son of God was prepared before the foundation of the world. It instructed Adam in things before the world, and in the creation of the world, and in the redemption of the world, all through “a holy ordinance.”
And, Adam wrote, “this same Priesthood which was in the beginning shall be in the end of the world also (now this prophecy Adam spoke as he was moved upon by the holy ghost).” But whether we see that in our generation or not is completely dependent upon the heed and diligence we give to the Lord.
There is a specific obligation we know is coming, and until that obligation is fulfilled I will not do anything to organize any institution, church, or pattern. The Lord has explained to us:
Whenever I have people who are mine, I command them to build a house, a holy habitation, a sacred place where my presence can dwell or where the Holy Spirit of Promise can minister, because it is in such a place that it has been ordained to recover you, establish by my word and my oath your marriages, and endow my people with knowledge from on high that will unfold to you the mysteries of godliness, instruct you in my ways, that you may walk in my path. And all the outcasts of Israel will I gather to my house, and the jealousy of Ephraim and Judah will end; Ephraim will not envy Judah and Judah will not provoke Ephraim. (t&c 157:41)
We do not yet have a command to build a house for the Lord. There are reasons for that.
If, and when, such a command is given, then the “holy ordinance” with which Adam was endowed will be restored to the state Adam determines should be conferred upon us. It is then, and only then, that an Order can be set up in this dispensation. It will be patterned after the Order of Heaven, which is after the pattern of a family, and it will belong to Adam, and Jesus Christ who presides over Adam, and God the Father, and the Hosts of Heaven. But if we fail in this effort, then I would want all of this to fall to the earth, and dwindle into dust, with no power, influence, dominion, popularity, control, and gathering of wealth to be continued from our failed effort. We already have countless institutions founded by the Lord and then hijacked by the adversary claiming to be God’s church and kingdom. WE should recognize the prophetic counsel of Nephi about the present condition of the world’s various church denominations. WE should abhor doing nothing better than what Nephi foretold would be the sad state of religions today. I set his warning out at some length below:
For it shall come to pass in that day that the churches which are built up, and not unto the Lord, when the one shall say unto the other, Behold, I, I am the Lord’s—and the other shall say, I, I am the Lord’s—and thus shall everyone say that hath built up churches and not unto the Lord. And they shall contend one with another, and their priests shall contend one with another, and they shall teach with their learning, and deny the holy ghost which giveth utterance. And they deny the power of God, the Holy One of Israel. And they say unto the people, Hearken unto us and hear ye our precept, for behold, there is no God today, for the Lord and the Redeemer hath done his work, and he hath given his power unto men. Behold, hearken ye unto my precept. If they shall say there is a miracle wrought by the hand of the Lord, believe it not; for this day he is not a God of miracles; he hath done his work. Yea, and there shall be many which shall say, Eat, drink, and be merry, for tomorrow we die and it shall be well with us. And there shall also be many which shall say, Eat, drink, and be merry; nevertheless, fear God, he will justify in committing a little sin. Yea, lie a little, take the advantage of one because of his words, dig a pit for thy neighbor, there is no harm in this. And do all these things, for tomorrow we die. And if it so be that we are guilty, God will beat us with a few stripes and at last we shall be saved in the kingdom of God. Yea, and there shall be many which shall teach after this manner false, and vain, and foolish doctrines, and shall be puffed up in their hearts, and shall seek deep to hide their counsels from the Lord. And their works shall be in the dark, and the blood of the saints shall cry from the ground against them.
Yea, they have all gone out of the way, they have become corrupted; because of pride, and because of false teachers, and false doctrine, their churches have become corrupted, and their churches are lifted up; because of pride, they are puffed up. They rob the poor because of their fine sanctuaries; they rob the poor because of their fine clothing, and they persecute the meek and the poor in heart because in their pride they are puffed up. They wear stiff necks and high heads, yea, and because of pride, and wickedness, and abominations, and whoredoms, they have all gone astray, save it be a few who are the humble followers of Christ. Nevertheless, they are led, that in many instances they do err because they are taught by the precepts of men.
O the wise, and the learned, and the rich, that are puffed up in the pride of their hearts, and all those who preach false doctrines, and all those who commit whoredoms and pervert the right way of the Lord, Woe, woe, woe be unto them, saith the Lord God Almighty, for they shall be thrust down to hell.
Woe unto them that turn aside the just for a thing of naught, and revile against that which is good and say that it is of no worth, for the day shall come that the Lord God will speedily visit the inhabitants of the earth. And in that day that they are fully ripe in iniquity, they shall perish. But behold, if the inhabitants of the earth shall repent of their wickedness and abominations, they shall not be destroyed, saith the Lord of Hosts. But behold, that great and abominable church, the whore of all the earth, must tumble to the earth, and great must be the fall thereof. For the kingdom of the Devil must shake, and they which belong to it must needs be stirred up unto repentance, or the Devil will grasp them with his everlasting chains and they be stirred up to anger and perish. For behold, at that day shall he rage in the hearts of the children of men and stir them up to anger against that which is good. And others will he pacify, and lull them away into carnal security, that they will say, All is well in Zion, yea, Zion prospereth, all is well. And thus the Devil cheateth their souls and leadeth them away carefully down to hell. And behold, others he flattereth away and telleth them there is no hell. And he saith unto them, I am no devil, for there is none. And thus he whispereth in their ears until he grasps them with his awful chains, from whence there is no deliverance. Yea, they are grasped with death and hell; and death, and hell, and the Devil, and all that have been seized therewith must stand before the throne of God and be judged according to their works, from whence they must go into the place prepared for them, even a lake of fire and brimstone, which is Endless torment. Therefore, woe be unto him that is at ease in Zion.
Woe be unto him that crieth, All is well. Yea, woe be unto him that hearkeneth unto the precepts of men, and denieth the power of God and the gift of the holy ghost. Yea, woe be unto him that saith, We have received and we need no more. And in fine, woe unto all those who tremble and are angry because of the truth of God. For behold, he that is built upon the rock receiveth it with gladness, and he that is built upon a sandy foundation trembleth, lest he shall fall.
Woe be unto him that shall say, We have received the word of God, and we need no more of the word of God, for we have enough. For behold, thus saith the Lord God, I will give unto the children of men line upon line, precept upon precept, here a little and there a little. And blessed are those who hearken unto my precepts and lend an ear unto my counsel, for they shall learn wisdom. For unto him that receiveth I will give more; and from them that shall say, We have enough—shall be taken away even that which they have. Cursed is he that putteth his trust in man, or maketh flesh his arm, or shall hearken unto the precepts of men, save their precepts shall be given by the power of the holy ghost.
Woe be unto the gentiles, saith the Lord God of Hosts, for notwithstanding I shall lengthen out mine arm unto them from day to day, they will deny me. Nevertheless, I will be merciful unto them, saith the Lord God, if they will repent and come unto me, for mine arm is lengthened out all the day long, saith the Lord God of Hosts. (RE 2 Ne. 12:1–7)
It is foolish to want to have such vanity follow from our opportunity. If we can not avoid imitating the ruined landscape of religious failure surrounding us, all contending to corrupt and waylay the souls of men, then we should humbly let it end with us. But if we press on, and gain the Lord’s gathering as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, then we should give strict heed and diligence to Him.
Yea, blessed are they whose feet stand upon the land of Zion, who have obeyed my gospel, for they shall receive for their reward the good things of the earth, and it shall bring forth in her strength. And they also shall be crowned with blessings from above, yea, and with commandments not a few, and with revelations in their time, they that are faithful and diligent before me. (t&c 46:1)
Leave behind your ambitions. Depart from your anger, contention, jealousies, and your uncontrolled worldliness. Be sober minded. Control your appetites. Flee from sin. Subdue the flesh. Become meek as a child, and harmless as a dove. Flee from Babylon and shake its dust from off your feet. Awake and arise.
We can fail. We can succeed. But we will only succeed by our heed and diligence to the Lord’s commands.
(/Choose Well, Choose You Must/Voting/8–Comment on T&C 154/41)
Scott Roderick
11/22/24
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