The following talk by Denver Snuffer was delivered in Sandy, Utah on December 12, 2025 before a live audience and was broadcast live via the web on YouTube. An accompanying paper was published post talk at www.denversnuffer.com

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The following talk by Denver Snuffer was given live, via remote video broadcast, at the Philippines Covenant Christians Conference held in Laguna, Philippines in on 27 September 2025.

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The following talk by Denver Snuffer was presented at the “Let Us Rejoice” General Conference, held in the Jewett Auditorium at the College of Idaho, Caldwell, Idaho, on Sunday, August 31, 2025.

I don’t want to stand on a soapbox [moving the step at the podium].

First, I’d like to thank all of the people involved in the organizing of this conference and for the clever innovation that they chose for this conference, because normally, every minute is accounted for with talks and audiences and a few people participating. This one had essentially everyone who was involved participating.

(Hey, Rob, I’m gonna ask you to do something in a minute. So get off your damn phone. [chuckling] Dan, I’m gonna ask you too in just a minute.) 

The second edition of the Scriptures has been ordered. The funds have been collected, the deposit has been paid, the paper has been ordered, the leather has been selected, the work on that project has begun, and the typesetting is awaiting a decision on two matters.

When the work of getting it to a print-ready submission (which is a deadline coming up in just a few days) presented a couple of issues, I was asked about approving some changes to be made to the Scriptures. And because the issue has been previously addressed by a vote, it was my position that I don’t have the right to make any change to anything that has been voted upon. And so it presented a dilemma, and the solution was to take a vote today about two matters that need to be approved by the voice of the people and not by me.

The first one is that as the type-setting was being done, a prayer and an answer to the prayer were submitted for approval as a single section of the Teachings and Commandments. That is not at all like the division of the prayer into one section and the answer to the prayer into a second section, as the precedent that was followed throughout the Teachings and Commandments otherwise. So I was asked if we could take and divide 182 from 183—section 182 from 183—instead of having them both combined into a single section. And I said I don’t have that right. We will take a vote. 

The second issue is the… For some reason, when the original Scriptures were being submitted and approved, the Book of James was renamed Jacob because that is a more accurate representation of the original Hebrew name. But by doing that, it required any reference that had been previously made to James to be altered to Jacob, and then a parenthetical inserted that says “(James)” so that you knew who you were talking about. In type setting the new Scriptures, it just makes sense to get rid of the Jacob and go back to James and leave it consistent with what is otherwise found in the New Testament. Instead of Peter, Jacob, and John, we’ll go back to Peter, James, and John, and the Book of James [Jacob] would revert back to James. 

Likewise, Jude was changed to Judas. And so the Book of Judas needs to go back to being the Book of Jude to be consistent, since we are now incorporating in[to] the text the King James versification. It just makes sense to go all the way and make it more consistent. 

So we need to have a vote to finalize the typesetting on two matters: 

Now, I knew when I got up here, it was gonna be really hard for me to be able to see the vote, which is why I said, “Dan and Rob, I’d like you to help me out.” Would you guys stand and face the audience? I’m gonna have people raise their hand and vote yes, and then vote no. And I need both of you (who probably have better line of sight without these in your eyes) tell me if the vote carries. So, if you’d stand… I’d like everyone to raise your hand if you vote yes and to raise your hand if you vote no on this first matter. 

It’s proposed that we divide the prayer and the answer that has been voted upon previously as a single section into two separated sections, one being the prayer and the second section being the answer. 

All of those who are in favor of voting “yes” for that, would you please raise your hand? [voting]

Okay, lower your hand. And all of those who are opposed to doing that, would you please raise your hand? [voting]

Is… Both of you agree that the vote carried, that we’re…? [acknowledgment from Dan and Rob that the vote carried] Okay.

The second matter is: It’s proposed that we revert from Jacob back to James and from Judas back to Jude in the books of the New Testament and in the references found there. 

All of those who can approve that change, would you please raise your hand? [voting]

Okay, lower your hands. And anyone who is opposed to that, would you please raise your hand? [voting]

Lower your hands. And Dan and Rob, do you agree that the vote carried? [acknowledgment from Dan and Rob that the vote carried] 

Okay. Well, that takes care of that. And I’m no longer responsible for making any changes that are beyond what I view my limited role to be.

—————

Today’s talk is really intended only for Covenant Christians. It probably won’t make much sense at all to those who are outside this viewpoint.

Although we talk of Christ, we rejoice in Christ, we preach of Christ, we prophesy of Christ, and we write according to our prophecies so that our children can know to what source they can look for a remission of their sins (2 Nephi 11:8), there remains much that is unacknowledged about Jesus Christ. This talk will defend His status as the greatest of God’s creations. The title of this talk is “In Defense of Jesus Christ.” 

There are misunderstandings about Him that need to be corrected. He explained to Abraham: …there are two spirits, one being more intelligent than the other; there shall be another more intelligent than they. I am the Lord, your God; I am more intelligent than they all (Abraham 5:4). We can read those words without any idea of how significant they are and how much they tell us about our Lord.

It is possible this talk will challenge long-held religious beliefs for many of you. If so, be patient and let this settle on your mind to see how it illuminates your understanding. Nothing is better suited to helping us progress than receiving new truth. On the other hand, when truths are rejected, it interferes with our progress. Rejecting or refusing to receive new truth is what damns us. 

Nephi wanted for mankind to keep an open mind capable of welcoming new instruction from Heaven. Nephi wrote: 

Woe to those who say: We’ve received God’s word; we don’t need more of God’s word because we have enough. This is what the Lord God has said: I’ll give mankind line upon line, a teaching here and a teaching there, a little here and a little there. Those who follow My teachings and listen to My counsel are blessed since they’ll learn wisdom. And I’ll give more to those who receive; but from those who say we have enough, even what they have will be taken away. Those who put their trust in the scholarly arrogance of men or follow the false teachings of a man are cursed, because only those teachings given by the power of the Holy Ghost are true. The Lord God of Hosts has said: Woe to the Gentiles; because despite extending My welcoming arm to them from day to day, they will deny Me. (2 Nephi 12:6-7 CE)

With this talk, you can consider things you have already heard in a new light that changes the picture by removing shadows. You do not need new or additional Scriptures to learn what’s in this talk. All you need is to be willing to accept what the Scriptures state.

Because of the mission of Joseph Smith and, in particular, the funeral sermon for King Follett, we know more than other Christians about the Lord and the plan for mankind’s salvation. Sometimes that additional understanding results in unwarranted assumptions about how similar we are to Him. LDS Church President Lorenzo Snow stated it this way: “As man now is, God once was: As God now is, man may be[come].” This brief assertion foolishly omits any recognition of the nearly incomprehensible gulf between who and what Jesus Christ is and all that He has accomplished, on the one hand, and where and what we are, on the other. The Follett sermon and Lorenzo Snow’s statement are both true but have proven to be quite misleading. A great deal separates and distinguishes Him from us. This talk will address that great gulf.

There’s a necessary balance between the awesome stature of Jesus Christ compared with our weak and embryonic state, on the one hand, and recognizing He cares for and wants to comfort us on our journey, on the other hand. We should be in awe about Him and recognize His willingness to accompany us on our way. I’m so humbled by Him that even as I talk respectfully of Him, it seems completely inadequate. 

Defending Jesus Christ begins by explaining the reasons for justified awe and amazement. He is the “gatekeeper” on the upward path to God’s Throne. Everyone must confront Him before we will be permitted to enter God’s Kingdom. Before that, we should attempt to understand Him, His role, His accomplishments, and how very dependent we are upon Him, in order to help understand that upward pathway to God’s Throne.

Christ progressed over eons in “worlds without end” on a journey that prepared Him before His birth in this world. He completed His long journey here in this world. How long the Lord’s development took is not fully revealed in Scripture, but Scripture makes it clear that He alone achieved the required progress to become like His Father. While the Scriptures clarify that others can follow His path and arrive at the same place, Scripture also makes it clear that NO ONE ELSE HAS EVER DONE SO, and Christ alone is the prototype of the saved man. 

This is what we have been told about our Lord:

Before He entered this world as a mortal, He was given the leading role in organizing the universe. The apostle John explained, 

In the Highest Council of Heaven there was One who spoke out. And the One who spoke out was among the Gods, and He was a God. He was in the Council of the Gods, and the creation of the cosmos was organized through Him. And without Him does not exist one thing that has come into existence in the cosmos. In Him was the power of life and this power was conveyed into the cosmos as the Light in men and every thing. The Light shone in the chaos and those in darkness have not been able to grasp it. 

…The Messenger of the Heavenly Council was in the cosmos, and the cosmos existed through Him, and the cosmos had not acquired His knowledge. He came into His own creation, but those there were unable to understand Him. As many as perceived the Light in Him, to them He gave knowledge to enable them to follow the path to become like Him, begotten children in the family of the Most High God. This is only possible for those who believe through His name. Those who believe through His name are no longer born of blood to follow the appetites of flesh, nor the ambitions of man, but are able to become, like Him, the offspring of God. This one who was [the] Spokesman from the Heavenly Council was made flesh, and He temporarily cast His tent among us, and we could see His knowledge of the path to ascend in light and truth, he was a member of the Family of God, full of the power to ascend and able to display truth to others. (Testimony of St. John 1:1,3, emphasis added) 

This part of Christ’s pre-mortal journey has been referred to repeatedly in Scripture. Although we do not have a full explanation of the Lord’s pre-earth accomplishments, what we have establishes His central role in organizing everything in this creation.

For example, in Genesis it’s written: 

Here is wisdom and it remains in me. And by the word of my power have I created them, who is my Only Begotten Son, full of grace and truth. And worlds without number have I created, and I also created them for my own purpose; and by the same I created them, who is my Only Begotten. And the first man of all men have I called Adam, which is many. But only an account of this earth and the inhabitants thereof give I unto you. For behold, there are many worlds which have passed away by the word of my power, and there are many [worlds] also which now stand, and numberless are they unto man; but all things are numbered unto me, for they are mine and I know them. (Genesis 1:6)

Not only was this world organized by Jesus Christ, but He also organized many others. There is a depth in understanding the comment: “worlds without number have I created” by the Father’s “Only Begotten” (meaning Jesus Christ). The many worlds cannot be numbered because they continue to roll into existence, in an ongoing process that remains “numberless.” It’s not a static number because it actively changes, grows, and multiplies everlastingly.

Think of it, so many worlds have been organized by Jesus Christ that they are “without number”—and many of them have “passed away” after their organization. From what we can observe with our present technology, there are now trillions, even more, quadrillions, yet even more, stars.  Our present state of science confirms our Lord’s creations are beyond our ability to count; more so if we consider all that have passed away alongside all now rolling into creation. (Of course, many of those were created and redeemed by the Father beforehand, and we only have passing mention of that by Joseph Smith.) 

A recent vision referring to the Lord’s accomplishments included this: We heard the voice bearing record [of him] that he is the Only Begotten of the Father, [and] that by him, and through him, and of him the worlds are made and were created, and the inhabitants thereof are [the] begotten sons and daughters unto God (T&C 69:5). Jesus Christ was not like you and I. He was the Only Begotten Creator of the universe and organized an essentially infinite number of worlds. None of us have done anything comparable.

It was this mighty individual who condescended to become a mere man, born into this world, clothed in the dust of the earth. When we read the account of His mortal life, we hardly recognize Him as the Creator responsible for infinite creations.

DESPITE HIS ACCOMPLISHMENTS, once He took upon Himself mortality, He declined to acknowledge He was even “good.” Matthew records: And behold, one came and said, Good Master, what good thing shall I do, that I may have eternal life? And he said unto him, Why do you call me good? There is none good but one — that is, God (Matthew 9:22). Have you ever pondered why the Lord would decline to acknowledge that He was “good”? Let’s not let that remain a mystery.

Christ’s mission here was difficult, and He undertook it as a mortal man. Whatever man encounters in a body of dust, the Lord also encountered. As stated in Hebrews: We have not a high priest who cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities, but was in all points tempted like we are, yet without sin (Hebrews 1:11, emphasis added). Everything we face, He faced. He was hungry, thirsty, tired, weary, stirred with unbecoming thoughts, tempted to be impatient, unkind, ambitious, aspiring, indifferent, judgmental, and angry. No appetite of the body was unfamiliar to Him. No ugly thought, unkind reflection, or impatient reaction was absent from His life. But He was nonetheless “without sin” because He did not succumb. He confronted, endured, but gave no heed to temptations.

Given the fact He “was in all points tempted like we are,” the Lord would not acknowledge He was “good” while clothed in mortal dust and subject to the weaknesses of the flesh. No one whose mind is beset with the ugliness of fleshly appetites could regard themselves as “good.” For the natural man is an enemy to God, and has been from the fall of Adam (Mosiah 1:16 RE), which is rendered in Covenant of Christ in these words: Men and women, in their natural state, are out of harmony with God and have been since the Fall of Adam (Ibid. CE). When He condescended and took mortal flesh upon Him, Christ joined us in being an enemy to God. He was out of harmony with God and subject to the same struggle to subdue the flesh to the spirit, becoming meek, submissive, and patiently willing to accept all the Father required of Him.

For Christ to acknowledge He was good required the flesh to be defeated and Him to rise from the grave. Until His mortal journey was completed, He faced temptations that left His mind in mortal turmoil, in a state less than “good.” It was only after the resurrection the Lord declared, All power is given unto me in Heaven and on earth (Matthew 13:4). Once He finished His final step on the upward pathway, He was then “good,” and empowered, and beyond the reach of temptation. He has been trusted with “all power” in Heaven and Earth, becoming exactly the same as His good Father, and They are now One in every sense that They are the same kind or quality of being. They are in complete harmony or agreement. They have the same continuity without deviation or change in purpose or pursuit. They have equal power and authority. They exist in the same glorified, self-existent state. Nothing can tempt or corrupt them.

In order for Him to arrive at that ultimate end, the Lord had not only to organize or create a cosmos like the Father had before Him, but He also needed to attain to the resurrection and redeem or reclaim that creation. That required specific conditions. The Lord had to voluntarily lay down His life, even when He was entitled to live forever. Since He was without sin, and death entered the world because of transgression, His death needed to be unjust. His suffering needed to be unmerited. He needed to be an innocent sacrifice so that justice would be violated by His death, making mercy possible. 

The unique conditions of this world were required for the Lord to voluntarily sacrifice His life. Our world is unlike any other of God’s creations. For the many “worlds without number” that have and do exist, OURS IS THE ONLY ONE where the Lord’s sacrifice could have happened. 

God’s description to Enoch shows how unique this world is among all of God’s creations: 

Behold, I am God, Man of Holiness is my name, Man of Counsel is my name, and Endless and Eternal is my name also. Wherefore, I can stretch forth my hands and hold all the creations which I have made, and my eye can pierce them also. And among all the workmanship of my hands, there has not been so great wickedness as among your brethren. (Genesis 4:17) 

This world, among all of God’s creations, is singularly wicked. Our world was the scene of the first murder in the second generation. Then oaths were adopted to conceal and protect murder, and men obtained power using threats of murder. This creation descended into such wickedness that within ten generations, God concluded the world had to return to the second day of creation, when waters covered the face of the earth and the dry land had not yet appeared: 

But the earth was corrupt before God and it was filled with violence. And God looked upon it, and behold, it was corrupt, for all flesh had corrupted its way upon the earth. And God said [to] Noah, The end of all flesh has come before me; for the earth is filled with violence, and behold, I will destroy all flesh from off the earth. (Genesis 5:11)

This astonishing turn of events was a result of mankind’s continual meditation on wickedness: And every man was lifted up in the imagination of the thoughts of his heart, being only evil continually (Genesis 5:9).

This world was and is the worst of all God’s creations. But even among the wicked of this world, there was still only one people living in one generation who would kill the Lamb of God. We read: 

Wherefore, as I said unto you, it must needs be expedient [for] Christ (for, in the last night, the angel spake unto me that this should be his name), that he should come among the Jews, among those who are the more wicked part of the world. And they shall crucify him — for it behooveth our God — and there is none other nation on earth that would crucify their God. For should the mighty miracles be wrought among other nations, they would repent and know that he be their God. But because of priestcrafts and iniquities, they at Jerusalem will stiffen their necks against him, that he be crucified. (2 Nephi 7:1 RE, emphasis added) 

As this is stated in the Covenant of Christ: 

Therefore, as I told you, it must necessarily be that Christ — and last night the angel told me this was to be His name — should come among the Jews, among those who are the more wicked part of the world. And they will crucify Him — because it’s essential for God — and no other nation on earth would crucify their God. Because if the mighty miracles were performed among other nations, they would repent and know [that] He was God. But because of priestcrafts and iniquities, those at Jerusalem will be stubborn and hardened against Him, resulting in His crucifixion. (Ibid. CE)

This was also singular, never having happened in any other creation, in any other generation, for the gravest injustice of all eternity to take place. That terrible but essential injustice broke the demands of justice and allowed an infinite price to be paid. That infinite injustice opened the door for mercy to become possible. Now, despite the demands of justice on each of US, requiring our death (because of sin), that price has been paid by the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, and justice cannot demand more. As a result, Jesus Christ is both the author and dispenser of mercy and has set the condition for us to access that mercy.

Because this world is the most wicked of all creations and only one generation in this world would crucify their God, the atonement has happened ONCE. Here. Only once; only here. Mormons often conjecture that there have been many “Christs” and many “atonements” —but there is nothing in Scripture to support that conjecture. The record we have identifies it as a singular event in which Jesus Christ did what He saw the Father do before Him.

Jesus Christ not only sacrificed Himself to bring about mercy, He also exposed Himself to every form of wickedness mankind has committed. He did this to understand the depths of our depravity, the consciousness of our guilt, and the despair of our souls; not only that, but also to see how unjust suffering, violent victimization, and innocent martyrdom co-exist with predatory persecution, hatred, and sociopathology. He made it possible to repent and avoid the suffering caused by these mortal failings.

Christ understood the prophecies. Therefore, Christ KNEW His destiny and had a clear idea of what would be required of Him. His mother no doubt helped Him to understand. The Scriptures foretold of His vicarious suffering:

He was despised and we esteemed him not. Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows, yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement of our peace was upon him, and with his stripes we are healed. All we, like sheep, have gone astray — we have turned every one to his own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all. He was oppressed and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth… (Isaiah 19:2, emphasis added)

Although this was His destiny, when the moment came, He recoiled, describing it as exquisitely hard to bear: 

…how sore you know not, how exquisite you know not, yea, how hard to bear you know not. For behold, I, God, have suffered these things for all that they might not suffer, if they would repent. But if they would not repent, they must suffer even as I, which suffering caused myself, even God, the greatest of all, to tremble because of pain, and to bleed at every pore, to suffer both body and spirit, and would that I might not drink the bitter cup and shrink. Nevertheless, glory be to the Father, and I partook and finished my preparations unto the children of men. (T&C 4:5)

He knew the specific prophecy foretelling His public humiliation, suffering, and death. He quoted the beginning of the words from that Psalm as it was fulfilled on the cross: 

My God, My God why [hast thou] forsaken me?

…But I am a worm, and loved of no man, a reproach of man and despised of the people. All they that see me laugh…to scorn. They shoot out the lip, they shake the head, saying, He trusted on the Lord, that he would deliver him; let him deliver him, seeing he delighte[th] in him.

But you are he that took me out of the womb. You did make me hope when I was upon my mother’s breasts. I was cast upon you from the womb. You were my God from my mother’s breasts.

Be not far from me — for trouble is near — for there is none to help. Many armies have encompassed me; strong armies of Bashan have beset me around. They gaped upon me with their mouths like a ravening and roaring lion. I am poured out like water and all my bones are out of joint. My heart is like wax, it is melted in the midst of my inward parts. My strength is dried up like a potsherd, and my tongue cleaves to my jaws, …you have brought me into the dust of death. For dogs have encompassed me, the assembly of the wicked have enclosed me. They pierced my hands and my feet. I may tally all my bones. They look and stare upon me. They part my garments among them and cast lots upon my vesture. But be not far from me, O Lord. O my strength, hasten to help me. Deliver my soul from the sword, my darling from the power of the dog. Save me from the lion’s mouth, for you have heard me speak from the secret places of the wilderness through the horns of the re’em.

I will declare your name unto my brethren. In the midst of the congregation will I praise you. (Psalm 22:1-5)

That was what He was quoting when He began, “My God, My God why hast thou forsaken me?” It is false, it is a lie, it is evidence of a misapprehension of understanding who Jesus the Christ is for James Talmage to have written in Jesus the Christ that the Father forsook Him. He prophesied the Father would never leave Him, and His quote of “My God, My God why hast thou forsaken me?” is His TESTIMONY of His Messiahship and fulfillment of the prophecy about the messianic sacrifice that would take place. He knew this was His destiny, but just like all of us, when the final trial arrived, it was astonishingly more difficult than expected. The Lord prayed in Gethsemane: Father, if you are willing to, remove this cup from me; nevertheless, not my will, but yours be done (Luke 13:9). Living in this fallen world is far more difficult than what it seemed when we shouted for joy at the news of the creation. This world challenges everyone who enters it. The Lord was no exception. This life is extraordinarily challenging, and we were quite unrealistic about how we would succeed before coming here. But thankfully, the Lord knows exactly what we can face and how to refine us like silver into a mirror-like image in which He can see His own face when He looks upon us.  We are all required to soldier on and fight the good fight.

Christ has begged us to repent and follow Him so we can escape the consequences of our failures. If we refuse to repent and accept the Lord’s sacrifice, we will suffer; it will be “sore,” it will be “exquisite,” it will be incomprehensively “hard to bear” (see T&C 4:5). Even the Lord was shocked when required to suffer both body and spirit. He did not want to drink the bitter cup. He recoiled and wanted to avoid it. Our experiences, while infinitely less demanding, are likewise also hard for us in our limited capacity to bear. 

He provided us with a more complete description of that awful ordeal in T&C 161: 

He thought His sufferings were over, but to His astonishment another wave overcame Him. This one was much greater than the first. The Lord, who had been kneeling, fell forward onto His hands at the impact of the pain that was part of [this] greater, second wave.

This second wave was so much greater than the first that it seemed to entirely overcome the Lord. The Lord was now stricken with physical injuries as well as spiritual affliction. As He suffered anew, His flesh was torn which He healed using the power of…charity within Him. The Lord had such life within Him, such power and virtue within Him, that although He suffered in His flesh, these injuries healed and His flesh restored. His suffering was both body and spirit, and there was anguish of thought, feeling, and soul.

The Lord overcame this second wave of suffering, and again found peace of mind and strength of body; and His heart filled with love despite what He had suffered. Indeed, it was charity or love that allowed Him to overcome. He was at peace with His Father, and with all mankind, but it required another, still greater act of will and charity than the first for Him to do so.

Again, the Lord thought His suffering was over. He stayed on His hands and knees for a moment to collect Himself when another wave of torment burst upon Him. This wave struck Him with such force He fell forward upon His face. He was afflicted by this greater wave. He was then healed, only to…be afflicted again as the waves of torment overflowed. Wave after wave poured out upon Him, with only moments between them. The Lord’s suffering progressed from a lesser to a greater portion of affliction; for as one would be overcome by Him, the next, greater affliction would then be poured out. Each wave of suffering was only preparation for the next, greater wave.

The pains of mortality, disease, injury, and infirmity, together with the sufferings of sin, transgressions, guilt of mind, and unease of soul, the horrors of recognition of the evils men had inflicted upon others, were all poured out upon Him, with confusion and perplexity multiplied upon Him.

He longed for it to be over, and thought it would end long before it finally ended. With each wave He thought it would be the last, but then another came upon Him, and then yet another.

…After long inquiring into the things which he had seen, the Lord, who is patient and merciful and willing to instruct those who call upon Him, again appeared to the man on the 20th of December, 2007. He made known unto him that the waves of torment suffered by the Lord came in pairs which mirrored each other. The first of each wave poured [out] upon the Lord those feelings, regrets, recriminations, and pains felt by those who injured their fellow man. Then followed a second wave, which mirrored the first, but imposed the pains suffered by the victims of the acts committed by those in the first wave. Instead of the pains of those who inflict hurt or harm, it was now the anger, bitterness, and resentments felt by those who suffered these wrongs.

From each wave of suffering, whether as the one afflicting or as the victim of those wrongs, the Lord would overcome the evil feelings associated with these wrongs, and find His heart again filled with peace. This was why, in the vision of the suffering of the Lord, it was…the second waves that…appeared oftentimes to be injuries to His body.

The greater difficulty in these paired waves of torment was always overcoming the suffering of the victim. With these waves the Lord learned to overcome the victims’ resentments, to forgive, and to heal both body and spirit. This was more difficult than overcoming the struggles arising from…one who committed the evil. This is because the one doing evil knows he has done wrong and feels a natural regret when he sees himself aright. The victim, however, always feels it is their right to hold resentment, to judge their persecutor, and to withhold peace and love [from] their fellow men. The Lord was required to overcome both so that He could succor both.

In the pairing of the waves, the first torment was…the mind and spirit, and the second was torment of mind, spirit, and body.

The Lord experienced all the horror[s] and regret wicked men feel for their crimes when they finally see the truth. He experienced the suffering of their victims whose righteous anger and natural resentment and disappointment must also be shed, and forgiveness given, in order for them to find peace. He overcame them all. He descended below them all. He comprehends it all. And He knows how to bring peace to them all. He knows how to love others [when] they are the one who has given offense or the one who is a victim of the offense.

In the final wave, the most brutal, most evil, most heinous sins men inflict upon one another were felt by Him as a victim of the worst men can do. He knew how it felt to wrongly suffer death. He knew what it was like to be a mother holding a child in her arms as they are both killed by those who delight in their suffering. He knew how it was for ambitious men to rid themselves of a rival by conspiracy and murder. He knew what it was to have virtue robbed from the innocent. He knew betrayal, treachery, and abuse in all its worst degrading horror. There was no cruelty, no offense, no evil that mankind has suffered or will suffer that was not put upon Him.

He knew what it [was] like for men to satisfy their ambition by clothing their hypocrisy in religious garb. He also felt what it was like to be the victim of religious oppression by those who pretend to practice virtue while oppressing others. He knew the hearts of those who would kill Him. Before confronting their condemnation of Him in the flesh, He suffered their torment of mind when they recognized He was the Lord, and then found peace for what they would do by rejecting Him. In this extremity there was madness itself as He mirrored the evil which would destroy Him, and learned how to come to peace with the Father after killing the Son of God, and to love…those involved without restraint …without pretense even before they did these terrible deeds. His suffering, therefore, encompassed all that has happened, all that did happen, and all that would happen in the future.

As a result of what the Lord suffered, there is no condition — physical, spiritual, or mental — that He does not fully understand. He knows how to teach, comfort, succor, and direct any who [will] come to Him seeking forgiveness and peace. This is why the prophet wrote: by his knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many; for he shall bear their iniquities. [Isa. 19:2] And again: Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows; yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed. [Isa. 19:2] He obtained this knowledge by the things He suffered. He suffered that we might avoid sin by being obedient to His commandments. None of us need harm another, if we will follow Him. He knows fully the consequences of sin. He teaches His followers how to avoid sin.

The prophet Alma taught and understood our Lord’s sufferings as he wrote: And he shall go forth, suffering pains and afflictions and temptations of every kind; and this that the word might be fulfilled which saith: He will take upon him the pains and…sicknesses of his people. And he will take upon him death, that he may loose the bands of death which bind his people; and he will take upon him their infirmities, that his bowels may be filled with mercy, according to the flesh, that he may know according to the flesh how to succor his people according to their infirmities. [Alma 5:3]

He can bring peace to any soul. He can help those who…come to Him [to] love their fellow man. He alone is the Perfect Teacher because He alone has the knowledge each of us lack to return to being whole and at peace with…God [the] Father [and of all of us] after our transgression of His will. He is wise to what is required for each man’s salvation. (T&C 161:4-9,17-26)

This—THIS—was a singular achievement. Jesus Christ is the only one who has ever accomplished what His Father achieved. The Scriptures are quite clear about this SINGLE achievement. There may be a plan that makes it possible to happen again, but so far, there is only one who has done what the Father did. Scripture has proclaimed the singular accomplishment of God and His Son:

Those who believe in the Restoration and who accept Joseph Smith as a prophet sent by God to teach lost truths have taught the opposite of this. They have not correctly understood this singular achievement. It’s a widespread misunderstanding that there are many who have achieved exaltation and are—like the Father and Son—also occupying the same glory and holding the same enthronement in the heavens. There is also a widespread misconception that this will be GIVEN to anyone who qualifies for “celestial glory” by obedience in this lifetime. Those ideas are incorrect. These misconceptions are based in part upon a misunderstanding of the King Follett Discourse.

The language from the King Follett Discourse used to support this misunderstanding is the following: 

I want you all to know God, to be familiar with him. And if I can bring [him to you], all persecutions against me will cease; you will know that I am his servant, for I speak as one having authority. What sort of a being was God in the beginning? Open your ears and hear all ye ends of the earth; for I am going to prove it to you by the Bible, …I am going to tell you the designs of God for the human race and why he interferes [in] the affairs of man.

First, God himself, who sits enthroned in yonder heaven, is a man like one of you. That[‘s] the great secret. If the veil were rent today and you were to see the great God who holds this world in its orbit and upholds all things by his power, you would see him in the image and very form of a man; for Adam was created in the very fashion and image of God. He received instruction from…walked, talked, and conversed with him as one man talks and communes with another.

In order to understand the subject of the dead for the consolation of those who mourn for the loss of their friends, it[‘s] necessary they should understand the character and being of God; for I am going to tell you how God came to be God. We have imagined that God was…from all eternity. incomprehensible to some. But it is the simple and first principle of the gospel-to know for a certainty the character of God, that we may converse with him as one man with another. God himself, the Father of us all, dwelt on an earth the same as Jesus Christ himself did, and I will show it from the Bible.

I wish I had the trump of an archangel; I could tell the story in such a manner that persecution would cease forever. What did Jesus say? (Mark it, elder Rigdon!) Jesus said, ‘As the Father hath power in himself, even so hath the Son power.’ To do what? Why, what the Father did. The answer is obvious–in a manner to lay down his body and take it up again. Jesus, what are you going to do? To lay down my life as my Father did, and take it up again. If you do not believe it, you do not believe the Bible. The scriptures say it, and I defy all the learning and wisdom, all the combined powers of earth and hell together, to refute it.

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.

And I want you to know that in the last days, while certain individuals are proclaiming his name, God is not trifling with you or me; it is the first principle of consolation. How consoling to the mourner when he is called to part with a husband, wife, father, mother, child, or dear relative, to know that although the earthly tabernacle shall be dissolved that dear one shall rise in immortal glory, not to sorrow, suffer, or die any more but shall be God’s heirs and joint heirs with Jesus Christ. What is it? It is to inherit the same glory, the same power, and the same exaltation until you ascend the throne of eternal power the same as those who are gone before. What did Jesus do? Why, I do the things I saw my Father do when [the] worlds came rolling into existence. I saw my Father work out his kingdom with fear and trembling, and I must do the same; and when I get my kingdom I shall present it to my Father so that he obtains kingdom upon kingdom, and it will exalt his glory. And so Jesus treads in [the] tracks to inherit what God did before. It is plain beyond disputation.

…Thus you learn some of the first principles of the gospel, about which so much ha[s] 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[‘s] a great thing to learn salvation beyond the grave. I suppose I am not allowed to go into an investigation of anything that[‘s] not contained in the Bible. And I think there are many “wise men” here who would put me to death for treason; so I shall turn commentator today.

We need to have some of the terms used in this discourse better defined. The word “exaltation” has often been used but poorly defined and misunderstood. God the Father dwells in such glory that it has been referred to as “everlasting burnings” or “consuming fire” or “brightness above the sun.”

Accounts of Him appearing include descriptions of His power and glory:

The Glory of God will consume those who are unprepared to endure His presence. That effect is one of the signs that will accompany the return of the Lord in glory. As Nephi informed Joseph Smith (in language taken from Malachi but altered for clarity): For behold, the day cometh that shall burn as an oven, and all the proud, yea…all that do wickedly, shall burn as stubble; for they that cometh shall burn them, saith the Lord of Hosts, that it shall leave them neither root nor branch (JSH:3:4). Who are they that are coming? Who are these glorious persons whose presence will burn up the wicked? As mentioned in Scripture, the angels who dwell in God’s presence within the flaming brilliance of His presence are referred to as “seraphs.” The Dedication Prayer for the Kirtland Temple, Joseph Smith asked the Lord: And help us by the power of thy spirit that we may mingle our voices with those bright shining seraphs around thy throne, with acclamations of praise, singing, Hosanna to God and the Lamb (T&C 123:22).

Being present with God, dwelling in His glorious, flaming presence, is what the word “exaltation” means. If you can endure God’s habitation, you are exalted by being present in it. It is a mistake, however, to assume that being able to endure that presence means that you are equal to God. Joseph Smith explained, 

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 attain to the resurrection of the dead, and are able to dwell in everlasting burnings, and until you are able to sit in glory as do those who sit enthroned in everlasting power. (emphasis added)

We will not become God’s equal until we have passed from exaltation to exaltation through successive steps in which glory is then accompanied by the knowledge and wisdom required. If you understand this, then you know what Joseph was telling us when he taught: 

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.

Even if we attain exaltation through our heed and diligence in this life, that’s but one step in a path requiring a great while beyond the grave to arrive in the same place as Jesus Christ. The greatest we can hope to receive if we are true and faithful in all things will be to dwell in God’s presence after this stage of development. Having the promise of your calling and election made sure by the voice of God only means your journey will continue; you will not be cast out; you will achieve a Terrestrial Glory in the coming afterlife. Those who are honorable but allow crafty men to mislead you (as happens in abundance in this world) still merit glory in the afterlife. The Terrestrial Glory is conferred on those who receive the presence of the Son but not the fullness of the Father. And it includes those who believe but fail to be valiant in the testimony of Jesus and, therefore, cannot be trusted with greater glory. The presence of Jesus Christ in the afterlife is what most Christians hope to acquire. Good, faithful people who have accepted the traditions of theologians and the reasoning of uninspired ministers will be elected to have the Son’s presence in the afterlife.

In contrast, those who inherit Celestial Glory are described in T&C 69: 

These shall dwell in the presence of God and his Christ for ever… These are they whom he shall bring with him when he shall come in…clouds of Heaven to reign on the earth over his people. These are they who shall have part in the first resurrection. These are they who shall come forth in the resurrection of the just. These are they who are come unto Mount Zion, and unto the city of the living God, the Heavenly place, the holiest of all. These are they who have come to an innumerable company of angels, to the general assembly and church of Enoch, and of the Firstborn. These are they whose names are written in Heaven, where God and Christ are the judge of all. These are they who are just men made perfect through Jesus the mediator of the new covenant, who wrought out this perfect atonement through the shedding of his own blood. These are they whose bodies are Celestial, whose glory is that of the sun, even the glory of God, the highest of all, whose glory the sun of the firmament is written of as being typical. (T&C 69:14-22)

We have another seraph servant sent at the beginning of Joseph Smith’s dispensation. Joseph described that event in these words:

On the evening of the 21st [of] September, …1823, while I was praying unto God and endeavouring [sic] to exercise faith in the precious promises of scripture, on a sudden a light like that of day, only of a far purer and more glorious appearance and brightness, burst into the room; [and] indeed the first sight was as though the house was filled with consuming fire. The appearance produced a shock that affected the whole body. In a moment a personage stood before me surrounded with a glory yet greater than that with which I was already surrounded. This messenger proclaimed himself to be an angel of God, sent to bring the joyful tidings, that the covenant which God made with ancient Israel was at hand to be fulfilled; that the preparatory work for the second coming of the Messiah was speedily to commence; that the time was at hand for the gospel in all its fulness [sic] to be preached in power, unto all nations, that a people might be prepared for the millennial reign.

All the people that appear in a flame of glory, including Nephi when he visited with Joseph Smith in his bedroom, are exalted beings. To “learn to be Gods” requires something greater and more demanding than receiving what is referred to as “exaltation” from your progress here. That’s a much greater task that will require each recipient TO BE EXACTLY, PRECISELY WHAT CHRIST IS AND NOTHING ELSE. This has been taught to us in Lectures on Faith: 

And if we find one saved being in all existence, we may see what all others must be or else not be saved. We ask, then: Where is the prototype? Or where is the saved being? We conclude as to the answer of this question there will be no dispute among those who believe the Bible that it is Christ. All will agree in this, that he is the prototype or standard of salvation, or in other words, that he is a saved being. And if we should continue our interrogation, and ask how [is it] that he is saved, the answer would be, because he is a just and holy being. And if he were anything different from what he is he would not be saved, for his salvation depends on hi[m] being precisely what he is and nothing else. For if it were possible for him to change in the least degree, so sure he would fail of salvation and lose all his dominion, power, authority, and glory, which constitutes salvation. For salvation consists in the glory, authority, majesty, power, and dominion which Jehovah possesses, and…nothing else, and no being can possess it but himself or one like him. (Lectures on Faith 7:9, emphasis added)

Joseph Smith explained how spirits could advance 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 one has attained to the resurrection of the dead and becomes able to dwell in everlasting burnings and can sit in glory enthroned in everlasting gospel: 

The first principles of man are self-existent with God. God himself, finding he was in the midst of spirits and glory, because he was more intelligent, saw proper to institute laws whereby the rest could have [the] privilege to advance like himself. The relationship we have with God places us in a situation to advance in knowledge. He has power to institute laws to instruct the weaker intelligences, that they may be exalted with himself, so that they might have one glory upon another, and [that all] knowledge, power, glory, and intelligence, which is requisite in order to save them in the world of spirits.

This process was ordained by the Father’s decree. It was Jesus Christ who PROVED the word of the Father. Jesus Christ proved the word of the Father was faithful and true. Therefore, insofar as the great plan permitting souls to advance can benefit us, that plan was followed, proven, and ultimately implemented for the first time by Jesus Christ, the Only Begotten of the Father. In that sense, Jesus Christ has become the Word of God. Now WE can advance, knowing that it is possible.

However, knowing it to be possible does not make it happen. It can only happen if someone is precisely what Jesus Christ is and nothing else. Thus far, despite there having been worlds without number, it is Jesus Christ alone who has become God the Father’s heir. For that reason, our faith is anchored in Christ, and our hope is confirmed by His great accomplishments. 

We have inherited the same opportunity as Jesus Christ. He began on the same footing as all of us. But He gave the necessary heed and diligence to His Father to attain the resurrection. While it may take worlds without end for us to do the same, there is every reason to believe Jesus Christ has likewise been progressing worlds without end before His life here. As the prototype of the saved man, Christ proves to us that our faith is not in vain. God the Father is faithful and true, and we are allowed to grow by following His pathway to become like Him.

The Lord inspires us, even speaks with us through individuals He has chosen from time to time. But it is only the message, not the messenger who matters. If the messenger is made the object of veneration, it will damn their followers. 

And the glory of the telestial is one, even as the glory of the stars are one, for as one star differs from another star in glory, even so differs one from another …glory in the telestial world. For these are they who are of Paul, and of Apollos, and of Cephas. These are they who say they are some of one and some of another: some of Christ, …some of John, …some of Moses, …some of Elias, …some of Esaias, …some of Isaiah, …some of Enoch, but received not the gospel, neither the testimony of Jesus, neither the prophets, neither the everlasting covenants. (T&C 69:26)

Men are, in their mortal state, never “good”—even Christ declined to say He was “good” while in the flesh. But Christ came to do the Father’s will, and that came from the One who is good. So, also, when a message comes from the Lord, the messenger is merely the mechanism used by the Lord. The Lord’s words are all that deserve respect. 

When the king sends a messenger to deliver his letter, and the messenger delivers the message by reading it with a stammering tongue, but hands the letter to the recipient, [and] then the letter can be read, and the messenger has been faithful to his king. The letter stands as the king’s word, and the messenger has done his part. (T&C 180)

The only rule for the messenger is to be faithful to the Lord. And the duty imposed on the Lord’s people is limited to and defined by the message. None of the messengers has been anything more than a mere man—flawed, and weak, and subject to all the infirmities we share. But when trusted with the Lord’s message, then the message is the Lord’s.

Jesus spoke of John the Baptist in words that describe him as a seraph: 

You sent unto John, and he bore witness also unto the truth. And he received not [the] testimony of man, but of God. And you yourselves say that he is a prophet, therefore, you ought to [have] receive[d] his testimony. These things I say that you might be saved. He was a burning and [a] shining light, and you were willing for a season to rejoice in [that] light. (John 5:6) 

But the Baptist testified of Christ:

There is one standing among you, whom you do not acknowledge and I bear testimony of him. He is the one foretold by Moses, and he will preach following my witness of him. He has progressed beyond me so much that in comparison I am not worthy to kneel before him; his shoe’s latchet I am not worthy to unloose, nor am I worthy to wash his feet. I could never substitute for him. (Testimony of St. John 1:8)

Or as stated in John 1:4:

There stands one among you whom you know not. He it is of whom I bear record. He is that Prophet, even Elias, who, coming after me, is preferred before me, whose shoe’s latchet I am not worthy to untie, or whose place I am not able to fill.

We should never lose our justified awe for Jesus Christ. In addition to all that has been covered in this talk, the experience of Moses with the Lord reminds us of the Lord’s great glory. 

And the presence of God withdrew from Moses, that his glory was not upon him, and Moses was left unto himself. And as he was left unto himself, he fell unto the earth. And it came to pass that it was for the space of many hours before he did again receive his natural strength like unto man. And he said unto himself, Now for this [cause] I know that man is nothing, which thing I [had never] supposed. But now my eyes have beheld God — but not my natural eyes, but my spiritual, for my natural eyes could not have beheld, for I should have withered and died in his presence. But his glory was upon me and I beheld his face, for I was transfigured before him. (Genesis 1:2)

King Benjamin explained our dependence on the Lord:

I say unto you, my brethren, that if you should render all the thanks and praise which your whole souls have power to possess, to that God who…created you, and has kept and preserved you, and…caused that [you] should rejoice, …granted [unto you] that [you] should live in peace [with one] another — I say unto you that if ye should serve him who has created you from the beginning, and art preserving you from day to day by lending you breath that ye may live, and move, and do according to your own will, and even supporting you from one moment to another — I say [unto you], if ye should serve him with all your whole soul, yet ye would be unprofitable servants. (Mosiah 1:8 RE)

In the Covenant of Christ, it says: 

I want to remind you that if you used all your energy to thank God and praise Him to the fullest, acknowledging He has created you, watched over and preserved you, filled you with joy, and given you the ability to live in peace with one another, you would still not be able to repay Him for all He’s done for you. God is the one who created you from the very beginning, and He’s the one who continues to preserve you day [to] day by giving you breath so that you can live, [and] move, and act according to your own will. He’s even supporting you from one moment to the next. Therefore I urge you to serve Him with your entire soul. Even if you do this, you’ll still be unprofitable servants. (Ibid. CE)

He invites us to “follow Him” and has provided the example. He is the single example and the confirming proof of the Father’s plan for mankind.

Let me close by testifying that Jesus Christ is more intelligent than us all. John the Baptist was apparently more worthy than any of us, as Christ said of John: Truly I say unto you, among them that are born of women, there has not risen…greater than John the Baptist (Matthew 6:2). Christ created all we see, entered into this world as a man, suffered unjustly all the tragic horrors that result from our sins, voluntarily laid down His life, and had the right to then take it up again. He opened the way for all of us to also rise from the grave. He has no peer. He is greater than us all. It is a mistake to think we will easily or effortlessly be like Him.

I began this talk by referring to the Scripture: We talk of Christ, we rejoice in Christ, we preach of Christ, we prophesy of Christ, and we write according to our prophecies so that our children can know to what source they can look for a remission of their sins (2 Nephi 11:8 CE). I would add to that, we “follow” Christ—because for any upward progress, we know we are required to follow Him.

There was a conversation between Christ and the Sanhedrin that took place following His arrest and during His trial. Although we consider the Sanhedrin part of the “most wicked” and the only ones who would kill their God, we should let Christ’s dialogue with them provoke our reflection about our status.

Then Jesus repeated to them, I will continue onward following the path of my Father, and you will not accompany me, but will instead die under the burden of your sins. Therefore you cannot go where I will be. Then the Sanhedrin scornfully asked, Does he plan to kill himself? Is that why he said, The path he will take we will not join? And Jesus responded to them, You are from a lower estate. I am from the Heavens. You are stuck in this world, and I am not of this world. Because of this I said to you that you will die burdened with sins. If you do not believe that I am sent by the Most High God, bringing light and life with me, you will die burdened with sins. They said to him, So tell us who you claim to be. And Jesus answered them, I am the same…I told you from the beginning.

I have many things to teach that will be used to judge you; and the one who sent me is the Source of all truth. I am teaching what he has sent me to teach and he provided my message. They did not understand that he was speaking the words of Father Ahman. Then Jesus added, When you have lifted up the Son of Man, then you will realize…I am [the] Son Ahman, and that I have done nothing on my own; but as my Father has taught me, I repeat his words. He sent me and accompanies me here; the Father has never abandoned my side. I always do the things that please him.

When he spoke these words, many believed on him.

Then Jesus addressed those Jews who believed on him, Only if you continue to follow my teachings will you be my students indeed, because you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free. The leaders interrupted to claim, We are Abraham’s descendants, and have never been slaves to any man. Why do you say we will become free? Jesus answered them, In the name of Father Ahman I say [to] you, Whoever misses the mark is the slave of errors. And such a slave will not be allowed to be within Abraham’s house in the resurrection, but the Son will remain part of God’s Family forever. (Testimony of St. John 6:15-18)

We cannot rely solely on our status to progress upward. Jesus Christ faithfully followed what the Father required. He set the mark and provided the example for us to follow. Now we are offered the same opportunity to continue on the upward journey. But moving upward is only accomplished by obedience and fidelity to the Father’s plan. Jesus Christ is the revelation of what following that plan requires of us.

As one of the seraphim of Heaven confessed, none of us are worthy to touch His feet in adoration and submission to Him. Yet we vainly often think ourselves equal to Him without having done any of the great things that were required of Him. I hope that we will show our Lord more awe, respect, and adoration, and that we will have more humility, as the Lord’s status has been defended in this talk. Although He is willing to condescend to speak with us in plain humility, as one person speaks to another, we should never lose sight of who He is and what He has done for us.

As stated earlier, Jesus Christ is both the author and dispenser of mercy and has set the condition for us to access that mercy. This leads us to Christ’s doctrine, which establishes the requirement to obtain mercy and forms the foundation for being a disciple of His or a “Christian”—or more correctly, a Covenant Christian.

Listen carefully to what I tell you: I will declare to you My doctrine. This is My doctrine, and it is the doctrine that the Father has given…Me: I testify of the Father, and the Father testifies of Me, and the Holy Ghost testifies of the Father and Me. I also testify the Father commands all people everywhere to repent and believe in Me. And anyone who believes in Me and is baptized will be saved, and they are who will inherit God’s kingdom. But anyone who doesn’t believe in Me and isn’t baptized will be damned. In truth I tell you this is My doctrine, and I testify of it from the Father. Anyone who believes in Me also believes in the Father, and the Father will testify to them of Me, since He will visit them with fire and with the Holy Ghost. In this way the Father will testify of Me, and the Holy Ghost will testify to them of the Father and Me, because the Father and I and the Holy Ghost are united as one. In addition, I say to you: You must repent and become as a little child and be baptized in My name, [and] under no circumstance[s] can you receive these things. And again, I say to you: You must repent and be baptized in My name and become as a little child, or under no circumstances can you inherit God’s kingdom. In truth I tell you this is My doctrine. Whoever builds on this builds on My rock, and the gates of hell will not prevail against them. And those who declare more or less than this and establish it as My doctrine advocate evil and are not built upon My rock, but are built [up]on a sandy foundation, and the gates of hell [shall] stand open to receive them when the floods come and the wind pounds them. Therefore go to this people and declare to the farthest reaches of the earth the words…[I have] spoken. (3 Nephi 5:9 CE; see also 3 Nephi 5:9 RE, emphasis added)

It is my prayer that you will accept and follow the Lord’s doctrine and obtain mercy. 

In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

—————

Now, that’s the talk that I was to give today, and it’s been given. But there’s a couple of things that have come to my attention that I want… I just want to comment on, completely unrelated to what I just said. 

A comprehensive study has been done for the first time involving the generation of kids that have grown up and are now in young adulthood who received a[n] information dispensing phone/a smartphone (not just something you can call on, but something that operates to connect you to the Internet). What they have found is that those who have used and had access continuously to smartphones have significantly appreciably smaller brain mass than those that did not have them as they were growing up. They have less empathy for their fellow man. They have… They lack a number of social skills.

What the generation that grew up with smartphones faced is nothing to compare what is coming to kids that are growing up with access to artificial intelligence. The future with artificial intelligence is going to generally mass-produce arrogance, coupled with stupidity, because people will depend upon it in an inappropriate way. 

Smartphones are a wonderful thing. They do not need to become your life. Artificial intelligence is a tool.

I have read and taught the Scriptures for decades, spending many hours every week studying (word by word, phrase by phrase, verse by verse) scriptures before teaching a 50-minute lesson in an LDS Sunday School or in an LDS priesthood setting for about three decades, and then I’ve gone on from there to study and teach from the Scriptures thereafter. So when my wife asks me a question about a scripture, I reflect, I recall, and then I give her two or three keywords that will allow her to locate, in an online search, the place where you can find the scriptures. But the reason why I have the ability to access that and to identify that is because of decades of study that preceded it. 

Use of the smartphone access is a wonderful thing because it saves a lot of time in finding the access. But if you never study them, you never put them inside of you as a mechanism to recall, if the only thing you do is do a word search and you tree the scripture, you APPEAR to know what the hell you’re talking about, but you don’t! It produces a result with none of the process.

The process is everything. Artificial intelligence has to be subordinated to—absolutely subordinated to—the development of your intellect, the development of your understanding, the reading of libraries of material. If you want to know something about the history of the development of language, read The Wheel, the Horse, and the Chariot: The Study of the Development of Indo-European Language [The Horse, the Wheel, and Language: How Bronze-Age Riders from the Eurasian Steppes Shaped the Modern World]. Read and study the bibliography that’s in the back. Don’t do a word search on the Internet, get a result, bark the result out—because as soon as you’re through looking it up and as soon as you’re through displaying your understanding, it’s gone. It’s gone. You’ve left yourself impoverished because the result that has been yielded is not worth the moments that it took or the arrogance with which you announced your correction or your answer. It’s vacuous. It’s empty. Artificial intelligence is gonna tempt people continuously to try and get the result, to try and get the answer, and to do nothing to prepare themselves to think and to reason and to reflect and to possess within themselves a body of information that allows you to critically think. 

The mass marketing, the mass intrusion into your lives by cunning and conspiring men who are only in the employ of your adversary is part of the features of what we face in this life. It’s everywhere. It’s ubiquitous. (Learn that word—it means, it’s everywhere. Ubiquitous is a good word.)

I remember before the fall of the Soviet Union, the people behind the Iron Curtain had been imposed upon with coercive, government-imposed atheism. Schools taught atheism. They were opposed to God. And the people behind the Iron Curtain were starving for religion. In fact, before the fall of the Iron Curtain, the belief was: As soon as it falls, there’s going to be a mass revival; you’re gonna find more believers and more Christians, more baptisms, more converts; you’re gonna find them in mass behind the Iron Curtain. And the Iron Curtain fell (it was about the first two months?), religious revival began—almost immediately! But then pornography, and greed, and marketing things that were appealing to the appetites of the flesh invaded a previously atheist-imposed society with indulgence. And as a result, the revival that was expected to happen didn’t happen because their minds were distracted by other things that appealed to the fleshly appetites and distracted them from any deeper meaning for life.

What’s coming in iPhones, I mean, how many stupid…? Attention spans have been reduced to… What? Three minutes? Two to three minutes in young kids? Just sitting through a talk that is as long as the one my wife gave and the one that I just gave is useful to the youth to help them develop a longer attention span. 

I remember, growing up… I wasn’t Mormon. In fact, we didn’t particularly think well of Mormons when I was growing up. But the one thing we all knew—everyone in my hometown knew—that the Mormon kids knew how to give public speaking assignments. They could speak! They could get up on their feet and talk because they’d learned how to do so in Primary and in Sunday School; they had been exposed to that. You young people that have been and are listening to this, you’re benefited by having the opportunity to focus your mind for a longer period than three minutes. You’re benefited by having brought to your attention things that deserve study and reflection and meditation.

Don’t just word search your Scriptures. Read them cover to cover. And when you finish, read ‘em again, cover to cover. I don’t know how many times I’ve read all of the Scriptures that we’ve got from one cover to the next. But once you’ve done that and done that often enough, you have a repository inside of you, an entire library inside of you that you can access through your memory. You’ll find that you are able to meditate upon things that your friends/your peers cannot access because they’ve never been exposed to it. 

Artificial intelligence is coming as a tool that can be used subordinated to your own critical thinking, your own study, your own development of your internal library. Because otherwise, what the future holds for all of those who think that they’ve got an answer because they’ve accessed AI is ignorance coupled with arrogance and a complete absence of critical thinking. 

Okay, enough of that. Um, I hope that…

I found one misplaced quotation mark as I was reading this. So, it’ll be this evening before I get back and move the quotation mark to where it belongs. (You think I’m being anal? If I don’t do that, I will get emails informing me that I’ve got a misplaced quotation mark.) 

Listen, thank all of you who have participated, all of you who have come. It was really a delight to have the opportunity to spend some time talking to people (people I’ve never talked to before). I very much appreciate all that the Lori and Reed and all those in the Boise Fellowship have sacrificed—and it is a sacrifice. This facility didn’t come free. It required sacrifice to put on a conference, as it always does, and we owe a debt of gratitude to those. I hope that in the future everyone feels compelled to come to one of these, because you will meet new people, and it is a very laudable thing. 

(Did you call on someone for a closing prayer? Oh, good.) All right, I’ll turn it back over to Lori. Thank you.

In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

The post In Defense of Jesus Christ appeared first on Restoration Archives Blog.

The following talk by Stephanie Snuffer was delivered at the “Let Us Rejoice” General Conference, held in the Jewett Auditorium at the College of Idaho, Caldwell, Idaho, on Sunday, August 31, 2025.

Good morning. I have a daughter who says the way you do one thing is the way you do everything. So, I’d like you all to check out where you’re sitting in the auditorium. Are you front row, back row? Because I’m a back row kind of gal, which must mean that’s how I do everything. So…just something I noticed as I look at the consistent seating arrangements of people who come into these places. 

Okay. Thank you, conference organizers: Lori, Reed. This really has been wonderful. And it’s funny that you commented on the socialization, because without realizing consciously this morning that that was the whole point of the conference, I’m like, “Wow, there’s been so much to do,” like running from one thing to the next. It’s been really lovely. So, all you who participated, contributed, helped out: Thank you very much. It really has been wonderful.

Alright. A (I don’t know…) a few weeks ago, I had a friend in our neighborhood text me, and she says, “Hey, I have to give this lesson in Relief Society, and I want to run some ideas by you.” And I said, “Okay,” so we made arrangements, and she came over. She sent me the talk, and I read it, and she came over, and we had a nice little chat, and it was a talk by Elder Uchtdorf—and I don’t remember the name of it, but it perfectly aligned with the topic that I had already chosen to speak about today. And I thought, “Huh, that’s interesting.” And then I have a book club that I’m part of, and the book that we read perfectly aligned with the topic I had chosen to speak on at this conference. And I thought, “Huh, that’s interesting.” And it’s really not interesting. It really is just God saying, “Hey, Steph, go ahead with your topic. It sounds like a good one.” 

So, the talk that Elder Uchtdorf gave was him taking a non-member to church on Easter Sunday in Germany, and he really wanted this meeting to be great. And it was in the upstairs storeroom of a grocery store, and it was noisy, and the kids were misbehaved. And he talked about just how horrible he felt about this experience and how embarrassed he was. And he’s just getting ready to explain to this woman (when the meeting is over) that “It’s not always like that,” and “We’re better behaved,” and make all the excuses in the world that he could for this imperfect meeting. And she says, “That was wonderful!” And he stopped, checked himself, and she continued, and she said, “It was the people. It was how they loved each other, how they treated each other.”

Very often, what people are likely to notice above all else is how they feel when they’re with us and how we treat each other. And John 9:5 says, A new commandment I give unto you: that you love one another — as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this shall…men know that [ye] are my disciples — if ye have one love one to another. 

This is key. This is a person’s first impression of a disciple of Jesus Christ is how they treat the people around them.

Here on Earth, we look at each other through the lens of physical appearance, nationality, language, clothing, customs, so on. But God does not look on the outward appearance of people. He looks on the heart.

Naturally, we want to be around people who are like us. We want to be around people who look like us, talk like us, think like us, act like us. It’s a natural way to feel. And there IS a place for that. But in Christ’s church, He gathers ALL who are willing to be gathered. It is not our physical appearance. It’s not our political views. It’s not our culture, our ethnicity, or any of those external things that bring us together. It is common background that unites us. It is NOT common background that unites us. It is a common objective. And that common objective needs to be our love of the Savior, love for our neighborhood, and our commitment to Jesus Christ and what He is doing on the Earth today. 

We are only “one” when we are one in Christ. The Lord invites us not just to join this work but to be anxiously engaged in this work. He envisions a people who are of one heart and one mind. And to be of one heart and one mind, we must seek pure hearts. And that requires a mighty change of OUR heart. That does not mean me changing my heart to align with yours. That doesn’t mean you changing your heart to align with mine. It means that we all change our hearts to align with the Savior.

God only sees one category/one label, and we all fit perfectly into this one category and this one label, and that is “a child of God.” So, when you’re in a group of people and you look different and you act different and you think different and you feel kind of silly or kind of embarrassed or kind of put off, that’s not God. That’s man. Because God wants us all to be part of the body of Christ. 

The ears perceive things that the eyes never could. The feet do things that the hands would be completely ineffective at. 

1 Corinthians 1:49 

For as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of that one body, being many, are one body, so also is Christ. For by one spirit are we all baptized into one body, whether we are Jews or Gentiles, whether we are bond or free, and have been all made to drink into one spirit. For the body is not one member, but many. If the foot shall say, Because I am not the hand, I am not of the body — is it therefore not of the body? And if the ear shall say, Because I am not the eye, I am not of the body — [it is] therefore not of the body? If the whole body were an eye, where would be the hearing? If the whole were hearing, where would be the smelling? But now [God has] set the members, every one of them, in the body as it has pleased him. And if they were all one member, where would be the body? But now [they are] many members, yet but one body. And the eye cannot say unto the hand, I have no need of you. Nor again the head to the feet, I have no need of you. Nay, much more those members of the body which seem to be more feeble are necessary, and those members of the body which we think to be less honorable, upon these we bestow more abundant honor. And our uncomely parts have more abundant comeliness, for our comely parts have no need. But God has tempered the body together, having given more abundant honor to that part which lacked, that there should be no schism in the body, but that the members should have…[some] care one for another. And whether one member suffer, all the members suffer with it; or one member is honored, all the members rejoice with it. Now you are the body of Christ, and members in particular.

The unity we seek is not to have everyone stand in the same place. It is to have everyone face the same direction, toward Christ. We are not one because of where we have been but where we are striving to go, not because of who we are but because of who we seek to become. That is what Christ’s true church is all about. We are not going to get closer to God by getting closer to each other. But we will get closer to each other by getting closer to God. Each one of us must have a personal relationship with our Savior, Jesus Christ, and our Heavenly Parents. And that’s what God is seeking for us. He wants to be an integral part of our lives, not just some distant deity but a loving presence who desires a personal relationship with each one of us. And there are plenty of scriptures that show us that. 

Psalm 34:4, in part, reads, 

The righteous cry and the Lord hears and delivers them out of all [of] their troubles. The Lord is near unto them that are of a broken heart and saves such as be of a contrite spirit. Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the Lord delivers him out of them all. He keeps all his bones; not one of them is broken. Evil shall slay the wicked and they that hate the righteous shall be desolate. The Lord redeems the soul of his servants and none of them that trust in him shall be desolate. 

This verse reflects God’s immediate response to our struggles and His closeness in our times of pain and distress and unhappiness. He desires to be present during all of our challenges.

Testimony of St. John 10:19 says, 

This is my commandment: That you love one another as I have loved you. No man loves more than when he is willing to sacrifice his life to save his friends. You are my friends if you do whatever I communicate to you. Beginning now, I will no longer call you my servants because a servant does not share his Lord’s life. But I make you my friends because everything I received from my Father I have shared and will yet share with you. You did not choose me, but I have chosen you, and ordained you, that you should progress and become fruitful, that your fruit will testify on your behalf forever, that whatever I direct you to seek from my Father you will be able to obtain. I have taught these things to you to enable you to share my love among one another. 

This is an expression of Christ’s desire for a more profound and meaningful relationship than mere servitude. This highlights the friendship aspect of our connection with him. 

Psalm 139:1 

O Lord, you have searched me and known me. You know my sitting down and my rising up. You understand my thought [from] afar off. You encompass my path and my lying down, and are acquainted with all my ways. For there is not a word in my tongue, but behold, O Lord, you know it altogether. You have beset me behind and before, and laid your hand upon me. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me. It is high. I cannot attain unto it. Where shall I go from your spirit? Or where shall I flee from your presence? If I ascend up into Heaven, you are there. If I make my bed in hell, behold, you are there. If I take the wings of the morning and dwell in the farthest parts of the sea, even there shall your hand lead me, and your right hand shall hold me.

This passage, it’s about the omnipresence of God, emphasizing that He is always with us, encouraging a deep and ongoing relationship. 

Traditional religious teachings often present a set of established truths to be accepted, sometimes implying that doubt is a sign of weakness or a lack of faith. One of the difficult ways to connect with God is when we find ourselves in these places. God is not afraid of your doubt. He’s not afraid of your questions. And He will use those questions to draw nearer to you, and He will not push you away. He can handle your hardest questions, your biggest struggles, your secrets, the things you tell no one. He knows. So the common assumption that expressing these difficulties to God (or anyone else, for that matter) is shameful and distances you from God is not true. These are the things that draw us closer. God accepts us as we are. He does not require us to be free from our struggles to experience His closeness. 

The New Testament emphasizes this and emphasizes asking God for wisdom, suggesting that He welcomes these sincere inquiries. In the Epistle of Jacob 1:2, it says, 

My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into many afflictions, knowing this, that the trying of your faith works patience; but let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect…entire, lacking nothing. If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and upbraids not, and it shall be given him. But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering, for he that wavers is like a wave of the sea, driven with the wind and tossed; for let not that man think that he shall receive anything [from] the Lord. A double-minded man is unstable in all his ways. 

This is a cornerstone verse for the idea that God is generous with His knowledge and does not rebuke those who seek it. It directly implies that questions, particularly those seeking wisdom, are encouraged and will always be answered in God’s time. 

Matthew 3:42 says, in part, Say unto them, Ask of God. Ask and it shall be given you, seek and you shall find, knock and it shall be opened unto you; for everyone that asks, receives; and he that seeks, finds; …to him that knocks, it shall be opened. 

This is from the Sermon on the Mount and provides a direct invitation—a direct invitation—to grow in spiritual understanding by asking God. These efforts (and it IS effort) will be rewarded by Him. God has an open-door policy. I remember a saying from (probably) Primary. (Now I’m going to forget it. Um… )

This radio set called prayer 

Is designed for remarkably simple repair. 

When the lines fail, there is no doubt 

Whose side of the radio is out.

See? I’ve always remembered that. God is always there. He’s waiting for me.

Enos 1:1-8 [Enos 1:1 CE],

I Enos respected my father because he taught me to read and understand his language, and that allowed me to be guided and corrected by the Lord. May the name of God be blessed for it. I’ll tell you about the struggle I had with God before receiving forgiveness of my sins. I went to hunt animals in the forest, and the lessons I had often heard from my father about eternal life and the joy of the holy ones sank deep into my heart, and I wanted that to my very soul. Therefore I knelt down before my Maker and cried [un]to Him in powerful prayer in an appeal [of] my own soul. I prayed to Him all day long. When the night came, I continued to pray out loud to get the attention of heaven. Then a voice came to me saying: Enos, your sins are forgiven, and you will be Blessed. And because I knew God couldn’t lie, I felt no more guilt. Then I asked: Lord, how did it happen? And He replied: Because of your faith in Christ, whom you haven’t heard or seen before this. Many years from now He’ll reveal Himself as a man. Press on, your faith has made you whole.

The entire account of Enos describes his wrestle before God in mighty prayer and supplication for a remission of his sins. Enos’s experience highlights this concept of a deeply engaging God who wants us to bring our spirituality, our wrestle, our struggles, our pleas to Him, pouring our souls out to a God who loves us unquestionably, and then receive direct answers. 

“Lord, how is it done?” He wants to know how he is forgiven from a god he has not seen nor heard. God responds to our sincere inquiries.

Many traditional religious settings may encourage a facade of having it all together or offer a rather simplistic platitude to extremely complex problems. So addressing personal struggles and being vulnerable with those things can be extremely difficult. However, God wants us to approach Them with a focus on overcoming our struggles through our faith, while we acknowledge the ongoing messy reality of life.

In Mosiah 4:2 [Mosiah 2:1 CE], after King Benjamin’s people hear his sermon, they all of a sudden recognize just how terrible they are, and they say and the scripture says, 

They looked at themselves in their carnal state, feeling no better than dust on the ground. In unison, they cried out: Have mercy on us and purify our hearts with Christ’s atoning blood, that we might receive a remission of our sins. They believed in Jesus, the Son of God who created all things, heaven, and earth, and who would come down to mankind. 

This entire group of people, standing at this space and time, all in unison, cry out about how poorly they feel about themselves. This is a desperate plea of a group of people—who feel no better than the dust of the earth—for mercy. And this group of people demonstrate a willingness to expose their spiritual need rather than pretending to be righteous. We are not. They were not.

2 Corinthians 1:43 says, 

And lest I should be exalted above measure through the abundance of the revelations, there was given to me a thorn in the flesh, the messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I should be exalted above measure. For this thing, I implored the Lord three times that it might depart from me. And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for you; for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. Therefore, I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ’s sake; for when I am weak, then I am strong. 

This passage directly confronts the idea of needing to be strong to have it all together. And yet, here’s Paul who says, “I’ll just embrace my infirmities. I’ll embrace my weaknesses,” because it is precisely in those moments of weakness and hurt that Christ’s power is made manifest.

This scripture encourages a profound vulnerability and reliance on God rather than self-sufficiency. We are truly nothing and can do nothing without God. One of the core messages in Scriptures is that God does not need you to change in order for Him to love you. He does not require you to be free of these struggles in order for Him to be close to you. This contrasts with some of the traditional teachings that you may have heard growing up (or we may just internalize on our own) that might implicitly or explicitly link God’s favor or acceptance to adherence to specific behaviors or doctrines, or that we need to be a cleaned-up version of ourselves before God will communicate with us. And as a reminder, God is big enough and trustworthy enough and lovable enough and loving enough to handle our biggest and deepest troubles. He expects us to be accountable and follow the commandments, but He does not expect us to be perfect. 

In 2 Nephi 11:17 [CE], in part, it says, 

So the Lord God has commanded everyone to have charity — that is, love — and unless they have charity, they’re nothing. As a result, if they had charity, they wouldn’t allow those who labor in Zion to waste away. But laborers in Zion must work for the good of Zion since they’ll perish if they work only for money. Again, the Lord God has commanded people not to murder, not to lie, not to steal, not to misuse His name, not to envy, not to hate, not to fight with each other, not to commit whoredoms — not to do any of these things. Because whoever does them will perish, since none of these iniquities comes from the Lord. Indeed, He does what’s good among mankind. And He doesn’t do anything without it being clear to mankind. He invites everyone to come to Him and share in His goodness and doesn’t deny anyone who comes to Him, black or white, enslaved or free, male or female; and He remembers those who don’t worship Him or know Him or know anything about Him. All are the same to God — Jews and Gentiles.

This is God’s universal love for the world and God’s desire to draw all men unto Him through the atonement. The invitation is broad. It is inclusive, and it is not limited to a select few people who have achieved some certain level of righteousness.

Okay. So this is a little bit of transition here because I came across the King David, the story of David and (because of the book that I was reading) read it in an entirely different way than I had ever read it before. And so we’re going to look a little bit deeper into the Old Testament and focus on David’s story. 

So David is referred to as a man after God’s own heart. And the narrative in the Old Testament is a… just a broad, multi-faceted exploration of faith, sin, and the enduring pursuit of a relationship with God. David is a warrior, a king, a sinner, a murderer, an adulterer. And he presents such a compelling picture of someone who is so deeply flawed yet profoundly connected to God.  And so when it says David is a man after God’s own heart, this made a lot more sense to me after reading it this way. 

So let’s do 1 Samuel 6:4, 

And it came to pass that as soon as he [was] made an end of offering the burnt offering[s], behold, Samuel came. And Saul went out to meet him, that he might salute him. And Samuel said, What have you done? And Saul said, Because I saw that the people were scattered from me, and that you came not within the days appointed, and that the Philistines gathered themselves together at Michmash, therefore said I, The Philistines will come down now upon me to Gilgal, and I have not made supplication unto the Lord. I forced myself therefore and offered a burnt offering. And Samuel said to Saul, You have done foolishly. You have not kept the commandment of the Lord your God which he commanded you. For now would the Lord have established your kingdom upon Israel for ever; but now your kingdom shall not continue. The Lord has sought him a man after his own heart, and the Lord has commanded him to be captain over his people, because you have not kept that which the Lord commanded you. 

So that’s the only reference I could find in the Scriptures that let us know that David was the king that God was referring to. At this point, …Samuel arose and went up from Gilgal unto Gibeah of Benjamin. Alright. God chose David and wanted a deep personal relationship with him, and David was a hot mess. 

2 Samuel 4:1-11: Adultery. 

2 Samuel 4:14: Murder.

…And plenty of other sins. 

But in those sins, in that terrible, terrible turmoil, David ALWAYS returned to God. His honesty and lamentations and praise is reflected all over the Psalms. 

Psalm 51:1  

Have mercy upon me, O God, according to your loving kindness. According unto the multitude of your tender mercies, blot out my transgressions. Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin. For I acknowledge my transgressions and my sin is ever before me. Against you, you only, have I sinned and done evil in your sight, that you might be justified when you speak and be clear when you judge. Behold, I was shaped in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me. Behold, you desire truth in the inward parts, and in the hidden part you shall make me to [have] wisdom. 

This example teaches that seeking God is an act of humility and authenticity. And as modern-day believers, we need to be like David. We need to approach God with our openness and our acknowledgment of our weaknesses and our sins. 

Many individuals today encounter barriers similar to those David faced, which hinders our efforts to form a relationship with God. Some of those include shame and guilt, the heaviness of past sins. I don’t know how often you have a hard time praying because of where your heart is, or your mind is, or your life is. But oftentimes, an inability to pray creates feelings of unworthiness. David’s case illustrates that even the gravest sins can be brought before God in repentance. 

Very often, we are distracted. We have too much going on. We’re too busy. We have too many children. (We don’t have too many children, but we have children, and they’re a lot.) And then sometimes we have grandchildren, and they’re a lot too. And sometimes we have jobs, and distraction is a huge part. And so in a world saturated with all of these responsibilities, finding a quiet space for prayer can be challenging. Can you imagine: I don’t think David prayed in his kitchen with all of his kids running around. I don’t know. But we have to really put aside time. 

So David notes his struggles with distraction when he cries out in Psalm 42:1, and he says, 

As the hart pants after the water brooks, so pants my soul after you, O God. My soul thirsts to see God, to see the living God. When shall I come and appear before you, O God? My tears have been poured out unto you day and night while my enemies continually say unto me, Where is your God? When I remember these my enemies, I pour out my soul unto you, for I had gone with the multitude. I also went with them to the house of God with the voice of joy and praise, with the multitude that kept holy day. Why are you cast down, O my soul? And why are you disquieted in me? Hope in God, for I shall yet praise him for the help of his countenance. 

Another thing that might keep us from this kind of relationship with God is our doubts. And as I said before, God can handle your doubts. And David expressed doubts quite frequently. In Psalm 13:1, he says, 

How long, O Lord, will you withdraw yourself from me? How long will you hide your face from me, that I may not see you? Will you forget me and cast me off from your presence for ever? How long shall I take counsel in my soul, sorrowing in my heart daily? How long shall my enemy be exalted over me? Consider me, O Lord, and hear my cry, O my God, and lighten my eyes lest I sleep the death of the ungodly, lest my enemy say, I have prevailed against him. Those that trouble me rejoice when I am moved. But I have trusted in your mercy. My heart shall rejoice in your salvation. I will sing unto the Lord because he has dealt bountifully with me.

Another reason we might have difficulty connecting with God would be cultural and societal pressures. This cultural belief that you must be perfect to approach God, you must be morally perfect (we’ll go with that: “morally perfect”) in order to connect with God, can be very disheartening. David’s life encourages believers that God desires genuine connection over perfection. 

The other thing that David did that we probably should do more of (or I can speak for myself) is a remarkable persistence in seeking God. David’s extraordinary commitment to seek after God despite his faults is one of the ways that enabled him to be called “a man after God’s own heart.” His ability to repent and his desire for restoration with the Lord makes his story quite remarkable. In Psalm 73:3 [John 9:5], it says, 

Therefore, when he had gone out, Jesus said, Now is the Son of Man glorified, and God is glorified in him. If God should be glorified in him, God shall also glorify him in himself, and shall immediately glorify him. Little children, yet a little while I am with you. You shall seek me, and as I said unto the Jews — Where I go, you cannot come — so now I say to you. A new commandment I give unto you: that you love one another — as I have loved you, that you also [have] love one another. By this shall all men know that you are my disciples — if you have love one to another. 

David was authentic in his prayers. He brought his true self to God, expressing all of his emotions without any kind of pretense. He acknowledged both his joys and his sorrows. In Psalm 62:2, it says, 

My soul, wait only upon God, for my expectation is from him. He only is my rock and my salvation. He is my defense. I shall not be moved. In God is my salvation and my glory. The rock of my strength and my refuge is in God. Trust in him at all times, you people. Pour out your heart before him. God is a refuge for us. 

The other thing David did was embrace repentance. He understands that acknowledging sin is essential. And so we need to approach God with a repentant heart.

1 John 1:3 

If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar and his word is not in us.

The other thing David did was made prayer a priority. Set aside times for prayer to establish consistency, and make prayer the kind of prayer that David prayed (to the God that David prayed to) a habit in your life. 

David also celebrated God’s presence. He knew that no matter what he did, God was always with him. And he also knew that the only—the ONLY—person who could give him the forgiveness and absolve him of his sins was God. And so he engaged in praise and thanksgiving and recognized God’s goodness in all circumstances. 

Psalm 100

Make a joyful noise unto the Lord, all you lands. Serve the Lord with gladness. Come before his presence with singing. Know that the Lord, he is God. It is he that has made us, and not we ourselves. We are his people and the sheep of his pasture. Enter into his gates with thanksgiving and into his courts with praise. Be thankful unto him and bless his name, for the Lord is good. His mercy is everlasting, and his truth endures to all generations. 

Okay. David’s story is a story of a man—an extraordinarily flawed man—who pursued a relationship with God relentlessly. He spent little time thinking about whether or not others were doing the same thing, or if they were doing it like him, or if he should intervene with how they were doing it.

Our journey of faith is not defined by others’ successes or failures but by our compassionate understanding that we are only the same, and we are only “one” insofar as we are all relentlessly pursuing God.

We all live in a state of imperfection, and that is the only thing that is the same about us. Our oneness comes from believing in and worshiping the God David worshiped with the same devotion he did. Our hope should be a oneness and a unity when we all hear “the Lord has sought him a man or a woman after his own heart,” and have that be us.

In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

The post Hearts Aligned with God appeared first on Restoration Archives Blog.

This talk was delivered at a conference in Provo, Utah, on April 13, 2025.

I appreciated the earlier talk. I don’t know how many people, either remotely viewing or joining us later, heard the first talk, but I think Micah made a number of really important points. 

I appreciate the invitation from the conference organizers to speak today. I’ve been working on this talk since the Winter Solstice. The Lord’s work is vast. And this talk is gonna shed light on more of the Lord’s great plan. This is a message specifically intended for our group and not something to be taught to others who lack the necessary background to understand it. Without the necessary background in our Scriptures and prior teachings, a novice would have difficulty putting this talk into a correct perspective.

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This talk results from my discouragement at what I have observed of us. We’re not like other religious groups. We have no public relations or marketing resources to conceal our infighting. That’s a good thing, in my opinion. Our disagreements and infighting are conducted publicly, and nothing about them is hidden from others. This gives us a much more realistic view of ourselves than any institution that conceals its internal conflicts or misrepresents the cracks within its membership. We are far more transparent than institutional denominations. Because of this, we should have no illusions about our weaknesses and disagreements. I do not. 

We have problems. Our group clearly includes people with severe personality disorders. Some people have trauma from their past, making it difficult to develop healthy relationships with others. There are people who lack self-awareness and are puzzled when they offend others with their inappropriate conduct. Additionally, many of us refuse to ever accept responsibility for our own dreadful behavior. Our infighting suggests we’re not true followers of Jesus as He describes it: I give a new commandment, That you love one another. Love [one an]other as I have loved you. If you have love [to one an]other, it will be a sign that will identify you to all mankind as my followers (TSJ 10:7).

There are narcissists, egomaniacs, and aspiring souls who crave recognition because they’re hollow inside. There are sexual deviants. At least two men are in prison for sex crimes. I have heard allegations of at least one other man who may also represent a sexual threat to children. Our ranks include many who cannot be gathered into a community of peace of one heart and one mind. 

We have people in our community who are marred by sin and unrepentant. There are foolish people led astray by their egos and ambitions who assert they’re entitled to lead others. They ask to be supported by tithes and be given offices and positions of authority. These people are evil, inspired by an adversary who seeks to destroy souls. 

On the other hand, many men and women have great intellect, knowledge, skills, education, and wisdom. They’re willing to help and do things that lift others. The contributions of these people have made possible the many things have been accomplished. These include recovering, compiling, and publishing the Restoration Edition of the Scriptures, organizing nineteen general conferences and over fifty regional conferences, organizing fellowships, and distributing tithing to those in need. It has required a body of faithful believers to accomplish what has been done. However, these accomplishments do not hide what we lack. Clearly, there remain obstacles for us to overcome to be gathered into a community and live in peace with one another. 

We received instructions 11 years ago and have been given more than a decade to learn new skills and practice them in order to work out our conflicts, but we failed to do the required work. Without the desire and the effort to learn, we cannot gain the necessary skills. The system of fellowships we were instructed to use was one way to prepare for gathering. We were to gather our tithes and work together to decide how to distribute them to those in need. We have largely neglected to do that and many more things. Additionally, we still have numerous interpersonal conflicts that we lack the desire or skills to resolve. 

As I’ve considered our few successes and many failures, I’ve been despairing and quite pessimistic. We still have far too many shortcomings despite all the guidance the Lord has provided. When I learned that there was rancor and hard feelings still lingering over the Guide and Standard, it surprised me. When I saw that women are no more wise, fair, or just than men have been and saw the rancor they showed one another, I was discouraged and doubted we could ever gather together and live in peace with one another. We have the same social upheavals in our group as modern Babylon has. A lot of our disputes resemble the political campaigns of modern Babylon, and it suggests that we are far more influenced by the social winds of a larger, corrupt society than by the Lord’s instructions. 

I have felt responsible for our widespread quarreling, frequent backbiting, grudges, gossip, petty jealousies, inability to support one another, selfishness, reactivity, unwillingness to sacrifice for the sake of building a community, and general unfitness to gather into a cohesive body. I have been dismayed by our inability to remain silent when we should not speak, our failure to speak when we should, and our inability to recognize the care and respect that must be taken with each other and with God. I have taken into account the earlier failures in Kirtland, Missouri, Illinois, and Salt Lake and have concluded that we share the same weaknesses and faults among us as history records about them. This has left me with little hope for our chances of success. 

Because of my discouragement, I went to the Lord in prayer with my hopelessness. I learned a great deal from that prayer, and that experience with the Lord has led to this talk. I was wrong in my understanding of the mechanics the Lord will use to accomplish the prophesied “gathering” of His people. My understanding was different from what the Lord had in mind. I learned that the Lord CAN and WILL do some significant pruning, even of those who will be gathered. There will be experiences that will humble and refine His people. 

In answer to my despairing prayer, my mind was flooded with scriptures that helped me understand how the Lord had dealt with His people in the past. This is how He will also deal with us. 

The complete records of God’s people from the days of Adam through the present do not exist. However, we have enough evidence to understand that He both blesses and curses His followers. Being “chosen” by God does not mean there is no accountability. On the contrary, when God chooses and covenants with people, He actively involves Himself in their history. 

The Lord explained through Moses how He would deal with the Children of Israel if they obeyed or if they disobeyed. He blesses, but He also humbles and corrects. From Deuteronomy:  

But it shall come to pass [that] if you will not listen unto the voice of the Lord your God, to observe to do all his commandments and his statutes which I command you this day, that all these curses shall come upon you and overtake you. Cursed shall you be in the city, and cursed shall you be in the field. Cursed shall be your basket and your store. Cursed shall be the fruit of your body, and the fruit of your land, [and] the increase of your cattle and the flocks of your sheep. Cursed shall [be you] when you come in, and cursed shall [be you] when you go out. The Lord shall send upon you cursing, vexation, and rebuke in all that you set your hand unto in order to do, until you are destroyed and until you perish quickly, because of the wickedness of your doings whereby you have forsaken me. The Lord shall make the pestilence cleave unto you until he has consumed you from off the land to which you go to possess it. The Lord shall smite you with a wasting disease, and with a fever, and with an inflammation, and with an extreme burning, and with the sword, and with [the] blasting, and with mildew; and they shall pursue you until you perish. And your heaven that is over your head shall be brass, and the earth that is under you shall be iron. The Lord shall make the rain of your land powder and dust; from heaven [it shall] come down upon you until you are destroyed. 

The Lord shall cause you to be smitten before your enemies. You shall go out one way against them, and flee seven ways before them, and shall be removed into all the kingdoms of the earth. And your carcass[es] shall be food unto [the] fowls of the air, and [to] the beasts of the earth, and no man shall frighten them away. The Lord will smite you with the boils of Egypt, and with…tumors, and with the scab, and with the itch, whereof you cannot be healed. The Lord shall smite you with madness, and blindness, and astonishment of heart. (Deuteronomy 8:6-8)

The Lord was always willing to bless Israel. But the Lord is not limited to blessing the rebellious and unrepentant. He can, has, and will discipline His people when they require it. The account in Deuteronomy continues in the next chapter: 

And it shall come to pass, when all these things have come upon you — the blessing and the curse which I have set before you, and you shall call them to mind among all the nations where the Lord your God has driven you, and shall return unto the Lord your God, and shall obey his voice according to all that I command you this day, you and your children, with all your heart, and with all your soul — that then the Lord…God will turn your captivity, and have compassion upon you, and will return and gather you from all the nations where the Lord your God has scattered you. If any of yours are driven out unto the outermost parts of heaven, from there will the Lord your God gather you, and from there [he will] fetch you. And the Lord your God will bring you into the land which your fathers possessed, and you shall possess it, and he will do you good and multiply you above your fathers. (Deuteronomy 9:4)

The history of the Old Covenant is filled with the Lord vindicating His word. He blesses His people when they’re faithful. He humbles them when they are not. But He watches over them throughout, never abandoning them despite their shortcomings. 

In 1832, the Lord provided guidance and counsel that would largely be ignored by those living at the time. Although many of the splinter groups that emerged after Joseph Smith’s death claim to have remained faithful, history does not support this claim. This is the 1832 warning: 

And your minds in times past have been darkened because of unbelief, and because you have treated lightly the things you[‘ve] received, which vanity and unbelief have brought the whole church under condemnation. And this condemnation rests upon the children of Zion, even all, and they shall remain under this condemnation until they repent and remember the new covenant, even the Book of Mormon, and the former commandments which I have given them, not only to say but to do according to that which I have written, that they may bring forth fruit meet for their Father’s kingdom. Otherwise, there remains a scourge and a judgment to be poured out upon the children of Zion, for shall the children of the kingdom pollute my holy land? Verily, verily I say unto you, nay. (T&C 82:20, emphasis added)

The warning was not heeded. And we do not need to study volumes of history to know what happened after the Lord required repentance and was ignored. We were provided with an accurate account of the resulting sad history in an inspired prayer offered to the Lord to accept our efforts. This is from T&C 156: 

We are mindful that in 1832 the gentile saints were condemned for vanity and unbelief because they treated lightly the things they had received, and they were warned by you that they would remain under condemnation until they repent and remember the new covenant, even the Book of Mormon and the former commandments, not only to say, but to do. You commanded the gentiles that they bring forth fruit meet for their Father’s kingdom, and if they failed to do so, there remained a scourge and [a] judgment to be poured out upon those who claimed to be the children of Zion. They failed to bring forth the required fruit, and were judged and scourged, and then violently driven out of Jackson County, Missouri. 

You explained there were jarrings, and contentions, and envyings, and strifes, and lustful and covetous desires by them; therefore, by these things they polluted their inheritances. But they did not repent, and in their pride they threatened to wage a war of extermination against the Missouri citizens, heedless of your warnings. But it was you who used the Missouri citizens as your hand of judgment to scourge the condemned saints in your attempt to persuade them to repent and no longer treat lightly your word. They still saw no Divine purpose behind their distress, and railed against their Missouri persecutors. Despite their suffering, they were not sufficiently humbled to repent. Instead, they breathed out threats and expressed hope to gain vengeance against the same Missouri mobs to whom you had given power to afflict the gentile saints to inspire them to repent. Because of the hardness of their hearts, the gentile saints were again mobbed and slain, and in 1838 altogether driven out of the State of Missouri, with Joseph Smith, Hyrum Smith, and other leaders, cast into prison and condemned to die. But you were merciful, and did not suffer Joseph, Hyrum, or any of those imprisoned with them, to be killed. In your mercy, the surviving saints and the imprisoned leaders were able to obtain refuge in Illinois, whose people welcomed the saints, and a season of peace followed.

In 1841 you mercifully extended another opportunity to the gentile saints to repent and return, and you approved Joseph’s offering and acknowledgements of the past failures of the saints when he petitioned you on their behalf. You found the prayers of Joseph and the gentiles were acceptable before you, and you granted to the saints another chance for you to recover them as your people. As you stated to the former gentiles, There is not a place found on earth that you may come to and restore again that which was lost unto us, or which you had taken away, even the fullness of the Priesthood. You offered and intended for a house to be built unto your name in which you deigned to reveal to your people things which have been kept hidden from before the foundation of the world, things which pertain to the dispensation of the fullness of times. You gave to them sufficient time to build a house unto your name, warning them to complete the work or their baptisms for the dead would be unacceptable. 

In those days, you warned the people you [would] not perform the oath which you ma[de], neither fulfill the promises which they expect at your hands, or in other words, you would remove your covenant if they failed to do what you commanded. And you foretold what you would do unto the people if they neglected to do the work assigned them. You warned, For instead of blessings, we, by our own works, would bring cursings, wrath, indignation, and judgments upon our own heads, by our follies, and by all our abominations, which we practice before you. You foretold that at the end of this appointment our baptisms for our dead shall not be acceptable unto you; and if the gentiles did not do the things you commanded, at the end of the appointment we would be rejected as a church, with our dead, said the Lord our God. But the secret works of darkness multiplied, and the gentile follies did not end, …they practiced secret abominations in violation of your commandments and in defiance of your [warning]. (T&C 156:2-5)

From this, we know the Lord did not abandon the early saints of this last dispensation. He instructed and warned them. He let them decide how they would react. When they failed to repent, the natural consequences of misconduct were tragic. This was intended to reclaim them by humbling them. 

Next, this scripture came to mind (Abinadi, speaking in Mosiah chapter 8 [7]):

Go…tell this people, this is what the Lord says: Woe to this people. I’ve seen their abominations, wickedness, and whoredoms! Unless they repent, I’ll punish them in My anger. Unless they repent and turn to the Lord who is God, I’ll let their enemies overpower them; indeed, they’ll be brought into slavery, and be punished by their enemies. They will know that I Am the Lord their God — a God who requires faithfulness, punishing My people for their iniquities. Unless these people repent and turn to the Lord who is God, they’ll be brought into slavery; no one will set them free except…the Lord [God Almighty]. When they cry to Me, I’ll be slow to hear their cries. I’ll let them be killed by their enemies. Unless they repent in sincere humility and regret, and honestly ask the Lord…in faith to forgive, I won’t hear their prayers or save them from their punishment. This is what the Lord says and this is what He’s commanded me to say. (Mosiah 7:8)

Later, we learn that Abinadi’s warning was not heeded. Then the Lord disciplined the people with the terrible consequences just as He had Abinadi prophesy. This is from Alma: 

Clearly Abinadi’s prophecy regarding the priests’ descendants was fulfilled, words he said before he suffered death by fire. Because he said to them: What you do with me after this will be the same fate you will suffer. Now Abinadi was the first executed by fire because of his belief in God. And this is what he meant, that many would suffer death by fire just like him. He told Noah’s priests that their descendants would cause many to be put to death in the same way he was, and they would be scattered widely and killed, as a sheep without a shepherd that’s driven and killed by wild animals. Now these words were confirmed, since they were driven, hunted, and struck down by the Lamanites. (Alma 14:14)

There was a cause and effect. The Lord’s foresight was vindicated, and the suffering could have been avoided had the people repented. 

We have another example from Enos describing his people: 

And we had a great many prophets, but the people were stubborn and hard to persuade. Nothing kept them from destruction except for blunt and unequivocal language preaching and prophesying about wars, conflicts, and destruction, and constantly reminding them of death and the length of eternity and God’s judgments and power — all this continually threatening them to keep them in the fear of the Lord — I say there was nothing except for unmistakable blunt language that could keep them from quickly being destroyed. This is how I would describe them. (Enos 1:6)

Following Enos, a century and a half later, Nephite history records the Lord did not abandon but continued to discipline and guide His people. From Omni: 

For the Lord — after He had led them out of the land of Jerusalem and protected and kept them from falling into their enemies’ hands — wouldn’t allow the words He told our forefathers fail to be proven true, having said that to the degree you don’t keep My commandments, you won’t prosper in the land. Therefore the Lord punished them according to His justice. (Omni 1:3)

They were warned, failed to repent, and reaped the consequences. It’s a predictable cycle that happened repeatedly in both Nephite and Jaredite dispensations. Now we have a dispensation underway and the opportunity to give heed to the Lord OR to reject His instructions. If we heed Him, one story unfolds; if we reject His counsel, a different story will befall us. 

In the Answer to the Prayer for Covenant: 

But I require a statement of principles to be adopted by the mutual agreement of my people, for if you cannot do so, you will be unable to accomplish other works that I will require at your hands…  

I want to pause there and insert a thought. That was supposed to be done by something other than by the “voice of the people.” The voice of the people is simply a majority, and that can resolve anything quickly, despite the fact that there may be those who are hesitant, resistant, or opposed. The “voice by mutual agreement” required any who was going to dispute to refrain from disputing so that it could be unanimously adopted. That requirement—which is elevated; it’s higher, it’s more—that requirement was for the Guide and Standard, and He told us when that standard was imposed and that obligation was imposed upon us, “…if you cannot do so, you will be unable to accomplish other works that I will require at your hands.” He required us—at least once, for one moment, involving one topic, for one purpose—to reach unanimity (or at least to stifle our opposition).

When you have an agreed statement of principles, I require it to also be added as a guide and standard for my people to follow. Remember there are others who know nothing, as yet, of my work now underway, and therefore the guide and standard is to bless, benefit, and inform them — so I command you to be wise in word and kind in deed as you write what I require of you. 

Do not murmur, saying, Too much has been required at our hands in too short a time. If your hearts were right, it was a light thing I have asked. You hinder and delay and then you say I require too much of you and do not allow you time, when, if your hearts were right and you prepared yourselves, you could have finished this work long ago. Do you indeed desire to be my people? Then accept and do as I have required. (T&C 157:55-56, emphasis added) 

From these words, we know there are other works He will require of us, and He has warned us that we will be “unable to accomplish other works [He] will require at [our] hands.” So we know greater demands are going to be imposed. Will our continuing disputes and arguments require the Lord’s disciplining hand to be imposed on us as has been previously needed for His people in times past? What should we be doing to prepare for the other works, the greater demands? What physical, emotional, spiritual, and mental skills will be needed to accomplish what God will require of us? How are we preparing ourselves in these ways for the coming difficulties? We know we have been told to “reason together,” but we do not have that skill. Reasoning requires give-and-take, respect, and trying to understand another viewpoint. It requires patience and development of skills, critical reasoning, and thoughtfulness. Most of all, it requires attentive listening that lets us understand one another. 

We were warned in the covenant He made with us: 

But if you do not honor me, nor seek to recover my people Israel, nor teach your children to honor me, nor care for the poor among you, nor help lighten one another’s burdens, then you have no promise from me and I will raise up other people who will honor and serve me, and give unto them this land, …if they repent, I will abide with them. (T&C 158:19, emphasis added)

This warning serves as a reminder that we are expected to obey and contribute to furthering the Lord’s work. He will help. He will labor beside us as the Allegory of the Olive Tree states in Jacob 3:27: Then the servants went ahead and worked hard, and the lord of the vineyard also worked with them. And they obeyed the lord of the vineyard’s direction in all things. This is the prophecy. But it will not be fulfilled by lazy servants who will not “work hard” and “obey the [Lord’s] direction in all things.” If you do not want other people to replace you, then you must be obedient. 

What did the Lord command us to do in 1831 and which still remains our obligation today? 

Wherefore, I give unto them a commandment, saying thus: You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your might, mind, and strength, and in the name of Jesus Christ you shall serve him. You shall [also] love your neighbor as yourself. You shall not steal, neither commit adultery, nor kill, nor do anything like unto it. You shall thank the Lord your God in all things. You shall offer a sacrifice unto the Lord your God in righteousness, even that of a broken heart and a contrite spirit. (T&C 46:2)

And in the Covenant of Christ, we’re commanded to do the same things that are reiterated in the Answer to the Prayer for Covenant. The Answer to the Prayer for Covenant language is almost a direct quote of this material from the Covenant of Christ (3 Nephi 14:1): 

Listen all you Gentiles; hear the words of Jesus Christ, the Son of the living God, which He commanded me to write about you. He commands me to write this: Turn away, all you Gentiles, from your wicked ways and repent of your evil deeds, your lying and deceiving, your whoredoms, your secret abominations and idolatrous ways, your murders, priestcrafts, envying, and strife, and from all your wickedness and abominations, and come to Me and be baptized in My name, so you can receive a remission of your sins and receive the Holy Ghost, so you can be included with My people of the house of Israel. (3 Nephi 14:1; see also T&C 158:10) 

I gave a talk about the Allegory of the Olive Tree and talked about this verse and how that is EXACTLY the pattern that religious people fall into as they drift into apostasy and corruption.

There were many more scriptures that came to my mind, including from Second Nephi: 

Watch this happen: the Lord, the Lord of Hosts, takes away from Jerusalem and from Judah His word, the inspired voices and ordinances of salvation, the prophet and [the] prophetess, the priest and [the] priestess, wisdom from the counselors, knowledge from the teacher, and they’ll be left without prudence, insight, and understanding. He’ll let their boys lead them, babies will govern them. The people will oppress one another, everyone abusing their neighbor. Young people will bully the elderly, and those without status will bully the honorable. When a man will grab ahold of his brother in his father’s house, and say: You at least have a cloak, you lead us and get us out of these ruins — but he’ll protest, saying: I have no remedy, for in my house I have no food or clothing; don’t think I can be your ruler. Jerusalem staggers and Judah has fallen because what they say and what they do fights against the Lord, defying Him in front of His glorious presence. The look of their faces shows their defiance, they parade and celebrate sins like Sodom, …they don’t hide it. Woe to them, for they’ve provoked disaster for themselves. Tell the righteous that it will be well with them, for they will be spared [because of] their righteousness. Woe to the wicked, for their defiance will be repaid. 

And as for My people, the youth oppress you, foolish women control you. O My people, those who lead you bring you confusion and away from My path. The Lord stands up to announce His judgment against the people. The Lord will accuse the elders and leaders of His people, announcing: It’s you who’ve wrecked My vineyard and taken the property belonging to the poor into your houses. How dare you do this? Why do you crush My people and hit the poor in their faces, demands the Lord…of Hosts. The Lord adds: The women of Zion are uppity, parading with their noses in the air, flirting with roving eyes, strutting with swaying hips, clattering bracelets on their ankles, therefore the Lord will cover their heads with sores and scabs, and the Lord will make these women of Zion bald. In that day, the Lord will strip away their fine outfits, tearing off their earrings, bracelets, astrological jewelry, necklaces, scarves, and the[ir] charm bracelets, the wigs and hair extensions, anklets, girdles, perfumes, and scents, the sorority rings, and nose rings, the evening gowns, furs, and purses, their mirrors, linen undergarments, lace, and scarves. And then, instead of perfume there will be rot; and instead of a belt, a rope; and instead of groomed hair, baldness; and instead of expensive clothing, a worn bag; scarring instead of beauty. Their men will fall in battle, and those in the prime of life will die in the war. And her streets will be filled with crying and mourning, and destitute she will sit on the ground. (2 Nephi 8:6-7)

And then this scripture also: 

But His people haven’t returned to Him who punished them; they reject the Lord of Hosts. Therefore the Lord cut off the head and [the] tail from Israel, palm branch and reed, in a single day. The leaders and teachers are the head, and the lying prophets are the tail. The guides of th[e] people mislead them, and those who follow stumble in the dark. Therefore the Lord will have no sympathy for their young men, nor pity the orphans and widows; for every one of them is a hypocrite and ungodly, and every mouth speaks foolishness. Despite this His anger remains, and His control over everything remains intact. 

Wickedness burns like a fire destroying weeds and thorns, and sets ablaze the forests, rolling forward like a pillar of smoke. It’s the wrath of the Lord of Hosts that scorches the land and the people become fuel for the fire; they won’t spare one another. On the right hand they gobble up but remain hungry, on the left they eat but are never satisfied. They’ll eat their own families — Ephraim eating Manasseh’s, and Manasseh eating Ephraim’s — and together they eat Judah’s. Nevertheless, His anger remains, and His control over everything remains intact. 

Woe to those who make unjust laws, and to those who issue oppressive orders, subverting the rights of the poor, denying justice and imposing tyranny, victimizing widows and orphans. What will you do on the day of judgment, when disaster comes from far away? Where will you run for help? Where will you hide your riches? You’ll have no choice but to cower among the prisoners or be killed with the others. Despite this His anger remains, and His control over everything remains intact. (2 Nephi 9:13-15) 

And this also from the Lord to us:  

He commands there to be no priestcrafts. Priestcrafts are when preachers set themselves up as a light to the world, so they can make money and receive praise from the world, but they have no desire for Zion to advance. The Lord has forbidden priestcrafts. So the Lord…has commanded everyone to have charity — that is, love — and unless they have charity, they’re nothing. As a result, if they had charity, they wouldn’t allow those who labor in Zion to waste away. But laborers in Zion must work for the good of Zion since they’ll perish if they work only for money. Again, the Lord God has commanded people not to murder, not to lie, not to steal, not to misuse His name, not to envy, not to hate, not to fight with each other, not to commit whoredoms — not to do any of these things. Because whoever does them will perish, since none of these iniquities come from the Lord. Indeed, He does what’s good among mankind. And He doesn’t do anything without it being clear to mankind. He invites everyone to come to Him and share in His goodness and doesn’t deny anyone who comes to Him, black or white, enslaved or free, male or female; and He remembers those who don’t worship Him or know anything about Him. All are the same to God — Jews and Gentiles. 

But in the last days or in the time of the Gentiles, every nation of Gentiles and Jews — both those who come upon this land and those who live on other lands, indeed, on every land throughout the earth — will be drunk with iniquity and all kinds of abominations. And when that day arrives, the Lord of Hosts will send thunder, and earthquakes, and loud noises, and storms, and tempests, and uncontrolled fires. And all the nations that fight against Zion and interfere with her will be like a mere dream of the nighttime. It will be to them like a hungry man who dreams that he ate his fill, but when he wakes up he remains hungry. Or like a thirsty man who dreams he gets a drink, but when he wakes up he’s still thirsty and starving and he craves relief. Yes, this is how it will be for all the people who fight against Mount Zion. Those of you who commit iniquity, stop and marvel; you’ll cry out and wail. You’ll be drunk, but not with wine; you’ll stagger, but not with hard liquor. The Lord has poured out a spirit of deep sleep upon you. You’ve closed your eyes and rejected the prophets, and He’s taken away your teachers and seers because of your iniquity. (2 Nephi 11:17-18)

There were more, but I hope these scriptures are enough to teach the point. We are obligated to heed the Lord. We have two choices: We either learn by precept OR by sad experience. If we learn by precept, then we listen,  and we follow the Lord. But when we reject the Lord’s counsel and ignore His warning, then we learn through sad experience. Based on the recent communication with the Lord, it appears we will need—and are going to learn—from sad experiences. 

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After this part of the Lord’s message ended, the Lord then taught that in the beginning, in the first generations of the patriarchal fathers, they learned that faith, hope, and charity described the character and attributes of God. In Lectures on Faith, Joseph Smith taught the School of the Prophets: 

Let us here observe that three things are necessary in order that any rational and intelligent being may exercise faith in God unto life and salvation. First, the idea that he actually exists. Secondly, a correct idea of his character, perfections, and attributes. (LoF 3:2-4)

To have a correct idea of God’s character, we must recognize that God is the embodiment of faith, hope, and charity. Anciently, those were understood as God’s attributes, and therefore, godliness required mankind to likewise have faith, hope, and charity. If God did not have faith, he could not lead prophets to prophesy, nor could He have covenanted to have people at His return whose unified hearts will welcome His coming: 

Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord. And he shall seal the heart of the Fathers to the children and the heart of the children to [the] Fathers, lest I come and smite the earth with a curse. (Malachi 1:12)

The Lord needed to have faith that He will send Elijah and accomplish this promised event. We have every reason to have faith in God’s promise, but God likewise had faith to make the promise. If we believe in and trust the Lord, then we ought to have faith in His promises. Here is another promise from the Lord for what is to happen: 

…in the barren deserts there shall come forth pools of living water and the parched ground shall no longer be a thirsty land. And they shall bring forth their rich treasures unto the children of Ephraim, my servants, and the boundaries of the everlasting hills shall tremble at their presence, and there shall they fall down and be crowned with glory, even in Zion, by the hands of the servants of the Lord, even the children of Ephraim, and they shall be filled with songs of everlasting joy. Behold, this is the blessing of the everlasting God upon the heads of the tribes of Israel, and the richer blessing[s] upon the head of Ephraim and his fellows. And they also of the tribe of Judah, after their pain, shall be sanctified in holiness before the Lord, to dwell in his presence day and night, for ever and ever. (T&C 58:3)

The faith of our Lord will cause these hope-filled events to happen! These words should also enable us to share in God’s hope for His people. What a glorious picture this presents for us! Imagine being filled with songs of everlasting joy and being crowned with glory in Zion. Faith shared with the Lord, in turn, lets us likewise share in God’s hope for these future scenes to happen. 

Faith, hope, and charity are godly attributes, and we are invited to share in them. Again, the Lord has said: 

And with one heart and with one mind gather up your riches that you may purchase an inheritance which shall hereafter be appointed [to] 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 [shall also] 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 [up] his sword against his neighbor must needs flee unto Zion for safety, [for] 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)

Here—a second time—the Lord mentions “songs of everlasting joy.” The faithful completion of God’s promises makes those who will be there rejoice with songs of joy. 

The Scriptures often testify to God’s power to accomplish His will. For example, T&C 166: 

The Lord has brought about His purposes. This has been in His heart all along. He has chosen to use small means to accomplish it, but he always uses the smallest of means to fulfill His purposes. (T&C 166:3)

Isaiah 15:21: 

Remember this and show yourselves men; bring it again to mind, O you transgressors. Remember the former things of old, for I am God and there is none else; I am God and there is none like me, declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times the things that are not yet done, saying, My counsel shall stand and I will do all my pleasure — calling a ravenous bird from the east, the man that executes my counsel from a far country. Yea, I have spoken it, I will also bring it to pass; I have purposed it, I will also do it. (Isaiah 15:21)

And then from Mormon:

For the eternal purposes of the Lord shall roll on until all his promises shall be fulfilled. (Mormon 4:3)

It’s by faith God has given His word unto men beforehand, and it is through God’s hope that He foresees vindicating His word through weak vessels and flawed men. He sees the end from the beginning—through faith, acting with hope for the outcome—while leaving mankind free to choose for themselves if they will obey and succeed or disobey and fail: 

…the Lord remembers all those who have been broken off; consequently, He remembers us also. So be of good cheer and remember you’re free to act for yourselves, to choose the way of everlasting death or the way of eternal life. So, my dear people reconcile yourselves to God’s will, not to the will of the accuser and the flesh. And remember that after you’re reconciled to God, it’s only in and through God’s grace that you’re saved. (2 Nephi 7:5)

However, God’s faith is based not merely on foreknowledge. It’s based on the understanding that some part of mankind will choose to follow, elect to obey, and decide to be faithful to Him. We have agency and the right to make our own decisions. We must justify God’s faith in us by having faith in Him. That interrelationship between God’s faith as a moving principle of action and our reciprocal faith and trust in Him brings hope. To understand hope, we need to define what it is, on what basis it exists, and what effects flow from it. 

It should seem beyond question that for God to exist at all, it requires that He has the freedom to act independent. His freedom to act, like our own, is required for existence itself. Without that ability to act, there is no existence but only an inert object to be acted upon without any sentience or choice. We have this revelation from 1833: 

All truth is independent in that sphere in which God has placed it to act for itself, as all intelligence also; otherwise, there is no existence. Behold, here is the agency of man, and here is the condemnation of man, because that which was from the beginning is plainly manifest unto them, and they receive not the light, and every man whose spirit receives not the light is under condemnation. (T&C 93:10)

For mankind’s existence, it is required for intelligence (singular) to become intelligences (plural). As I explained in the book Beloved Enos:

When organized into separate personalities, the intelligence changes from the singular to the plural. With this change comes creation (or organization) and as a result, mankind came into being. Joseph further reveals that in order to exist we had to have the freedom to choose. Without that freedom we would not exist at all. We would still be singular, uncreated and without an existence. “All truth is independent in that sphere in which God has placed it, to act for itself, as all intelligence also; otherwise there is no existence.” (D&C 93:30, emphasis added.) There is no existence unless we are free (and able) to choose for ourselves. 

Our existence flows from God’s intelligence. We were created from it. But to exist we must be independent [of] God. How, if we are part of God and emanated from Him, can we ever be “independent” from Him? This paradox is also solved by Joseph Smith. He brought the nature of eternal life, or the kind of life God has into a whole new dimension. It’s true we have always had Paul’s teaching: “Nevertheless neither is the man without the woman, neither the woman without the man, in the Lord.” (1 Cor. 11:11.) But this ambiguous statement has had no particular meaning for Christianity, which disavowed eternal marriage and practiced a “till death do you part” form of marital relationship for those who chose to be married. Traditional Catholic theology preferred celibacy, insisting upon it for priestly service. Joseph, on the other hand, poured meaning into this statement in a way which was unprecedented in mankind’s then existing memory. 

Joseph referred to a “new and everlasting covenant” involving eternal marriage and eternal increase. Speaking of heaven, Joseph wrote, “In the celestial glory there are three heavens or degrees; And in order to obtain the highest, a man must enter into th[e] order of the priesthood [meaning the new and everlasting covenant of marriage]; And if he does not, he cannot obtain it. He may enter into the other [kingdom], but that is the end of his kingdom; he cannot have an increase.” (D&C 131:1-4.) Eternal life is most correctly referred to by Joseph in revelation as “eternal lives,” [plural]. This is because in Joseph’s revelations marriage implies children and continuing creation in the afterlife. “Therefore, if a man marry him a wife in th[is] world, and he marry her not by me nor by my word, and he covenant with her so long as he is in the world and she with him, their covenant and marriage are not of force when they are dead, and when they are out of the world; therefore, they are not bound by any law when they are out of the world. Therefore, when they are out of the world they neither marry nor are given in marriage; but are appointed angels in heaven, which angels are ministering servants, to minister [to] those who are worthy of a far more, and an exceeding, and an eternal weight of glory. For these angels did not abide [by] my law; therefore, they cannot be enlarged, but remain separately and singly, without exaltation, in their saved condition, to all eternity; and…henceforth are not gods, but are angels of God forever and ever.” (D&C 132:15-17.) In the revelations given through Joseph Smith, creation is ongoing and meant to be shared by those who follow God’s plan. 

The intelligence out of which we were created might just as accurately be referred to as the “word” or the “thought” of God. In Genesis 1…we read: “And God said, Let there be light: and there was light.” God speaks light into existence. Or we might describe it as God imagining or conceiving light into existence. Since we are made of light, or truth, or the glory of God, it would be equally true that He conceives or imagines us into existence. It was both a creative act and an act of faith for God to conceive…us. As the Lectures on Faith put it: “[F]aith is not only the principle of action, but of power also, in all intelligent beings, whether in heaven or on earth. Thus says the author of the epistle to the Hebrews…: ‘Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear.’ By this we understand that the principle of power which existed in the bosom of God, by which the worlds were framed, was faith; and that it is by reason of this principle of power existing in the Deity, that all created things exist; so that all things in heaven, on earth, or under the earth, exist by reason of faith as it existed in HIM. Had it not been for the principle of faith the worlds would never have been framed, neither would man have been formed of the dust. It is the principle by which Jehovah works, and through which he exercises power over all temporal as well as eternal things. Take this principle or attribute – for it is an attribute – from the Deity, and he would cease to exist. Who cannot see that if God framed the worlds by faith, that it is by faith that he exercises power over them, and that faith is the principle of power? And if the principle of power, it must [also] be so in man as well as in…Deity? This is the testimony of all the sacred writers, and the lesson which they have been endeavoring to teach…man[kind].” (Lectures 1:13-17, emphasis added.) Elsewhere he added: “it is by faith that the Deity works.” (Lectures 7:1.) 

It is absolutely essential to the process of “creation” or “conceiving” for God the Father to have a female consort or Mother God. If we were the product of only one mind’s thought, or word, or intelligence we could never act independently of the one mind. Everything about the conceived individual would be under the exclusive control of the one mind. Therefore such an individual would be wholly predictable and subordinate in all of its acts to the single mind. Only when two are jointly conceiving an individual does it become possible for the individual conceived to be independent of control. So long as both have input, neither one can fully control what the personality will choose to do. The life’s choices, the story-line, the events and decisions of any given personality cannot be…controlled by either…Father or the Mother when both are allowed to create, conceive or organize the personality. Intelligences require parents in the plural; otherwise they could not acquire independence of thought. 

When the Father and Mother hold the thought (or word, or intelligence) long enough, with faith in the existence of this new creation, while neither one is fully controlling the individual intelligence, then existence becomes possible. The person has everything necessary to exist in her own right. It becomes possible for the intelligence to make her own choice. Only when the intelligence accepts that right and makes a choice freely, without control by the Father and Mother, does the intelligence begin to exist. “All truth is independent in that sphere in which God has placed it, to act for itself, as all intelligence also; otherwise there is no existence.” (D&C 93:30.) It was an act of faith by God the Father and His consort to cause the intelligence to be conceived or organized. But it requires an act of faith on the part of the intelligence to exercise her own free will to accept its creation. Unless she is free to act by making her own choice and actually does so, there is no existence. 

It is difficult for created or organized intelligences to have faith in their autonomy from God, their Heavenly Parents, while they are in the presence of their Creators. They have difficulty even imagining such a thing. Christ first took this step in the pre-mortal realm. Christ showed the way for others to follow. He began the process of accepting and acting by faith, independently, proving for the rest of us the “Word” of God. We had faith in the Father’s “Word” because Christ demonstrated it to be true. We acquired the faith to follow the Father because [of] Christ’s example. It does no disservice to our Heavenly Parents to attribute to Christ the whole of our existence. Heavenly Parents organized our intelligences, but it was Christ alone who proved the Word of God was faithful and true. This is why John could testify: “The worlds were made by him; men were made by him; all things were made by him, and through him, and of him. And I, John, bear record that I beheld his glory, as the glory of the Only Begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth, even the Spirit of truth, which came and dwelt in the flesh, and dwelt among us. And I, John, saw that he received not of the fulness at…first, but received grace for grace; And he received not of the fulness at first, but continued from grace to grace, until he received a fulness; And thus he was called the Son of God, because he received not of the fulness at…first.” (D&C 93:10-14, emphasis added.) 

We began to accept our existence, began to act independently in the sphere in which we were placed. We were able to do this because of our faith in Christ’s original example of faith. Christ led, we followed. He is correctly called our Father, even before we were born. He was the Word of God incarnate. What the Father said was possible, Christ proved by being the living example. We owe everything to our Heavenly Parents for conceiving us in the first place. But we also owe everything to the Son, who proved by faith that we could all exist. This made possible our own faith and our own independent consciousness. 

Faith is an independent power beginning with God. Faith is what controls, organizes or creates all things. “It surely will not be required of us to prove that this is the principle upon which all eternity has acted and will act; for every reflecting mind must know that it is by reason of this power that all the hosts of heaven perform their works of wonder, majesty, and glory. Angels move from place to place by virtue of this power; it[‘s] by reason of it that they are enabled to descend from heaven to earth; and were it not for the power of faith they never could be ministering spirits to them who should be heirs of salvation, neither could they act as heavenly messengers, for they would be destitute of the power necessary to enable them to do the will of God. It[‘s] only necessary for us to say that the whole visible creation, as it now exists, is the effect of faith. It was faith by which it was framed, and it is by the power of faith that it continues in…organized form, and by which the planets move round their orbits and sparkle forth their glory. So, then, faith is truly the first principle in the science of THEOLOGY, and, when understood, leads the mind back to the beginning, and carries it forward to the end; or, in other words, from eternity to eternity. As faith, then, is the principle by which the heavenly hosts perform their works, and by which they enjoy all their felicity, we might expect to find it set forth in a revelation from God as the principle upon which his [creations] here below must act in order to obtain the felicities enjoyed by the saints in the eternal world; and that, when God would undertake to raise up men for the enjoyment of himself, he would teach them the necessity of living by faith, and the impossibility there was of their enjoying the blessedness of eternity without it, seeing that all the blessings of eternity are the effects of faith…” (Lectures 7:4-7, emphasis added.) 

We could not develop the kind of faith God has while living in His presence. We got as far as possible there, but to go further we needed another [existence] or form of existence. Since the Father wanted to move His children as organized intelligences [or] personalities to a higher form of existence, a Great Plan needed to be employed. The Plan required God to create the circumstances in which it is possible for these personalities to develop the faith necessary for a higher form of existence. We learn from Joseph Smith’s revelations that we are in that stage of development right now. 

Joseph points us to Job for an account of our reaction when we learned the news of th[e] Great Plan regarding our mortal experience. Job wrote of the moment when we heard we would have an opportunity to come [and] live by faith while God remained veiled: “Where wast thou when I laid the foundations of the earth? declare, if thou hast understanding. Who…laid the measures thereof, if thou knowest? or who hath stretched the line upon it? Whereupon…the foundations [are] fastened? or who laid the corner stone thereof; When the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy?” (Job 38:4-7.) Joseph assured us we all “shouted for joy” at the news announcing this mortal life and explain[ed] its purpose. Joseph revealed a more complete account in Abraham 3, where we read: “Now the Lord had shown unto me, Abraham, the intelligences that were [among the] organized before the world was; and among all these…were many of the noble and great ones; …God saw these souls that they were good, …he stood in the midst of them, and he said: These I will make my rulers; for he stood among those that were spirits, and he saw…they were good; and he said unto me: Abraham, thou art one of them; thou wast chosen before thou wast born. [T]here stood…among them [one] that was like unto God, and he said unto those…with him: We will go down, for there is space there, …we will take of these materials, …we will make an earth whereon these may dwell; And we will prove them herewith, to see if they will do all things whatsoever the Lord their God shall command them; And they who keep their first estate shall be added upon; and they who keep not their first estate shall not have glory in the same kingdom with those who keep their first estate; and [those] who keep their second estate shall have glory added upon their heads for ever and ever.” (Id., vs. 22-26.) We needed this second opportunity in a new existence to develop and to be “added upon.” We lacked vital understanding which could only be gained by the physical experiences here. (Beloved Enos, pp. 15-24, footnotes omitted, internal scripture citations as in the original.) 

That’s a quote from Beloved Enos, written many years ago, from pages 15-24. I quote this to remind you of how we first obtained existence so that we could then, independent of our Eternal Parents, obtain faith. However, because of our existence, there is also the opportunity for God to have faith in us and, in turn, to have hope. Hope is linked directly to faith. Mankind has faith in God and in His promises to us. Our confidence in His promises is what makes our hope possible. As defined in the Glossary, hope means: 

Something far greater, more profound, more strongly felt, more firmly based than just expectancy from vague desire. Hope involves unshakable faith or confidence. Hope comes from “many revelations and the spirit of prophecy” and is based upon “witnesses” coming from beyond the veil to confirm the expectations. It causes faith which is “unshakable.” It is hope which is powerful, controlling, and causes…thing[s] to come to pass because it is now their right to receive the thing promised. God has conferred that right upon them. Hope is more than a wish, as it requires one to secure a promise from God. It requires one to be at rest — secure in the knowledge [that] the Lord has promised a glorious resurrection. Hope is waiting for the time of the Lord’s promise to be fulfilled. Hope describes the state of mind of the recipient during the time interval after the promise, but before its realization. Hope involves unshakable faith or confidence. It is a concrete assurance, based upon a promise or covenant. Hope comes from knowing the Lord has promised one something. As sure as God’s word cannot fail, one’s hope is secure in Him. But men and women only obtain that hope from Him by getting Him to make a promise to them. (Footnotes omitted.) 

This describes the basis for mankind’s hope, but it leads to this question: Upon what is God’s hope based? Would it not necessarily be on the same principle as mankind’s hope? And if so, then what does it require for future events to become a fixed hope in God? 

We must conclude that if our hope in God is based upon faith in Him, God’s hope in our fulfillment of prophecies, promises, and covenants must likewise be based on the same principle of faith. Our hope is predicated upon our confidence in God. It follows, therefore, that God’s hope is predicated upon His confidence in us. 

Before this creation, some of God’s sons (and their companions) were identified as “noble and great” and correspondingly also as “Gods” before the world was organized. These were chosen before they were born to accomplish work for the benefit of others. They were to be sent into the world, not to be proven or tested, but instead, to participate in proving or testing others. They were already known to be true and faithful to God and His plan of salvation. 

From this, we can know that God’s hope for the completion of the events needed to fulfill His oaths, covenants, prophecies, and promises rests upon God’s faith in other Gods (the noble and great) who covenanted with Him before the world was organized. He had the confidence and hope that in proceeding with this creation, it would be possible to redeem it and save the souls of mankind sent to live in it. Just as God knew before the world was created that Jesus Christ would deliver it from ruin by His faithful fulfillment of His promises, God likewise knew before the world was created that His servants sent to accomplish other promises would also keep their obligations to Him. 

So, God’s hope is predicated upon promises made by Gods before creation and rests on the same principle as our hope in God. God has faith in the Gods He recognized as being His sons before this cycle of creation in this world. As Joseph Smith taught about these sons of God: 

“Now,” says God, when He visited Moses in the bush, (Moses was a stammer- ing sort of a boy like me) God said, “Thou shalt be a God unto the children of Israel.” God said, “Thou shalt be a God unto Aaron, and he shall be thy spokesman.” I believe those Gods that God reveals as Gods to be [the] sons of God, and all can cry, “Abba, Father!” Sons of God who exalt themselves to be Gods, even from before the foundation of the world, and are the only Gods I have a reverence for. (DHC, 6: 478; TPJS, p. 375.)

The reason for God’s hope is His confidence in the covenants made with the sons of God who exalted themselves before the foundation of the world. He trusts them to help with the work of redeeming mankind. Because of them, He is willing to make promises to mankind, trusting they will be kept. This hope underlies His ability to inspire prophecy. God’s hope in the completion of His plan of redemption is grounded in God’s faith in the noble and great ones He chose before the world “to fulfill and [to] do the work of the Father’s covenants” He made with mankind. 

God has faith, which justifies His hope in the same way that mankind can have faith in God and hope in His promises. It is the same in this existence as it is in eternity; in all things, there is a type and a shadow. 

By this we understand that the principle of power which existed in the bosom of God, by which the worlds were framed, was faith, and that it is by reason of this principle of power existing in the Deity that all created things exist — so that all things in Heaven, on earth, [and] under the earth, exist by reason of faith, as it existed in him. (LoF 1:15.) 

God’s faith is not limited to confidence in Himself alone but extends to His confidence in His Sons. I believe God had faith in Joseph Smith to found a dispensation of the gospel. As Joseph Smith said of himself: “Every man who has a calling to minister to the inhabitants of the world was ordained to that very purpose in the Grand Council of heaven before this world was. I suppose I was ordained to this very office in that Grand Council” (TPJS, p. 365). 

This, in turn, leads to God’s attribute of charity. It is by charity that God acts to reprove and correct mankind. He uses small means to urge us to righteousness, but when we fail to heed, He uses suitable means to accomplish His ends. This has included dreams to warn, droughts to distress, wars to destroy, and plagues to humble in times past. But in every instance, it is through charity, or the pure love of Christ, that informs the means chosen. For it is His work and [His] glory: to bring to pass the immortality and…eternal life of man (Genesis 1:7). These are tools deliberately employed to accomplish God’s will to humble and redeem mankind. It demonstrates God’s charity for mankind. It reflects the righteous prayer of Helaman [Nephi], son of Helaman: 

And may God in His infinite wisdom do whatever is required for mankind to be led to repent and do good works, so they can be restored to grace for grace based on their works. I want all mankind to be saved. (Helaman 4:11)

A loving parent cannot abandon or ignore their duty to correct and discipline their child. As stated in Proverbs: My son, despise not the chastening of the Lord, neither be weary of his correction; for whom the Lord loves, he corrects, even as a father the son in whom he delights (Proverbs 1:10). 

And in Hebrews, it’s explained: 

My son, despise not the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when you are rebuked of him, for whom the Lord loves he chastens, and scourges every son whom he receives. If you endure chastening, God deals with you as…sons; for what son is he whom the father chastens not? But if you are without chastisement whereof all are partakers, then are you bastards and not sons. Furthermore, we…had fathers of our flesh who corrected us and we gave them reverence. Shall we not much rather be in subjection unto the Father of spirits and live? For they truly for a few days chastened us after their own pleasure, but he for our profit, that we might be partakers of his holiness. (Hebrews 1:52)

God’s care and concern for us, shown by His correcting and chastening of us as it is needed, this is how we experience God’s charity towards us. As the Lord promised Enos: 

…the Lord’s voice came into my mind again, saying: I’ll bless or punish them according to their diligence in keeping My commandments. I’ve given them this land, and it’s a holy land; and I’ll only curse it because of iniquity. Therefore I’ll bless or punish your people just as I’ve said, and bring their transgressions down with sorrow on their own heads. (Enos 1:2)

Sometimes, because there are wolves who will destroy the work of God, He chooses to end the lives of His opponents. Alma wrote: 

Now all of you that wish to follow the voice of the Good Shepherd: Come and separate yourselves from the wicked and don’t touch their unclean things. Their names will be erased, dividing the names of the wicked from the names of the righteous, so that God’s word will be fulfilled, which says: The names of the wicked won’t be mixed…with the names of My people; because the names of the righteous will be included in the Book of Life, and I’ll bestow upon them an inheritance at My right hand. Now, my people, how can you criticize this? I tell you: If you speak opposing it, it doesn’t matter, because God’s word will certainly be fulfilled. Indeed, does any shepherd with a flock fail to watch over them to prevent wolves from attacking and eating his flock? If a wolf enters his flock, doesn’t he drive it out? And ultimately, if he can, he’ll kill it. Now I tell you the Good Shepherd is calling out to you. And if you’re willing to respond to His voice, He’ll bring you into His fold and you’ll be His sheep. He commands you not to let any ravenous wolf enter among you, to prevent you from being destroyed. (Alma 3:11)

To us, the Lord has explained: 

The Lord explained to me that “some people are taken and not healed because, in the Wisdom of God that person is ready and if left will recede rather than advance, and some are taken because, if left, would interfere with and delay or hinder God’s [purpose] for others, and some are given to suffer because it gives them the opportunity to develop…Godly attributes they would not otherwise attain. God’s Wisdom is greater than man’s and sees more than can man. But in all matters there is reason and wisdom in how matters of health, life, and death unfold.” 

(“God’s Wisdom,” denversnuffer.com, January 29, 2023) 

After learning that the Lord intends to accomplish His work through our group (or at least a remnant that includes some from our group), I was then told that the Lord has given us a name. When the Lord names His people, He then commits to work with them, for there is no reason for Him to name what He intends to abandon. Even if the people reject Him, for at least three and four generations the Lord will reach out to recover them. Only when they have altogether gone too far astray will He then end work with the people He has named, to choose and work with another people. Therefore, the fact He has now named us holds great significance. This is what the Lord has declared: 

This is what you shall say to the people: “I give to you a name to distinguish you from others, and you shall call one another by this name: ‘Covenant Christians’ because you have and hold a covenant with me that make[s] you my followers deserving of my protection. But my protection does not only defend, but also corrects, reproves, disciplines and guides you along that you may be mine indeed.” 

It’s noteworthy that the name given to us by the Lord associates us with the larger Christian world rather than the much smaller “Mormon” world. Disassociating us from the Mormon world needs to happen because the two largest denominations are no longer true to the foundation. Between the abominable creeds adopted by the LDS Church (and, in turn, its many daughters) and the Community of Christ’s declining regard for the Book of Mormon, they have both abandoned the original restoration. That suggests to my mind that the people who will ultimately be gathered unto [Zion] out of every nation under heaven, and…shall be the only people that shall not be at war [with one] another (T&C 31:15) will include other faithful people recognized by the Lord: people who can live in peace with one another, without rancor or jealousy, fear and defensiveness, and undoubtedly exclude some of us and include some outside this present body of believers. Currently, we are plagued by fear, anxiety, defensiveness, judgment, discord, anger, intolerance, a lack of desire and capacity for doing the work the Lord has asked us to do. Many have openly stated their unwillingness to engage in the work and lack the desire to understand one another. There is little to commend us as a people of Zion. 

We can learn by precept. That requires us to not only listen but also to heed the things the Lord says to us. Giving heed does not mean we argue with one another about some particular statement, phrase, or verse, using a teaching to justify our opinions, precepts, or errors. Giving heed requires us to submit, obey, and respect the Lord’s words as if they are meant to condemn and correct us personally. They are not intended to equip us to criticize our neighbor or justify our ignorant opinion. Seeing the flaws in others is easy. It requires nothing of us. Seeing our own flaws seems to be impossible. The words of the Lord are precepts or teachings intended to bring you down in humility so you can meekly submit to His guidance in all things, not just the things you care about. 

Alternatively, we can choose to fail by not heeding the Lord’s precepts, instead enduring sad experiences that remind us of our own lowliness. None of us should be proud, thinking ourselves better than our fellow man. We aren’t. We are not even as much as the dust of the earth, because the dust we occupy belongs to God. Therefore, we should be grateful for every sad experience and recognize that it is for our good. It is necessary because, for whatever reason, we did not learn by precept. God’s plan expects we will learn from both. Learning by precept is not better than learning by sad experience. They are both essential teachers. The important part is how we learn by sad experience: Do we blame, judge, avoid, react, offend, ignore, resist, refuse? Or do we take accountability, reason, observe, engage, submit, ask, share, listen, pray, and fast? 

After being corrected by the Lord, my pessimism about our condition has been replaced. The Lord does intend to make use of some of us to fulfill His will. However, that will not only include blessing and encouraging us but also disciplining and correcting us. I have no idea how joyful or painful the coming journey will be for any of us. I also do not know how many (or how few) will be there when the journey is completed and the promises are fulfilled. I do have an idea that there has been and will continue to be watchful care taken by the Lord to help a few of us along the remaining journey. 

In the months and weeks before this conference, there were jarrings, contentions, envyings, strifes, lustful and covetous desires among us. Are we polluting our inheritance? Women have demonstrated that they lack the ability to respectfully disagree among one another (T&C 157:3). “Ability” refers to the “quality of being able to do something,” specifically the physical, mental, financial, or legal power to accomplish it, as well as a skill, talent, or capacity. That inability in us was identified in the Answer to the Prayer for Covenant, given eight years ago. At the same time, we were told, there have been sharp disputes between you that should have been avoided. I speak these words to reprove you that you may learn, not to upbraid you so that you mourn (Id. ¶5). We have been given the precepts to guide us and are now witnessing and experiencing the natural consequences that flow from our rejection of Divine guidance. 

We MUST—but have not learned to—disagree respectfully. We take sides, prejudge, run away from conflict, and prefer being right with man over being right with God. We need to counsel with one another patiently and listen attentively. Some disagreements and differences may take years to work out. We have an “us vs. them” mentality that permeates this movement. It’s been on display for years and is particularly obvious in the weeks leading up to this conference and the women’s conference held yesterday. This is the work, and many of you can’t tolerate or won’t even entertain the idea that God cares about how we work on our relationships as much or more than He cares about our projects. 

I believe we have had this wise but ignored counsel from the Lord for eight years and have instead interpreted the following words to justify our failure to do any of the actual work required by the Lord: 

In the work you have performed there are those who have been Satan, accusing one another, wounding hearts, and causing jarring, contention, and strife by their accusations. Rather than loving one another, even among you who desire a good thing, some have dealt unkindly as if they were…opponents, accusers, and adversaries. In this they were wrong. 

You have sought to recover the scriptures because you hope to obtain the covenant for my protective hand to be over you, but you cannot be Satan and be mine. If you take upon you my covenant, you must abide it as a people to gain what I promise. You think Satan will be bound a thousand years, and it will be so, but do not understand your own duty to bind that spirit within you so that you give no heed to accuse others. It[‘s] not enough to say you love God; you must also love your fellow man. Nor is it enough to say you love your fellow man while you, as Satan, divide, contend, and dispute against any person who labors on an errand seeking to do my will. How you proceed must be as noble as the cause you seek. You have become your own adversaries, and you cannot be Satan and also be mine. (T&C 157:9-10) 

We have acted and are acting as accusers. The Lord openly condemns this. He will continue to provide us with personal and collective opportunities to learn—through precept and sad experience—how to gain the necessary wisdom and knowledge to prepare for living in peace with one another. This more recent opportunity was provided by the Lord when He told us: 

Let the women call a conference at a suitable time and place convenient to allow interested women to attend. …let any who want to speak present their concerns. Reason together and draw upon the experiences from those past women’s councils. Let the women learn to come to agreement and the voice of [the] conference decides all matters raised. 

(“Full Text of June 20 Revelation,” denversnuffer.com, July 19, 2024.) 

God gave us an opportunity with the Guide and Standard. It was to provide an experience for a group of people with differences and disagreements to learn from increasing their ability to respectfully disagree while still coming to a mutual concession. Rather than mutually agreeing, we surrendered the fight without achieving a unanimous statement that satisfied everyone. In that, it was a failure. We’re failing again. We are so fixated on achieving results that we fail to realize that the results do not matter; only the process matters. Results should be a byproduct of the process. We hurry through the process to reach the result, never realizing we’ve discarded the very tool intended to produce people of one heart and one mind who can live together in peace. How we proceed is critical to succeeding as people. Results accomplished through compulsory means (which include peer pressure, refusing to engage, and shaming someone for a desire to stay in the process) cannot and will not bring people of peace together. 

Zion is also a byproduct. It’s a byproduct of the process and will never be the result of an achieved goal. Differences and disagreements should not make us enemies or evil. The Lord expects us to learn and grow our ability to respectfully disagree with one another. If we can acknowledge our differences and talk through our disagreements as beloved brothers and sisters who respect one another, we might just experience a remarkable byproduct. But until we’re willing to engage in the process, we’re only left to endure sad experiences. 

Now, no matter how patiently the Lord deals with us, we should not be fooled. When we do not learn one way, we will be disciplined in another way. Past events involving God’s people illustrate that when Divine discipline is imposed, many of the people do not survive, and those who do are often humbled by impoverishment, wounded by the violence, and made meek by their hunger and poverty. 

It saddens me to think we will not all arrive together. But I also have seen how easily offended some of us have been at things that should have been cheerfully endured. We should expect chastening. If we cannot endure God’s chastening hand, then we are not worthy of His blessing. I hope that I can prove to be faithful. But if any of you are there when the Lord brings Zion, then let your songs of everlasting joy break forth, and the hills tremble at your presence, and God’s pavilion spread over you to shield you from drought and hunger, and let your gratitude in God’s charity sink deeply into your souls.

 —————————  

So, that brings me to the third part of this. That concludes the talk I was required to present. But I have a few comments to add: 

First, I would propose that the following language be approved by your vote to be added as a section to the Teachings and Commandments: 

This is what you shall say to the people: “I give to you a name to distinguish you from others, and you shall call one another by this name: ‘Covenant Christians’ because you have and hold a covenant with me that make you my followers deserving of my protection. But my protection does not only defend, but also corrects, reproves, disciplines and guides you along that you may be mine indeed. 

If you are in favor of adding that language, please stand and say, “Yes.”

[AUDIENCE: exuberant “yes” responses]

[Denver chuckling] OK, thanks, please be seated. 

If you are opposed to adding that language, please stand and say, “No.”

[No responses from the audience]

We should never… I should never utter what immediately comes to mind. I mean it’s… [Denver choking up] There were no “no”… There were no “no” votes.

OK! Second, we have just been through another opportunity to deal with a controversy that divided us. It’s required opposing views to be debated. That may not have been as cheerfully conducted as we might have wanted it to have been, but it was another chance to work through a problem. We needed that. So now we should look back on how we did individually in the discussions. 

Many of us have approached the task of deciding a controversy with fear and not with cheerful confidence. I am confident that the voice of the people will almost always choose the right outcome. I approach our disagreements with the confidence that, in the end, we will achieve the right outcome. Be encouraged to lay aside your fears, trust the body of believers, and do not lose faith because we have a matter to resolve. 

Thirdly, I readily admit that up until this point, my teaching has failed to produce harmony and peace among us. That requires work, serious effort, patient discussion, and critical reasoning. Not enough has been done to develop the skill of respectfully disagreeing. We avoid the work of reasoning together. 

There is an astonishing amount left undone, and each year we make very little progress towards completing the remaining work. We certainly have made progress. But with all that’s left to be done, we have only made a start. Although there have been a number of important talks, we’ve hardly begun to be taught everything that needs to be returned. 

At times in human history, multiple written languages were used by the same people. The sacred writings were not preserved in the common-used written form, but instead, the priests used pictographic images for sacred messages. These were hieroglyphs: the Greek word “hieros” means sacred, and the word “glyphen” means to carve. The sacred carving was intended to be difficult to decipher in order to preclude common or profane understanding. That system required an oral tradition to preserve the meaning, tell the story, and provide the key of knowledge required to understand the carved pictograph. It would not allow an uninitiated novice who had not been taught the oral tradition to grasp the meaning of the hieroglyph. An image like a horse, for example, might mean a horse. Or it could mean strength. Or it could mean movement. Or it could mean wealth. Or it could refer to a constellation. Or it could be the name of a place, person, town, or people. It could mean an army. However, to understand the meaning of the image, you had first to be orally initiated into the belief system, at which point the image served as a prompt to recall the underlying story. 

Assuming Thoth of Egypt is Enoch of the Bible, it was Enoch who began the use of pictographic hieroglyphs as a device to conceal sacred knowledge from the uninitiated. This let sacred information be preserved, while also leaving the unworthy ignorant of what they were unwilling to receive and obey. This division of people into a larger, outer group and an inner, more knowledgeable body has been referred to as the “exoteric” and the “esoteric” church. 

In the earliest days of this creation, the open exposure of sacred knowledge led to such inordinate wickedness that God determined to destroy the creation and begin anew. A tradition about Enoch claims that he knew the flood would not only destroy mankind but also knowledge. Rather than allow those who would be preserved through the flood to remain ignorant, Enoch was said to have erected two pillars: one of brick and the other of stone. On these, he engraved enough to preserve the sacred knowledge mankind would need to be saved from ignorance and damnation. To preclude the inordinate wickedness that results when esoteric knowledge falls into the hands of wicked men, Enoch used hieroglyphs to prevent the uninitiated from gaining access to the inner knowledge that is intended only for those qualified who have been approved by God. 

This division between the outer and inner is reflected in the Tabernacle of Moses, the Temple of Solomon, and the architecture of the Second Temple. There were areas for the public, and others limited to the priests, and still another limited to the High Priest (and then, only one time a year). The temples of the Old Testament show there was hidden knowledge that was unavailable to the public, and the content was excluded from the Bible narrative. 

Without knowing anything of the mysteries God that He’s kept from the scriptural record and hidden behind a veil in this creation, we can be confident that no matter how much we may long for it or how deeply we search to find it, the inner, esoteric knowledge will forever remain unavailable to the public. But it’s God’s intent to restore that for a small group in the last days before His return in glory. Because the full extent of this cannot be made public, the revelation will need to happen in the Lord’s House. As the Lord explained in 1841:  

For there is not place found on…earth that he may come and restore again that which was lost unto you, or which he has taken away, even the fullness of the Priesthood. 

…I command you, all you my saints, to build a house unto me, and I grant…you a sufficient time to build a house unto me, and during this time your baptisms shall be acceptable unto me. But behold, at the end of this appointment, your baptisms for your dead shall not be acceptable unto me. And if you do not these things, at the end of the appointment you shall be rejected as a church with your dead, says the Lord your God.

…I say unto you…your anointings, …your washings, …your baptisms for the dead, …your solemn assemblies, …your memorials for your sacrifices by the sons of Levi, …for your oracles in your most holy places wherein you receive conversations, …your statutes and judgments for the beginning of the revelations and foundation of Zion, and for the glory, and honor, and endowment of all her municipals, are ordained by the ordinance of my holy house, which my people are always commanded to build unto my holy name. 

…verily I say unto you, let this house be built unto my name that I may reveal my ordinances therein unto my people, for I deign to reveal unto my church things which have been kept hid from before the foundation of the world, things that pertain to the dispensation of the fullness of times. And I will show unto my servant Joseph all things pertaining to this house and the Priesthood thereof, and the place whereon it shall be built. (T&C 141:10-13)

The people living in 1849 [1841] were offered the fullness, oracles, ordinances, and conversations by the Lord. They would not receive it. They bickered, fought for power/influence, diverted resources away from the temple to construct their own houses; they engaged in abominable sexual sins, lied to conceal it, and conspired to spread their lustful conduct by attributing it to Joseph and Hyrum. They proved themselves utterly incapable of the serious discipleship necessary to obtain the Lord’s trust. We are not distinguishing ourselves from them. 

If we should ever be able to build a temple, it will fulfill this prophecy of Isaiah, which Christ quoted to the Nephites: O you afflicted, storm-tossed, and suffering one, know that I will provide a foundation as sturdy as rock and beautiful as sapphire. I’ll make your towers more valuable than rubies, [and] doors that are precious, surrounded by heavenly designs upon the walls (3 Nephi 10:3). Christ immediately followed this quote from Isaiah with this admonition: 

Now I tell you that you ought to carefully study these things. In fact, I give you a commandment to study [the] things diligently, because Isaiah’s prophecies are critical. He clearly focused his prophecy on My people who are part of the house of Israel. Therefore, he necessarily prophesied about the Gentiles. And everything he prophesied has happened, or will happen, precisely as he foretold. (Id. ¶4) 

We resist instruction. We would rather fight over things that injure our pride than welcome and accept what the Lord offers. As we were told by the Lord in 2019: I [remind] you that you do not understand the glory to be revealed unto my covenant people (T&C 177:2). Although I have tried to get you interested enough to cooperate with the Lord so as to allow Him to fulfill that offer to us, I acknowledge my failure. We have been overtaken by a distracting, false, and prideful spirit that hinders and delays the enormous work remaining to restore all things. We do not yet have even the possibility of building the Lord’s House. Although the Lord has provided everything necessary to accomplish that project, we do not have suitable candidates, and we lack the necessary means. We have some interest and perhaps even a longing, but we lack the thirst and humility to acquire the skills necessary to reason together and resolve our differences amicably. 

If we continue on in the next few years the same as we have done for the last decade, we may gain increased understanding, yet more inspired instructions from the Lord, and be blessed by His gentle guidance. But right now, it seems unlikely to me that we will be able to reach the finish line to fulfill the prophecies, vindicate the covenants, and welcome the Lord’s return. So, I would ask us all to be more easily entreated by the Lord, to be easily persuaded, eager to respond with alacrity, humble, meek, and repentant. I cannot help but feel we should already have those qualities, feel the urgency, and readily align ourselves with the Lord’s will. 

I refuse to act the part of the strongman. I will confine myself to teaching and hope to be persuasive. But you must rise up and willingly accept the burden of discipleship. I do not want you to follow or obey me. I want to persuade you to follow Christ and to take seriously what He asks of us. We need to stop fighting and start reasoning together as if we reflected the image of God. We need to behave more like our Lord and less like His adversary. 

The work to prepare people for the Lord’s glory is imposed on every disciple. I can only improve myself. I can do nothing to improve you. But you have the power to individually rise up and qualify for the glory to be revealed. Or you can choose instead to lapse into petty arguments, prideful disputes, and more wasted time. 

When I was in high school, the debate class had a single proposition that would be debated for a year. The teams would research both sides of the proposition. In any single debate, the team might argue for the proposition or against it. The assigned side would not be disclosed until moments before the debate began. As a result, debate teams need to understand both sides of the matter well enough to persuasively present arguments from either vantage point. The high school students realized that they could not decide the question personally because if they aligned themselves with one side, they would not be effective in arguing against it when called to do so. So they suspended judgment during the year. When the class ended, the students were free to decide how they would resolve the matter. However, their opinions were often influenced by the year-long discussion in ways that refined their understanding far beyond where they originally stood. 

That debate experience introduced students involved to critical reasoning. It made them thoughtful. It required them to suspend judgment and to instead consider what would support and what would undermine the question. Those skills are missing among us. We need to be able to discuss, understand, and weigh both sides of an argument being debated. We need to reason carefully, suspend judgment, and listen for the strengths and weaknesses of a question. Instead, we tend to decide everything for ourselves quickly, without respecting that there’s always another side to the matter. Instead of patiently improving, we judge and dismiss each other. We use disagreements to condemn one another. We are at our ugliest when we disagree, and we should instead be models of patience and charity, recognizing fractures are inevitable and treating them as opportunities to understand one another. That seems like a distant goal, presently over our horizon and out of our sight. But we are pointed in the right direction. It may remain a long journey, but we’re clearly moving. As long as there is any sign of growth in the Lord’s vineyard, He will tend it and let the growth develop. So, press on, in faith believing, cheerfully confident that we matter enough to the Lord that He has now given to us a name. That’s a milestone none of us expected. 

Finally, we—WE—are far stronger than other congregations or denominations. We are equals, entrusted with making joint decisions, required to struggle over things that other bodies of believers surrender to leaders who adopt and enforce decisions. Our frailties are on display. Theirs are hidden. We have a chance to grow into a harmonious body that can live in peace. We aren’t there yet, but we are clearly working on it. Others are not and indeed cannot. Their unequal status precludes what ours requires. We are often bruised, bleeding, and in pain, but once healed, are strengthened by the ordeal. Other faiths are only superficially at peace with one another, but it will be impossible to gather them into a body of one heart, one mind, having all things in common, with no poor among them. We may not be able to do that at present either. But we are actually working on it. And now we know that if we need discipline, affliction, difficulties, and challenges to help us along, the Lord has now assured us that He will discipline us. He will be attentive and not neglectful. So we should expect to be corrected by sad experiences whenever we neglect to learn by precept. 

In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

The post God’s Covenant People appeared first on Restoration Archives Blog.

The following talk was given in Murray, UT, on December 14th, 2024.

Okay, we’ll start.

The only people who will be saved are Israel. Period. Hopefully, by the time we get done with this, you’ll understand better what that means. 

In the valley of Adam-ondi-Ahman, when the first great get-together that was attended by the Lord took place, Adam offered a prophecy, when he was foretelling everything that would happen to his posterity down to the end of time, and it included the statement that this same Priesthood which was in the beginning shall be in the end of the world also (Genesis 3:14). So that seems like an interesting thing, and it seems like it’s, you know, related to, maybe, someone performing ordinances or something like that. But it’s a little more expansive a statement than just limited to what we regard as a priestly function. 

The initial genealogical tracking of the patriarchs through the book of Genesis came to an end at the time of Shem (who was given a new name of Melchizedek), because following him, there were generations that fell away from the truth. It wasn’t until Abraham came to Melchizedek and became an heir that could likewise perpetuate what had been there in the beginning that the line resumed again. More so, perhaps, for us than Adam, Abraham represents a prototype, because he comes out of apostasy, and he secures himself back in the line and becomes a patriarch. And he does so through adoption, which is the way that latter-day Israel is gonna be reassembled. Abraham had this promise given to him by the Lord: 

I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you above measure, and make your name great among all nations. 

…which sounds interesting in the context of Abraham’s life, because “all nations” would include people over the horizon and far away, some of whom he’d only heard of distantly. And now the promise is that “your name is gonna be great among all nations.” 

And you shall be a blessing unto your seed after you, that in their hands they shall bear this ministry and Priesthood unto [and again] all nations. And I will bless them through your name, for as many as receive this gospel… 

And now he’s talking about something incredibly specific and comprehensive and big that resembles what had been in the possession of Adam and Eve at the beginning and handed down through the line of the patriarchs. So “this gospel,” anyone that receives it, 

…shall be called after your name and shall be accounted your seed…  

…“seed” being genealogical, familial, the same sort of thing that the outline of the patriarch lineage is designed to define or clarify. He’s saying, “They’re gonna be your seed.”

…and shall rise up and bless you, as unto their Father.

Distant nations, people over the horizon, including ALL of them, are gonna call you, Abraham, their father.

And I will bless them that bless you and curse them that curse you. And in you (that is, in your Priesthood) and in your seed (that is, [in] your Priesthood) — for I give unto you a promise that this right shall continue in you and in your seed after you (that is to say, the literal seed or seed of the body) — shall all the families of the earth be blessed, even with the blessings of the gospel, which are the blessings of salvation, even of [eternal life]. (Abraham 3:1, emphasis added)

So Abraham not only secures the initiation/ordination that Melchizedek could administer, [but] independent of that, just like the patriarchs, where they get ordained at one point and they encounter God at some point later (Enoch, for example, was conferred priesthood at age 20, and it was at 65 that he encountered the Lord; so there was this 45-year gap between the time of ordination and the time of the Lord visiting with him), the promise that Abraham received did not coincide with the moment that he was receiving initiation into the order that Melchizedek had. So Abraham now is in a covenantal relationship directly with God and an inheritor, also, of the patriarchal descendancy. 

After him, the Lord told Sarah about her son, Isaac. And God said: 

Sarah, your, wife shall bear you a son, and you shall call his name Isaac. And I will establish my covenant with him…for an everlasting covenant with his seed after him. (Genesis 7:33)

So Isaac is designated as someone that would likewise receive the same status. And directly to Isaac, God said:

Unto you and unto your seed I will give all these countries. And I will perform the oath which I swore unto Abraham your father. And I will make your seed to multiply as the stars of heaven and will give unto your seed all these countries. And in your seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed because Abraham obeyed my voice, and kept my charge, my commandments, my statutes, and my laws. (Genesis 9:4)

So now the Scriptures are talking about the God of Abraham and the God of Isaac because it is the same relationship that God restores in Isaac—through covenant and direct communication—the link that was intended to have been preserved from the beginning. And then after him, his son, Jacob. God said unto him: 

Your name is Jacob. Your name shall not be called anymore Jacob, but Israel should be your name. And he called his name Israel. And God said unto him, I am God Almighty; be fruitful and multiply. A nation and a company of nations shall be of you, and kings shall come out of your loins. And the land[s] which I gave [to] Abraham and Isaac, to you I will give it, and to your seed after you will I give the land. (Ibid. ¶55)

So now it is the “God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob,” and the Scriptures are clear—because that is a covenantal relationship that that title gets used. It’s not the “God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.” We sometimes refer to Him as that, but it is the “God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob” that enters into these relationships. 

Well, Israel has been scattered, sent to every corner of the earth and lost, because most of Israel (the ten tribes) are called the lost ten tribes. So, I mean, when we refer to the lost tribes of Israel (the majority—the overwhelming majority—of Israel), we’re simply saying that they’re gone. Well, Lehi had something to say about the phenomenon of what will happen to Israel; and Lehi—trying to convince his posterity about what the future was going to hold—begins to tell them about the necessity of what THEY were going through, because what they were going through was going to set up vindication on behalf of the entire family of Israel:

My father spoke extensively about the Gentiles and about the house of Israel… 

It’s about the house of Israel. 

…comparing them [Israel] to an olive tree whose branches would be broken off and scattered throughout the earth. Therefore he said it was part of God’s plan for us to go to our promised land, to fulfill the Lord’s word that we would be scattered across the earth; and after the house of Israel has been scattered, they would be gathered back together; or in other words, in the end, after the Gentiles receive the fullness of the gospel, that the olive tree’s natural branches (meaning the remnants of the house of Israel), would be grafted in or learn to worship the true Messiah, their Lord and their Redeemer. (1 Nephi 3:4 CE)

[coughing] Excuse me. So now we’ve got Lehi talking about how Israel is going to fulfill this destiny, but in order to do so, they have to be broken up and scattered, just like their family was being done at that moment. But everything he’s going to say is about Israel, of which his family knew that they were part. But if you’re going to accomplish what the Lord intended to do with the olive tree, necessarily it’s going to involve the Gentiles. The scattering is intended to accomplish a purpose, and the purpose includes Gentiles. Well, Lehi is speaking long before we ever get to the Allegory of the Olive Tree that Jacob includes in his book. But from what I just read you about what Father Lehi was saying, I think it’s fairly obvious what he drew from. 

There’s a lot we don’t know about Zenos, who wrote the Allegory of the Olive Tree. We don’t know when he lived, what his tribe was, or the time when the Allegory of the Olive Tree was first presented. At one point, I took the Book of Mormon and I did a search for everything that was quoted in the Book of Mormon that directly attributed the material to Zenos. There’s probably a lot more that is in the Book of Mormon that was drawn from Zenos—either paraphrasing or quoting him—but because they didn’t give attribution, I don’t know if we’re looking at Zenos or not. But from the things that have been identified, there were over 3000 words directly quoted from Zenos in the Book of Mormon. 

His prophecies undoubtedly influenced what Isaiah would later prophesy. But Isaiah put much of the same kinds of prophetic foretelling in obscure language and in imagery, and Zenos just did it bluntly. He didn’t play around with language that you have to interpret to figure out that unto us a child is born, unto us a [king] is given, and the government shall be upon his shoulder[s] (Isaiah 4:1), that could be Herod, that could be Hezekiah, that could be Saul. Zenos comes right out and says he’s talking about the Messiah, and he’s talking about what will happen to Him and how He will be treated. And he was direct. 

Now, Isaiah—who came after Zenos—Isaiah has some prophetic language that the Book of Mormon picks up and preserves. (And everything I’m reading tonight comes from the Covenant of Christ version of the Scriptures because I believe them to be far more accurate and clearly understandable than the other version called the Book of Mormon.) 

Their minds have become dull, their ears plugged, and their eyes closed, otherwise they would see with their eyes, hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and be converted, and…healed. Then I asked: Lord, how long will they remain like this? …He said: Until their cities have been destroyed and left desolate, and their houses abandoned, and the land deserted, until the Lord has driven everyone far away, and there are many abandoned places throughout the land. But a tithe of the people will remain and will be burned. Like a linden tree or oak tree, leaving a stump with living roots although cut down, likewise a holy remnant to be restored still survives in the residue. (2 Nephi 9:2 CE)

So here the Lord is talking to Isaiah in response to a question that suggests that Israel is going to be decimated—but there’s still going to be a root remaining that can spring back to life because the roots will be preserved and be capable of regenerating. So Nephi (talking to his brothers, trying to explain to them the things that they didn’t understand), Nephi gives this explanation to his brothers: 

Now, I tell you that the Spirit of the Lord within our father compared the house of Israel to an olive tree. Are we not broken off from the house of Israel? Are we not a branch of the house of Israel? The thing our father means about the natural branches being grafted in through the fullness of the Gentiles is that in the last days, when our descendants have fallen away in unbelief for many years over generations, and after the [true] Messiah will have appeared in person to mankind, then the fullness of the gospel of the Messiah will come to the Gentiles, and from the Gentiles it will go to our descendants. At that time, they’ll learn that they’re from the house of Israel and are the Lord’s covenant people. Then our descendants will learn about their forefathers and learn about the gospel of their Redeemer, which He taught to their ancestors. So they’ll come to know about their Redeemer and the correct details of his doctrine, so they can know how to come to Him and be saved. At that time, won’t they be glad and give praise to their everlasting God, their rock and their salvation? Won’t they receive strength and nourishment from the true vine at that day? Won’t they come to God’s true fold? Yes. They’ll be included with the house of Israel again; they’ll be grafted [in] into the true olive tree, being a natural branch of it. (1 Nephi 4:3 CE)

Okay? So they’ve got to get the gospel, they’ve got to come to know the Redeemer, but even then, they have to be grafted back in, in order to become connected to the living vine; otherwise, they’re still just out there a dead branch. 

Then we have this (and this is another statement from Isaiah that I want you to keep in mind because we’ll get back to how directly this ties to the Allegory of the Olive Tree later on):

A shoot will come up from the stump of Jesse, and from his roots a Branch will produce fruit. The Spirit of the Lord will rest upon Him — the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and of respect for the Lord — and He’ll have insight and love for the Lord. He won’t judge by what He sees with His eyes, nor decide by what He hears with His ears, but with righteousness He’ll judge the needy, and with justice decide matters for the poor. (2 Nephi 9:21 CE)

…clearly a messianic prophecy about who and what the Lord was, but it is the Lord that is going to spring up out of a dead stump whose roots were still alive. 

So with that—and we’ll tie some other things back in—with that, it leads us to the actual Allegory of the Olive Tree that Zenos prophesied and that Jacob included in his part of the Book of Mormon.

My people, let me remind you…the words [of] the Prophet Zenos spoke about the house of Israel, saying…  

So, once again, it’s about the house of Israel. It isn’t about Gentiles or about a gentile stump somewhere that turns into a independent house/family/living tree that God intends to preserve. It’s about Israel. If a Gentile does not get grafted back into the house of Israel, they’re going to be gathered up in a bundle and thrown into the fire and burned—because that’s the destiny that’s talked about in the allegory when the master is cleaning up the vineyard at the end. So this is only about the house of Israel. 

Hearken, O house of Israel, and hear my words, the words of a prophet of the Lord. This is the Lord’s message: I’ll compare you, O house of Israel, to a tame olive tree a man took and nourished in his vineyard. And it grew, became old, and began to decay. And the lord of the vineyard went out and saw his olive tree started to decay, so he said: I’ll prune it and loosen the soil around it and tend it, so perhaps some young, tender branches will sprout and it won’t die. So he pruned it, loosened the soil around it, and tended it according to his word. After many days it began to sprout a few young and tender branches, but the main top was dying. 

So Israel is gonna wind up in this predicament. It’s going to be corrupt and decaying and needing to be pruned, and the Lord says He WILL prune it. Well, if you look at the history of Israel, what happened to the northern tribes that made them lost? They got pruned, rather dramatically, by Assyria and relocated as a hostage nation into another place. The problem was the main top was dying. So he’s looking for a few young and tender branches, which is not the main top. The main top, generally (when you’ve got an organization or a people or a structure), almost always becomes corrupted, because the target of the adversary in a structure is to grab hold of the top of the organization in order to change the organization into a tool that the adversary can use for the corruption of people. You probably can’t find a finer, more concerned, caring, decent human being than Walt Disney when he was alive; but he left behind an organization, and the organization that he left behind has now become a tool for corrupt and evil and conspiring men, just like everything else that we find in this world and just like, politically, what we find just about everywhere. If there is a place where wealth/power/influence are concentrated, you’ll find mischief there. It’s just the way it goes. The main top is dying. 

…the Lord of the vineyard saw it and said to his servant: It makes me sad to lose this tree. So go and retrieve branches from a wild olive tree and bring them here to me. 

So now you have a contrast between something he calls tame and something he calls wild. There’s a number of words that he uses in order to describe what is tame in this allegory. Tame is also called “natural,” “mother,” or “original.” Okay? So now we have a wild olive tree, and he’s saying, “Bring those in, these branches,” 

Then we’ll cut off the main branches that are starting to wither away, and throw them into the fire to be burned. And the lord of the vineyard said: I’ll remove many of these new, tender branches and graft them in places I choose; then it won’t matter if the original tree root dies, because I can still save its fruit for myself. Therefore I’ll take these young, tender branches and graft them in places I choose. Now take the branches [from] the wild olive tree and graft them in to replace them. Then I’ll throw the ones I’ve cut…into the fire and burn them, so [that] they won’t take up space in my vineyard. 

So you have the main top that’s become corrupted. He wants that cut off, and he wants that burned: Just get rid of it; destroy that. Then there are tender branches that are growing: those he wants to transplant and put them in places that he’s going to choose. And in place of those young, tender branches, he wants to bring in wild branches/wild shoots and to graft in wild shoots to replace the tender branches that he’s moving elsewhere; they are wild though. But the “main thing”? It’s just gonna be burned up and discarded. 

…the servant of the lord of the vineyard followed the lord of the vineyard’s plan and grafted in the branches of the wild olive tree. And the lord of the vineyard had it tilled, pruned, and tended, saying to his servant: It makes me sad to lose this tree; so I’ve done this to perhaps keep its roots alive, so they don’t die, because I would like to save them for myself. Therefore follow the plan; watch the tree and tend it following my instructions. And I’ll place these branches in the lowest [part] of my vineyard… 

Okay, the word “nithermost” that we find in the Book of Mormon means “lowest part.” So when we get to this “nithermost part of the vineyard” and he’s saying, “I’m gonna transplant it into the lowest part of my vineyard,” ask yourself why they would be considered to be lowest? What does the word lowest mean in this context? 

…where I choose and that isn’t your concern. I’ll do this in order to save the tree’s natural branches for myself and to store its fruit for myself in preparation for the harvest time. Because it would make me sad to lose this tree and its fruit. 

So now you have two things there: this tree and its fruit; and both of those have specific meaning. He wants to preserve good fruit—he calls that “best fruit”; he calls it “precious fruit.” And he wants to get rid of bad fruit, which he also calls “bitter fruit” or “evil.”

And the lord of the vineyard went his way and hid the natural branches of the tame olive tree in the lowest parts of the vineyard, some in one part and some in another, according to his deliberate plan. 

Now, what’s interesting about this is that it is the lord doing this. The people working in the vineyard, this is out of their sight. They don’t even know where they’ve been taken. A little later, they’ll be shown where they’ve been taken, and they’ll be surprised at some of the places that the lord wound up transplanting these tender branches into. But right now, it is the lord—and the lord alone—of the vineyard who decides where he’s gonna put these various parts of the natural tree. 

After a long time had elapsed, the lord of the vineyard said to his servant: Come, let’s return to the vineyard to work there. 

Then the lord of the vineyard with his servant returned to work in the vineyard. The servant said to his master: Oh good! Look here! Inspect this tree. And the lord of the vineyard looked and saw the tree where the wild olive branches had been grafted in. 

So we’re now talking about, essentially, the sheep that descends with all kinds of unclean animals on it that Peter’s commanded to take and eat. And Peter says, “I’ve never violated that part of the law of Moses.” And the Lord says, “What I’ve declared to be clean, don’t you treat as unclean,” which Peter understood as meaning the Gentiles are welcomed into being converted and becoming part of the Christian movement. The Apostle Paul was absolutely unequivocal about that, and yet we see in the book of Acts how both Peter and Paul wound up being a little squeamish, at moments, in the right place at the right time, about their association with gentile converts. But the lord of the vineyard is saying: 

It[’s] sprouted and begun to produce fruit. He saw it was good and its fruit was like the natural fruit. 

Some of those people who got converted back in the meridian of time after the death and resurrection of the Lord, during the ministry of the apostles, were good fruit. 

He said to his servant: See, the wild tree’s branches have taken hold of the root’s vitality, so that the root has provided them with vigor. And because of the root’s vitality, the wild branches have produced tame fruit. 

So whatever it was about Israel that was fundamental (and the root of it) had the effect of redeeming Gentiles that were wild. 

…Therefore I’ll store plenty of fruit that this tree has now produced. I’ll store the fruit for myself as part of the harvest. 

The lord of the vineyard then told his servant: Come, let’s go to the lowest part of the vineyard and see if the tree’s natural branches have also produced a lot of fruit, so I can store the fruit for myself as part of the harvest. And they went out to where the lord of the vineyard had hidden the tree’s natural branches, and he said to [his servant]: Look at these! He saw the first tree had produced plenty of fruit, and he saw it [was also] good. 

Who were they? Where were they taken? They’re just referred to as the “first group,” but they produced plenty of fruit. Somewhere. Some people. 

Then, he told the servant: I’ve tended it a long time…it’s produced plenty of fruit. So take the fruit of the tree and store it as part of the harvest, so I can save it for myself. 

The servant asked [the] master: How was it that you came to plant this tree or this tree branch here? It was the poorest spot in the whole vineyard. 

Okay, why? What was it about this spot that makes it poor? Understand, we’re talking about people. We’re talking about transplanting a scattered remnant of the house of Israel into some place that was poor, that was low quality, that was undesirable. In the evaluation of the angel or the servant who’s working there, it’s the poorest place in the whole vineyard! 

But the lord of the vineyard replied: Don’t complain about it, I knew it was a poor spot of ground. That’s why I told you I gave it attention and cared for it a long time, and you see that it’s produced plenty of fruit. 

So remarkable results are achieved when the Lord is the one that’s doing the husbanding of the planting. We tend to view poor places in the vineyard all over, as we cast our eyes about in the world. And yet, sometimes that’s exactly where you’re gonna get plenty of fruit. 

Then the lord of the vineyard said to his servant: Look here! I’ve also planted another branch of the tree, and you know this spot of ground was poorer than the first.

So you think that first one was bad? Let me show you where I put the next group from Israel, and then you realize that place was, actually, it was okay. We’re now going to Magna. 

But look at the tree! I’ve tended it a long time and it[‘s] produced plenty of fruit. Therefore gather it and store it as part of the harvest, so I can save it for myself. 

So now this has produced good fruit—in the most unlikely/the poorest/the worst place conceivable. 

Then the lord of the vineyard said again to his servant: Look here and see another branch I’ve planted. I’ve tended it too, and it has produced fruit. And he told the servant: Look here and see the last one! I’ve planted this one in a very favorable spot and tended it a long time. And only part of the tree has produced tame fruit, but the other part of the tree has produced wild fruit. I’ve tended this tree like the others. 

Okay, so we don’t know that this is exactly what it is talking about, but it would seem that this transplant would have produced good fruit from the Nephites and bad fruit from the Lamanites because we know that part of the history of this branch of the olive tree that got transplanted, and we also know that this part of the vineyard—this land—is called “choice above all other lands.” And so if this IS the good spot, then we have a record—in the Covenant of Christ and the Book of Mormon—we have a record of one part of that house of Israel and the planting of the natural branch in a wild tree root. 

Later, the lord of the vineyard told his servant: Cut off the branches that haven’t produced good fruit…throw them in the fire. But the servant said to him: Let’s prune it, loosen the soil around it, and tend it a little longer, so it will perhaps produce good fruit for you, so you can store it as part of the harvest. 

So if you look at the events that happen in Third Nephi and the pruning that went on there, you can see that in the actual retelling of the history of these people, that a pruning did take place, and parts of it… And “the soil was loosened around it, and they tended it a little longer,” just as this allegory describes. 

So the lord of the vineyard and his servant cared for all the vineyard’s fruit. 

After a long time had passed, the lord of the vineyard told his servant: Come, let’s return to the vineyard to work there again. Because the time approaches and the end is coming soon, therefore I must store fruit before the final harvest arrives. Then the lord of the vineyard and the servant returned to the vineyard and came to the tree whose natural branches had been taken off and which had wild branches grafted in, and all kinds of fruit weighed down the tree.

You have Catholicism. You have Orthodoxy. You have Lutheranism. You have Presby- terianism. You have Church of England. You have the Anabaptists, followed by the Baptists. You have Pentecostals and Evangelicals. You have all kinds of fruit. 

And the lord of the vineyard tasted the fruit, every kind that had grown there. And the lord of the vineyard said: We’ve tended this tree a long time, and I’ve stored plenty of fruit for myself in preparation for the harvest. Now it has produced plenty of fruit, although none of it’s good; there are all kinds of bad fruit, and it’s of no use to me, despite all our work.

“The Lord said unto me they were all wrong, that their creeds were an abomination, and that the professors were all corrupt, so don’t join any of them, Joseph.” 

Now it makes me sad to lose this tree. And the lord of the vineyard said to the servant: What else can we do for the tree so that I can again obtain good fruit for myself? And the servant said to his master: Because you grafted in the wild olive tree’s branches, they’ve saved the roots, so they’re still alive and haven’t died; and you can see they’re still good.

There were people who and are only kept from the truth because they know not where to find it. There’s still some goodness there; there’s still people who ought properly to inherit the blessings of Israel if they could find it. 

Then the lord of the vineyard told his servant: The tree is of no use to me and its roots are of no use to me so long as it produces bad fruit. However, I know the roots are good, and I’ve kept them alive as part of my plans. And because of their great vitality, they’ve produced good fruit from the wild branches until now. But the wild branches have grown and overrun the roots. And because the wild branches have overcome the roots, the tree has produced a lot of bad fruit. And because it has produced so much bad fruit, you see it’s beginning to die. It will soon be lost, reaching the point that we’ll need to throw it into the fire unless we do something to keep it from dying. 

Then the lord of the vineyard told his servant: Let’s go down into the lowest parts of the vineyard and see if the natural branches have also produced bad fruit. So they went down into the lowest parts of the vineyard and saw the fruit of the natural branches had also become corrupt — the first, second, and last — they had all become corrupt. And the wild fruit of the last one had overcome that part of the tree that [had] produced the good fruit, to the point that the good branch had withered away and died. 

…which is a description of what happened to the Nephites when the Lamanites ultimately overcame them in their destruction at the end of the record of the Nephites. So it appears that that third one that had been planted in the most favorable place is, in all probability, the record that we have of Lehi’s family. 

Then the lord of the vineyard mourned and asked [his] servant: What more could I have done for my vineyard? I knew that all the vineyard’s fruit, except for these, had become corrupt. Now these that once produced good fruit have also become corrupt. All my vineyard’s trees are now good for nothing and will need to be cut down and thrown into the fire. 

The apostasy was universal. There was no place on Earth where you could find salvation—every institution, every creed, all corrupt. 

I planted this last one, whose branch[es] ha[d] withered away, in a good spot of ground — indeed, a place I valued above all other parts of my vineyard. 

And you see I also cut down what was growing in this spot of ground so I could plant this tree in its place. 

That appears, again, to be referring to the record we have from the Nephites because, before them, the Jaredites got cut down in order for transplanting the branches onto something out there—wild root though it may be—where it could grow.

You can see that part of it produced good fruit and the other part produced wild fruit. Because I didn’t cut off the bad branches and throw them into the fire, they’ve overcome the good branch, so it has withered away. Now, despite all the care we’ve given to my vineyard, all its trees have become corrupt, so they don’t produce any good fruit. I was hoping to save these, to have stored up fruit [to] myself as part of the harvest. But [because] they’ve become like the wild olive tree, and they’re of no value except to be cut down and thrown into the fire. And it makes me sad to lose them. 

But what more could I have done in my vineyard? Have I neglected my work and failed to tend it? No, I’ve tended it…I’ve loosened the soil around it, I’ve pruned it, I’ve fertilized it, and I’ve worked my hand almost the whole day, [so] the end is approaching. It makes me sad that I must cut down all my vineyard’s trees and throw them into the fire to be burned. What’s ruined my vineyard?

Then the servant asked his master: Isn’t…your vineyard’s ambitious overgrowth? Haven’t the branches overgrown the good roots? And because the branches have overgrown their roots — growing faster than the strength of the roots, taking strength to themselves — I ask, Isn’t this the reason your vineyard’s trees have become corrupted? 

You know, Christianity spread over the Roman Empire in large measure because of the steps that Constantine took. Even the form of the Catholic Church began to imitate the Holy Roman Empire (as it calls itself—the Catholic Church) because the Pontiff of Rome and the Pontiff of Catholicism go by the same title; and the Roman Senate is mirrored in the Congress of the Cardinals—the Holy Conclave of the Cardinals that choose the successor pontiff to replace the prior pontiff; and just like the Roman Emperor was regarded as God’s representative on Earth and to wield the power (essentially) of God Himself, the Roman Catholic Pope is regarded as the Vicar of Christ and infallible because he wields the authority of God. (It’s not because he can’t make a mistake; it’s because whatever mistake he makes, God owns—because God’s empowered him to that end.) 

Then the servant asked his master: Isn’t it your vineyard’s ambitious overgrowth? Haven’t the branches overgrown the good roots? [It’s one of the reasons why haste is always perilous.] And because the branches have overgrown the roots — growing faster than the strength of the roots, taking strength to themselves — I ask, Isn’t this the reason your vineyard’s trees have become corrupted? 

The lord of the vineyard told his servant: Let’s go ahead and cut down the vineyard’s trees and throw them in the fire, so they [w]on’t take up space in my vineyard — I’ve done everything I could. What more could I have done? But the servant said to the lord of the vineyard: Wait a little longer. And the lord of the vineyard replied: Yes, I want to give it more time, because it makes me sad to lose my [vineyard]. Therefore let’s take some of the original branches I’ve transplanted to the lowest parts of my vineyard and graft them into the tree they came from. 

This is talking about returning Israel back to the status of being Israel, people who inherited a covenant through the Fathers unto themselves; he’s saying, Let’s take this and bring it right back into where it started when the original was here. 

And let’s cut from the tree the branches with the most bitter fruit and graft in the tree’s original branches in their place. I’ll do this so the tree won’t die, so that perhaps I [can] save the roots for myself and for my own purpose. And the roots of the tree from which I took the original branches are still alive; therefore, to also save them as part of my plan, I’ll take some of the tree’s original branches and graft them back. I’ll graft the original branches back to the roots of the original tree, so I can…save the roots for myself, so that when they’re strong enough, they might produce good fruit for me, and I can still celebrate my vineyard’s fruit. 

This is about weaving back together not multiple houses of multiple people in multiple venues. It’s talking about restoring a singular tree, which is Israel; a singular family, which is Israel—only Israel is going to be saved. That’s it. Outside of Israel, there is no salvation. And the purpose of the lord of the vineyard going through everything that he’s going through is in order to reassemble again what was here originally.

…the lord of the vineyard said to the servant: Only cut away the most bitter, wild branches from the trees. And graft in their place according to my instructions. We’ll tend the vineyard’s trees again and trim their branches and cut from the trees the ripe branches, which have to be destroyed, and throw them into the fire. I’m doing this to let the roots perhaps regain strength because they’re still promising and because changing the branches will let the good overcome the evil. Now I’ve saved the natural branches and their roots and grafted the natural branches into their mother tree again and kept the mother tree’s roots from dying. 

This is about that singular, original mother tree that the Lord is trying to re-establish as the house of Israel, not multiple trees and multiple places from multiple people in divergent points of origin. It’s trying to reclaim Israel. 

That way my vineyard’s trees can perhaps produce good fruit again, and so I can celebrate with my vineyard’s fruit. Maybe I’ll be able to have great results because I’ve kept the roots and branches of the original plant alive. 

That’s the purpose. Get the original back together again. 

Now go ahead and call servants, so we can work diligently with our strength in the vineyard, so we can prepare the vineyard to again yield the best good fruit as I originally had in my vineyard.

…most precious fruit. 

Therefore let’s go work hard this last time — the end is approaching, and this is the last time I’ll prune my vineyard. Graft in the branches — begin with the last so [that] they can be first…so the first can be last — 

So that third place, that good piece of ground, that most favorable spot where we think the origin of the people is summarized in Covenant of Christ or the Book of Mormon, he’s now saying that’s the place we’re going to, to start it all over again—and it began with Joseph Smith. 

…loosen the soil around the trees, both old and young — the first and the last, and the last and the first — so everything can be tended again for the last time. 

Very often the words “last time” gets used—in particular, in the Doctrine and Covenants or the Teachings and Commandments—to mean the “most recent”: …this is the testimony, last of all, which we [bear] of him: that…we saw him, even on the right hand of God (T&C 69:5). Last of all doesn’t mean no one else ever after that will have a testimony of Christ. It means, “This is our testimony, most recent of all, latest of all, most current of all.” HERE, “last time” is being used about finality because, as the story goes on, they’re going to tear down the entire vineyard, burn everything, and keep the fruit, and we’ll have another cycle of creation after that. 

…the end is approaching. And if it turns out [that] these last grafts grow and produce natural fruit, then you will trim away so they can grow. 

So once you begin that process using Joseph Smith, it’s not going to be a raging success. It’s got to be tended. It’s got to be pruned. It’s got to be worked with. 

[And] as they begin to grow, you must clear away the branches that produce bitter fruit, as the good gains size and strength. But you must not clear away [all] the bad…at once as that would let the roots be too strong for the graft, because we don’t want the graft to die, and I don’t want to lose my [vineyard] trees. 

So the restoration through Joseph Smith begins, and when it begins, it’s not an unmitigated success. It requires a lot of attention, care, pruning, digging, and a lot of effort and trimming 

…away the bad in proportion to the growth of the good. …This will be how I’ll rid my vineyard of the bad. I’ll graft the branches of the original tree back into the original tree…I’ll graft the branches of the original tree into the tree’s original branches. This is how I’ll bring them back together, so they will produce…original fruit…and be united. 

Israel needs to become one again. 

The bad will be thrown out — including from my entire vineyard. I’ll prune my vineyard just this last time. 

This is what’s happening now, okay? The lord of the vineyard is working. Servants have been called; notice it wasn’t just Joseph. There had to be other servants that get involved in the process because it’s not gonna be a singular, successful work. 

The lord of the vineyard sent his servant, and the servant went…did as the Lord had commanded him and brought a few other servants. And the lord of the vineyard told them: Get started and work hard in the vineyard. This is the last time I’ll tend my vineyard — the end is near and the harvest is coming quickly. 

There’s going to be a harvest. 

If you work hard with me, you’ll have joy in the fruit that I’ll harvest for myself at the end of the growing season. 

Then the servant the servants [plural] went ahead and worked hard, and the lord of the vineyard…worked with them. And they obeyed the lord of the vineyard’s direction[s]… And [the] original fruit again grew in the vineyard, and the original branches began to grow and produce abundantly, and the wild branches began to be cut off and thrown away. 

That’s underway. That’s what’s happening. 

And they kept the root and the top equal based on their strength. This is how they worked with all diligence according to the lord of the vineyard’s commandments, until the bad had been thrown out of the vineyard and the lord had saved the good for himself, so the [tree] had again produced the original fruit. 

That’s what we’re hoping to see achieved. That’s what work still remains to be accomplished, but that’s what the Lord of the vineyard has always been aiming for: to return that family back into a covenant status with Him.

And they bec[o]me like one body and the fruit was equally good; and the lord of the vineyard had saved the original fruit for himself, which was most valuable to him from the beginning. (Jacob 3:7-28 CE, emphasis added)

See, the family of God that was originally established in the beginning was the purpose of the whole plan and why Abraham and Isaac and Jacob got grafted back into that original trunk, which mirrors a grafting that has to happen throughout the entire vineyard after Israel—which was the new name given to Jacob that we read—after Israel is scattered. So the family of God needs to be linked back together to reconnect back to Adam so that that which was most valuable to him from the beginning returns. This same priesthood which was in the beginning shall be in the end of the world also (Genesis 3:14). Adam foretold that was going to happen. 

So now, when we get to this next paragraph, these are millennial events, and they are gonna happen in the future. I am far more concerned with where we are now, and so I’ll leave you that last paragraph to read for yourself. 

So now we know a little something about some of what the Lord has been up to. But there’s other things that bear upon what the Lord has been up to, and He gives us some hints. When He appeared to the Nephites and He was talking to them, Christ said to the audience that survived the pruning at that day: 

This is your inherited land; the Father has given it to you. And the Father has never commanded Me to tell that to your fellow Israelites at Jerusalem. Nor has the Father ever commanded Me to tell them about the other tribes of the house of Israel the Father [has] led away from the land. But the Father did command Me to [say to them]: I have other sheep that aren’t part of this fold. I will visit them and they will also hear My voice, and I will make all My sheep into one fold, following one Shepherd.

It was the purpose at the beginning to have one family, to have everyone in that family connected to God, and to return at the end what happens at the beginning. And He’s pursuing that objective, and He’s telling the people that assembled at Bountiful about this.

Now, because of [the] stubbornness and unbelief they didn’t understand what I said. Therefore the Father commanded Me not to say anything else about this subject to them. But truly I tell you the Father has commanded Me, and I’m telling it to you, that you were separated away from them because of their iniquity. Therefore it’s because of their iniquity that they don’t know about you. Moreover, …I’m telling you this truth: the Father has separated other tribes away from them. And it’s because of their iniquity that they don’t know about them. Now I tell you truthfully that you are the ones I spoke of when I said: I have other sheep that aren’t part of this fold; I will visit them, and they will also hear My voice; then I will make [them] My sheep into one fold, following one Shepherd. 

Then after another statement or two, He says:

And again I testify to you [that] I have other sheep that don’t live in this land, nor in the land of Jerusalem, nor in any of the areas where I went to minister. The ones I’m speaking about are those who haven’t heard My voice yet; and I haven’t revealed Myself to them either. But I’ve received a commandment from the Father to go to them: [and] they’re to hear My voice and [to] be included among My sheep, so there can be one fold, following one Shepherd. Therefore I will go in order to reveal Myself to them. (3 Nephi 7:3 CE, emphasis added)

So Christ is saying, “I came to you, I told them that there were other sheep, and when I said that I was talking about you. But there’s other tribes of Israel that have been led away.” Now, the way He states that is in the plural: there are other tribes. Now in the allegory, we have a “poor place,” a “poorer place,” and a “good place,” which would imply that when it comes to… Since other sheep that haven’t been ministered to yet are not the Nephites and Lamanites, and they were the ones that were going to be last, and so Christ goes to them last, He’s saying there are others that are going to be among the separated tribes of Israel (plural). Given the description of the vineyard and given the plurality of the statement about other tribes, it appears there are at least two. I mean, there were ten tribes, but there may have been ten tribes moved into two locations, other than the “best place” in the vineyard. So Christ doesn’t clarify that—just plural.

Then we have Nephi giving his valedictory lecture at the end of his second book:

So, because you have a Bible, there’s no need to conclude it contains all My words or that I haven’t caused more to be written. I command all people — in the east, the west, the north, [and] the south, and on the islands of the sea — to write the words I speak to them, because I’ll judge the world from the books that will be written, each person according to what they do measured against what’s written. I’ll speak to the Jews, and they’ll write it; I’ll speak to the Nephites, and they’ll write it; I’ll also speak to the other tribes of the house of Israel…

Again, “other tribes”; it’s just a plural. I mean, how many of them are there? Had to be at least two plantings. But He’s going to speak unto the other tribes of the house of Israel…

…I’ve led away, and they’ll write it; I’ll…speak to every nation on earth, …they’ll write it. The Jews will have the Nephites’ records, and the Nephites will have the Jews’ records; and the Nephites and [the] Jews will have the records of the lost tribes of Israel, and the lost tribes of Israel will have the records of the Nephites and the Jews.

So eventually there’s going to be a gathering together of the various records—three specific groups, but “lost tribes” is plural. We can’t know the upper limit, but we do know for sure there’s at least three. So as he concludes or moves along in his valedictory address, Nephi adds this comment:

…All the Gentiles who repent are the Lord’s covenant people, and all the Jews who refuse to repent will be rejected. The Lord only covenants with those who repent and believe in His Son, who is the Holy One of Israel. (2 Nephi 12:10-11 CE)

In this context, the Holy One of Israel is Christ in the role of the One to whom we need to reconnect. 

So taking all of this into account, think about what Christ is saying and how He wants to put everything into one conceptual framework when Christ, as reported in the Gospel of John in the New Testament, taught this: 

I am the true vine and my Father is the husbandman. Every branch in me that bears not fruit, he takes away. And every branch that bears fruit, he purges it, that it may bring forth more fruit. Now you are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you. Abide in me and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself except it abide in the vine, no more can you except you abide in me. I am the vine, you are the branches. He that abides in me and I in him, the same brings forth much fruit, for without me you can do nothing. If a man abide not in me, he is cast forth as a branch and is withered, and men gather them and cast them into the fire, and they are burned. If you abide in me and my words abide in you, you shall ask what you desire and it shall be done unto you. Herein is my Father glorified: that you bear much fruit — so shall you be my disciples. As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Continue in my love. If you keep my commandments, you shall abide in my love, even as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in his love. These things have I spoken unto you that my joy might remain in you and that your joy might be full.  (John 9:10)

He clearly had Isaiah’s prophecies in mind, because His first sermon that He delivers in the New Testament is a quote from Isaiah, and He says, “This day has this prophecy been fulfilled in your ears,” identifying Himself as the Messiah. But even Isaiah drew on the “root that would spring forth a shoot that would provide life.” And Christ is saying, “I’m that. If you expect to have life, you have to connect to me. I’m that vine,” OR “I’m the natural root of the original Mother Tree to which it is necessary to connect if you hope to have salvation.” 

Now, just as Covenant of Christ is superior to the Book of Mormon, I think also the Testimony of St. John is a better version than the Gospel of John, and those same words or that same conversation or message that the Lord delivered recorded in the Gospel of John is also covered in the Testimony of St. John, but the wording is a little different. So I want to read that: 

I am the true vine or head of the Father’s family, and my Father is the husbandman over that family. Every branch connected to me that does not produce fruit, he will remove, and every branch that produces fruit he will prune back so that it produces better fruit. You will bear fruit if you follow the things I have taught you. Stay connected to me as part of the Heavenly family, and I will nourish you. Just as a branch cannot produce fruit if it is not connected to the vine, neither will you be able to bear fruit unless you remain connected with me. I am the vine, and you are the branches. He that stays connected to me, and I to him, will be abundantly fruitful; but without the connection to me you will perish. If a man loses his connection with me, he is merely a withered branch; and men take the withered branches, cut them away and burn them. If you stay connected to me, and my words live in you, you will ask according to my will, and you will be given the ability to accomplish my will. It will please and vindicate my Father if you produce abundant fruit, and that will prove you follow me. Just like the Father has loved me, I have in turn likewise loved you. Therefore, remain connected with me and my love will be with you. If you practice my teachings you will always remain connected with me; just as I have kept my Father’s teachings and have remained connected with him. (TSJ 10:17)

So having reviewed all that, then, I want to read two excerpts, one from the prayer asking the Lord to re-establish a covenant with us. The words of that prayer, when it started to get composed, actually got dictated. So the prayer is actually what the Lord wanted to be said in a prayer to Him to get us re-accepted. And I’m reading an excerpt from that: 

We ask to be reconnected as a people to you by covenant, to make us yours, connected to a living vine, restored as a people, and numbered with Israel. (T&C 156:15)

Those words take on a profoundly deeper meaning when you realize how much of connecting back to the vine that is the family of God, that same Priesthood which was in the beginning shall…in the end of the world [be] also (Genesis 3:14). 

And in the answer to that prayer, the content of which the Lord directed, He said this, responding to the request:

All you who have turned [away] from your wicked ways and repented of your evil doings, of lying and deceiving, and of all whoredoms, and of secret abominations, idolatries, murders, priestcrafts, envyings, and strife, and from all wickedness and abominations, and have come unto me, and been baptized in my name, and have received a remission of your sins, and received the holy ghost, are now numbered with my people who are of the house of Israel. (T&C 158:10, emphasis added)

That was the purpose behind the work that the Lord undertook that culminated in 2017 with re-establishing the ability for people on Earth to be identified with Israel. The list of things—I didn’t realize it at the time—but the list of things that are in this part of the Covenant are nearly verbatim/exactly what Mormon advised the Gentiles who read his record to do. He tells us to do these things. I want you to… I want to re-read that list of things that we’re supposed to have repented of because I believe when the Lord is giving a list of stuff and a description, He’s not just randomly throwing stuff at the wall. I believe this is a list of exactly what happens to religious institutions when they get separated from the true vine or get separated from Christ. This is what institutions do; this is what churches do; this is what organizations do. Because when you have that, then ambitious, aspiring men want to occupy the seat of authority, not so that they can do God’s will, but so that they can exercise authority over others—because they crave that in order to fill something missing inside of themselves. They want that as a substitute for actual connection to God. This is how the institutions of religion become corrupted:

All you who have turned from your wicked ways and repented of your evil doings, of lying and deceiving…

You shouldn’t have to think very hard at all about the history of any church that you’re familiar with in which lying and deceiving isn’t part of their religion. The LDS Church, for example, in their “Answers to Essay Questions,” says that Joseph Smith, in the version that they preach of that man, their version of that man has him be a liar and a deceiver. I don’t believe that version to be true. I believe that the noble and the virtuous and the wise will only constantly seek blessings under the hands of Joseph because Joseph was virtuous, noble, and wise. He was a good man, and he was fighting against lying and deceivings, evil doings that began very early on in the Restoration.

…lyings and deceivings, and of all whoredoms… 

You don’t have to think very long at all before you should be able to see religious institutions in which whoredoms become a regular part of the iniquitous practices. I can’t remember the name of the minister, but it made the national headlines. He was an Evangelical. He had a radio ministry. He had a TV show. He was big, whammy Evangelical, and it made Time magazine. (This was years ago when Time magazine was actually in print and relevant and at the law school on the magazine rack.) He founded a college, and he was caught committing adultery with coeds at the college that he founded. And there was a lot of contemporaneous news about the genes and chromosomes that we have compelling us throughout life to accomplish certain things and to survive. And his excuse (literally, it was in the article I read—may have been Newsweek), he said, “I know it was wrong, but my genes and chromosomes compelled me to do it.” And my response when I read the article (and I muttered it out loud at the magazine rack): “Well, if you kept your ‘genes’ on, you wouldn’t have spread your chromosomes in the wrong place.” And that got a lot of people reading the article after me. 

So “whoredoms,” and then right on the heels of that, once you start lying, once you start deceiving, and you fall into whoredoms, then there’s: 

…secret abominations, idolatries, [and] murders… 

See, sometimes in order to cover up the fact of your abominations, you have to think about and conspire together in order to murder. And in order to get away with that, “idolatries” necessarily include oaths and covenants of secrecy so that we can put our band together, protect ourselves by killing those that are witnesses to what we’ve done, and we bind ourselves together in a way that protects one another so that we’re never found out. 

…priestcrafts…

…because dude, if we’re going to all this trouble, we may as well make a living! I mean, dude, we can’t be up to all this stuff and not collect a paycheck for it! Think of how hard it has been on us to have done this stuff!

…envying, and strife. 

Oh, crap. Now that we have a hierarchy, I want to be the big cheese! I envy the guy in the big chair, and we’ve got to figure out a way to ingratiate ourselves so that we can start moving up. Envying and strifes are a necessary part of hierarchical religions. This is not a list given to us to have us disregard it as we attempt to practice the original religion of the people of Israel. He’s not giving us this list in order to make us say, “Oh, I’m good. I’m glad I’m not that!” He’s telling us exactly how you fall into the pit in which there is nothing but bad fruit left in the entire vineyard and it all deserves to be gathered in bundles and burned. He’s telling us how to avoid that. The envyings and strifes are there because now you’ve got such an institution that has gathered such momentum, that has acquired so much wealth/so much power/so much influence, access to so many whoredoms and so many idolatries, and has committed murders, and now your priestcraft has been secured and your wealth and your toe-hold in this world is secure. You now envy and have strife with one another.

…and from all wickedness and abominations, and have come unto me, and been baptized in my name, and have received a remission of your sins, and received the holy ghost, are now numbered with my people who are of the house of Israel.

…because the house of Israel is supposed to be familial. We’re supposed to treat one another the way we would treat each other if we’re part of one family, bound together in a brotherhood and a sisterhood, in a relationship that makes us think of the best interests of one another. That’s what Israel is supposed to look like. It is not supposed to look like a comical assortment of idolaters being instructed that, “When I stand, you stand; and when I sit, you sit; and I want you to sing loud enough so that I can hear the joy in your damn voice when I hear you sing!” And the protocol is that the senior most one of us gets to speak last, and the junior most speaks first—but the junior most had better be very circumspect about what they say. And when we enter a room, the senior most enters first, and the junior most comes last. 

Hierarchies are intent upon the very sorts of things that destroy Israel, destroy that which was in the beginning, make it literally impossible for there to be a living tree with roots that come and spring from Christ Himself who nourishes the entirety of the body so that they are one, and there’s no lofty branches, and there’s no bad fruit, and there’s no envying and strifes, and they’re none of the things that typify the religions that get organized into something other than a body of believers. 

So that’s the Allegory of the Olive Tree, and it saves me a lot of writing to have simply given the talk. Does anyone have any comments, questions, statements about this? Because I’d like to stay on topic. 

Oh. Yeah?

Question 1: So it indicates that there’s MANY natural branches that are taken off, and it lists the first and the second; and then later they’re recovered in reverse order from the last to the first. And you indicated that Joseph was the beginning of the “last.” Does that mean if there’s 20 in there, it will go down from here to the 19th to the 18th and go in that order?

DS: Well, the way in which the work of the last days unfolds is to begin at the “last,” which is the good place, the place that had been swept away. All of the indications are that it was to begin in the Americas, among what would be regarded as Gentiles; that’s where it’s to begin. So that would be the “last.” The “first” (which is going to become the last) are the people in Israel/the Jews, the place where it all began. 

Right now, an effort has been made through a series of meetings and talks and conferences that have gone on along the Mormon corridor; and then from California to Atlanta, reaching out to the Christians; and then in, I think it was South Carolina; and we’ve had a conference in the Far East; and we’ve had a couple of conferences in England and Scotland. 

We’re not yet in a position to undertake the “first,” which is the Jews—but the Hebrew translation of the Book of Mormon is done. Right now the only thing that’s left to be done is for the text to be smoothed out and all of the different translator’s efforts to be reviewed so that it has a harmony to it all, and we are paying people who are native Hebrew speakers to read the text. They are reading the text, and they are commenting, and the comments are going to the translators, and the translators are looking at what the people who are fluent in Hebrew have to say before we render it into a final version. We’re trying to get the text… We’re trying to find a printer for the text that will print in either Jerusalem (which would be preferred) or Tel Aviv (which is what seems to be likely) and to have the book when it rolls out to be a product of Israel. It’s being translated into a form of Hebrew that was spoken 600 BC and earlier, so even some of the later books of the Old Testament that were written after 600 BC contain vocabulary and language structure that we’re not using. It’s all being translated into “600 BC and earlier” Hebrew language. 

How many groups of the “scattered remnants of Israel” will be encountered as the effort that began with Joseph Smith and is continuing now apace among us will be reached before the Jews are approached, I don’t know. And I don’t know where they’re located. And I don’t know how many of them there are. But I do know that the restoration institution that has the most wealth, the most power, and the most influence—and the ability to do something on a big scale—signed an actual agreement with Israel that they will not proselytize in Israel, that they will not send missionaries over there, and that they will not publish the Book of Mormon in Hebrew. There are some people who have made an effort to turn the Book of Mormon into a Hebrew book, and one of them came out in print this year—but it’s a modern-Hebrew language version that if you were to hand it to a rabbi, he would say, “It’s a fraud; it’s a fake.” It uses words that we’d never find in the Torah. You hand a Hebrew [rabbi] the version that we will put into print, and he would say, “Oy, vey! Reads like Scripture,” you know, “This is Torah.” So I don’t know how many, but the work… 

I mean, everything that we do in the Restoration Archives effort has made so much material available, and modern translation programs make it possible to read and to listen and to have real-time translation done into a variety of languages so that, you know, artificial intelligence is running ahead of us. Our materials are gonna be available to other people speaking other languages more quickly than WE are able to convert some of our material into French and Spanish—and we’re just beginning a Japanese effort. But the modern-English version of the Book of Mormon—Covenant of Christ—makes translation into other languages using language translation programs far, far more efficient, because the King Jamesian language doesn’t work in a translation program. It… You could do the translation, and then you’d have to spend years editing it. The modern-English version will go over, and within a few months, you can sort out anything that turns to be problematic. 

So how the Lord goes about getting the natural branches reconnected back to the mother tree is a labor that the Lord Himself gets involved with. He sends servants, and they do what they’re told/when they’re told/how they’re told, and how it plays into the success that the Lord of the vineyard intends to achieve is really in the wisdom of God. 

I used to be a lot more inquisitive than I am now. It seems like when you’re too inquisitive, you just get more work to do. So I’m content to wait and let it unfold, rather than push the Lord to sweep the corners of the room out for me. Sometimes you don’t like what you find there. 

Okay, so there… Was there any other…? Did you have a…?

Question 2: Yeah, so Zenos is someone who obviously had the writings that were given and put in the book of Jacob, but Zenos doesn’t appear, to my knowledge, anywhere else. Do you think there will be any (I don’t know) writings that might come forth, such as maybe through the Dead Sea Scrolls or something like that where his name emerges?

DS: I don’t know, but I have the conviction—I think I’ve said this recently—I have the conviction that the Book of Mormon authors followed the example of Nephi, just like Jacob followed the example of Nephi. Mormon didn’t necessarily feel obligated to follow that same effort in his abridgment. For example, if Mormon were abridging the small plates of Nephi, I’m not sure that you would be able to segregate the words of Isaiah and separate them from the words of Nephi; I think it may not have appeared at all as a quote, and the Allegory of the Olive Tree may not have appeared as Jacob quoting Zenos; it may have just appeared as part of a sermon in which Jacob went up to the temple and he taught this stuff without giving attribution—because he was an abridger of a larger record, and he may have assumed that we would have the ability (if we’ve got the same material as he had on the brass plates) to know when someone is being quoted without, you know, quotation marks or attribution. The apostle Paul does that in his letters. He writes, and he quotes Isaiah, quotes the Psalms, but he doesn’t, you know, say, “This is taken from the Psalms; this is taken from Isaiah; this is taken from Malachi.” He just weaves it into what he’s saying. 

I think the Book of Mormon has… I mean, perhaps as much as 80% of the words in the Book of Mormon (and I’m just making an estimate and being generous), perhaps as much as 80% of what we have in the Book of Mormon is actually lifted from the brass plates, woven into the sermons, woven into the statements, woven into the stories. Even their own history can be analogous to something on the brass plates, and the description incorporates part of the language on the brass plates of a similar event, among a similar circumstance at an earlier time, and we don’t have the ability to segregate it out and to pull it apart and to say, “This is taken from the brass plates.” I think from some of the things that are said about the “brightness of the brass plates shining forth,” that that might actually have already been accomplished. It might be in our hands. And because of the way in which the structure of the book is put, we’re sort of oblivious to the potential that we’re really looking at a whole bunch of quotes taken from the brass plates and woven seamlessly. 

I mean, Joseph Smith, the First Vision: “When I came to myself, I asked, you know, which church I should join?” And then what follows is a statement that weaves together (oh, what is it?) Malachi, Isaiah, the Apostle Paul. I mean, the list of things that he’s told, you know, that the professors were all corrupt, that they teach for doctrines the commandments of men, having a form of godliness but they deny the power thereof. I mean those are all scriptural statements from earlier on, and it’s Christ who is saying this to Joseph Smith. 

Lehi gets caught up in this big vision; he sees the Son of Man. He comes to him, and He hands him a book. You know, the vision of John on the Isle of Patmos, “Who’s worthy to open the book? No one can be found in Heaven and Earth.” And then the Lamb of God opens the book. 

And so, what are we reading? What are the books? What are the statements that are being quoted from Scripture? Where did they come from? How many of the words, for example, in the 13th chapter of Corinthians that get quoted about faith, hope, and charity in the Book of Mormon did not originate with Paul OR with Mormon? How many of those words were lifted directly—perhaps from Zenos—and appear on the brass plates? And there are people that say, “How on earth—HOW ON EARTH—can Mormon quote from the Apostle Paul’s letter to the Corinthians?” Well, hireling priest, it’s because they’re both quoting from a much earlier source. And if you would get rid of your whoredoms and your abominations and your envies and your strifes and your secret conspiracies and repent and to come unto Christ, your humble heart would allow you to accept the idea that God has indeed spoken similar words to other nations, and some of those similar words are being quoted from a record that goes way back into antiquity. So…

Question 2 (continued): Well, you had made the comment that even in the Answer [to the Prayer for Covenant], words were grafted in there that were supposed to be there. That kind of ties into this and everything else. 

DS: Yeah, and I didn’t realize how close they were to words that appear within the… I mean, if—you can do the search—but if you look at the record of that part of the covenant that I read you and words that are lifted out of Mormon, it’s almost directly a quote, and I did not realize that until sometime later. (Yeah, well, that leads into a whole ‘nother different subject, but…) 

Okay, so are we done? Are we good? 

Yeah?

Question 3: Has the Covenant of Christ version of the Allegory of the Olive Tree, has that influenced your reading of the Redemption of Zion in the T&C or the Doctrine and Covenants?

DS: Yeah, I think that it becomes really clear that the Lord had a very specific purpose in mind for the family of man. He wanted the family to be a group of people that regard Christ as the root and themselves as connected to the root, and that all of the work that has been done from the time that Israel began to get pruned and scattered has been done very wittingly and very deliberately with, ultimately, the intention to bring it all back together again and tie it into one neat, tidy, family connection. And you can see when Joseph Smith began to organize the church, the First Presidency were akin to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; and the Quorum of the Twelve were akin to the twelve sons of Jacob; and the Quorum of the Seventy was akin to the 72 members of the family that went in with Joseph and the family into Egypt when Joseph was still in favor with the Pharaoh. And so, when Joseph was putting a pattern together at the foundation of the Restoration, he was doing something that was akin to what the New Testament church had done. 

Christ tells the apostles, “You’re gonna sit on twelve thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel,” because the patriarchs who had headed those tribes had not necessarily proved their valiance during their mortality and probably didn’t deserve or earn the right to sit in judgment of their fellow man since they’d fallen short. But that connects the organization of the twelve apostles to the family of Israel in Christ’s analogy to them about, you know, what role they will have in the eternities judging the tribes. 

So yeah, as you read the allegory and you look at what has happened with the New Testament church, what has happened with the Restoration at the beginning, and when you look at what failed… I mean, one of the things that—when you’re talking about the last effort, the last pruning, the last digging and watering—one of the things that occurs to me, at least, is that we know what hasn’t worked.

What hasn’t worked—EVER—is a hierarchy. It’s never worked. There is no indication in the Genesis account of Enoch’s city (in OUR Genesis account—it would include the LDS Pearl of Great Price book of Moses), there’s nothing to indicate that Enoch assumed any role other than teaching and preaching. And Joseph Smith clarified (in a talk) that Melchizedek was not the king over any land; he was called the “king of righteousness” because of what he preached. So if we’ve failed with organizations to have ever produced Zion—and the only two mentions of the Zion communities occur when someone is only preaching and they’re only teaching, and it happened in both instances, and there’s no indication of authority or hierarchy or control or dominion; there’s just teaching going on—then I look at how quickly and utterly institutions have become corrupted and the language about “the top and the branches all being equal,” and I cannot conceive how it would be possible to put together organizationally something that would create this equality/this oneness. If someone says, “I’m bigger, and I’m better than you; I’m more important than you, and you need to take my direction!”… 

I mean, how did Enoch go about accomplishing what Enoch accomplished? He apparently taught, preached, and persuaded. He didn’t demand, and he didn’t command. Melchizedek got regarded with some considerable esteem by the people because he taught them true principles. At the end… Joseph Smith created an institutional church. At the end, one reasonable reading of Joseph Smith’s history is that at the end, he was walking away from the church; that it was just a schoolmaster to bring you somewhere, but he was no longer wanting to be there. And Hyrum had assumed a role, and Hyrum would graduate and move on as well. It was just a temporary schoolmaster.

Question 3 (continued): So in the end of the allegory, is it the righteous house of Israel? They become ripe in righteousness at the same time that the wicked become ripe in iniquity?

DS: Yeah, that’s one of the parables that Christ spoke about: wheat and tares. And in the Answer to the Prayer [for Covenant], He talks about how the tares are ripening, and He inquires, “Yeah, what of the wheat?” Because we have an obligation also to ripen. 

You know, the gospel—particularly the gospel as explained in Covenant of Christ and the Book of Mormon—the gospel and the redemption that comes through repentance and returning to Christ is a vitally important, singular, and easy step, okay? And that’s to hear the message about Christ, to believe and accept the message about Christ, to repent, and to want to be something better than you are, and to be baptized, at which point you will get the Holy Ghost, and then you begin a journey. The journey that the Book of Mormon and Covenant of Christ describes starts at that moment but doesn’t end there. That’s where the Evangelicals want to make it a single one-off “You’re saved! Hallelujah, praise Jesus! I am now going to Heaven,” whereas the Book of Mormon says that then the Holy Ghost will teach you all things that you must do. And it will say it is given unto many to know the mysteries of God, and if they repent and they follow that, they will then gain greater understanding of the mysteries of God until they understand them in full. And then we’ve got the closing of the vision of the Three Degrees of Glory in which unspeakable things are available that aren’t lawful for men to utter, but they become available. And Joseph Smith’s First Vision, after Christ has told him not to join any of the churches, goes on to say and many other things did he say unto me [that] I cannot write at this time (JSH 2:5). “I cannot write at this time” doesn’t mean I’m in such a hurry and I have so little ink and time that I can’t put it down. It means: I am forbidden. Unspeakable things. 

The beginning of redemption is very easy, but where it takes you from there, time and time again, “I was about to write further, but the Lord commanded me not to so I’m not gonna include it in my record.” And how many times does it say in the record, “Only 1% of what happened or what was taught or what was said has been recorded” in the record that we’ve got? Well, why would 99% of it—if Jesus went to all of the trouble of teaching it—why would Jesus waste 99% of the words that He employed when He taught them? I guarantee you He didn’t waste a single syllable. Only 1% is there because that’s all that we need to get started on the right path to return to Him, and the journey with the Holy Ghost is intended to be an ever-increasing, ever-unfolding, brighter and brighter until the perfect day experience that’s described in D&C 93, which I think is also T&C 93, as it turns out. (Occasionally the numbering coincides.) 

Yeah, yeah—you had your hand up.

Question 4: I have a question. So probably the most interesting part to me in the allegory happens halfway through, where all the trees have become corrupted and the lord of the vineyard is actually willing and wants to burn them all down. And yet the servant has the ear of the lord and says, “Don’t. Wait a little longer.” The question is: Obviously the servant (I don’t know if he has a name, if that’s Adam or whoever) has some weight to tell the lord of the vineyard to halt the destruction. [unintelligible] …the lord of the vineyard is the one who is patient [unintelligible] It’s interesting to see that the servant has the words here. 

DS: So Abraham was visited by messengers on the plains, and he ran, and he had a calf slaughtered, and he had a roast made, and he entertained them and wanted to know what was up with them. And they said, “Oh, we’re headed to Sodom where we’re gonna destroy the city.” And Abraham says, “Well, what if there are 50 righteous people in the city?” And the Lord says, “If there’s 50 righteous people, I won’t destroy Sodom.” And he said, “Well, what if there are only 45? Are you gonna save for the loss of five; for the want of five people you’re gonna kill everyone?” So, I mean, it almost sounds like a Jewish merchant bargaining “for the want of five, I mean, for the want of 10,” and he negotiates it down and down and down, and the number finally gets so small that Abraham feels reasonably secure that there’s gonna be that number found in the city, and so they depart. But they didn’t find the minimal number, and the city was destroyed. Well, why is the mission so much less merciful than Abraham? They weren’t. It’s the master trying to make sure that the servant has the right heart. If you’re gonna keep the servant in your employ, you want to know that he’s not… He’s just not a destroyer; he’s a husbandman, like Adam, given the dominion as a husbandman to cultivate and care for it, not to abuse and exploit it. 

And so, yeah, I think what you’re seeing in that moment in the allegory is an example, like Abraham, that He wants to make sure that the servant that gets employed has a heart like God’s own heart so that He knows that He will be dealing with a merciful minister who will look out for others and have their salvation in mind. Yeah. 

So, what time is it? How long have we been here? Okay…

Question 5: Denver?

DS: Yeah. Yeah.

Question 5: Just maybe to wrap up. In the glossary, the definition of fruit, it says this: “Throughout Zenos’ allegory of the olive tree, fruit means ‘salvation,’ in a covenantal sense. It requires the promises made to the fathers…to be the same covenant given to you.” And that was… That’s in Preserving the Restoration, which was written before the covenant. Any other thoughts or insight on that? It’s a… To me, that’s kind of a summary of your message tonight.

DS: Yeah, and I… Just like the gospel message and the acceptance of Christ and the willingness to follow Him and to be baptized and to receive the Holy Ghost is the beginning of a journey, I believe that that journey now has been amplified and added upon by giving us the Covenant of Christ, by giving us the covenant itself in 2017 that was a harbinger leading, in turn, to this, and it is not all out in public view and only gradually unfolded, “carefully, patiently, solemnly, with time, experience…” and the list of things that Joseph included in his letter from Liberty Jail about the mind of man needing to expand so that it reaches the highest heavens and searches into and contemplates the darkest abyss. 

I believe that all of the things that the Lord has given and all of the tools that we’ve been equipped with are intended—by inspiration, through the Holy Ghost—to let our minds increase in understanding until we arrive at the point that we are able and suitable to stand in the presence of God and to take in—directly from Him—His message of salvation and that there is a journey underfoot that begins with conversion. But He’s said that He’s going to add thereto many things. And I think this was one of the “many things” that He had in mind when He promised in the Covenant (in the Answer to the Prayer and in the Covenant) that He would add many things to us. But I think there’s more coming. Anytime impatient and ambitious souls think that they know better than what the Lord knows and can do better or more than what the Lord is actually doing—and there’s a great deal that is underway that doesn’t roll out into public view until it’s done; this is a good example: The Covenant of Christ was a multi-year work that didn’t roll out into public visibility until it was completed—the Lord is always going to carefully, patiently, methodically move His work along, and people who are ambitious, impatient, in a hurry, and want to accomplish in haste what can only be accomplished patiently and methodically… 

You think about transplanting a young, tender branch and grafting it back onto the mother root: you know, if you irritate that branch, if you’re out there messing with that branch before you know what nature can do by patience and long-suffering, you’re likely to kill it. And there are many people who have killed themselves by their zeal and their impatience, who have wandered off into dark corners that were folks I once had hope for, folks I once shared a kinship with; and it’s unfortunate, but it’s their choice. And the trimming away very often is voluntary. It’s not that we kick people out. It’s that people go somewhere else and do something else because they choose to do that, and thus they’ve trimmed themselves away, and that’s fine by me. I would rather have a gathering of people who are rigidly, firmly committed, and devoted, patient, and easy to be entreated than folks willing to jump up and say, “I know better, because you’ve forgotten this, or you’ve forgotten that!” The Lord forgot absolutely nothing when He clarified language in Covenant of Christ and, in particular, for the allegory—because there aren’t more than one being preserved. It’s one tree. 

I don’t know what the Egyptian-script form of the Hebrew idea that got etched onto the plates that referred to this phenomenon of the vineyard actually stated, but from the overall context of the Allegory of the Olive Tree, it is very clear that there was one tree from which shoots were taken and transplanted elsewhere that grew in wild places, and there were wild things that were grafted in; and ultimately, the wild ones grafted in failed, produced bitter fruit, had to be removed; and ultimately, the transplants had to be returned to the original. So when you’re returning the original branches back to the mother tree, it is perhaps the case that the Egyptian-script language that got used referred to that as “trees” instead of “original branches.” But in Covenant of Christ, the Lord is the one who rendered the language “original branches back to the original tree,” and did not talk about taking a bunch of wild trees with bad roots and moving those over—because the bad roots that belong to those in the nithermost parts of the vineyard were bad to begin with, and they were bad at the end. You don’t want to go back to the Druid religion or witchcraft or tribal nonsense. We don’t want to go back to the Roman Pantheon or the Greek mythology. None of that stuff belongs. We don’t need the Egyptian polymorphic gods. We don’t need any of that nonsense. They’re bad roots. We’re trying to get back only a singular religion, which existed at the time of Adam, that got preserved by the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob (who re-named Jacob, “Israel,” whose posterity is the one back to which we are to be grafted and which is currently underway). And I know of no place else you can go where you can find that regrafting actively underway other than here. Everywhere else is just some sort of vague Evangelical notion. So…

Audience Member: Amen.

Audience Member: Thank you very much.

DS: There it is. Okay, so we can turn the tape off, and we can all get out of here? 

Audience Member: Thank you.

DS: Yeah, thank you!

TRANSCRIPT

The post Allegory of the Olive Tree appeared first on Restoration Archives Blog.

The following discussion was presented at a conference held at Zion Ponderosa Ranch near Orderville, UT on October 27th, 2024.

Stephanie Snuffer: Okay, while he’s coming up here, we came up with some other subjects we want to talk about. But we didn’t… I didn’t print out the things. So basically, we’re gonna do the same thing we did last time, in a riffing kind of manner, meaning I’m going to present some ideas, and we’re gonna talk about them, and we might, I don’t know… I know audience participation in these kinds of things is really bad for the recording and everything. But you know, somebody gave me the two… Like, we’re here ‘til two o’clock. It’s 11:10, people. I’m not takin’ ‘til two, I can guarantee… 

Denver Snuffer:  You’re on Arizona time; it’s 12.

SS: Is it really? Oh, good Lord Almighty.

DS: Yeah, in the wrong state. Does this microphone work?

SS: Okay. Now hold on. I gotta wait for my computer to come up.

DS: I finally understand Leroy’s talk yesterday, because he left the writing up.

SS: Alright, so… 

DS: We’re gonna talk about gossip, right?

SS: Yeah, so I have three things. Gossip is one of them. We… I think we decided that’s the first one we’re gonna talk about. Then I have… (Oh gosh, okay.) Then I have… These are just things that are rocking my world, so I figured I’d rock your world with them. The other one is the accountability component from Marshall Rosenberg’s Nonviolent Communication. [Audience applause.] I know, thank you. Not, you know… Thank you for clapping. Thank you for reading it. Thank you for thinking it’s important. And then… And thank you for recommending it to me. I… The book was recommended to me—probably, I don’t know, maybe by Q, I don’t know—like, several years ago, but the name really just sort of rubbed me the wrong way. I didn’t like the name, so I just left it…‘til I read it. Changed my life! Oh, my gosh!

Okay, so my computer is up. We’re gonna go to gossip. Okay, so I’m going to just throw out something, and you tell me what you think. So, gossip: We talked about the definition of gossip on the way here yesterday. I simplify it by saying gossip is anything that you say about another person that cannot be proved in a court of law. Now that goes to my husband, right? Because gossip as a definition (like, that I Googled) is anything you say about a third person, right? If that person isn’t there, it’s gossip. Gossip doesn’t necessarily mean it’s bad, right? I mean, I can talk about something wonderful about one of my kids who’s not here. So I’m not… I mean, gossip, obviously, the word has a negative connotation, but any time you talk about somebody who’s not here, it’s gossiping. So we did go through the a lot of the legal aspects of what gossip was and why. And I mean, you could talk about those if you wanted to; they were kind of interesting.

DS: If you’re going to introduce a fact as evidence at court, you have to be the witness of the fact. You can’t say someone told you about this, and therefore, you’re going to testify under oath to the truthfulness of what someone told you. Because whatever it was they told you is not within your own knowledge; it’s you relying upon and relaying what someone else has said. 

One of the really unfortunate things about the Restoration is how very much of what we take as the history of the Restoration is based upon second-hand accounts, repeated stories, or stuff that gets repeated 40 years after the event took place. The reason why I read from my journal is because the journal was kept contemporaneous with what happened. And I don’t have to rely upon my recollection. I can actually state what occurred on the day when the event occurred because it got recorded contemporaneously. 

Almost everything that we think we know that is critical of Joseph Smith is second-hand accounts or reconstructed memories from long after the fact. We have a lot of information that is first-hand account, contemporaneously recorded by things Joseph Smith said in public that got written down that day or within a very short time after that. And we even have contemporaneous writings of his and a talk (he wrote one talk; he didn’t deliver it, but he wrote the talk, and it got read in a conference at Nauvoo). And if you confine yourself to that stuff—instead of the reconstructions, the repetitions, the gossips, the 40-years-later recollections—Joseph Smith emerges as a very different character. I’ve suggested that when the Lord warns us in a revelation that “fools will hold Joseph in derision, but the honest and the virtuous will constantly seek blessings from under his hand,” that imposes, based upon a revelation from God, a burden of proof that I would suggest is comparable to today’s requirement for convicting someone; that is, “proof beyond any reasonable doubt.” If you confine yourself to the materials that we have absolutely no doubt about its authenticity (and that does not include section 132), if you confine yourself to the real proof that we have available, you will find that Joseph Smith was a remarkably virtuous man, devoted husband to Emma Smith, who fathered children with one and only one woman, whom he loved.

It’s historical gossip that has created a new caricature that most of the Latter-day Saints and most of the apostates and most of the fundamentalists rely upon. It’s gossip that turns us against one another. It’s gossip that makes us view people in a very unfavorable light, for the most part, because of what someone repeats to us about what they think, saw, or heard someone else say that got repeated from yet still another earlier source. We’re doing ourselves a disservice when we engage in any of that. And the Prophet Joseph Smith’s reputation is monumentally an example of how gossip turns negative, distorts history, and changes virtue into vice.

SS: Cool. Thanks for that. Because, yeah… Perfect example. 

So gossip erodes trust, okay? So it undermines trust among community members. And when people are worried that they might be gossiped about because they are in the presence of someone who gossips about other people… That’s the interesting thing. I mean, if you are a gossiper… And we all are, so no judgment, alright? We all gossip. That is part of human conversation. It’s part of connection. It makes us feel good. There are some actual positives from gossip, although they’re not long-term positives, right? 

I don’t have it… You know, gossip is going to be different for every relationship, every environment, every community. But it undermines and erodes trust because if you are in the if you are communicating with a gossiper, then you have no guarantee that when you are not there, they are not gossiping about you. It is ubiquitous. It’s not contained to specific people or specific circumstances, right? And so, it’s really important to sort of check yourself, and you can check yourself with your “others,” if you want to: Is this gossip? 

Now, to be clear, I do not have this… Well, I’m not… Gossip is not really my biggest weakness. I don’t really engage in gossip, and when I do, I absolutely 100% keep it contained to my family, within my family. So I… We might do it, but I don’t do it outside of my family. I remember when my kids were younger and they’d get in the car coming home from school, and they would tell me about someone at school or give me some criticism of somebody or whatever. I would take it, I would listen to it, I would, you know, kind of say, “Yeah, that’s fine. But don’t you for one minute think that they’re not in their car, driving home from school with their mom, talking about you,” because they are because that’s just how it goes. So it undermines trust among community members. When people feel that their personal lives are discussed behind their backs, they become wary of engaging openly, leading to a breakdown in relationships, okay? This goes, again, to partly what Q was talking about: If we cannot get ourselves back online through trust and companionship and, you know, reducing these negative traits in ourselves, then we stay traumatized, and we re-traumatize. We re-traumatize ourselves. Because if you have ever been the victim of gossip, that’s really painful, and I’m really sorry—because that’s hard to combat, and it is, in a way, it is traumatizing. Gossip also creates division and polarization. 

Do you want to talk about that—just anything you have to say about polarization and division?

DS: We have a Communist trying to become the President of the United States. And we have a Nazi running against her. Don’t forget to vote!

SS: Okay, good. 

Gossip creates a negative environment. It’s a negative… Gossip is a negative atmosphere. It’s just unpleasant. A community that engages in gossip develops toxicity where more negativity thrives (not just gossip). It breeds other negative behaviors. And negative behaviors are not necessarily community building—although they can be, because if we’re willing to deal with them head-on, then we have the ability to, you know, come together, repair. I like Q’s, definition; I mean, of not compromise, but “negotiation,” where both parties’ needs are met. 

I’m gonna throw a couple of my kids under the bus. (One I already did; the other one… Oh, never mind. I can’t do it.) Compromise: She apparently didn’t know what compromise meant. And I… It was a very weird conversation. She’s like, “I thought compromise was when I got what I wanted!” And she may have actually said, “You did not teach me what compromise was,” which may have been true, but I just thought, “Wow, that’s kind of strange.” 

So, like, that was a little bit of a tangent, but there is very little collaboration in a gossipy society—because, again, nobody trusts each other. Nobody feels like they can say what they want to say. You know, gossip is as simple as, you know, you’re meeting with someone to prepare a conference (right?) and to put something like this on. And you know, some conference committee member goes home to their, you know, to their community or their fellowship or whatever, and says, “Oh my gosh, you would not believe what so and so wants to do. This is the dumbest thing I have ever heard. I cannot believe that they want to do this,” right? And if that gets back around, then the collaboration in that group is limited. You’re not getting a free flow of ideas because we’re worried about being criticized and then gossiped about behind our back. 

Which brings me to this thing that I told Denver I was gonna talk about, and now that it’s come back up, I think I’m supposed to. So first of all, I want to thank everybody who’s ever put on a conference, because I cannot imagine how hard it is. And I want to thank everybody who has put on multiple conferences, because I think you do it because no one else will, and you’ve already kind of got this system in place that sort of runs itself. And I want to thank Mark and Carolyn and the conference organizers, because when they started planning this conference, we had not had a June Sawtooth conference, and there was no Covenant of Christ vote to be taken at a conference in October. (It is October, right?) And I really think that threw them for a loop, right? And I think they rose to the occasion beautifully. [Audience applause.] Again, thank you, thank you, thank you. But what I observed… Because grateful people do not run around calling people up on the phone and saying, “I’m so grateful for this thing that Mark and Carolyn are doing, and I’m so grateful that we’re gonna have this thing do.” What grateful people do is they’re just grateful. And then they’ll say to Mark and Carolyn and everybody else who’s involved, “Thank you so much,” you know, those kinds of things. But people who are not grateful will call people up and tell them how stupid they think this is because this is wrong, and this is wrong, and this is wrong. And I was… I heard many of those conversations. So check yourselves, because you might think you’re talking to someone, and you might be talking to someone else—because I was shocked at the people who criticized, who condemned, who gossiped, who showed contempt and disdain for what Mark and Carolyn were trying to do at this conference. It was heart-sickening because the people I heard it from shocked the shit out of me.

DS: For those of you who aren’t aware, yesterday Leroy introduced some “French.”

SS: Oh. Thank you. Yeah, yeah. 

And frankly, I consider that gossip, right? That is an opinion about another person or another group that you are dissatisfied with, and so you feel completely at liberty to share it with other people. And again, be careful who you’re sharing it with, because there are voices, there are people listening. Okay? So that reduces collaboration. It reduces people’s willingness to come together and put things like this on. The people who are willing to deal with the slings and arrows and the fears of other people and the gossip and the backbiting—and I know it happens to everybody who puts on a conference. God bless them because it’s wrong. Be grateful, people. And if you can’t be grateful, shut your mouths. And if you want to be ungrateful, be grateful with be ungrateful in the privacy of your own home, because that’s okay too. We can be frustrated, we can share our concerns, we can be afraid, we can be worried, we can be anything we want—just don’t bring other people into it. They don’t need that, okay?

The mental health effects of gossip: Take a shot at that one. It’s a very short paragraph, but let’s see… 

DS: I enjoy gossiping when it makes me feel bigger than someone else. But it’s short-lived, and I don’t enjoy the regret for the rumors and the foolishness when my wife points out to me, “That’s just gossip.” But it was such a great story! And it reduced them to rubble, and it made me seem heroic! …And it’s just gossip. I’m so sorry. 

There was a time when I used to come home from the courtroom and describe the opposing attorneys in colorful and graphic detail…

SS: We have not stopped that! 

DS: Yeah.

SS: That’s just too much fun.

DS: Yeah, I better end there.

SS: The sweatshirt… Can’t you tell the sweatshirt story? 

DS: No [laughing].

SS: Okay, the obvious mental health effects of gossip is increased anxiety, increased depression. I mean, if you’re engaging in gossip, you may feel good temporarily, but you don’t feel good long term. It increases anxiety. It increases depression. If you’re the butt of gossip, if you are the person for whom the gossip is about, it really is harmful. It’s depressing. It’s disconnection It’s disconnecting, So…

DS: By the way, if you’re the target of that sort of nonsense, the things that may be said about you that are false, you needn’t give it a second thought. There’s nonsense that gets published and repeated and said about me, and I don’t respond to any of it. I know what is and what is not the case, and therefore, the repetition of nonsense has no effect on me. The only troubling thing about that is that it took some time for my kids to adapt to the idea that gossip and nonsense and bullcrap on the Internet is something that they shouldn’t allow—about their father—that they shouldn’t allow to affect them, and I think they’ve adapted to that. 

I do think that the purpose of some of the slander and the defamation, the lies, the distortions, I think some of the purpose of that is to try to get people NOT to listen, NOT to explore, NOT to consider, to shut the mind down so that vested interests elsewhere are not threatened. I mean, we are talking about a religion that is unprofitable in this world. Tithing donations go to support people who are in need. They don’t aggregate into some profitable venture. No one earns an income from practicing a religion that involves sacrifice. And there are numerous people out there who crave the opportunity to earn an income by doing nothing other than advancing a religious idea and making themselves appear to be some great, you know, guru source of wisdom-like truth and knowledge.

We lose money—I lose money—to practice what I believe in. We’ve drained out of religion, profitability. And when that happens, then anyone and everyone, including podcasters, including practitioners of anti-Mormonism who are trying to derive an income from opposing it… I mean, that’s as much a practice of priestcraft as is what goes on at 47 E. South Temple. Earning a living and profiting off of religion or irreligion is no different from one another. And what we talk about drains the entire field of profitability. And so some of the gossip and some of that is self-serving in the sense that the lies benefit an agenda they want to pursue. They want to sell you a membership in a secret podcast where they’ll tell you about, you know, the coming tent cities, and they’ll sell you preparedness nonsense. 

That kind of stuff, I would hope all of you would realize what is true about you (that’s inside you, who you are), and let the critics say what they want to say. You don’t need to defend yourself. Let it go. If it’s a lie, it’s meaningless. Now, other people may rely upon that, and then, if they actually take the time to investigate, they become shocked at what they learn that is so contrary to what has been said that, very often, that’s who gets converted and stays with it. And the people that are easily misled by a lie can enjoy their own reality that’s based upon a lie. 

I would hope everyone, everywhere—whether they believe in the Restoration of the gospel or not—would seriously consider looking into the Restoration of the gospel at the time of Joseph Smith and what is currently underway. Because if you could get an honest view of what happened in Joseph Smith’s day and what is happening now, you would be better under better able to understand Catholicism, Islam, Buddhism; they all began somewhere, just like the Restoration began somewhere. And what is happening right now is a revival of what began in Joseph Smith’s day—again. If you study and you look at and you consider carefully as much authentic information from what was underway with Joseph and what is underway today, it’ll equip you to understand how religions have been founded and how religions have grown. Because by the time you got two centuries into the time of Christianity being founded by Jesus Christ, it was… It became as much a mess as Mormonism has become today. And by the time you get to the Christological debates of the third century, they were butchering and rewriting their own Scriptures. 

It was a careful examination of what was happening to the scriptural record by Bart Ehrman (who was a Doctor of Theology) that changed him from being a devout, believing Christian into an atheist—because he found the compromise of the record to be so significant that he couldn’t trust the Bible; he couldn’t trust the New Testament. So what has gone on with LDS Scriptures actually required us to rework them into the Scripture project that produced the canon of Scriptures that we accepted in 2017. And what’s going on right now is further clarifying, fixing, refining, and undoing the mischief that creeps in any time you have people spreading lies for their own self-interest. And just because they’re not making a living from spreading lies doesn’t mean that gossip is more pure. They still have a personal agenda that they’re trying to advance. 

Keep that in mind when you think about gossip and how perniciously it has altered the record about good people or continues to alter the record about people living today.

SS: I like those bigger, grander perspectives because that… It really does show the evil nature of gossip. So check yourself. Ask, you know, is this gossip? Do I need to say it? Is it true? If it’s about you if it’s not true, you don’t need to worry about it. 

So this brings us to this idea of word the importance of words. And I’m gonna use the phrase, “Be impeccable with your word,” which is one of the four agreements in Don Miguel Ruiz’s The Four Agreements. It’s the very first one. Being impeccable with your word is realizing that words have power. Words have power to create or destroy. So if you go back to gossip, you can see how gossip literally destroys, right? It has the potential to take something big and grand and glorious and turn it into rubble. So the principle of being impeccable with your word is speaking with integrity and using the power of your words positively. So if I say, “integrity,” in terms of being impeccable with your word, what is what does it mean to have integrity with your word?

DS: Well, to be honest, to be reliable, to be dependable, to be a source that is reliably pure in the intent behind what is being conveyed, and not hypocritical. The Book of Mormon uses “acting no hypocrisy” in a number of places, and that becomes the problem.

SS: Yeah. And also: Say what you mean. Part of relationships, part of marriages, part of being families and parents: Say what you mean. Here’s an example, right? So let’s assume you have a kid who, I don’t know, took the car, left, you know, snuck out, took the car, came home late, you know, maybe even, you know, dinged the car in the on the garage as they were driving in, right? So you get up in the morning and you see this ding on the car, and you figure out which child it was, and you go to the kid and you say, “Why did you do that?” Okay? Well, I mean, it’s a very simple question. It’s an obvious question. You want to know why they did that, but that immediately puts them on the defensive. I mean, they should be defensive because they stole the car and snuck out, right? But “Why did you do that?” doesn’t imply in any way, shape, or form that you actually wanna know why they did that. What you’re saying is, “You’re an idiot. I can’t believe you did that. How dare you do that?” So you don’t want to say, “Why did you do that?” You want to say what you mean. What do you actually mean? What you really mean is (or what you’re really thinking is), “Why…? What was going on for this kid? How is it that this kid thought this was okay?” There’s a whole bunch of other questions to be asked, rather than, “Why did you do that?” 

So, say what you mean, and mean what you say. Don’t hedge, don’t soften, don’t… I mean, go ahead and soften, but say what you mean. I think we had a conversation, I don’t know, we were driving somewhere, and I used some backdoor way to bring something up. And after, I don’t know, 30 minutes of not going anywhere fast, you said, “Why don’t you just say what you mean?” I’m like, “Oh, wait, I can do that? I can just say what I mean? I don’t have to protect myself, I don’t have to protect him, I don’t have to be careful. I can just say what I mean.” Do you remember that?

DS: What’s that?

SS: Do you remember that? Oh, my gosh, are you even listening to me?!

DS: Am I supposed to listen?

SS: Are you even listening to me? Oh, my gosh.

DS: I’m thinking, you know, to myself… 

SS: Oh, Lord. 

DS: …I’m kind of getting hungry. We’ve been here some time. I know that there are other subjects… Why don’t we jump into a couple of the other subjects… 

SS: I have already moved to the other subject.

DS: …and let’s close it out and go eat because… 

SS: I’ve already moved! I have!

DS: And I’m looking out there, and these people are hungry.

SS: I have moved to the other subject already! We’re talking about being impeccable with our words. What are YOU doing?

DS: I’m being pecked on with your words!

I’m hungry. 

SS: Okay. Will you…? Hey, will you bring…? Hey, will you bring me some? 

Okay, we’re gonna wrap this up.

DS: Okay, okay, okay, I’ve decommissioned it [holding up the leftover sacrament bread]. It’s now just food. You can pass it out. Pass that around.

SS: Okay, alright, while he’s doing that: 

Say things that will not hurt or harm another (oh, thank you very much), and that means yourself. When you’re talking to yourself, be impeccable with your words. Say what you mean. You don’t need to criticize yourself. You don’t need to judge yourself. These are topics that are so much better explained in the books that they come out of. So I really want you to read The Four Agreements, Nonviolent Communication, and there’s another one… Oh, my gosh, there’s another book; I can’t think of it right now. 

Words have tremendous power. They have the power to lift, to build, to bring people together, or to make people feel small or to diminish them. And by choosing your words carefully, you can create a positive impact on yourself and those around you. There’s an example in this book where a student has a teacher—right?—and they hate they didn’t like the teacher. And so, when they’re talking to a friend who has the same teacher, they say things like, “Oh, my gosh, that teacher was really… I didn’t like him. I think he’s kind of pervy. He was not a good teacher,” right? So the minute you say that, you have destroyed someone else’s ability to go into an experience and have their own experience, because we’re not that good at differentiating those things. And those words… The power that words have to uplift or destroy is pretty significant. So be careful what you say. And if you can’t say something nice, say it in your house, in your closet, to your husband or your wife where it won’t go anywhere else because that’s your safe space. Okay? Because I’m not a fool. I know we need to say these things. I need to say these things sometimes. So… 

Avoid miscommunication. Being impeccable with your word means being clear and honest in your communication. Misunderstandings often arise from careless speech, so striving for clarity can help in maintaining harmonious relationships. 

I’m about done with this one. Read the book, The Four Agreements.

DS: Yeah, there’s almost always… 

Let me rephrase that. There is never a reason to say something ALWAYS happens, especially when you’re talking about your spouse and something that irritates you. Absolutes are not true. There are moments when your spouse is wonderful, you know, interrupting the continuum. So it’s not “always,” and it’s not “never.” (I’m saying that tongue in cheek.) 

SS: I know what you’re saying. I know what you’re saying. Those are also referred to as imperatives… 

DS: Yeah.

SS: …and you should cut imperatives out of your vocabulary unless it’s used for something other than an imperative. So no “shoulds,” no “always,” no “have to,” okay? When you’re talking to your kids, don’t say, “should.” Don’t say, “You have to.”

DS: “Must.” 

SS: Don’t say, “You must.” Don’t say it to yourself. Don’t should on yourself, right? 

Okay, I’m good. I’m golden.

DS: Hey, I’m good too. And I’ve had a little bit of bread to eat, and it’s a happy moment.  Umm… 

Congregation Member: Hey, Denver? 

DS: Yeah?

Congregation Member: I really, really wanted clarification—just really quick—on something you said earlier…  

DS: ‘kay… 

Congregation Member: …if you don’t mind. You talked about accepting Christ and if we did that, we’ll be saved. Can you define what accepting Christ looks like? Does that mean you believe in Him? Does that mean you got baptized? Is that “you took the covenant”? I’m just wondering if it’s… 

DS: Yeah, the question that is being asked is “Accepting Christ, and what it means to be accepting Christ.” It was actually the Covenant of Christ that provoked me into trying to investigate that. I had the impression that T&C section 69 (which is the Doctrine and Covenants section 76), in the description of those that would inherit the Celestial Kingdom, I had the impression that the language there was pretty demanding, that it required a great, great deal. But in the Covenant of Christ, over and over again, it appears that what the acceptance, the conversion, the teaching, and the redemption—the saving of souls—consisted of was the explanation that Jesus Christ was the Redeemer, and that His sacrifice fulfilled the law of Moses, and that it wasn’t the sacrifice of animals that was redemptive, but it was the Son of God who came into the world and offered Himself as an offering in order to remove from us the responsibility and the guilt of sin; and that the sign of having recognized that as truth was to be baptized. And then once you are baptized, you—automatically in the Book of Mormon—receive the Holy Ghost; and the Holy Ghost then takes it from there. So redemption in the Book of Mormon is that cutting edge/that leading edge/that acceptance of Jesus and recognizing that you are in a fallen state and you are actually alienated from God, and you need to reconcile yourself back to God. And the way that you do that is through Jesus Christ. And if you accept that idea, then you must act on that idea and be baptized, because that is the mechanism that He wants you to undergo in order to demonstrate your faith and your repentance in Him. You are immersed in water… 

The breath of life is given to you by God in the beginning, and the first breath of life is when life begins here. It’s how Adam acquired life. It’s what happens when a child is born. The breath of life means you are alive. Baptism puts you under the water. You are cut off from the breath of life. You cannot breathe under the water. You stay there too long, and you’re dead in fact. But the symbol of going under the water is being cut off from the breath of life or the air that sustains us. And then you emerge from that, taking a new breath, and that new breath is the commencement of a new life. It is a symbol of death and resurrection, and when you take upon yourself the name of Christ… 

Christ’s name is “Anointed.” The name that Christ asks that you take upon yourself is the name of Christos, the name of Anointed, the name of Messiah, the name of having been anointed with His Spirit, the Holy Ghost, and He’s essentially saying He wants to make you like Him, in possession of the Holy Spirit—represented by oil, represented by washing, represented by baptism. You come out a new creature. You take in the breath of life, and the spirit now is with you. That is a very simple process representing very profound ideas in which now—a new creature, having been forgiven of sin—you get to set out on a new journey in your life. And that spirit that was given to you at the time of the baptism is intended to help shape you, improve you, inform you, develop you, and you’re to live by that guidance that’s given to you as a consequence of baptism. 

So the… Last night, when we were talking to the kids, I told them to go read something out of the glossary, and I’m going to go ahead and locate it and read it here. Umm… The idea that you’ve finished the journey at the point that you recognize and accept Christ and you are saved is a profoundly important moment to begin on a new journey. But the new journey: 

Joseph Smith said…: “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.” (“Ascension,” Glossary of Gospel Terms, emphasis added)

See, juxtapose that idea—which is true, on the one hand—with this statement in Paul’s writing. (It must be Second Timothy. Oh, yeah.) This is Paul writing: 

This know also: …in the last days, perilous times shall come; for men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, without self-control, fierce, despisers of those that are good, traitors, headstrong, haughty, lovers of [pleasure] more than lovers of God, having a form of godliness but denying the power thereof. From such turn away, for of this sort are they who creep into houses and lead captive silly women laden with [sin], led away with divers lusts, ever learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth. (2 Timothy 1:8 RE, emphasis added)

So now you’ve got this statement by Joseph Smith in the King Follett discourse saying that it will be a great while after this world before you have learned everything you need to know in order to have the fullness of salvation. And you’ve got Paul criticizing people who are ever learning but never able to come to the knowledge of the truth. And this is one of those juxtapositions of ideas that, in the contraries (as Joseph Smith put it), in the contraries, you will learn the truth; and that Christ encountered more of those than any other soul—hence the greatness of the man and the greatness of His understanding. 

You see, you don’t know—and will never know in this life—everything that is necessary in order to create worlds, in order to bind the elements, in order to ordain a creation, in order to control the elements necessary in order to be as God. BUT the first principles of the gospel are faith, repentance, baptism, and then the gift of the Holy Ghost. As a consequence of those first principles of the gospel, you should grow in light and knowledge until the perfect day. In a perfect day—with the sun directly overhead and with no shadow being cast anywhere—you are covered entirely in light; the only darkness that exists in that perfect day is the shadow confined beneath your feet—because it’s fully illuminated. That is a metaphor used in both Psalms and section 93 of the both the T&C and the Doctrine and Covenants, as it turns out; they’re both section 93. It’s a metaphor that gets used about growing in light and truth until the perfect day. That perfect day is what we seek for. And look at how that section begins: 

Verily thus says the Lord: It shall come to pass that every soul who forsakes their sins, and comes unto me, and calls on my name, and obeys my voice, and keeps all my commandments, shall see my face and know that I am…  (T&C 93:1)

And then later on, it talks about the perfect day. You grow… 

The glory of God is intelligence, or in other words, light and truth. Light and truth forsake that evil one. (Ibid, 11)

So look, the purpose is to have you grow in light and truth. 

You were also in the beginning with the Father, that which is spirit, even the spirit of truth, and truth is a knowledge of things as they are, …as they were, and as they are to come. (Ibid, 8)

Look, our religion is incomplete; and it tells you that it is incomplete over and over and over again. It says:

The purpose of the fullness of the gospel is to fully restore you back—redeemed from the fall—into the presence of God. It’s still the purpose of the fullness of the gospel to accomplish that WITH you and FOR you. I think I’ve said before that people that are on the path to return to the Lord’s presence may not return to His presence until the last moments of their life, but I believe that almost every person who sincerely seeks after the Lord gets delivered to them vindication of the promise in that section 93, first verse, that I read a moment ago: “…shall see my face and know that I am.” Alvin Smith, in the last months of his life, when he was dying, had angels ministering to him. Martin Luther; St. Francis; Stephen (who was stoned to death) had the heavens open to him in the last moments, bearing testimony, “I see the heavens open and the Son of God sitting on the right hand of power.” Dying, he receives that. 

Well, I think it is possible—if you were trustworthy and if you were sufficiently self-disciplined to limit what you say to what you are commanded to say and nothing further (so that the Lord could trust you)— that you, like Nephi, could talk about, “Well, that’s forbidden; but what I can say, I testify to you IS true. And while I may not have told you everything I know, what I have told you that I do know is true and reliable.” 

The gospel’s the same. The fullness of the gospel is the same. The desire to be redeemed from the fall is a righteous desire. But many people want to gallop out ahead in order to take in what they are utterly unprepared yet to take in. I mean, the journey that took place in the tenth parable is a journey of decades. It’s not a journey of moments. Some things get asked for, and the answer may be, “Yes,” but the yes means “decades from now, when you are prepared,” OR if you’re just not gonna be able to contain your enthusiasm because you’re that sort of person, it’ll be on your deathbed when everyone thinks you’re out of your mind anyway. “Grandma was mumbling about Jesus and stuff, right there at the end; it was kind of incoherent: Angels, Jesus, Thrones… I think she said Principalities, something… I mean, it was just nonsense,” because grandma wouldn’t keep her mouth shut! So she gets the blessing, she gets the benefit, she gets the restoration, she gets redeemed from the fall, but it happens at a moment when no one else is cheated out of the journey themselves. 

And that’s really the point of it all. That’s a journey for you, every one of you. It’s a journey for you to take and for you to be received back into the Lord’s presence because that is what He intends as the fullness. But to be saved by Jesus is to recognize Him as the one who can and will redeem you from the grave and forgive your sins; and He offered Himself as a sacrifice, and He asks you to trust in that and then to accept the ordinance of baptism as evidence of your acceptance of that, which if you do, you will be saved. And that is the point the Book of Mormon intends to bring you to. Then having been saved, with the benefit of the Holy Ghost, study the words of the prophets, and they will bring you further along—ultimately, far enough along in the journey, that you’ll be redeemed from the Fall. 

This is the message of the gospel. This is what Christ intends to accomplish for every soul that lives here. This is His invitation to you, and I’m telling you, I know that He vindicates that invitation and promise. It’s real. I testify to it, and I do so in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

TRANSCRIPT

The post Topics to Consider, Part 2 appeared first on Restoration Archives Blog.

The following comments from Stephanie were delivered at a conference held at Zion Ponderosa Ranch near Orderville, UT on October 27th, 2024.

Stephanie Snuffer: Hi, everybody. Okay, let’s see… I really can’t see.

Unknown: Stephanie, could you move the Kleenex box? 

SS: Oh, I meant to do that first thing because Reed showed me what the image looks like on the camera. It’s funny. All you guys watching at home—Wah!!—it’s like a hugely glowing Kleenex box on the front. Okay, awesome. 

Okay, I don’t usually do this, but I do want to thank Mark and Carolyn and everybody else, I mean, who’s done all of this work. I can’t imagine. And never in a million and a half years would I volunteer for something like this. So, thank you. I do appreciate it. Okay, so I’m… 

[Audience applause] Yes. Please give them all another round of applause. Also, quick question, and Mark or Carolyn or anybody who knows: When am I…? When are we ending? What’s the deal here? [Inaudible response] There is no end time? Good Lord Almighty, you guys! Okay. Bring me… [Inaudible response] Two o’clock. Is my phone down there? Denver, bring me my phone. I need up my time. Okay.

Alright, so I’m gonna talk more practically speaking, right? So the tenth parable is this really wonderful story about, you know, some really great aspirational things. And if you’re married or if you have children or if you have parents or if you have friends, you know that all of these wonderful things in the Scriptures are great, except there’s no how; there’s no, like, there’s no HOW to do it. It’s just “seek for this, work towards this…” (Thank you so much) “…strive for this,” and I’m… We’re gonna leave you without any skills or any real knowledge or understanding on how to do it. So while I am so grateful for the talks that I heard… We got here yesterday, so I heard Jeff do the fellowship talk, and Leroy and Dan, and then Q this morning. I really want to give a huge shout-out and nod specifically to Leroy and Q for bringing in all of this other information that is so important to understand the “how we do things,” and what’s going on inside and in your mind and with your emotions, and how you’re sort of interpreting and seeing the world, because that’s the practical application of this stuff. 

So there are several domain… Okay, first of all, anything that life depends on has to be put through what is called destructive testing. I’m gonna say that again: Anything that life depends on has to be put through destructive testing. Okay? So all of your structural metals have to be destroyed to figure out their strength, their ability to keep planes together, right? Concrete has to be destroyed in its created form in order to determine its strength, because if these things fail, then lives are put in jeopardy. So I want you to keep in mind this idea of destructive testing: Anything life depends on has to be put through destructive testing. 

Alright, so we have… There are several domains of health in a relationship that will need attention, and everybody will go through different stages. Your… You’ll need to focus on certain things, and sometimes in your life… You know, if you’ve got kids, it’s about family. If you’re just a married couple, it’s about each other. So nobody’s experience is gonna look the same. Everybody’s experiences will look different at different times in life. You’ll have commonalities, obviously, but everybody will have different experiences. I have to tell Q, the… When… You told me that 15-year thing a long time ago, and I… Honestly, I’ve used it a lot, so I really appreciate it, because it is such an important message—and not to pick on Q and Rob—but it is such an important message for people to know that this is the hardest work you will ever do in your life is to be in a relationship with someone that you are, like, looking for eternity with, and this includes families, okay? So coincidentally to these domains that you’re gonna have to go through and these periods of your marriages and relationships that you’re gonna have to struggle through, God has offered us promised potentialities conditioned upon the lives we live and the way we behave in our relationships. We are given promises that are actually conditional. We have to rise to the occasion, so to speak. And the parable that Denver spoke of is one such offering. So the question then is, are we willing to be tested—destructively tested—to see what we can offer, what we’ve got. 

All of our relationships/all of our marriages have the attention of Heaven. They’re watching us. They’re checking to see how we’re doing, what effort are we putting in, where are we succeeding, where are we failing? They’re… Our poster… Our ancestors, those who have gone before us, our Heavenly Parents, they’re rooting for our success! And so, they’re watching. And they want to see what effort and energy and work we will put into these relationships to preserve them into eternity. And might I add that eternity is a long, long, long time. I can’t, I mean… And so, if your first 15 years were hell, that’s like a week, okay? There’s no… You get to do this for a really long time. And honestly, I think that’s a wonderful, wonderful message that I get to do this for a really long time. I have a long time to be on this path of progression in my relationship. It’s not meant to be easy. It is meant to be challenging. It is meant to be refining. It is meant to be edifying. It’s meant to be unsettling. It’s meant to be scary. It is meant to be glorious. 

And everybody struggles. All marriages, all relationships, all families have different seasons of difficulty. Some will have more than others. And so if you believe that you are the only person you know who struggles in your relationships with your children or your spouse or your parents, I am really sorry that you feel that way, because you need more people in your life who are willing to admit/who are willing to talk even a little bit about the struggles that they are going through. Because if you are surrounding yourself with people who are lying to you about their relationships, about how good they are all the time, you need a little bit of balance—because it’s not true, and I have absolutely no doubt about that at all; none. And we do a real disservice to ourselves and to each other when we are not willing to discreetly and appropriately share some of our struggles. And so if you think you’re protecting yourself or your family, you know… I think it’s important to be discreet. I think it’s important not to tell tales that aren’t yours to tell, but I think it is incredibly important that we are honest with… 

One of the things my children said as they got older and got married (and I don’t know if I’ve ever told you this), but a couple of them said the greatest disservice we ever gave/that we ever showed our kids (one of them in our relationship) is they never saw us fight, which means they never saw us make up—which does not mean we never fought; it just means we did it behind closed doors. So everybody’s gonna have a different experience. But I thought that was really interesting because, as adults going into their own relationships, the one thing they all said they wished we had done was be more open about our arguments and more open about our repairs. So you’re not protecting anybody by keeping this all hidden. Nobody is being protected by this.

Okay. It is easy and without challenge or sacrifice… Oh, IF it’s easy and without challenge or sacrifice, then we forfeit the right to be heirs of the promises that we are seeking. If it’s easy and if we’re not sacrificing (which Q just addressed beautifully), then we forfeit the right to become heirs. So in that thought, consider this scripture, or consider this lecture on faith, which has been brought up multiple times, starting way back in the Sawtooths: 

It is…vain for persons to fancy…themselves that they are heirs with those, or can be heirs with them, who have offered their all in sacrifice, and by this means obtained faith in God and favor with him so as to obtain eternal life, unless they in like manner offer unto him the same sacrifice, and [though] that offering obtain the knowledge that they are accepted of him. (LoF 6:8) 

I don’t see any reason why that scripture cannot be applied to the aspiration of an eternal marriage, one like unto our Heavenly Parents who, by the way, have done exactly what we are doing now. That is what the progression is about. It’s to start here (or wherever) and progress so that we, one day, can be like Them—and we have to do that down here in this mess, encumbered by a million different ungodly characteristics and traits, which include things like:

Projection—for those of you who don’t know what it is—is to defend our ego; it is to blame someone else for something that you don’t want to recognize in yourself. So for example, if my boss comes to me and says, “Hey, I need you to put together a program for this group that we’re gonna run, and I need it done by, you know, December 1,” and I think, “Oh, my gosh, I can’t…” you know, so then I’m mad at him for putting this on me because he shouldn’t have been so insensitive. He should have known how I don’t have time for that. He should have asked someone else. But what I’m really saying is, “I’m afraid.” “I don’t think I’m competent.” “I don’t know.” “I’m insecure about this whole thing.” So I take my insecurities and my fears and I make them someone else’s fault. That’s projection.

Enmeshment is when we have extreme closeness that constrains autonomy and blurs emotional boundaries between individuals in a relationship.

Co-dependent relationships (I’m gonna go out on a limb and say) are pretty much the norm, and that’s not necessarily a good thing. And so these are the kinds of things that breed in our relationships: resentments, disconnection, anger, hopelessness, and isolation. So the more we utilize these characteristics of co-dependency, personalization, criticism, contempt, and fear, the less connected we feel with our spouses and our children. 

Correspondingly, there are a lot of really great characteristics and traits that we could make better use of, and they’re harder to access. And if you want to know why they’re harder to access, just read Q’s talk or listen to Leroy’s talk. They’re harder to access because we are conditioned a totally different way. And I think those are great talks that illustrated exactly why and how we are conditioned that way. Some of it is partly the conditioning, trauma—those kinds of things—but it’s also ignorance. We just don’t know! We actually just don’t know how to do anything different, or we have a lack of emotional regulation, or we don’t have the capacity to rise above our basest reactions. But the ones we’re looking for are: 

Those characteristics, utilized in relationships, bring connection, closeness, camaraderie, cooperation, love. And these… Neither of these lists are exhaustive. You can just find these come up for you all the time in different ways, and there’s plenty of different words for them. 

So what we’re trying to figure out is, What are we doing well? What do we need to work on? And what are the effects of any of these things in our relationships? And how do we figure all of this out? Well, we could certainly study and read. We could look to the Scriptures to see what we could do or what the Scriptures say about marriages. 

So, this is from the New York conference. So, Denver and I did 3 out of the 10 things that we were gonna do when we were in New York—3 of the 10 topics we were gonna talk about. This is one of them we didn’t get to because we only, yeah, because we only got to three. This one is “Caretaking Marriages.” And so, this is using scriptures to show where and what the Scriptures say about relationships. 

So I’m not gonna read the scriptures to you. I’m just gonna say in Ephesians 5:25, it mandates that husbands love their wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for it. So, you know, that’s a pretty high standard: Love your wives the way Christ loves the church. 

Love and respect: In Ephesians 5:33, it talks about the principle of love by respecting one another. Couples establish a framework for emotional and psychological support when we have mutual respect. 

Proverbs 31 talks about the virtuous woman’s role, which transcends her domestic duties, encompassing emotional and intellectual support for her husband. 

In the Book of Mormon, Jacob 2:18 (I just Googled this, so this is just the traditional [versification]) advises men to seek the welfare of their wives and children before their own desires, reinforcing this caretaking role.

In Mosiah 18:21, it speaks of hearts being knit together in unity and love, which is a wonderful context to view marriage in. Caretaking fosters an environment of peace and harmony. 

And then… Okay, so those are pretty much the scriptural ones that just came up. And I think those are good. But again, we’re talking about aspirational things without any real clear understanding of HOW these things work. And I think there’s a bit lacking in the scriptural record, and the reason I think that is because: 

I know nothing about Abinadi’s wife. I don’t even know if Abinadi had a wife, but I assume he did. And I have absolutely no idea what Abinadi’s wife thought about him going off on these missions, so to speak, and then having no communication with him, not being able to know where he is. I can just imagine her sort of calming her children, saying, “Daddy will be home soon, kids. Daddy will be home soon.” Well, eventually Daddy didn’t come home. Okay? I don’t think that is insignificant. But yet, we know nothing. 

Lehi and Sariah. Like, all I know is that Sariah murmured. Well, I don’t know what in the world went on behind the scenes of Sariah murmuring or the difficulty they had with their kids—because they have Nephi and Sam, and then they have Laman and Lemuel! There is nothing in that record that gives us any indication about what those relationships were like. And yet, they were relationships, and so they were tricky and difficult and contentious and wonderful and connecting and beautiful and companionable. And I’m sure they fight over the… I’m sure Lehi and Sariah fought over those kids, one defending them, saying, “Oh, it’s not so bad. They didn’t kill him this time!” Right? This is not… This is real, okay? 

Abigail and the “churlish man.” What is a churlish man? And how long did Abigail have to deal with it? I don’t know. I’m assuming there’s churlish men out here. I don’t know. I don’t even know what that means. But we know nothing about that. That is not insignificant. 

And then we have Adam and Eve, for crying out loud. You cannot have children who commit fratricide and not have marital conflict! And it’s not because one causes the other, it’s because… You can’t talk about these things; you can’t have these experiences without it impacting the system of the family. And we know nothing! That frustrates me—truly. We know nothing about this.

Heavenly Father and Heavenly Mother; that’s where it starts. Satan Lucifer and Christ; one chooses the complete opposite. There is very little information in the Scriptures—other than this aspirational stuff about how we’re supposed to be—that tells us how we are. Like, my… I meet with a lot of clients who have an LDS background (either they are, or they have a background), and when they’re coming in with their troubles and their difficulties and their, you know, their woes about their parenting and how bad they are and how difficult it is, all I have to do is start at the beginning. It went off the rails relationally at the beginning with Christ and Lucifer—and then Cain and Abel, and then Laman and Lemuel and Nephi. 

We don’t have the information in the Scriptures that help us figure out what how to do what we are supposed to do. We don’t see arguments; we don’t see… Well, this is not true—but we don’t see a LOT of arguments, and so we don’t see a lot of repair. We don’t see a lot of conflict repair. We see a lot of conflict, but we don’t see a lot of repair, which goes to what Q was talking about. We see disappointment, and we see satisfaction. We see disagreements, and we see agreements. We see companionship and support, but we’re not given a broad range of understanding how to do this. So interpersonal competency in relationships and families and marriages is critical. So where do we go, right? 

So I gave you what I could find in the Scriptures. Now, it was not an exhaustive search, so feel free to continue to search the Scriptures for these relational issues of charity and love and kindness and hope and all of those things, because they are there, and that is a wonderful place to start. But we have also been given enormous amounts of information that can be taken from other places; books, articles, classes, online resources, podcasts, therapy are all wonderful resources to figure out how to do these things. These are resources that are supplements to the Scriptures, and they are a blessing to us and, if chosen wisely, okay…? I mean, you have to be careful with what resources you are choosing, but I trust all of you have some spirit of discernment and can figure out whether it’s going to bring you closer to your spouse and, therefore, your goals of eternal families or not. You’re not idiots. You can figure this out. You don’t have to ignore everything, and you don’t have to take in everything. But this information is given to us and, I believe, comprise part of the mysteries of God. I might be the only person who believes that, and that’s okay with me, but I do believe that, and this is why:

What is more mysterious than learning how to become gods and goddesses, priests and priestesses, kings and queens? Because if you’ve got that answer off the top of your head, please share. But I think it’s pretty mysterious—when you take into consideration all the makeup of the human being, the nervous system, the cognitions, the behavior, the emotions, the offline, the online—it’s pretty much a mystery unless you have some resources. So I believe we should all be taking advantage of good resources that encourage strengthening our marriage bonds and having this goal in mind of attaining unto this promise—this blessing that could be promised to us—of eternal marriages. 

Alright! So I have another way. This is probably the harder way of figuring out this information, and that is to ask. Ask your wife, ask your husband, ask your children, ask your parents: What can you do? Where are you struggling? What do you need? And then shut your mouth, and listen. Just stay present and quiet and capable of listening to what the responses are. Okay? So here are a few things you can ask. (Oh, I want to throw in a quote here really quick.) Norman Vincent… 

Oh, first of all, this is just a coincidence, because yesterday morning, as I did my Insight Timer meditation (Denver reminded me that we have to do our meditation), the quote on the Insight Timer was, “The trouble with most of us is that we would rather be ruined by praise than saved by criticism.” So, with that in mind, prepare yourself. Here are a few things you can ask:

[Spilling her soda] Ooh, oh, my Diet Coke! It’s spilling on the stage. Sorry, my apologies. 

These are questions you can ask people: 

Validation is the single most important thing you can do. Look, validation is ONE of the single most important things you can do in a relationship, and very many people just don’t even understand the concept, okay? Validation does not mean you agree. Validation means you believe that the person who is telling you their experience actually had it. And if, for some reason, you think you know that they didn’t have that experience and so you can tell them that they didn’t, or dismiss them because you don’t think they did, then (pardon my French) you’re an idiot—because you do not get to impose your view of someone else’s experience on them, and if you’re unsure of that, invite that into YOUR life. Make sure you ask the people you love to tell you that you are wrong about your experience and tell me how you feel about that because you’re going to feel pretty crappy about it. 

Wow, that’s a hard one. I was talking to my daughter the other day, and she… I—bless her soul—I don’t know where this came from, because I don’t think it came from me. She said, “Taking criticism from her boyfriend is intuitive,” like, she feels like just keeping her mouth shut and letting it, you know, letting him get it out is intuitive. She knows in her core that that is the way for him to process through his frustrations or anger. And I just… My hat is off to her because that is so hard. 

So, in couples therapy, there’s this theory that if partner… I mean, I don’t know, there’s—I’m not going to give any percentages or anything—but there’s this idea that partnerships/marriages should be able to take influence from each other, and there’s generally an imbalance in that, where one partner is more resistant to the influence of the other. I don’t know that it’s… It might be gender specific, but I don’t know that for sure. But are you willing to take influence from your spouse—or even from your children? Again, parents, what would that be like to take influence from your children instead of believe, for some reason, that you are the authority? Can you take influence from other people? 

Do you guys know what your spouse’s dreams and goals are? Do you know if there’s some unlived life experience that someone you care about wants to pursue? I don’t know, maybe you do, maybe you don’t. But it wouldn’t surprise me if you don’t, because that’s not surprising.

There are times in our lives when we are not enjoyable to be around. It might be trouble at work. It might be a difficult parenting period. It could be chronic illness or something, and we may be particularly negative. We may be particularly sensitive to things. I think there’s reason to believe that there are times in your life when you are not pleasant to be around. Me, too. 

This is just a list off the top of my head. There are dozens of questions like this you could ask and dozens of different ways to answer them. Some of them were yes or no questions with a, you know, with a how or a why. Others were more open-ended questions. Some of them were framed in the negative, and some of them were framed in the positive. You can do it any way you want to—right?—whatever you have capacity or tolerance for. You could also spend months doing this. You could take turns; you could ask each other. You can set ground rules. I would highly, highly recommend setting ground rules. If this is something you’re willing to engage in, set the ground rules about how you’re willing to do it. Maybe one question a month; maybe one question a week; maybe every other week, whatever. Maybe you have a specific date night out where you do it over a dinner, where this is what you do. Maybe you write these things out. Maybe you have a written communication where you express these things to each other. You take breaks. You self-soothe. You compartmentalize, so that if something is unresolved but it’s been opened up, you put it on a shelf so that you can go out to dinner or a movie and enjoy one another’s company. Have fun with this. 

Most marriages are made up of two people who chose each other! I don’t know, any arranged marriages here? There might be, I don’t know. (Brandon, are you raising your hand? Were you arranged…? Were you an arranged marriage? I cannot believe I did not know that. Oh, my gosh. Crazy.) You chose each other. Okay, that is a pretty important thing to remember when things get unpleasant, right? I chose this person. Remember why you chose that person. Okay? You can also process any of this in therapy, right? You’ve got a therapist; you can start this at home, and then you can work on it in therapy. That’s a good way to use this process. 

Okay, so I would like to bring another scripture into this, because I’ve just asked you to engage in some learning that is outside of the Scriptures, right? I mean, it’s in addition to the Scriptures but outside of it; it’s reading, it’s podcasts, it’s asking questions and listening to the answers. So in the context of that, I would like to read the scripture Moroni 10:2, 

Behold, I would exhort you that when ye shall read [or hear] these things, if it be wisdom in God that ye should read [or hear] them, that ye would remember how merciful the Lord hath been unto the children of men, from the creation of Adam even down until the time that ye shall receive these things [“these things” meaning, How can I make my marriage better? How can I be a better parent?], and ponder it [or them] in your hearts. And when ye shall receive these things, I would exhort you that ye would ask God the Eternal Father in the name of Christ, if these things are not true [Am I really like this? Is he right? What lack I yet? How can I be better? Help me hold space for this]. And if ye shall ask with a sincere heart, with real intent, having faith in Christ, …he will manifest the truth of it unto you by the power of the holy ghost. And by the power of the holy ghost, ye may know the truth of all things [these things]. (Moroni 10:2 RE)

What are you good at? What are you not so good at? What do your kids need from you? Can they ask you for it?

Anything that life depends on must be exposed to destructive testing. Vaccinations… The reason we have vaccinations, whether you like them or not, is because you are exposed to the actual contagion. The NTSB’s entire purpose is to destroy every car we drive so that when a human body gets in that car, we know that life can depend on it. Anything that life depends on must be exposed to destructive testing. 

I know of nothing more important or life-dependent than our relationships. And if you have not felt the destruction—the strength testing of your relationship—I think… I can’t even paraphrase what Leroy said, but you need to stop shadowboxing, and you need to fight head-on because anything that life depends on must be exposed to destructive testing.

In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

TRANSCRIPT

The post Pertaining to Partnerships: What it Really Takes appeared first on Restoration Archives Blog.

The following remarks were shared at a conference held at Zion Ponderosa Ranch near Orderville, UT on October 27th, 2024.

I want to talk briefly about a subject that I wrote The Second Comforter: Conversing With the Lord Through the Veil to address, and deal with a couple of issues to reassert, reaffirm, and reclaim that the search to enter into the Lord’s presence as part of the gospel IS the fullness of the gospel of Jesus Christ that is in the Book of Mormon and in the Covenant of Christ that contains story after story of individual after individual who, searching for, finally recover and reclaim the presence of the Lord in their life. Well, one thing that has been presented as a barricade to the idea that a Gentile can enter into the presence of the Lord is a statement that’s made in Third Nephi. Now, I’m gonna read the statement as it appears in the traditional Book of Mormon language when Christ is talking about the other sheep that He has that are not of this flock. He says: 

Other sheep I have, which are not of this fold; them also I must bring, and they shall hear my voice, and there shall be one fold and one shepherd. And they understood me not, for they supposed it had been the gentiles; for they understood not that the gentiles should be converted through their preaching. And they understood me not, that I said, They shall hear my voice, and they understood me not that the gentiles should not… 

And at the time that the Scriptures were being prepared, the Lord required four changes to the text of the Book of Mormon. This is one of those four changes that was made and appears in the Book of Mormon form that is in all of our Scriptures as part of The New Covenants. 

…should not at that time hear my voice, that I should not manifest myself unto them save it were by the holy ghost. But behold, ye both heard my voice and seen me, and ye are my sheep, and ye are numbered among those whom the Father hath given me. (3 Nephi 7:3 RE)

And then he goes on to say that He has yet other sheep. In the incident in the Covenant of Christ, that same thing reads this way: 

Now I tell you truthfully that you are the ones I spoke of when I said: I have other sheep that aren’t part of this fold; I will visit them, and they will also hear My voice; then I will make all my sheep into one fold, following one Shepherd. And they didn’t understand Me, since they thought I was talking about the Gentiles. They didn’t understand that the Gentiles were to be converted through their preaching. And they didn’t understand Me when I said that they would hear My voice. And they didn’t understand Me that the Gentiles wouldn’t hear My voice at this time, and that I wouldn’t reveal Myself to them except by the Holy Ghost. But you’ve both heard My voice and seen Me, and you are My sheep, and you are included with those the Father has given to Me. (3 Nephi 7:3 CE)

So what the Lord is doing is He’s explaining to a specific group of people (the Nephites, with whom He’s visiting) a comment that He made to another specific group of people (the Jews that were located in Jerusalem) about the ministry that He had at that moment as a resurrected being, ministering to the scattered sheep of Israel in the various parts of the vineyard where branches of the real, authentic, original house of Israel (or branch of the olive tree) had been transplanted. He was going to visit with all of those, and He was not going—at that time, in that generation, among those people—going to visit with the Gentiles. The Gentiles, at that point, were intended to be converted to the truth as a consequence of the ministering of the people with whom He visited. It’s a time-specific event. It is not a bar to the Lord appearing to people at a later point in time. 

So that brings us, then, to Moroni 7:6 that I want to take a look at. I’m going to read from Covenant of Christ. After talking about everything that the Lord had accomplished, Moroni poses this question: 

And because He’s done this, my dear people, have miracles stopped? I tell you: No. And neither have angels stopped ministering to mankind. They are obedient to Him, to minister according to His commands, revealing themselves to those of strong faith and of a firm mind in every form of godliness. The responsibility of their ministry is to call people to repentance, and to fulfill and do the work of the Father’s covenants that He’s made to mankind, to prepare the way among [the] people by declaring Christ’s words to the Lord’s chosen vessels, so they can bear testimony of Him. And by doing this, the Lord God prepares the way for the remainder of mankind to have faith in Christ, so the Holy Ghost can have a place in their hearts according to the power of the Holy Ghost. This is how the Father vindicates the covenants He’s made to mankind. Christ has said: If you have faith in Me, you’ll have power to do what[so]ever I consider needed and proper. And He’s said to everyone on earth: Repent and come to Me and be baptized in My name and have faith in Me, so you can be saved. (Moroni 7:6 CE)

This is a promise that is being made at the end of the Book of Mormon, generations after when Christ had appeared to people. And Moroni is trying, in the final concluding section of the book (and there’s only that much left [holding up his book and showing the pages], and all of this preceded it), he’s trying to say to us in our day, “Hey, this stuff that you’ve been reading about in this remarkable account of the Lord’s dealing with people: This is on-going; it won’t end; it will continue.” Whenever we have people of faith, whenever we have people that are willing to have a firm mind in every form of godliness, this process remains open. 

So, then we get to First Nephi, in which language… (And again, I’m gonna read from Covenant of Christ. But you can read these same words, a little more turgidly written, in the King Jamesian language in any Book of Mormon.) But this is what the promises made by a prophet, writing a record intended for our day (because he CLEARLY says he’s got US in his mind when he’s recording this stuff), he despairs… He KNOWS that his descendants are all gonna fall into apostasy. He KNOWS that his people will be destroyed. So he’s writing to give hope to YOU. You’re his target audience. And that becomes much more clear in this book than it is in the King Jamesian version that we have to read in the traditional Book of Mormon. 

If the Gentiles then obey the Lamb of God [meaning, “then” to him is “now” to us; if the Gentiles today obey the Lamb of God,] He’ll reveal Himself to them in word and power and in person, in order to remove barriers to their belief, and if they don’t harden their hearts against the Lamb of God, they’ll be included with your father’s descendants — indeed, they’ll be included as part of the house of Israel. And they’ll become a blessed family in the promised land forever. They won’t be enslaved anymore, and the house of Israel won’t be embarrassed anymore. (1 Nephi 3:25 CE)

He’s saying—even if you want to go to the words in Third Nephi that says He’s not gonna appear to the Gentiles—he’s saying the Gentiles who will accept Christ will become Israel. If you accept Christ, you inherit this land and all of the promises that were made in the prior covenant. Indeed, that’s exactly what the Allegory of the Olive Tree is trying to tell you. That’s exactly the purpose of the regrafting of the various branches into one singular, original mother tree at the end, which is Israel. Israel is being reclaimed—this time by covenant. This time, the blood of Israel becomes adopted into the family by covenant, which was the whole purpose of the Lord commencing the work and the grafting that has been taking place since 2017 and continues to enlarge by the words that we have been given today. 

Now, I’ve written a small book; it’s entitled Ten Parables. And the tenth parable in the Ten Parables is something called “The Missing Virtue.” I’m not going to read that parable to you, but what I’m going to say is based upon what you read in the tenth parable. So if you haven’t read it, it’s a little book. The guy who convinced me to go ahead and publish The Second Comforter… I had put out The Second Comforter, Eighteen Verses, and Nephi’s Isaiah (I think Nephi’s Isaiah was second), and he told me, “If you really intend to be a writer…” and I didn’t really intend to be a writer, but he said, “If you really intend to be a writer, you really need to write at least one work of fiction.” So I wrote Ten Parables.

I have to tell you that the first parable in Ten Parables is really not me writing fiction. It’s an actual story that the Lord told that’s been lost. And so the first of the ten parables is a retelling of a story/a parable that belongs to Christ, restored. And the tenth parable is actually not a parable really/exactly. It’s actually autobiographical. So I cheated when I called it “Ten Parables.” There are eight of them—well, eight that I wrote; one belongs to Christ, and the last one is (I’m now admitting, and some of you have already figured that out—and I don’t know how I’ve evaded the answer when you’ve asked me, “Is that about me?”), it is based on actual events that took place, but I did change some details to be able to claim, with a straight face that it was a parable instead of actual history—but it’s based on actual events. I’m gonna give you a couple of examples of how the reality was changed in order to let me say, Yeah, it’s a fiction.

The black fellow with the open guitar case in the parable, based on my recollection, was named James. He wasn’t named John. I used the name John, but… And it was odd to me that here’s this fellow, he was sitting on the ground with the open guitar case asking for donations. It was odd to me that a guy in his reduced condition would tell me his name was James because you would normally expect someone in that reduced, pitiable condition to say, “Jim” or, you know, some less formal name. But he said his name was James, as I recall. I’m gonna read you a couple of entries from my journal. This first one is from my journal on September 11, 2005:

It is Stake Conference this weekend. Yesterday, [Brother] Holmes and I went to the Priesthood Leadership Meeting at the Conference Center downtown. Traffic was so bad with all the people driving to the Conference Center that we parked three blocks away at the bank on 300 South and West Temple. 

As we walked to the Conference Center more and more people joined us in walking. Stake Presidents, Bishops, Elders Quorum Presidents, High Councils, High Priest Group Leaders and others in leadership joined us on the sidewalks. All of them dressed in suits and ties and gathering to see President Monson, Elder Ballard, and a 70 named Davis. I was going to hear from the Lord. As we approached the Conference Center there was an elderly woman holding a sign saying she was homeless and begging for help. The Priesthood Leadership were all passing her by without noticing her. 

As I got to her corner, with the traffic light making us stand beside her, I got out a dollar from my wallet and gave her the money. Her eyes had been downcast, but she looked up and thanked me. I told her she was more than welcome and blessed her. 

After the conference, when returning to my car, there were others and to each of the beggars I gave a donation. The three block walk to and from (6 blocks total) only cost me $11.00. 

Last night as I slept my mind returned to the scene of this woman. I awoke. It seemed to me that as I gave her the money she transformed from the elderly beggar woman to mother Sarah, wife of Abraham. And instead of saying, “Thank you” this time she said, “Your sacrifice is accepted. You have passed the test.” I responded this time (thinking of her standing on the corner I would pass, and the traffic being stopped so that I had to be beside her) and said: “But you made it so easy.” She replied: “It was easy for the rest, as well. But they did not pass, nor show mercy.” 

She was a woman of extraordinary beauty. I thought it no wonder that Pharaoh had wanted her.

So about a week later, my journal has this entry for September 17, 2005: 

Years ago, …I left the US District Courthouse after a hearing before Judge Winder, a young man approached me asking for money. At that moment I had none on me and so I truthfully told him I didn’t have anything for him. He seemed out of place. Although his clothes seemed [to be] the part of the beggar his countenance seemed pure. 

After turning him down I went to my truck where my wallet and some change were kept and I went back to find him. I couldn’t see him anywhere however. So I got in my truck and drove about the blocks nearby the Federal Court. I couldn’t find him anywhere. 

In reflecting on it the comment of Paul in Hebrews came to mind: “Be not forgetful to entertain strangers, for some have entertained angels unawares.” I wondered if this young man was an angel. And if he had come to test me. And if I had failed. 

This event was many years ago – perhaps 15 years ago. Though I could not find any reference to it in my journal I recall it as if it were yesterday. I could even describe the young man’s appearance. I think there was something deeply meaningful about his contact with me. 

Last night I awoke and realized there had [been] ‘bookends’ to the[se] events. The beggar at the Courthouse and the beggar at the Conference Center were mirrors. The one as I left, the other as I entered. The one where I failed, the other where I ‘passed.’ The one a young man, the other an old woman. The one a lingering guilt, the other a thrilling reward. These events are part of the overall sacred narrative of my life. 

I begin to see how the latest event[s] fits into the picture of my life’s curriculum. God is a patient, careful teacher. He prepares us with caution and with deliberation. When at last, we are prepared to see then we are permitted to see.

So you should be able to see from the journal entries that “The Missing Virtue” could be called a parable because of some slight differences, but the story of the events is based on actual personal history. 

Now, I’ve covered this to deliver a very specific message. The parable explains why the Lord began interacting with the man. The Lord explained, “He is complete, having a wife whom he loves and who loves him. They are as one of us and their company would be well suited to mingle with our company.” 

I know there are those who hunger and thirst for the hope of having Heaven reach out to them. There are many who long to have the Lord minister to them. In the book The Second Comforter: Conversing With the Lord Through the Veil, I discuss the subject matter of the Lord in His role as Second Comforter. Before anything else, however, I should add that the search to regain the Lord’s presence in your life begins first and foremost through a godly marriage. The Lord evaluates the candidate recommended by the angels and first determines that he’s suitable to begin to work with, “…having a wife whom he loves and who loves him.” Not only that, but the marriage in the parable is described as, “They are as one of us and their company would be well suited to mingle with our company.” 

Love your spouse. As a husband, respect and uphold your wife, and make it your purpose to have her life benefited by your kindness to her. As a wife, love and help your husband in his struggles and challenges. Make it your purpose to ease his difficulties. Q’s comment about “the first 15- of a 30-year marriage was hell” is probably not just an appropriate description of what it’s like to be married to Rob, but probably an appropriate description of what it’s like to be married to any of us men. Let your wife’s long-suffering with your failings be rewarded by finally growing up, coming ‘round, and dealing as an honorable, loving, supporting spouse should be. And for the sisters/the women who are here: Don’t give up hope. As parents, give your children the benefit and blessing of loving parents. Provide them with the security of a happy, supporting, and committed marriage to shape their childhood experiences. 

If you want to be welcomed back into the Lord’s presence, first and foremost, make your spouse love and look forward to your presence. Now, I’m gonna read you something I footnoted at that point in this transcript. I wasn’t gonna read this, but I think I should. 

Consider that it was the marriages of the Lamanites that persuaded the Lord to spare them from destruction, while the Nephite corruption of marriage justified Jacob’s condemnation of his people. “Wherefore, because of this observance in keeping the commandment, the Lord God will not destroy them, but will be merciful unto them, and one day they shall become a blessed people. Behold, their husbands love their wives, and their wives love their husbands, and their husbands and their wives love their children; and their unbelief and their hatred towards you is because of…iniquity of their fathers. Wherefore, how much better are you than they in the sight of your great Creator?” (Jacob 2:11 RE). 

Jacob’s posing the question to the audience, “Why do you think you’re better than them? In addition to all of your compromise of the virtues that you were taught to obey, you don’t have good marriages, but the Lamanites do. And as a consequence of that, the Lord is going to preserve them, and you are gonna lose your lease on the land. 

More than anything else you can do in life, turn your marriage into something that transplants part of Heaven onto the fallen Earth. 

Parables demonstrate a principle or idea. It isn’t possible to cover everything in a single story. Accordingly, the tenth parable is the story of one side of a two-sided coin. Before a lesson about marriage can be complete, it needs to represent other aspects of the marriage relationship. My wife will speak next, and following her talk, we will speak together to conclude this afternoon’s agenda. 

So, you’re up!

APPENDIX

The Missing Virtue

©2008 by Denver C. Snuffer, Jr.

Angels came to the Lord and reported there was a young man who sought to do good, who loved his wife and treated her with great affection. Not only that, when the man and his wife spoke, they shared such joy and kindness, such light and truth between them the angels were coming to listen in to their daily discourse.

The Lord said He would come and see the man and his wife for Himself. So it was that the Lord came down and looked upon the young man and his wife. He found them together, preparing a meal for their children, joking about the events of the day. Their conversation was witty, filled with mirth and insight and great love was shared between them.

The Lord then considered the young man carefully. He spoke to the angels and said: “We will present this matter at the council, and you will receive word.”

The Lord returned from where He came, and presented the matter to the council to consider. The Lord said, “I have considered the case of this young man, and have found his intent and desires to be perfect. He has labored long to gain light and has collected great light. However, he is lacking in one great virtue and it will be necessary for us to intervene if the young man is to be prepared to become one with us.

“He is complete, having a wife whom he loves and who loves him. They are as one of us and their company would be well suited to mingle with our company.”

Because of the Lord’s recommendation, the council determined to intervene, to preserve the young man and his wife. The Lord was to do all He saw fit to cause the preservation of this man and woman.

So it was that the Lord called His servant and instructed him what he should do.

Thereupon the events unfolded in the life of the young man as follows:

One day as the young man was leaving a courthouse in Salt Lake City, he was approached by a very young beggar. The beggar asked for money so that he might buy food.

The young man said he had no money with him, which was true. However the young man did have money in his car which he did not offer to give. As he walked away, the young man thought upon the beggar and was troubled that he gave nothing to him. The poor man seemed to be honest, even pure, though his clothing appeared tattered and worn. The contrast between the purity of the young beggar’s face and the apparent decay of his clothing seemed odd. The young man determined he would return from his car and give to the beggar. When he returned the beggar was gone. Though the young man searched the area—then the block—then drove about for blocks searching—the beggar could not be found. The young man returned to his office.

That evening as the young man was thinking of the beggar he recalled the beggar’s face. He wondered if he was able to satisfy his need.

For many months the young man would think of the beggar. He found himself reflecting on the petition for aid and how he refused. He regretted not bringing the beggar with him to his car and thought it was wrong to refuse one in need.

Some years later the young man taught a lesson from the Book of Mormon in which the sermon of King Benjamin was discussed. As teacher he asked, “How seriously should we take King Benjamin’s instruction to give relief to the beggars?”

The class responded with comments that beggars should not be encouraged. “Most will use the money you give them to buy alcohol,” said one. “They are violating the law,” said another. The class thought the words of King Benjamin may have worked in a primitive society but in modern societies the government takes care of welfare needs. People could not be expected to tolerate beggars in their communities and certainly not make them welcome by almsgiving. The young man thought the class was harsh and wondered out loud whether they were wrong. One of the class jeered, “You are a witless liberal!”

The young man pondered on the lesson and remembered the young face of the beggar outside the courthouse years before. He grew in the conviction that King Benjamin was not talking to another people in another time but was telling us what we ought to do with the unfortunate among us. But he did nothing with this reflection.

It was some years later when the man, no longer young, taught a lesson on the Book of Hebrews. As he taught he came across Paul’s admonition to not be forgetful to entertain strangers, because sometimes strangers were really unrecognized angels. The man asked the class, “How seriously should we take the suggestion that sometimes angels come among us in disguise?”

The class responded with comments that such things were really allegory. “Good people, or children, are what is meant,” said one. “Angels do not come and walk about the streets! The idea is preposterous,” said another. The class thought the words were written to a primitive, even superstitious society, but modern societies cannot expect angels to be on the loose. But the man thought the class was faithless, and wondered out loud whether they were wrong. One of the class jeered: “You are a gullible simpleton!”

The man pondered on the lesson and remembered again the face of the very young beggar outside the courthouse many years before. He grew in the conviction that Paul knew what he was talking about, and that angels visited all peoples in all times, even when they were faithless. He wondered if the beggar with the innocent face had been an angel after all. The man believed this had been an angel. He determined to never permit a beggar to put up a petition for help to him without responding to give aid.

So it was that for years the man took deliberate effort to give aid to those who begged. Oftentimes, as he went into the Temple in Salt Lake, there were beggars on the sidewalk outside the gates. He never failed to give money to all those who were there. On many occasions those entering the Temple with him would reprove him for encouraging beggars to remain outside the Temple gates. They thought this a foolish thing to do. He did not defend his acts, but thought to himself that a great crowd of beggars receiving relief outside the Temple gates would be a great tribute to the charity of those who entered in. “Perhaps no greater tribute could be made,” he thought.

But in all this the man was still not right. He had gained some understanding, but still lacked the virtue he needed. Then it happened.

It was a rainy day, when the man was in a hurry. He parked on the side street of the office building he intended to enter. He rushed from his car around the corner of the block, and into the building. Some hours later he left and returned to his car. As he rounded the corner, however, this time he saw a beggar sitting across the street, beneath an awning.

The man was not going that way, and wondered if he ought to cross the street and give money to the beggar.

This beggar was not petitioning him. He was not in the way he was traveling. He would have to cross the street, and go out of his way to provide money to this beggar. He thought about how he had for some years given money to all who asked. But now there was a man who was not asking him for money. He reflected on what he should do.

He sat in his car, sheltered from the rain and pondered. He remembered the face of the beggar outside the courthouse many years before. He wondered if he failed to give help this day, in the rain, if he would not again regret for years the failure to do so. He determined to not make that choice again.

The man walked to the corner and waited in the rain for the light to change. When it did, he hurried across the street and went to the beggar, who sat with his eyes downcast.

The beggar had an open guitar case for people to drop money into but had no guitar. The case was nearly empty except for less than a half-dollar in change. He had a sign in his hand asking for help. The beggar was African-American, which was unusual in Salt Lake City. He was shabbily dressed, and somewhat wet despite the store awning under which he sat. As the man put money into the guitar case, he spoke to the beggar: “I suppose it is good we are having rain and we ought to be grateful; but I’d just as soon see the sun.”

The beggar looked up and smiled. As the man turned to leave he noticed the traffic light had changed and did not hurry to leave. When the beggar saw he stood there, he spoke up and thanked the man for his kindness. Then the two of them, the beggar and the man, spoke with one another for some moments while the light changed, and changed again.

As the two conversed, the man reflected on how the beggar’s countenance seemed to light up as they talked. He noticed, too, that as they spoke people seemed to now notice the beggar and to be dropping money into the guitar case. Before it was nearly empty, now there were many dollars being dropped into the case. The man wondered at the change.

The black beggar was from St. Louis and had only been in Salt Lake for two days. He hoped to return to St. Louis, but needed money for the trip. He had no wife and had never been married. He did not play the guitar, but could play the harmonica. However his harmonica had been lost last month and he hadn’t replaced it as yet. His name was John.

The conversation was not strained, and the man did not doubt that if John were his neighbor they would be great friends. He wished John could be a part of his life, but realized it could not happen.

The man parted from his friend, the beggar named John, when the light changed for the seventh time. Though they were never to meet again, they would remain friends.

Friends change each other. This day John and the man had each changed. As he returned to his office he reflected on the difference in the money given to John from before his donation and after. He concluded, however, that it was not his donation which mattered. It was the notice he had given to the beggar. No one paid any attention to John sitting under the awning until he had stopped to talk with him. Then people could see the humanity of the beggar. Before John was just an object. But when a man dressed in suit stopped to talk to him, he transformed from an object on the sidewalk into a human.

He reflected, too, on how John had seemed more grateful for being spoken with, for friendly notice, than he had been for money. And it seemed to the man that he had gotten more from giving money to John than the money given away. He wondered if all along the money given away was not the best spent money in his lifetime. For he realized all those to whom he had given money were just as much to be loved as John.

A regional conference was held and an evening Priesthood Leadership meeting was set for the Conference Center in downtown Salt Lake City. The man came to the meeting, but it was crowded with traffic and he could not park near the Conference Center. He left his car in a lot blocks away and walked to the meeting. The sidewalks were crowded with many men, dressed in suits, walking in the same direction toward the meeting.

When he arrived at the corner of South Temple Street, a crowd waited for the light to change. The man moved along the eastern edge of the crowd till he came to the sidewalk on South Temple Street then skirted along the outside until he could approach the curb. As he emerged from the side of the crowd, the man nearly bumped into an elderly woman, standing on the curb, holding a sign asking for help. The old woman did not so much as lift up her face, but stared at the ground for her shame in begging. No one was giving her any aid from the great crowd of men wearing suits.

As was his practice, the man had money in his pocket to give to beggars. Since he had encountered but this one beggar, he gave to her more generously by reaching for her hand and putting money into it. At the kindness shown her, the old woman glanced up and said, “thank you so much.” The man responded: “God bless you,” and he meant it.

The crowd moved, and the man went with them into the great Conference Center. There were talks given by Church Authorities and all who came were suitably entertained. The speakers’ faces were projected onto great screens on the walls on either side of the Conference Center, greatly magnified to heroic proportions. Overhead lighting dimmed, while spotlights shown on those who spoke, or prayed, or sang making them shimmer in the artificial light. It was a wondrous visual spectacle designed to cause awe for the beholders. When the meeting ended, they all left as they had come. The man looked but did not see the elderly woman, nor any other beggar as he left that evening.

In the middle of the night, the man was awakened and summoned by the Spirit. He was taken by the Spirit back to the place where he had been earlier that day and stood now before the old beggar woman on a deserted street. As he stood before her, she transformed before his eyes, from an elderly beggar woman to a beautiful young personage whom he recognized as Sarah, wife of Abraham and Mother of all the righteous. When he saw who she was he wondered at what this all meant.

Sarah spoke to him and said; “you passed the test.”

The man, thinking she spoke of his giving her some money, said, “It wasn’t much of a Test.” She responded, “But no one else had mercy.” And as he thought about all those who had been beside him in the crowd, none of whom had even noticed her, he was taken by the Spirit back to his home and bed.

He awoke his wife and told her of what had happened. She inquired: “What test?” “I do not know,” he replied. “What do you think it means?”

“I think it means you are quite full of yourself,” she replied. They both chuckled and returned to sleep.

In the morning as he awoke, the Spirit commanded the man to write the account. As he sat down to write, the words were given to him. Where he intended to write about the events of the day before, instead it was given to him to write the following:

“I have been instructed from On High, and have been taught for years. Eighteen years ago I failed the test; today I have passed. I was confronted by two beggars:

“With the first, I was going out.

“With the second, I was coming in.

“The first was young, the second was old.

“The first was a man, the second a woman.

“The first was outside a courthouse, the second outside a church.

“To the first I did not have charity, but to the second I did.

“In the first I did not know the identity of the beggar; but in the second I knew her name.

“The first left me with a lingering guilt, which I have carried until the second left a sense of relief.

“God’s patience in bearing with me has given me eighteen years to learn the great lesson. It has all been punctuated as if by two great bookends in these visits by His angels, and God has been there all along.”

The man had learned the missing virtue.

Within days the Lord came to him and instructed him further. The Lord dressed him in white and gave him further light and knowledge to prepare him. When he had been fully prepared by the Lord, he was summoned into the Heavenly Council, where he heard unspeakable things. Circles within circles were assembled, the Father being in the center of it all, and great rejoicing took place. The words of Psalms 2: 7 were spoken unto him.

He met the hosts of heaven, and they were as a family unto him. He returned to his wife and made all things known to her and they rejoiced together at the things they were promised, and waited upon the Lord for their time to come, when they might leave this earth and join the choir above and be One with them. But the world did not know them.

Now this happened because the Lord determined to preserve the young man and his wife.

Whatever the Lord takes in His mind to do, He will do; for the Lord is God.

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The post The Second Comforter appeared first on Restoration Archives Blog.

The following remarks were delivered on Sunday the 27th of October 2024 at Zion Ponderosa Ranch near Orderville, UT.

I want to thank the people who organized that—not just Mark and his wife, but all of the people who participated in organizing—and thank the speakers who have participated throughout the conference, and then everyone who has helped in getting this set up because there are a lot of people who participate and provide help that remain invisible. That has always been the case, that there are people that work behind the scenes that accomplish a great deal, and we benefit from it, but they don’t stand out and ever get any recognition. And there are a lot of things that have and ARE taking place that don’t come into anyone’s actual notice until a work has been accomplished, and then it rolls out into public view. But the work is ongoing, and there’s a great deal currently underway (just like Covenant of Christ has been underway for years before it rolled out this summer to public view).

The time’s come to vote on this question: “Do you have faith in these things and receive the scriptures approved by the Lord as a standard to govern you in your daily walk in life, to accept the obligations established by the Covenant of Christ as a covenant, and to use the scriptures to correct yourselves and to guide your words, thoughts, and deeds?” That’s the same question as was asked in 2017 at the time of the original covenant, with the only change being leaving out the Book of Mormon (which has previously been accepted) and substituting in its place the Covenant of Christ. If this is approved by the vote, it’s going to necessitate a change to the Teachings and Covenants Teachings and Commandments 158:4. That question in T&C 158:4 asks, Second, do you have faith in these things to receive the scriptures approved by the Lord as a standard to govern you in your daily walk in life, to accept the obligations established by the Book of Mormon as a covenant, and to use the scriptures to correct yourselves and to guide your words, thoughts, and deeds? I thought it would be re-worded to state, in relevant part, “…to accept the obligations established by the Book of Mormon AND Covenant of Christ as a covenant.” I was corrected by the Lord. T&C 158:4 is to be re-worded to state, in relevant part, “…to accept the obligations established by the Book of Mormon AND/OR the Covenant of Christ as a covenant.” The Lord wants those who want to accept one or the other or both to be part of His covenant people. The Lord wants to include in His covenant—in His covenant people—as many as will receive His offer.

So the time has come to vote, and I pose to you the question: Do you have faith in these things and receive the scriptures approved by the Lord as a standard to govern you in your daily walk in life, to accept the obligations established by the Covenant of Christ as a covenant, and to use the scriptures to correct yourselves and to guide your words, thoughts, and deeds? Those who have faith and agree to receive the Covenant of Christ, please stand and say, Yes. 

Congregation: Yes.

Denver Snuffer: Thank you.

Now, I hope that doesn’t deter anyone, because those who reject the Covenant of Christ, they should also please stand and say, No. 

Congregation Member: No, not in its current state. 

Congregation Member: No. [Two additional “no” votes were not heard on the recording.]

DS: Thank you. 

The vote is determined by the voice of the people, which requires a majority. In addition to those voting today, previous votes were taken in fellowships last Sunday, October 20, 2024. Paul Durham has tabulated those votes, and the tally for “yes” is 691 votes, and “no” was zero/none. Based on today’s and prior votes, the voice of the people has accepted the Covenant of Christ, which will become another added volume of Scripture for believers to correct themselves and to guide their words, thoughts, and deeds. So thank you. 

Now, normally I try to prepare something, but I got instructed that at this point I was to offer a prayer on behalf of all those who have accepted the Covenant of Christ. And when I went to try to compose something, I was told not to do that. And so I’m going to… ([Phone rings] Please hold my calls, if you would.) I’m going to offer a prayer, but it’s not something that has been prepared in advance. So if you’ll bear with me for a moment, the instruction is to pray for those who have accepted Covenant of Christ.

O Lord, my God, on behalf of those who have accepted the Covenant of Christ, I would ask that You pour out upon them Your spirit, to increase the light by which they view the events in this dispensation, the challenges that they face in life, the choices that they have to make. Let the light of Your countenance illuminate the decisions that they make. As they have responded to Your voice and witnessed unto You, by their acceptance of Covenant of Christ, that they hear You, I ask that Your voice get louder, that it increase in clarity, that the understanding of these people increase, that they have Your blessing, Your guidance, and Your voice to be with, guide, and always accompany them. 

We face peril at this point, and understanding, heeding, listening, and recognizing Your voice is essential to survival throughout the coming days and trials. I ask in Your name that You bless the people who have heard Your voice to this point, that it become louder, clearer, and that their understanding increase always. I ask that You bless them as a covenant people, that they may rise up to face the things that are put before every one of us through our daily life, and that we be gathered, and that we become, in fact, Your Covenant People, obedient, giving heed unto Your voice, recognizing that it’s You that they serve and no one else. 

And I ask this in the name of Your son, Jesus Christ, Amen. 

Congregation: Amen.

DS: This is a historic moment needed to prepare people for the Lord’s return. The Lord has condescended to help us understand His message for the last days by making the language easier for us to understand. His mercy and kindness again show how He reaches out to rescue us from a faltering and failing society. This modern English version of the Book of Mormon is protected by copyright but is available for any group to use, even if they only view it as a commentary and not as scripture. We would welcome using it by the LDS Church, the Community of Christ, the Fundamentalist groups, the Remnant Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, or any other group or churches. Although copyrighted, we will allow it to be reproduced or published by different religious groups without charge; the only condition required is for our copyright notice to be included in all copies made of the text. If our copyright notice is included, anyone asking will receive written permission to copy and use the text without any fee or charge. It will now be added to the scriptures.info website in a searchable, copyable version, exactly as the rest of the Scriptures appear on scriptures.info website. I don’t think we’ll take it down from the current Covenant of Christ website, but there you cannot copy and move it into another medium. On scriptures.info, you will be able to do that.

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