Scriptorium Blogorium

The unflattering truth about flattery

2012-01-28T06:00:00.000-08:00

For it came to pass that they did deceive many with their flattering words, who were in the church, and did cause them to commit many sins; therefore it became expedient that those who committed sin, that were in the church, should be admonished by the church. (Mosiah 26:6)

Recently when I was reading this verse, the word “flattery” jumped out at me. I’m not sure why. But suddenly I had a lot of questions about it. I asked myself:

What is flattery?
Why is flattery bad?
What makes flattery different from real praise?
What are the consequences of flattery, either giving it or receiving it?

I went looking for more information in the scriptures about incidents of flattery to see if I could find specific examples and consequences and characteristics of flattery.

The Book of Mormon has a number of examples of flattery. There was Sherem who “had a perfect knowledge of the language of the people; wherefore, he could use much flattery, and much power of speech, according to the power of the devil.” (Jacob 7:4) Then there was Alma the Younger, who, before his conversion:

“did speak much flattery to the people; therefore he led many of the people to do after the manner of his iniquities. And he became a great hinderment to the prosperity of the church of God; stealing away the hearts of the people; causing much dissension among the people; giving a chance for the enemy of God to exercise his power over them. (Mosiah 27:8-9)

The people of King Noah fell into wickedness because of flattery.

“Yea, and they also became idolatrous, because they were deceived by the vain and flattering words of the king and priests; for they did speak flattering things unto them.” (Mosiah 11:7)

Other people mentioned in the Book of Mormon who led people away with flattering were Korihor (Alma 30), Amalickiah (Alma 46:7), kingmen (Alma 61:4), Gadianton (Helaman 2:5) and the wicked Jacob (3 Nephi 7:12).

There are some examples in the scriptures of people using flattery. First, in the Book of Daniel:

6 Then these presidents and princes assembled together to the king, and said thus unto him, King Darius, live for ever.

7 All the presidents of the kingdom, the governors, and the princes, the counsellors, and the captains, have consulted together to establish a royal statute, and to make a firm decree, that whosoever shall ask a petition of any God or man for thirty days, save of thee, O king, he shall be cast into the den of lions.

8 Now, O king, establish the decree, and sign the writing, that it be not changed, according to the law of the Medes and Persians, which altereth not.

9 Wherefore king Darius signed the writing and the decree. (Daniel 6:6-9)

The Babylonian princes used flattery to trick the king into making this decree. Can you see how it would have flattered the king? (“We all have consulted together on this. We all want this for you. We only want to ask things of you rather than anyone else, even God.”)

Another example of flattery is in the Book of Mormon when King Noah’s people bring Abinadi to King Noah for judgment. After accusing Abinadi of speaking evil about King Noah, they end with:

13 And now, O king, what great evil hast thou done, or what great sins have thy people committed, that we should be condemned of God or judged of this man?

14 And now, O king, behold, we are guiltless, and thou, O king, hast not sinned; therefore, this man has lied concerning you, and he has prophesied in vain.

15 And behold, we are strong, we shall not come into bondage, or be taken captive by our enemies; yea, and thou hast prospered in the land, and thou shalt also prosper.

16 Behold, here is the man, we deliver him into thy hands; thou mayest do with him as seemeth thee good. (Mosiah 12:13-16)

The people flatter the king that he hasn't done any great evil, that he has prospered and will continue to prosper, and that he can do whatever seems good to Abinadi. The people also flatter themselve, saying that they have not committed any great sins, that they are strong, and that they will not be brought into bondage or captivity by their enemies.

After looking at some of these things, I started to realize that flattery causes a ton of problems in the Book of Mormon. We talk about the pride cycle a lot, but I’m starting to see that often flattery (either from one's self or from others) puffs up the pride, but flattery is almost never discussed! So it behooves us to gain a better understanding of what is flattery and what it is not so we can learn to avoid being flattered or flattering others.

I’m going to do something that I don’t often do, which is resort to the wisdom of the great thinkers of the world, who have watched flattery in action and have written about it. If you want to read the whole 6 pages of quotes from Giga Quotes, you can, but I have gathered, organized, and paraphrased for you the best ones from there that I could find.

First, we must define flattery and praise. Praise encourages us to good works, but flattery makes us stubborn in our vice(1).

Flattery is poisonous, whether given to a king or his people(2). When it is loved too much, we lose our internal strength to feel satisfaction without it, and then we find ourselves dependent on others to give it to us(3). Flattery serves all the vices(4). It takes advantage of our foibles, fosters our errors, and contains no advice to annoy us with the truth(5). Flattery tends to ensnare. It puffs up our imaginations, strokes our vanity, and makes us become over-fond of ourselves(6). It corrupts both the giver and the receiver(7), and it fosters pettiness in both. Both the giver and receiver hope to deceive the other, but neither is fooled(8). Flattery makes a person think that he is what he is not, and it squelches honest desire to improve by making a person think that he can be admired without actually doing something to merit admiration(9). Even truly wise people can be dazzled and intoxicated by flattery, and over the process of time, geniuses can be degraded into pits of lies by giving flattery(10). Anyone who likes to be flattered will eventually pay for it with a painful, late repentance(11). Flattery can even choke our resolutions and prevent us from doing better things (12). Flattery is like someone spitting on your face to try to clean it(13). If we feast on flattery, we will need more and more, until we will only be pleased with the person who can flatter us the most(14).

The love of flattery is the most pernicious disease of the mind(15). If we are much flattered, we soon learn to flatter ourselves(16). The arch-flatterer is our self(17).

We are blinded by our self-love from seeing our true character, so our self-flattery prepares us to accept flattery from others to confirm our own ideas(18). Self-flattery causes us to rebel against our better judgment, and if we flattery ourselves, we have no chance against the flattery of others(19). But if we don’t flatter ourselves, then flattery from others won’t harm us (20) because we will recognize it for what it is. Flattery is especially agreeable to our faults and unknown character flaws. Idiots will love you if you flatter them on their understanding(21). If you don’t care about true honors, you won’t be misled by fake ones(22).

A flatterer is difficult to distinguish from a friend because they are so obedient and will immediately protest their loyalty. Just as wolves look similar to dogs, flatterers look like friends(23). It isn’t really affection when flatterers caress(24). Flattery grows like friendship, and puts on a show of friendship, but has different fruits(25). Flattery is the worst and most treacherous way of showing we like someone. (26)

Flatterers are the worst kind of enemies(27), “thieves in disguise” (28), and the worst kind of traitors, because they will never correct us, they will make our vices and follies seem good so that we never discover the difference between good and evil, thus strengthening our foibles and encouraging us in all kinds of evil works(29). They will go so far as to praise an ignorant person’s conversation and an ugly person for their good looks(30). Flatterers actually dislike those they flatter and think themselves better than the people they profess to admire(31). A flatterer will expect you to give him advantages, and if you don’t, he will then tarnish your reputation where he once burnished it(32). If ever you find yourself about to flatter someone, think about whether your flattery is worth having(33).

We might think we hate flattery, but often we just hate the way it was given(34). Careless flattery may exhaust you as you try to believe it(35). It is a more sincere compliment to just let a person talk and while we listen(36), give our implicit assent(37), imitate them(38), or act what we feel(39). It is flattering to think that we are worth flattering(40). We may be flattered when someone ridicules our rivals or enemies to us(41). We may be flattered by one who tells us that they know we hate flattery(42).

Who can be flattered? Rulers are poisoned by it(43), but societies also have their flatterers(44). Any of us would be as corrupted as rulers are if we were as exposed to flatterers as they are(45). Rich men despise too much flattery, but hate those who never flatter him(46). Flattery is food at the courts of kings and rulers(47). Women love to be praised for beauty(48), and none are truly immune from flattery if they think their ugliness can be compensated for by their figure or their attitude(49). Even the firmest women will give in to well-timed, skillful flattery(50).

Giving just praise is paying a debt, but flattery is like a surprise gift(51). Flattering is easy, but giving genuine praise is hard(52). Don’t praise people in order to be praised yourself; people see through it and you won’t get any praise worthwhile from it(53). Don’t overpraise people, since it is then a shame to see their actions contradicting the honor you’ve given(54).

Flattery is easy to swallow, but truths about ourselves we seem to only be able to take little by little(55). If we want everyone to speak the truth, we have to learn to hear the truth too(56).

Flattery is hurtful to the innocent unsuspecting person. Rejecting it gives sadness, and accepting it leads to downfall(57). The only way to take flattery is to take it as a warning and an indication of exactly where you lack(58). Honesty needs no disguise or decoration(59).

After reading all the quotes for writing that distillation, I was particularly inspired by the one that spoke about how we only sip little by little truths we find bitter. I felt inside myself that I was one who could only sip difficult truths about myself little by little…and sometimes not at all. So I decided to pray that I would be able to learn the truth. It wasn’t long before the Holy Ghost revealed to me a difficult truth about myself and how I had been treating my husband that evening. Having prayed to receive the truth, I was able to recognize my fault and repent. I asked my husband for forgiveness as well and our relationship became stronger.

The Holy Ghost does not flatter us. It will always tell us the truth and if we are looking for flattery, we will not welcome the Holy Ghost very well when we most need its correction.

Also, I appreciated learning what the difference is between flattery and real praise. Real praise is appreciative of goodness, and can even edify and encourage toward greater goodness.

About a week ago, when I was getting ready to have my personal journal printed as a book, I was reading through it and found so many instances when I speculated freely and enthusiastically about the direction I thought my life was going to go. Well, the way that my life actually went was quite different. I was quite embarrassed that my big dreams and schemes hadn’t come to fruition. It made me feel like I wasn’t to be trusted to dream for myself. But after having read and studied what flattery is and why it is dangerous, I now realize that a good portion of my dreaming must have been self-flattery—being puffed up in the vain imaginations of my heart. I have yet to learn the difference between dreaming that leads to real accomplishment over the long term and dreaming that is simply stroking my own ego. (I suppose I will have to pray to learn to discern the difference.)

Just to give you an example of the self-flattery of which I have been capable…. Last week I visited my old stake to play piano accompaniment for a woman from my previous ward. She happens to be the stake president’s wife. I told her about my blog post “25 Things I’ve learned about being a ward organist” because I thought she would enjoy it; she is also an organist. She expressed interest. I promised her I would send her a copy in the mail. The next day, as I was preparing to send her the copy, I imagined her enjoying it. Then I imagined her handing it to her husband (the stake president) and him getting enjoyment out of it. Then I imagined him reading bits and pieces of it over the pulpit in their next stake conference to break the ice. (He’s known for his humorous talks..) The idea that one of my blog posts could and might be used in stake conference gratified my vanity and I puffed myself up a bit on that one…

Yes, that is a sample of the self-flattery of which I am capable. It’s enough to make a person puke. THANKFULLY, somehow in the above instance, I realized what I was doing, and worked hard to scale back my pleasant imaginations to just entertaining the stake president’s wife. And I worked to acknowledge to myself that though my list of 25 things I’ve learned as a ward organist is mildly funny, there was no guarantee it would be shared with anyone else at all, and probably it wasn’t particularly appropriate material for any talk in church.

Have you caught yourself flattering yourself or others? How do you tell the difference between flattery and real praise? What do you do to praise people instead of flattering them?

Notes

(1) Louis XVI

(2) Dr. John Wolcot (used pseudonym Peter Pindar)

(3) Oliver Goldsmith

(4) Cicero (Marcus Tllius Cicero)

(5) Moiere (pseudonym of Jean Baptiste Poquelin)

(6) Jeremy Collier

(7) Edmund Burke

(8) Charles Caleb Colton

(9) Samuel Johnson

(10) Samuel Johnson

(11) Lat., Qu se laudari gaudent verbis subdolis, Sera dant peonas turpes poenitentia.] - Phaedrus (Thrace of Macedonia), Fables (I, 13, 1)

(12) Matthew Prior

(13) Edward Young, Love of Fame (satire I, 1. 755)

(14) Oliver Goldsmith, Retaliation (1. 109)

(15) Sir Richard Steele

(16) Samuel Johnson

(17) Francis Bacon

(18) Plutarch

(19) Sir Richard Steele

(20) Francois Duc de la Rochefoucauld

(21) Henry Fielding

(22) Thomas Babington Macaulay

(23) Sir Walter Raleigh

(24) Letitia Elizabeth Landon (Mrs. George MacLean)

(25) Socrates

(26) Jonathan Swift

(27) Tacitus (Caius Cornelius Tacitus) Agricola (XLI)

(28) William Penn

(29) Sir Walter Raleigh

(30) Juvenal, Satires (III, 86)

(31) Marcus Antonius

(32) Moslih Eddin Saadi

(33) Samuel Johnson

(34) Fr., Francois Duc de la Rechefoucauld, Maximes (329)

(35) Wilson Mizner

(36) Joseph Addison

(37) William Hazlitt

(38) Charles Caleb Colton

(39) Madame Suzanne Curchod Necker

(40) George Bernard Shaw, John Bull’s Other Island

(41) Charles Caleb Colton

(42) William Shakespeare

(43) Michel Eyquem de Montaigne

(44) Marquis de Mirabeau, Victor de Riquetti

(45) Michel Eyquem de Montaigne

(46) Charles Maurice de Talleyrand-Perigord

(47) Frances Beaumont

(48) Samuel Johnson

(49) 4^th Earl of Chesterfield, Philip Dormer Stanhope

(50) George Lillo

(51) Samuel Johnson

(52) Jean Paul Friedrich Richter (used ps. Jean Paul)

(53) Thomas Fuller

(54) Owen Felltham

(55) Denis Diderot

(56) Samuel Johnson

(57) Walter Savage Landor

(58) Martin Farquhar Tupper

(59) Thomas Otway

Alma’s people model how to deal with fears

2012-01-26T06:00:00.000-08:00

25 For behold, it came to pass that while they were in the land of Helam, yea, in the city of Helam, while tilling the land round about, behold an army of the Lamanites was in the borders of the land.

26 Now it came to pass that the brethren of Alma fled from their fields, and gathered themselves together in the city of Helam; and they were much frightened because of the appearance of the Lamanites.

27 But Alma went forth and stood among them, and exhorted them that they should not be frightened, but that they should remember the Lord their God and he would deliver them.

28 Therefore they hushed their fears, and began to cry unto the Lord that he would soften the hearts of the Lamanites, that they would spare them, and their wives, and their children.

29 And it came to pass that the Lord did soften the hearts of the Lamanites. And Alma and his brethren went forth and delivered themselves up into their hands; and the Lamanites took possession of the land of Helam. (Mosiah 23:25-29)

When I was reading this recently, I noticed there was a very nice pattern here about how to deal with fears and scary situations that arise.

When the Lamanites show up, the Nephites are understandably very alarmed. I love that Alma goes among them and tells them they should not be frightened. (It is as if he tutors them on emotional response here.) Why should they not be frightened? They should not be frightened because they have a much better alternative—remembering their God and trusting He would deliver them. To me, this seems very effective because it is a change of focus from the thing feared and the anticipation of bad things that might happen…to a focus on God who cares for us and the prospect of eventual escape from the thing feared. It is a change from fear to hope and trust.

Then there is a verse I really love. “Therefore they hushed their fears, and began to cry unto the Lord that he would soften the hearts of the Lamanites” (v28). I love that it says “they hushed their fears.” It shows me that it is possible for me to turn on my fears and hush them and suppress them. I’ve found that when I do that, I really do almost say “Hush” to myself. I also like that it says that they began to cry to the Lord. Prayer is a great outlet for concern and worry. It is very cathartic. The more heart you put into it, the more comforting it is. That is the Spirit fulfilling its role as the comforter to soothe our souls. And Heavenly Father can actually do something about the problem.

In verse 29, it says that ultimately Alma’s people delivered themselves up into the hands of the Lamanites. That, I think, took a lot of braver to go out and face their fears like that. I think it was good too to not delay, but to resolve the situation quickly because that would also give less scope for fear to arise. Sometimes anticipation of something we fear is more terrible than the thing itself.

There’s another place in the Book of Mormon where a group is filled with fear. The prophet Helaman and his army, including the stripling warriors, found themselves in a very difficult predicament—they had to guard the Nephite border from an innumerable Lamanite army and do it on a shoestring budget while nearly starving to death. Notice their progression from fear to indomitable faith:

7 And it came to pass that we did wait in these difficult circumstances for the space of many months, even until we were about to perish for the want of food.

8 But it came to pass that we did receive food, which was guarded to us by an army of two thousand men to our assistance; and this is all the assistance which we did receive, to defend ourselves and our country from falling into the hands of our enemies, yea, to contend with an enemy which was innumerable.

9 And now the cause of these our embarrassments, or the cause why they did not send more strength unto us, we knew not; therefore we were grieved and also filled with fear, lest by any means the judgments of God should come upon our land, to our overthrow and utter destruction.

10 Therefore we did pour out our souls in prayer to God, that he would strengthen us and deliver us out of the hands of our enemies, yea, and also give us strength that we might retain our cities, and our lands, and our possessions, for the support of our people.

11 Yea, and it came to pass that the Lord our God did visit us with assurances that he would deliver us; yea, insomuch that he did speak peace to our souls, and did grant unto us great faith, and did cause us that we should hope for our deliverance in him.

12 And we did take courage with our small force which we had received, and were fixed with a determination to conquer our enemies, and to maintain our lands, and our possessions, and our wives, and our children, and the cause of our liberty.

13 And thus we did go forth with all our might against the Lamanites, who were in the city of Manti; and we did pitch our tents by the wilderness side, which was near to the city. (Alma 58:7-13)

Helaman and his armies also poured out their souls in prayer for strength and deliverance. The Lord blessed them with:

Assurances
Great faith
Hope for deliverance
Courage with their small force
A fixed determination to conquer
And they went forth with all their might.

Ultimately, the assurances of the Lord move Helaman and his army to courage, determination, and action.

I think both these stories are valuable because they show us a pattern of what to do when we fear, for whatever reason. We see that in one case, the people of Alma were strengthened to go and submit. In another case, the armies of Helaman were strengthened to go and cook up a strategy to fight the Lamanites. But both of them were strengthened to go and DO something.

Will you tell me about a time when you were afraid and turned to the Lord? How did the Lord help you?

Baptismal Talk on Holy Ghost

2012-01-24T06:00:00.000-08:00

About half a year ago, I had the privilege of giving a talk on the Holy Ghost after a new member baptism. In thinking about how I would approach it, I thought that the best way would be to come up with a list of questions that new members might have about receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost and then try to find answers from the scriptures and the words of the prophets that would answer those questions.

The following was part of my notes, although I ended up not giving the second half.

Why do we need the gift of the Holy Ghost?

The things of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God (1 Corinthians 2:11)

Man is fallen and could not know anything about God by himself. To know anything about God and His character, the knowledge must be revealed to us. The Holy Ghost is the revelator, revealing all these things to us, line upon line. It is necessary for us to learn all those things if we are to someday become like God. Thus, we NEED the Holy Ghost.

Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. (John 3:5)

What can the Holy Ghost do for me?

The Holy Ghost leads us to truth. (John 16:13)
The Holy Ghost testifies of truth so that we recognize it, telling us in our mind and in our heart.
The Holy Ghost will teach us all things and bring all things to our remembrance. (John 14:26)
It will prick our hearts (Acts 2:37) and reprove us of sin. (John 16:8)
The Holy Ghost will lead us to do good. (D&C 11:12)
It will show us all things that we should do. (2 Ne. 32:5) (It has reminded me of my duties and sometimes given me a feeling of urgency about doing them.)
The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, and peace. (Gal. 5:22)
The Spirit is called the Comforter because it fills us with hope and perfect love (Moroni 8:26) at times when we really need comfort. (Example: At dentist office while getting my teeth cleaned and the scrapiness was getting to me. I prayed for comfort and was blessed.)
It gives utterance (D&C 14:8), even in the very hour what we should speak (Luke 12:12)
At time of need, it may reveal the thoughts and intents of the heart. (Alma 12:3)
Mysteries are unfolded by the power of the Spirit (1 Nephi 10:19)
He warns.
He can enhance our skills and abilities to perform a task. (D&C 46:18)
He sometimes impels us to action or restrains us from action. (1 Nephi 7:15)
The Holy Ghost sanctifies us (Alma 13:12)
A major effect of the influence of the Holy Spirit is to have increased vision, seeing things more as God does, deepening and broadening our understanding.

These things don’t happen all at once. They happen when we need them and when we pray for them. We can’t force the Spirit, and we can’t fool the Spirit. It knows the difference between a real need and when we just want to consume it on our lusts.

“We believe in the gift of the Holy Ghost being enjoyed now, as much as it was in the Apostles’ days; we believe that it [the gift of the Holy Ghost] is necessary to make and to organize the Priesthood, that no man can be called to fill any office in the ministry without it; we also believe in prophecy, in tongues, in visions, and in revelations, in gifts, and in healings; and that these things cannot be enjoyed without the gift of the Holy Ghost. We believe that the holy men of old spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost, and that holy men in these days speak by the same principle; we believe in its being a comforter and a witness bearer, that it brings things past to our remembrance, leads us into all truth, and shows us of things to come; we believe that ‘no man can know that Jesus is the Christ, but by the Holy Ghost.’ [1 Cor. 12:3] We believe in it [this gift of the Holy Ghost] in all its fullness, and power, and greatness, and glory.” (Joseph Smith)

What is our responsibility with respect to the Holy Ghost?

There are some things the Spirit can’t do for us. Only we can do it.

· We are the ones that learn and live the gospel.

· The Spirit will testify of the truth to us, but it will not force us to believe. We make that choice.

· The Spirit may give us a feeling of urgency about doing something, but it will never force us to do it. We make that choice.

· We are the ones who make choices.

· We are the ones who obey or disobey.

· We choose our attitudes. (But we can choose to ask for our attitudes and desires to be changed.)

· We are to actively participate in our growth and development, by seeking learning by study and by faith.

· We are to be diligent and committed with all our heart, might, mind, and strength.

How can I know I am feeling the Spirit?

Joseph Smith told Brigham Young, how the Saints can know they are feeling the Spirit.:

“They can tell the Spirit of the Lord from all other spirits. It will whisper peace and joy to their souls, and it will take malice, hatred, envying, strife, and all evil from their hearts; and their whole desire will be to do good, bring forth righteousness, and build up the kingdom of God. Tell the brethren if they will follow the Spirit of the Lord they will go right.”

The Holy Ghost has what has been described as a “still small voice.” It is not often something that we hear with our ears. More often it is something that is felt and can easily be missed in a noisy, busy, environment.

What can I expect when receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost and gifts of the Spirit?

Gifts of the Spirit are usually received quietly and privately, without outward manifestations.

To paraphrase what Joseph Smith said, the opinions of men are wide and conflicting about the gift of the Holy Ghost. Some call any supernatural manifestation the effect of the Spirit of God, and some think that there is no manifestation at all and it is all in the person’s head. So it is not surprising that people are so ignorant after so many centuries have gone by in darkness without revelation or just criterion to recognize the Spirit or gain knowledge of the things of God, which can only be known by the Spirit of God. Because of this, when the elders preach to people that they will receive the Holy Ghost if they obey the gospel, the people expect some wonderful manifestation, some great display of power, or some extraordinary miracle.

The human family tends to run to extremes in religious matters, and they want some miraculous display or they will not believe in the Holy Ghost at all. They think that when the elders lay their hands upon a person, the person must immediately rise and speak in tongues and prophesy. We believe in prophecy and the gift of tongues, but to say that these things always occur when elders lay their hands upon a person, is contrary to holy writ and the practice of the apostles.

All the gifts of the Spirit are not visible to the natural vision, or understanding of men. The word of wisdom and the word of knowledge are gifts of the Spirit, but who would know it? Faith and healing, power to work miracles are gifts of the Spirit too, yet they require time and circumstances to call them into operation. (end Joseph Smith paraphrase)

How do we learn to recognize the Spirit?

Joseph Smith said,

“A person may profit by noticing the first intimation of the spirit of revelation; for instance, when you feel pure intelligence flowing into you, it may give you sudden strokes of ideas, so that by noticing it, you may find it fulfilled the same day or soon; (i.e.) those things that were presented unto your minds by the Spirit of God, will come to pass; and thus by learning the Spirit of God and understanding it, you may grow into the principle of revelation, until you become perfect in Christ Jesus.” (emphasis added)

Notice, he said we may GROW into the principle of revelation. Growth doesn’t happen all at once. We will make mistakes. We may ascribe something as revelation that isn’t, or dismiss something as not revelation when it really is. However, the important thing is to keep believing in it. If we ever feel like we are having troubles recognizing and following the Holy Ghost, we can pray for help to recognize and obey it.

If the Holy Ghost is a still small voice, and if it takes practice to tune ourselves to hear it, we must find ways to make ourselves acquainted with that voice as much as possible. The best way to do that is to study the scriptures every day and there we will find plentiful opportunities for the Holy Ghost to witness the truth to us. We will also find things that we want to know more about, and in seeking the answers with prayer and study and pondering, we will learn to recognize when the Holy Ghost is enlightening us. We will also find in the scriptures things we should do to improve in our lives, and this will make us acquainted with the Holy Ghost’s reproving voice. As we live the commandments and follow the Holy Ghost, we will align our thoughts and character more and more with God and become more and more acquainted with the feeling of peace that the Holy Ghost gives.

The better we are acquainted with the Holy Ghost, the more we will be able to trust. When warnings come, we will heed them. When we are given words to say, we will say them. When prophecy comes, we will give it. When necessary, we will have the gift of tongues or the gift of interpretation. Visions will be opened to us for our edification. When we are prompted to heal, we will heal.

How do we stay worthy of the Holy Ghost and keep it with us?

In February 1847, nearly three years after the Prophet Joseph Smith was martyred, he appeared to President Brigham Young and gave him this message:

“Tell the people to be humble and faithful and sure to keep the Spirit of the Lord and it will lead them right. Be careful and not turn away the small still voice; it will teach [you what] to do and where to go; it will yield the fruits of the kingdom. Tell the brethren to keep their hearts open to conviction so that when the Holy Ghost comes to them, their hearts will be ready to receive it.”

When Joseph Smith was translating the Book of Mormon through the power of God, he learned that divine gift of was with him only when he was worthy to be guided by the Spirit. David Whitmer recounted:

“One morning when [Joseph Smith] was getting ready to continue the translation, something went wrong about the house and he was put out about it. Something that Emma, his wife, had done. Oliver and I went up stairs, and Joseph came up soon after to continue the translation, but he could not do anything. He could not translate a single syllable. He went down stairs, out into the orchard and made supplication to the Lord; was gone about an hour—came back to the house, asked Emma’s forgiveness and then came up stairs where we were and the translation went on all right. He could do nothing save he was humble and faithful.”

I’ve experienced that too. On certain occasions when I’ve been preparing church lessons, I have felt stymied and like I couldn’t do it. I realized I needed to repent of something…

One of Jesus’s analogies, He said, “I am the vine, ye are the branches.” Unless we abide in the vine, we can do nothing. If Christ is the vine and we are the branches, the Holy Ghost is the sap of the vine. The Holy Ghost is what helps unify us.

Wilford Woodruff said:

“The great promise which accompanies the preaching of the Gospel, as revealed from heaven in our day, is that the Holy Ghost will be bestowed upon the sincerely penitent who obey its holy ordinances. Through the Holy Ghost a knowledge of things past, present, and to come is communicated and the mind and will of the Father made known. In this way the Almighty reveals His purposes to those who obey His commandments and whose lives are pure and acceptable before Him, so that they can be prepared for all the events and trials that may lie in their pathway.

If there are any members of the Church who do not know by their own experience that this is true, they may be assured that they do not live up to their privileges. All Saints should be in close communion with the Holy Ghost, and through it, with the Father, or there is danger of their being overcome of evil and falling by the wayside.

We, therefore, say to the Latter-day Saints: The Holy Ghost will not dwell in an unholy tabernacle. If you would enjoy the full powers and gifts of your religion, you must be pure. If you are guilty of weaknesses, follies and sins, you must repent of them; that is, you must thoroughly forsake them. In no other way can we please God. “Man of holiness” is His name [see Moses 6:57], and He delights in the efforts of His children to be pure.”

If we do not have revelation, it is because we do not live as we should live, because we do not magnify our [callings in the priesthood] as we ought to; if we did we would not be without revelation, none would be barren or unfruitful.

Let us lay aside all evil practices, all those habits which will prevent our communing with God….If these little things have a tendency to hinder our enjoyments and debase us in the eyes of the Lord, we ought to lay them aside and manifest a determination to do the will of our Father in Heaven, and to accomplish that work which is laid upon us to perform….When I do anything that prevents me from enjoying the Spirit of the Lord, as soon as I ascertain that, I immediately throw it aside.”

Brigham Young said:

…when the mind is open to the revelations of the Lord it comprehends them quicker and keener than anything that is seen by the natural eye. It is not what we see with our eyes—they may be deceived—but what is revealed by the Lord from heaven that is sure and steadfast, and abides forever.”

“When an individual, filled with the Spirit of God, declares the truth of heaven, the sheep hear that [see D&C 29:7], the Spirit of the Lord pierces their inmost souls and sinks deep into their hearts; by the testimony of the Holy Ghost light springs up within them, and they see and understand for themselves.”

How do I invite the Spirit?

Pray for the Spirit
Sing hymns
Read the scriptures
Help someone else
Take the sacrament

How do I keep the Holy Ghost with me?

Do not put off being obedient to commandments.
Surround yourself with clean media influences.
Pray.
Seek good and not evil.

Obtaining salvation from God is like drawing water from a well

2012-01-22T06:00:00.000-08:00

2 Behold, God is my salvation; I will trust, and not be afraid; for the Lord Jehovah is my strength and my song; he also has become my salvation.

3 Therefore, with joy shall ye draw water out of the wells of salvation. (2 Nephi 22:2-3)

Here Nephi quotes Isaiah 12 in which Isaiah compares the process of obtaining salvation to getting water from a well. I think imagining the process helps me understand better.

I can imagine going to the place of the well with an empty water pot, thirsty and with full expectation that there will be plenty of water there. Christ is our well from which we draw out salvation. Dropping the bucket down in is easy, but pulling it out takes more work, just like praying for forgiveness is easy, but summoning the real intent and maintaining commitment can be harder. Yet the joy and anticipation of obtaining forgiveness helps you continue. And you can taste the forgiveness; it is refreshing just like water.

Image 1: Travel Pot, "Staying in a nomad's Ger," http://blog.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/markandkaty/1/1305236123/tpod.html#_

Image 2: Plumpy'nut Press, "Happy World Water Day!", http://plumpynutpress.wordpress.com/2011/03/22/happy-world-water-day/

Limhi’s people humble themselves

2012-01-20T06:00:00.000-08:00

13 And they did humble themselves even to the dust, subjecting themselves to the yoke of bondage, submitting themselves to be smitten, and to be driven to and fro, and burdened, according to the desires of their enemies.

14 And they did humble themselves even in the depths of humility; and they did cry mightily to God; yea, even all the day long did they cry unto their God that he would deliver them out of their afflictions. (Mosiah 21:13-14)

When I was reading this recently it stuck out to me all of a sudden the different ways humility is described in these verses.

I notice that when they humble themselves “to the dust,” it is to men, and when they humble themselves “in the depths of humility,” it is to God. This suggests that humility to God is deeper than humility to men.

Verse 3 has some interesting words associated with humbling oneself (even if it is to men)—“subjecting themselves” and “submitting themselves.” This shows us that self control goes along with humility. Force is not required; the decision to obey is made without force. In the case of King Limhi’s people, they didn’t humble themselves until they had been beaten three times in battle, but if they hadn’t finally humbled themselves, they would have been completely forced into it.

It could be argued that because the people of Limhi “cried mightily…all the day long…unto their God that he would deliver them out of their afflictions” (v14) that they weren’t totally subjected by the Lamanites. They still wanted to be free and hoped God could free them, rather than being content to be slaves. This shows it is possible to have an outward humility while still wanting out.

When they humbled themselves to God, we see that this humility consisted of mighty prayer for deliverance, which they most wanted. However, it didn’t yet extent to repentance and forsaking their sins. “And now the Lord was slow to hear their cry because of their iniquities…” (Mosiah 21:15) It seems repentance was the final ingredient needed for total humility.

It is possible that their bondage to the Lamanites was a learning experience and training and chastisement that would help them learn to submit and subject themselves to the Lord. It would help them appreciate the lighter demands the Lord makes.

These verses make me think hard about what I do to indicate my humility to the Lord. Does my humility involve:

Subjecting myself?
Submitting myself?
Crying mightily to God all the day long?
Repenting?

I think I have incorporated a few of those factors, but I don’t think I have implemented them all. How about you?

The other Ammon and priesthood worthiness

2012-01-18T06:00:00.000-08:00

We talk a lot about Ammon, missionary son of Mosiah, but recently I realized that the other Ammon (the one in the Book of Mosiah, the one who finds the people of Limhi) is a pretty good missionary too, though he had some problems.

32 And now since the coming of Ammon, king Limhi had also entered into a covenant with God, and also many of his people, to serve him and keep his commandments.

33 And it came to pass that king Limhi and many of his people were desirous to be baptized; but there was none in the land that had authority from God. And Ammon declined doing this thing, considering himself an unworthy servant.

34 Therefore they did not at that time form themselves into a church, waiting upon the Spirit of the Lord. Now they were desirous to become even as Alma and his brethren, who had fled into the wilderness.

35 They were desirous to be baptized as a witness and a testimony that they were willing to serve God with all their hearts; nevertheless they did prolong the time; and an account of their baptism shall be given hereafter. (Mosiah 21:32-35)

“since the coming of Ammon, king Limhi had also entered into a covenant with God, and also many of his people, to serve him and keep his commandments.” (emphasis added) – This suggests that Ammon had had a good influence on Limhi and his people somehow. This made me curious to go searching for what Ammon did that brought this about and I found it near the very beginning of the story, in Mosiah 8:2-3.

2 And he [Limhi] caused that Ammon should stand up before the multitude, and rehearse unto them all that had happened unto their brethren from the time that Zeniff went up out of the land even until the time that he himself came up out of the land.

3 And he [Ammon] also rehearsed unto them the last words which king Benjamin had taught them, and explained them to the people of king Limhi, so that they might understand all the words which he spake. (Mosiah 8:2-3)

Ammon must have repeated for King Limhi and his people everything from that powerful sermon of King Benjamin’s and explained it all. Undoubtedly this would lead the people to want to repent and make a covenant with God as King Benjamin’s people had. I have personally seen in my life recently how sharing stories of courageous, righteous acts can inspire others to do the same thing.

But back to Mosiah 21:32-35.

And it came to pass that king Limhi and many of his people were desirous to be baptized; but there was none in the land that had authority from God. And Ammon declined doing this thing, considering himself an unworthy servant. (v33)

Verse 33 shows us something important—for a baptism to occur, there must not only be someone who wants to be baptized, there must also be someone else with 1) authority from God who is 2) spiritually prepared to baptize. All the priests of Noah were gone, but fortunately, Ammon somehow had priesthood authority… except there was a problem--Ammon declined to baptize on the grounds he didn’t feel worthy at that time.

I think we can get a number of lessons from this.

First, Ammon is a good example of understanding his own spiritual status. We have no idea why he considered himself unworthy, but it is commendable that he had the courage to decline even when he was the only one around with authority. (That must have been very difficult; think of the pressure that was on him!)

Second, it shows us how important it is that priesthood ordinances be performed by worthy individuals. Ammon valued worthiness as a priesthood holder more than just making people happy by “going with the flow.”

Third, it shows how important it is to live so as to always be spiritually prepared at any time to perform priesthood ordinances. Ammon probably never imagined he might someday be the only one around with authority to baptize, and modern priesthood holders get to see the consequences of this so that they can learn not to make the same mistake.

Another good thing about these verses is that they show something very interesting—the covenant with God can be a separate act from baptism, but baptism still has to take place eventually as a witness or testimony of that covenant. How might this principle be important? Some people find the gospel at a time in their lives when they can’t get baptized immediately. For instance, a teenager whose parents will not allow him/her to get baptized can still make a covenant with God to serve Him, and keep that covenant to the time they come of age to get baptized. As another example, individuals in prison who find and believe the gospel can’t get baptized until they are released, but making a covenant with God can serve them for the time in prison until they can be baptized as a witness they made that covenant.

Ammon is an interesting character in the Book of Mormon. He taught the words of King Benjamin such that many people were convinced they needed to covenant with the Lord and get baptized. Yet his unworthiness stymied him from exercising his priesthood power fully. I hope the men of the church can avoid his predicament.

In which Moses almost has his life shortened substantially

2012-01-16T06:00:00.000-08:00

The following occurs as Moses and his family are traveling back to Egypt to deliver Israel from bondage according to the instructions the Lord had given Moses.

24 ¶And it came to pass by the way in the inn, that the Lord met [Moses],

and sought to kill him.

25 Then Zipporah took a sharp stone, and cut off the foreskin of her son, and cast it at his feet, and said, Surely a bloody husband art thou to me.

26 So he let him go: then she said, A bloody husband thou art, because of the circumcision.

27 ¶And the Lord said to Aaron, Go into the wilderness to meet Moses. And he went, and met him in the mount of God, and kissed him.

28 And Moses told Aaron all the words of the Lord who had sent him, and all the signs which he had commanded him. (Ex 4:24-28)

This is a very weird incident. It seems like the Lord becomes angry suddenly and arbitrarily. Thankfully, we have the Joseph Smith Translation to help us.

24 And it came to pass, that the Lord appeared unto him as he was in the way, by the inn. The Lord was angry with Moses, and his hand was about to fall upon him, to kill him; for he had not circumcised his son.

25 Then Zipporah took a sharp stone and circumcised her son, and cast the stone at his feet, and said, Surely thou art a bloody husband unto me.

26 And the Lord spared Moses and let him go, because Zipporah, his wife, circumcised the child. And she said, Thou art a bloody husband. And Moses was ashamed, and hid his face from the Lord, and said, I have sinned before the Lord.

27 And the Lord said unto Aaron, go into the wilderness to meet Moses, and he went and met him, in the mount of God; in the mount where God appeared unto him; and Aaron kissed him. (JST Ex. 4:24-27)

When studying this story, my first question was, “What does Zipporah mean by ‘Thou art a bloody husband’?” It seems extra odd because Zipporah was the one that did the circumcising, so she’s the one who gets bloody, if anyone does. We can tell she’s frustrated with Moses, even if we don’t understand her exact words. Throwing the cut foreskin at Moses’s feet seems petulant, as if it is the last straw.

Looking deeper, it seems like she becomes an additional witness to the Lord’s anger, since both the Lord and she are angry at the same time. This gives us a hint that she also had some spiritual perception. She knew what had to be done, and because her husband wasn’t doing it, she did it.

Did she consider her husband bloody because he had made her do a bloody job? Or did she consider him bloody because he had almost been killed by the Lord? Maybe she was saying that his disobedience was putting his whole family at risk. If he disobeyed, he would be killed, and then she would be left a widow without protection (and these were days when there wasn’t life insurance) with a child to raise. Maybe she was saying the equivalent of “It’s a dangerous and deadly thing to be the wife of a disobedient prophet,” or “You’re a dangerous man to be married to.”

To Moses, this must have really stung. Here he was, about to go down to Egypt and carry out this mission to lead Israel out of bondage, and even before he starts, he has gotten himself in deep trouble with the Lord because of disobedience. (For Moses to not circumcise his son would be like President Monson not baptizing his son at age 8.)

Zipporah’s reproach must have brought back the terrible feelings of inadequacy. He must have spiraled down into depression, which caused him to hide his face from the Lord. (I know what that feels like.)

“I have sinned before the Lord,” Moses said. It’s a simple admission, but there is so much unspoken turmoil of feeling packed inside it, such as the following:

“What I did was terrible,”

“I did it in the most blatant way, even knowing I was doing wrong and determined to do it anyway.”

“I feel terrible about it.”

“I don’t know how to make it right.”

“I don’t know if the Lord will forgive me.”

“If I can’t be freed of this sin or any desire to disobey, I will not be able to do the Lord’s work, and I will be cast off forever”

Moses had to go through repentance too.

After this, the Lord sends Aaron to go find Moses and meet him. When Aaron meets Moses, he greets him with the kiss of brotherly affection. The love of an older sibling is a wonderfully encouraging thing. I can imagine that meeting Aaron in the mount of God, where God had appeared to Moses, must have been a very happy experience. (This reminds me of how neat it is to meet family in the temple.) So Moses tells Aaron everything and then has the joy of seeing Aaron accept his words. This success must have further fortified Moses. Then they go together to the Israelites, and thus begins the struggle for deliverance.

What does this mean for us today? It shows us that even Moses, as great a prophet as he was, had to learn lessons about obedience. It is another example of the principle that where much is given, much is required, and he who sins against the greater light will receive the greater condemnation. It shows us that the Lord really can and will take a prophet out of mortality who presumes to disobey the commandments. But it also shows that the Lord is merciful when prophets repent. It also shows us how seriously we should take the parental responsibility to bring our children up in the covenant.

Gratitude challenge: 10 aspects of the economy I’m thankful for

2012-01-14T06:00:00.001-08:00

I want to continue to cultivate gratitude, so in addition to my post “Take the Gratitude Challenge,” I thought I’d continue my list, this time with 10 things about the economy that I’m thankful for. (Yes, I know the economy is troubled, and people are having a very difficult time, but there are things about having an economy that make our lives better, so we really need to remember these things.)

1. I’m thankful for money. It is wonderful to have something that can be used as a universal means of exchange. Using money means that it is a lot easier to exchange our services for things that we need. Rather than having to search hard to find someone who needs our skills and has something we need, we can use money in our exchange.

2. I’m thankful for prices. Prices mean that I have a way to compare value and decide what I can or can’t afford. (Prices also cause me to be even happier when I find something FREE!)

3. I’m thankful for savings. I’m glad it is possible to save because it means that I can sacrifice now for something big I want in the future. It is wonderful to be able to store money for use later. Building savings makes financial preparations possible.

4. I’m thankful for banks. I’m grateful for banks because they eliminate worry about whether our money is safe or not. Without banks, everyone would have to find a secret place in their house to keep their money and they would always be worried about being robbed. Also, without banks, if you needed to borrow a lot of money, you would have to get a very rich person to agree to lend, or get a lot of your neighbors to agree to lend. Borrowing from banks makes it simpler.

5. I’m thankful for checks. Checks are something to be grateful for because it means you don’t have to carry quantities of cash around with you to pay someone. It means that you can pay someone exactly what you owe while keeping your money in the bank.

6. I’m thankful for credit. Credit causes a lot of problems if we don’t use it very carefully, but when we do, it can be very helpful. Credit means that you can get what you need when you know you will have money but don't have it yet; people are willing to trust you that you will eventually pay them. I am thankful that people trust enough to give credit.

7. I’m thankful for taxes. You may think I’m crazy, but yes, I’m also thankful for taxes (within limits, of course). Paying taxes means that no one person is burdened with the full cost of providing services for the public good. It also means that I can help pay for roads and schools and the protection of police and I don’t have to worry about exactly how to spend that money.

8. I’m thankful for contracts. They make it possible to make a complicated exchange over a period of time. They also make it so that you don't have to renegotiate an exchange that you know is going to happen often in the future the same way each time. I’m thankful they can be written down so that each party remembers what they agreed to do and what they can expect from the other parties in the contract.

9. I’m thankful for buying on the internet. Buying on the internet makes it easier for me to find things that I need even when I can’t find them for sale in my town.

10. I'm thankful for budgets. Budgets are HUGE. A budget make it possible to see how actual spending compares to planned spending. It makes it possible to be sure that we are spending less than we earn. It helps me make more realistic spending plans and helps me see how my savings progresses toward big purchases. It helps my husband and I stay unified financially because we both know where the money should go and how much. It helps me spend responsibly. It gives me opportunities and incentives to spend carefully. It helps us avoid impulse spending so we can spend according to what is really important to us.

Quite likely you’ve read this list and have said to yourself a number of times, “Yes, that’s good in theory, but right now…” Yes, yes, I know, corruption has occurred. It is a sign we have to get back to the economic basics. Making this list has shown me that if we don’t misuse or corrupt these aspects, we really have much to be thankful for about the economy.

When God remembers His covenant

2012-01-12T06:00:00.000-08:00

Recently I was reading an article by Steven L. Olsen called “The Death of Laban” from the Maxwell Institute, and I ran across a paragraph about the term "remember" that I thought was particularly enlightening, so I wanted to share it with you.

Throughout the Book of Mormon text, the term remember has a different connotation when applied to God. On several occasions God declares that he will remember his covenants or his people (e.g., 1 Nephi 19:15–18; 2 Nephi 29:1–14; 3 Nephi 20:29; Mormon 5:20–21; 8:21–23). Given God’s omniscience, the meaning of remember as “call to mind” may seem absurd. More appropriate in this context might be the synonyms renew or restore, as in the Lord “remembers” (i.e., restores) his covenants with Israel when Israel “remembers” (i.e., recalls and commits to live) her divine covenants. In short, not only does the term remember frequently refer to keeping or preserving covenants, but it has covenantal implications in general usage throughout Nephi’s record.²⁹

How does this help us find meaning when we hear the sacrament prayer phrase where we promise to “always remember him”?

Peter talks about God’s view of time

2012-01-10T05:43:00.000-08:00

But, beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing,

that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years,

and a thousand years as one day. (2 Peter 3:8)

I across some interesting differences in the JST for the above verse:

But concerning the coming of the Lord, beloved,

I would not have you ignorant of this one thing,

that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years,

and a thousand years as one day. (JST 2 Peter 3:8)

First, I notice that the JST turns Peter’s saying from “don’t be ignorant” to “I would not have you ignorant,” which is a substantial alteration of tone from commanding to charitably solicitous for the saints to learn something that he believes will help them a lot. (This for me hints that the concept will have more importance to us than we think.)

The second change seems inconsequential, but when plumbed, it yields intriguing suggestions. We are used to this idea that one day to the Lord is a thousand years and a thousand years as one day, but the JST seems to take away the sense that this conception of time for the Lord is general, and instead applies it only to the COMING of the Lord. How can that be, if the coming of the Lord is only one point in time?

But concerning the coming of the Lord…

one day is with the Lord as a thousand years,

and a thousand years as one day.

To me this seems to say that when the Lord comes, the changes of a thousand years will be packed into one day and wickedness of the past thousand years will seem like a bad dream of a day, and going forward into the Millennium, it will seem each day as if we’d always been doing things that way for a thousand years.

How might this help us? The context of this verse shows that Peter was addressing those who doubted the second coming and who thought that history would just continue on unchanged as it had for centuries, since they had not seen anything change the whole world so abruptly. This verse helps by explaining that whether the state of things has been a thousand years long or one day long, the Lord can work such marvelous changes that one thousand years of habits and traditions seems like one day, a tale that is told.

I know there are also people who prefer to think that God is not governed by the linearity of time passage. We tend to want to think of God as a time traveler when we doubt His ability to plan so far in advance and doubt His power to work His will among men, especially among the stubborn and unbelieving. However, any of us who have seen the Lord’s tender mercies in our lives and who have considered all the little conditions that had to be put into place so far in advance to bring them about know that if the Lord can be so merciful in such subtle ways to us, then He does indeed know all and have all power to work His will, preparing far in advance for the changes to come.

This verse could also be a statement about how the Lord explains the second coming in the scriptures, which, if we have been alert, we will have noticed. The Lord dwells upon the good, the anticipated events with such great detail that it is as if one day lasts a thousand years. He also brushes over the evil days, such as the time that Israel has been scattered, as if it were only a short time, packing a thousand years of history together and speaking of it as if it were only one day. If we were to put a name to this, we could call it “the accordion time model,” stretching out the good and collapsing the bad. I've seen this in the Book of Mormon too, such as when Nephi explains to his brothers that Israel will be scattered, but then will be gathered again. We see it in the Book of Isaiah as well, where the scattering of Israel is predicted and then the gathering of Israel is predicted in the very same chapter.

How does this help us? It helps us not feel cheated if bad times seem to last longer than the scriptures seem to give us an idea of. It also gives us an idea of the Lord’s way of thinking—He dwells upon the good times and anticipates them centuries and even millennia in advance, rather than dwelling upon the bad.

Mosiah the messenger

2012-01-06T06:00:00.000-08:00

10 Therefore, he [King Benjamin] had Mosiah brought before him;

and these are the words which he spake unto him, saying:

My son, I would that ye should make a proclamation

throughout all this land among all this people,

or the people of Zarahemla, and the people of Mosiah who dwell in the land,

that thereby they may be gathered together;

for on the morrow I shall proclaim unto this my people out of mine own mouth

that thou art a king and a ruler over this people,

whom the Lord our God hath given us….

18 And now, it came to pass that Mosiah went

and did as his father had commanded him,

and proclaimed unto all the people who were in the land of Zarahemla

that thereby they might gather themselves together,

to go up to the temple to hear the words which his father should speak unto them. (Mosiah 1:10,18)

Here, King Benjamin gave Mosiah a command to proclaim a gathering of the people to the temple the next day. In verse 18 we are told that Mosiah went and proclaimed to all the people as he had been asked to do.

It seems that Mosiah acted as his father’s messenger and visited everyone in the land to let them know. Somehow it touches me to think of Mosiah as the town crier for his father. It shows something of his life of service and his williness to do what must have been a mundane task.

3 Tiny Habits

2012-01-05T06:00:00.000-08:00

Recently I ran into a method that explained to me why and how I was able to get in the habit of reading the scriptures every day. BJ Fogg, a PhD from Stanford has a motivational method called “3 Tiny Habits” he developed to help people make positive changes in their lives in about a week. He recommends that if you are trying to develop a good habit, then you make it something extremely small that you can do in about 30 seconds every single day and then tie that action to something that you already do everyday, so that the first action becomes a trigger for the new action that you are trying to make a habit.

So, if you want to get in the habit of reading your scriptures every single day, make it your goal to read just a single verse. That’s it. (And don’t underestimate the power of reading a single verse! I have felt my entire outlook on life change from reading a single verse on those days when that was all I could do!) The beauty of starting a tiny habit is that it is also painless. If you think reading only a single verse is too short a time, just remember that scripture that out of small things come that which is great.

When I first started reading my scriptures on my own, I tied my reading activity to the activity of getting into bed at the end of the day. I was able to read just about every day for two years because of that. After that two years, I changed my routine to reading in the morning, so I tied it to the activity of getting dressed. A few years ago, I changed my routine again and I tied my reading to the activity of eating breakfast. I can see that I have been able to maintain my reading habit because I tie it to something else I always do. It also shows me that my family was able to consistently do family scripture study because it always came right after dinner; we couldn’t leave until we read the scriptures together. Scripture study was tied to dinner.

So, why is my title 3 Tiny Habits? Well, if it happens that your new years resolutions are implementing family prayer and family scripture study, all you have to do is figure out an activity that you already do as a family that you can tie those small habits to. Make it short so it is painless. And as the third habit, how about giving each person a hug and a kiss? (My family growing up actually tied this habit to family prayer.) That will make it so that each person will get at least one physical sign of affection each day.

Vengeance as a whirlwind

2012-01-04T06:00:00.000-08:00

Behold, vengeance cometh speedily upon the inhabitants of the earth, a day of wrath, a day of burning, a day of desolation, of weeping, of mourning, and of lamentation; and as a whirlwind it shall come upon all the face of the earth, saith the Lord. (D&C 112:24)

Having grown up in the Midwest and seen how tornados form and their conditions, this verse is telling. The clouds form, the sky gets a very unnatural color, the wind rises, and in the middle of the roiling clouds, the funnel drops and turns. It roots up everything, tears it apart, and scatters it far and wide. Tornados tend to have narrow paths...

so when this verse says vengeance will come “as a whirlwind…upon all the face of the earth,” we are to understand that it will hit everything.

The impulse to take revenge when you've been wronged is so strong that it can suck you in almost without realizing it, especially if everyone else around is wrung by the same drive.

STAND IN HOLY PLACES AND BE NOT MOVED.

Image #1: 620CKRM Willy Cole Blog, http://www.620ckrm.com/blogs/willycole/?p=983
Image #2: Watercooler Weather, http://watercoolerweather.blogspot.com/2008/05/here-we-go-again.html
Image #3 Ultimate Chase : Deadly Florida Tornado Damage Photos, http://www.ultimatechase.com/Chase_Accounts/florida_tornado_damage_photos_2007.htm

Where two or three are gathered together in Christ's name

2011-12-31T06:00:00.000-08:00

19 Again I say unto you, That if two of you shall agree on earth as touching any thing that they shall ask, it shall be done for them of my Father which is in heaven.

20 For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them. (Matt. 18:19-20)

We can see from the stories after Jesus’s resurrection that this promise was literally fulfilled. The disciples on the road to Emmaus were joined by the Savior. The apostles meeting in closed doors were joined by the Savior. How many other gatherings may not Jesus have visited without making himself visible?

I also think the great principle and promise of these verses is that the size of the gathering doesn’t matter as long as it is in His name. Thus, branches in the far reaches of the earth have the same spiritual privileges as stakes in an area well-populated with members.

I remember before a year of BYU started I and some other students were there early before most everyone else arrived. There were about twelve of us, and we were together in a dorm lobby. Someone got a notion that we could bear testimony to each other, so we did. We went around the group and shared our testimonies of the gospel and some of the miracles that brought us to that place in our lives. I remember that I felt a very special spirit there as we did that. I like to think that it was the Lord that was with us that day when we were so unified in gratitude and knowledge.

If you feel it is appropriate, will you share any experiences you had when you felt the Lord was with you when you gathered in His name?

Considering the purpose of King Noah's high tower

2011-12-29T06:00:00.000-08:00

And it came to pass that [King Noah] built a tower near the temple; yea, a very high tower, even so high that he could stand upon the top thereof and overlook the land of Shilom, and also the land of Shemlon, which was possessed by the Lamanites; and he could even look over all the land round about. (Mosiah 11:12)

This comes in the recital of the evils that King Noah did, so while it sounded somewhat harmless at first, I started to think about why it might have been added and whether it was disapproved of.

Perhaps one problem with this tower is that it upstaged the temple as the focus of the area. If you wanted to look toward the temple, the temple wasn’t the most beautiful thing to look at, as our temples often are. King Noah had made his tower bigger and better. (Abinadi probably considered it a major eyesore.)

And too, the purpose of the tower may have been foolish if it was built just so King Noah could stand on the top and look down on everybody! (How different from the temple, where people come to worship and look up to God.) If that was King Noah's only purpose for the tower, then the tower is certainly a contrast from King Benjamin’s tower, which was used to teach people from and remind people of their duty to God. King Noah’s tower may have been part of his efforts to forget the Lord and go his own way. (How often do we get spiritually get on our high towers just so we can look down on people?)

However, perhaps King Noah built this tower as a way to observe whether the Lamanites were preparing for war. We know that earlier in the Zeniffite record the Nephites were consistently taken by surprise by invading Lamanites, and perhaps the tower was designed as a means of observing Lamanite war preparations to give Nephites advance notice and time to prepare for defense. If so, it was a very good plan, and it worked...except King Noah was a very bad watchman for that tower. He only saw the Lamanites were invading because he was chased up onto his tower, and then it was still too late to do much about the invasion except run away. King Limhi did a much better job as a watchman on that tower; he was able to discover all the Lamanite preparations for war and prepare his people ahead of time (see Mosiah 20:7-8).

How does this help us today? It shows us that a tower doesn't do much good without a watchman that consistently watches. Our prophet is a watchman on the tower for us. We are also watchmen for those who are within our stewardships. We want to be watchmen like King Limhi, not King Noah. We want to be watchmen who watch consistently so that when the enemy is in range, we can take notice while they are yet afar off and prepare our defense rather than seeing the invaders in the borders with nothing we can do but run.

Is there an experience you can share of a time when being a good watchman saved you and yours?

My blogging year in review: top posts from 2011

2011-12-28T17:24:00.000-08:00

As the year draws to a close, it occurred to me that it might be helpful for me (and interesting to you as readers) to review some of the highlights of the year on my blog. With the help of Google’s handy analytics tool, it was a simple matter to find out which of my posts from 2011 got the highest number of pageviews. (The widget on my sidebar only compiles them on a rolling monthly basis, not a yearly basis.)

Reader’s top 10 favorite posts from 2011 (in order from highest number of pageviews to lowest)

Next, I give you a list of posts from 2011 that I consider my favorites. If I was to write “the small plates of Michaela” using only material from this year, these posts are ones that I would choose (presented in no particular order).

The Small Plates of Michaela in 2011

There has to be backstory to Captain Moroni’s meteoric rise

Importance of frequent provisioning

Lessons from Alma 55: changed loyalties, impulse control, causes of carelessness, and winey Lamanites

Helaman’s insight into helping others keep covenants

Why both “salt of the earth” and “light of this people”?

The great Nephite prayer party of 3 Nephi 19

Why D&C 122 holds more encouragement for us than we think

Secrets of God’s grace

Hyrum Smith’s insight for enduring martyrdom

Lessons about resisting Satan from Moses 1

Enoch tells of Adam’s baptism and how God taught Adam the gospel

How the account of Jesus's suffering helps me have faith

They took them wives even as they chose

To increase my love of the Lord

Don’t give up your objectives

Lessons from Peter’s deliverance from prison in Acts 12

Why did God choose the rainbow as a token of His covenant with Noah?

Let the Lord encourage you

The angel’s prophecy to Nephi of the coming events of the church in the latter days

2 Nephi 8: Jacob quotes Isaiah 51 to teach about death and the resurrection (not just the gathering)

The woman at the well: A character study

And not faint

The Pride of Our Eyes

Insights on the twelve chapters of Isaiah (2 Nephi 12-24) quoted in 2 Nephi

Strong as to the strength of men

Thus it whispereth me to do according to his will

Christ shared how He resisted temptation

While shepherds watched their flocks by night

We are come to worship him

Zeniff’s war propaganda

2011-12-27T06:00:00.000-08:00

See if you can pick out the war propaganda:

11 Now, the Lamanites knew nothing concerning the Lord, nor the strength of the Lord, therefore they depended upon their own strength. Yet they were a strong people, as to the strength of men.

12 They were a wild, and ferocious, and a blood-thirsty people, believing in the tradition of their fathers, which is this—Believing that they were driven out of the land of Jerusalem because of the iniquities of their fathers, and that they were wronged in the wilderness by their brethren, and they were also wronged while crossing the sea;

13 And again, that they were wronged while in the land of their first inheritance, after they had crossed the sea, and all this because that Nephi was more faithful in keeping the commandments of the Lord—therefore he was favored of the Lord, for the Lord heard his prayers and answered them, and he took the lead of their journey in the wilderness.

14 And his brethren were wroth with him because they understood not the dealings of the Lord; they were also wroth with him upon the waters because they hardened their hearts against the Lord.

15 And again, they were wroth with him when they had arrived in the promised land, because they said that he had taken the ruling of the people out of their hands; and they sought to kill him.

16 And again, they were wroth with him because he departed into the wilderness as the Lord had commanded him, and took the records which were engraven on the plates of brass, for they said that he robbed them.

17 And thus they have taught their children that they should hate them, and that they should murder them, and that they should rob and plunder them, and do all they could to destroy them; therefore they have an eternal hatred towards the children of Nephi.

18 For this very cause has king Laman, by his cunning, and lying craftiness, and his fair promises, deceived me, that I have brought this my people up into this land, that they may destroy them; yea, and we have suffered these many years in the land. (Mosiah 10:11-18)

Here Zeniff tells his people the history of the conflict between the Nephites and the Lamanites. He tells the Lamanite view of why the Nephites should be destroyed. He also tries to point out how the Lamanites do not share Nephite values of the Lord and trusting the Lord and how it has made them wild and ferocious. He tells about how the Lamanites have taught their children to hate and try to destroy the Nephites.

He ends up with blaming King Laman for cunning, fair promises to deceive and destroy. And he says, “and we have suffered these many years in the land” (v18). However, that complaint of suffering does not seem sincere, because earlier in the chapter, Zeniff writes, “thus we did have continual peace in the land for the space of twenty and two years” (v5). You can’t have continual peace for twenty two years and then turn around and blame Lamanite enemies for causing you to suffer these many years in the land. Either Zeniff’s memory is bad or he is stretching the truth to pump up his propaganda, not realizing that he is falling into the same fault as the Lamanites’ traditions he decries. He claims the Lamanites have preserved and magnified their sense of being wronged, yet he is doing the same thing. Just as the Lamanites twisted the story of Nephi and Laman, Zeniff is twisting the story of the relationship between the Zeniffites and Lamanites over the past generation.

Why is he doing this? He feels he has to stimulate them to fight their hardest against the Lamanites. Yet compare Zeniff’s propaganda to Captain Moroni’s title of liberty and reminders to fight for their God, their religion, their freedom, their peace, their wives, and their children! Captain Moroni’s encouragement seems much cleaner than Zeniff’s.

What does this teach us today? I think it is showing us that it is better to say what you are fighting for, rather than to recite your wrongs.

We are come to worship him

2011-12-25T06:00:00.000-08:00

1 Now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judæa in the days of Herod the king, behold, there came wise men from the east to Jerusalem,

2 Saying, Where is he that is born King of the Jews? for we have seen his star in the east, and are come to worship him. (Matt. 2:1-2)

This seems to indicate that the sign of the new star that had been given to the Nephites had also been given to other people as well. The Nephites were too far away to go to Israel to see, but these wise men realized they were close enough, and must have said to each other “let us go now and see this thing which is come to pass, which the Lord has made known unto us,” much like the shepherds said to each other after the angels appeared to them in the field. Once they knew it was happening, they wanted to see for themselves, and not just see, but pay homage.

I really like how the wise men are examples of exercising their agency to act. They knew, and they acted on what they knew, even though it was a sacrifice. They were willing to leave all their other concerns behind at home and go on this journey. I think that all of us who leave the world behind and go on the incredible journey to come to Christ are no different, no less wise than these wise men.

I’m also touched that the wise men were willing to go on this journey to see the new Messiah as a baby. What could Jesus do for them at that time of life? He couldn’t preach to them, He was too small to consciously exert His power to heal any infirmities they might have had. How would they benefit from seeing Him? They already believed in the Messiah, so they weren’t seeking the evidence of their eyes. I think they wanted to see how the great Jehovah condescended to come to earth as a little child. In the eyes of the world, this baby was no great thing—babies are born every day. Babies are weak and helpless. Babies know nothing and have done nothing great to warrant admiration. Somehow the wise men knew that this baby was great because of the great spirit that was housed in it. It was Jehovah in that baby boy body, the same that saved Noah with the ark, the same that made such great promises to Abraham, the same that brought the children of Israel out of Egypt and parted the Red Sea for them, the same that did so many wonders throughout the scriptures. It was Jehovah they were worshipping.

Another thing that is touching is that the wise men already referred to Jesus as “the king of the Jews.” Even though it was evident that Jesus hadn’t obtained the power and authority of kingship and wasn’t yet universally acknowledged as king, they didn’t care. To them, Jesus was king, and they paid homage as though He was. I think that we are no less wise if we acknowledge Jesus as king of kings today and worship and obey Him as such, even though He isn’t yet universally acknowledged as king by the whole world. Eventually He will be.

Mosiah 19: Covenants and promises are necessary for peace

2011-12-23T06:00:00.000-08:00

Mosiah 19 is the chapter where all heck breaks loose on King Noah and his people. There is contention among the Nephites, Gideon tries to kill King Noah, the Lamanites invade, the Nephites run away, the women and children are left behind with whatever men will not leave, King Noah is killed by his own followers, the Lamanites are persuaded not to kill the Nephites, and the Nephites are put under Lamanite tribute.

I noticed that while the previous chapter (Mosiah 18) contains the covenants made with the Lord, in Mosiah 19, all those who didn’t come into a covenant with the Lord and who didn’t escape with Alma find themselves having to make all kinds of oaths to try to get peace back. There are four oaths in Mosiah 19, and some of them aren’t very good:

Gideon swears in his wrath that he will slay King Noah (v4) (He breaks this oath.)
The people who run off with King Noah and leave their families behind swear in their hearts that they will return to their families and seek revenge if they find them dead (v19). (They keep the first part, and happily are not required to keep the second part, since they find their families alive.)
The Lamanites, having subjected the Nephites, make an oath to not kill them (v25). (They keep this oath until provoked by Nephite kidnapping of Lamanite women.)
The Nephites, having been subjected, make an oath to pay tribute of half their possessions and to deliver King Noah over to the Lamanites (v26). (They keep the tribute part, but are unable to keep the second part, King Noah having already been executed.)

I suppose there might be a lesson here that entering into a covenant with God does the job of a whole mass of other promises. Without a covenant with God, people will still find themselves needing the stability of the expectations and duties that are brought by covenants, and they will need to make promises anyway. In this case, those promises weren’t very pleasant and some of them were just plain wrong-headed.

I think a covenant with God to serve Him is infinitely to be preferred.

Unexplained discord in Mosiah 19 and thoughts about threats

2011-12-22T15:56:00.000-08:00

Mosiah 19 is about King Noah and his people and how all the consequences of the people’s wickedness begin to accumulate. There are some interesting events in this chapter that I have always wondered about.

If you remember, just before this chapter, King Noah’s armies return from trying to find and destroy Alma and his company. Then comes a host of unexplained events:

The forces of the king were small, having been reduced. (v2) Reduced by what? Downsized? Or had some of the soldiers been converted and left with Alma? If they knew they had to go destroy Alma and company, they would certainly have warned them and left with them before being summoned to do the dirty deed.
There began to be a division among the remained of the people (v2) with threatenings (v3) and great contention, and even a vendetta (by Gideon, v4). Why? We are given no explanation for any of it!
Right when Gideon is about to kill King Noah, the Lamanite armies invade (v6). What were the Lamanites so bothered by that they sent their armies for? (You may be asking me, “Do the Lamanites ever really need a reason to come and invade?” Well, yes they do. They’ve been beaten several times by these Nephites, so it has to be a sufficiently good reason that they are willing to risk being beaten again. Plus, Lamanites armies always seem to be driven by greed or grievance.)
When the Lamanites finally have compassion on the Nephites, along with the tribute of half Nephite goods (which satisfies any greed motive), they set as a condition of peace that King Noah be delivered into the hands of the Lamanites (v15). Why? What did King Noah do to them? Their request is the equivalent of requesting extradition of a criminal (which indicates a grievance motive).

The only thing that I can think of as a cause for all of this was that King Noah’s army must have been much more brutal in its search for Alma and company than stated in the account or ever thought of before. With a mission to destroy and a king-encouraged thirst for blood, they must have roughed up the friends, associates, and neighbors of the missing people. They must have done some nasty interrogations. They must have destroyed property, not just of the missing people, but of those who they might have suspected of helping them. Also, if King Noah thought Alma was conspiring against him, he might have suspected Alma fraternized with and conspired with the Lamanites. If so, maybe the Nephite army went to nearby Lamanite locales and roughed up some innocent Lamanites there and took spoil to try to discourage uprising from that direction.

When people feel like they aren’t safe from their own army, they get REALLY angry at the person sending the army out. (This would account for the Nephite threats against King Noah.) And when Lamanites living peacefully nearby feel like the nearby Nephite army isn’t going to let them alone, the only thing they feel is going to put a stop to it will be sending their own army in to destroy that Nephite army. And it follows that when they were charmed (by fair Nephite daughters) out of their intention to destroy the whole people, they would decide they could be happy with just killing the guy who called out the Nephite army—the king. Dispose of the king and the Nephite army would then be commanded by someone much better, right? That would make sense to them.

So it comes down to this: by sending out his army to destroy Alma and the people of the Lord, King Noah paved the way for his own destruction. Actually, we could go further back and say that the beginning of the end for him was executing Abinadi for “reviling” against him. If King Noah considered Abinadi a threat, then anyone who was on Abinadi’s side would be a threat, and then anyone that would meet together with someone who was on Abinadi’s side would be a threat. (We can see how King Noah lost the ability to discern what was really threatening and what was harmless.) It almost seems like growing paranoia. Then imagine his fear when confronted with Gideon, sword in hand…. And then seeing the army of the Lamanites invading. Threats coming from all directions. And then having his people turn on him when they were running away from the Lamanites. He never saw any of that coming because he was so fixated on Alma.

It must have become obvious to the Nephites through all this that King Noah was no longer fit to be king. Kings are supposed to protect their people from threats to the society, and he was seeing threats where they didn’t exist. If the army had harassed the Lamanites, and if the Nephites knew about that, it would be a further irritant, since it would seem like King Noah was purposely trying to pick fights with the Lamanites.

This is a lot of speculation of course, but it fits the facts. It adds a cautionary lesson too, showing us that if we choose to see calls to repentance as threats, we will become unable to tell the difference between real threats and things that are harmless. It will lead to overreactions that raise REAL dangers and we won’t be able to deal with any of it.

I suppose that this principle has a positive flip side to it too—if you are not threatened by calls to repentance, you will be able to handle the real dangers. We see an example of that in 3 Nephi 3 in which the chief judge Laconeus caused the Nephites (who were wicked at the time) to cry to the Lord for strength against the coming invasion of Gadianton robbers. He promised them that if they didn’t repent, they wouldn’t be delivered, and they believed him. They repented, they prepared, and they were able to stand against the huge threat that faced them.

We live in a world today that has some mixed up ideas of what constitutes a threat and what doesn’t. Calls to repentance are considered threatening. Having someone share the gospel or the commandments of God is threatening. But in reality, the real threat is sin and disobedience to the commandments of God. Let’s be a little better at defending ourselves against the real threats, remembering that Christ came to deliver us from them.

Christ shared how He resisted temptation

2011-12-17T06:00:00.000-08:00

1 Then was Jesus led up of the Spirit into the wilderness to be with God.

2 And when he had fasted forty days and forty nights, and had communed with God, he was afterward an hungred, and was left to be tempted of the devil.

3 And when the tempter came to him, he said, If thou be the Son of God, command that these stones be made bread.

4 But he answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.

5 Then Jesus was taken up into the holy city, and the Spirit setteth him on the pinnacle of the temple,

6 Then the devil came unto him and said, If thou be the Son of God, cast thyself down: for it is written, He shall give his angels charge concerning thee: and in their hands they shall bear thee up, lest at any time thou dash thy foot against a stone.

7 Jesus said unto him, It is written again, Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God.

8 And Again, Jesus was in the Spirit, and it taketh him up into an exceeding high mountain, and sheweth him all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them;

9 And the devil came unto him again, and said, All these things will I give thee, if thou wilt fall down and worship me.

10 Then saith Jesus unto him, Get thee hence, Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve.

11 Then the devil leaveth him, and now Jesus knew that John was cast into prison, and he sent angels, and behold, they angels came and ministered unto him. (Matthew 4: 1-11, JST emphasized)

Something that strikes me about the story of these temptations that Jesus faced is how amazing that we have an account of them at all. Think about it. At this stage in His life, He didn’t have people following Him around and watching His every move. He didn’t have a biographer at His elbow. And too, the temptations were all things that an outsider couldn’t necessarily observe.

So how did we get this account at all? The only way Matthew would have learned about it is if he had been told the story by Jesus or by someone else Jesus had told the story to. Can you imagine how amazing it would have been to have Jesus share the stories of the temptations He faced?! Imagine listening to His first hand account, which might have been like this:

I was led up to the wildness to be with God. And when I had fasted forty days and forty nights, and had communed with God, I was an hungred. And the tempter came to me and said, If thou be the Son of God, command that these stones be made bread. But I answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.

Then I was taken up into the holy city, and the Spirit set me on the pinnacle of the temple. Then the devil came to me again and said, If thou be the Son of God, cast thyself down: for it is written, He shall give his angels charge concerning thee: and in their hands they shall bear thee up, lest at any time thou dash thy foot against a stone. I said unto him, It is written again, Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God.

And again, I was in the Spirit, and it took me up into an exceedingly high mountain, and sheweth me all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them. And the devil came unto me again, and said, All these things will I give thee, if thou wilt fall down and worship me. Then I said unto him, Get thee hence Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord, thy God, and him only shalt thou serve. Then the devil left me for a season.

What does it add to our understanding of this story to know that Jesus told other people about His temptations? I think it shows that when we are reading those accounts, we can stop feeling like eavesdroppers on His life, trying to glean His secrets. Instead, He wanted people to know that as perfect as He was, He faced temptation too. I think He wanted people to know what kinds of temptations He faced, the circumstances under which they came, and exactly how He overcame them, to the intent that they would be able to follow His example and practice the methods He used.

One temptation happened when He was weak from fasting. Another temptation happened when He was at the temple! Another temptation happened either during or immediately following a dramatic sweeping vision of the world and the kingdoms thereof. We can see from those circumstances that temptation can follow on the heels of very spiritual experiences. (Satan hits people when they are physically weak, and he wants to bring people down from a spiritual high as quickly as he can.)

We often discuss the types of temptation that Jesus faced—that of bodily appetite, popularity, and power. Does categorizing temptation help us recognize and resist it? Can you think of a case when this helped you?

We also discuss how Jesus resisted temptation by remembering and quoting scripture. I think one of the things that keeps us from resisting temptation better is that we don’t know the scriptures well enough to remember ones that will help us resist the temptations that we face. (I know I don’t.) Deep down, I know what my weaknesses are, so I’m starting to realize that if I really want to have the Lord make my weaknesses strong, I need to give Him some material to work with, by searching for and studying scriptures relating to my weaknesses so that when those temptations come, I will have helpful scriptures the Lord can bring to my memory to help make me strong to resist. Scriptures add knowledge and power behind a simple will to resist temptation. It enables us to resist temptation both by study and by faith.

Also, if we resist a temptation and we’re not sure how we did it, how can we be sure we will be able to do it again if the same temptation comes again? Or how can we help other people resist it? We need to be able to articulate exactly how we resisted temptation (like Jesus was able to do), both for our benefit and for others. There is no temptation but such as is common to man, so sharing stories of how we resisted temptation will help others.

The third temptation Jesus faced in this block of scripture has always been a little bit puzzling to me. If you remember, He is shown all the kingdoms of the world and the glory of them through the power of the Spirit, and then Satan said to Him, “All these things will I give thee, if thou wilt fall down and worship me.”

How often have we experienced a temptation to fall down and worship the devil in exchange for the kingdoms of the world? I don’t think I have. Have you?

But when I was pondering those words, I began to focus on the words “fall down.” Why was “fall down” important word choice? Was Jesus invited to literally fall down on the ground to worship? I didn’t think so. Instead, I remembered the fall of Adam, and that immediately suggested to me that Satan was tempting Jesus to fall from His high standards and His sinless state, to come down off His high sinless horse, suggesting that Jesus might have more success in His ministry if He was more like the rest of the world. That sounds much more like a temptation we face, a temptation to lower our standards to be successful and accepted in the world.

Jesus resisted by quoting the scriptures again, saying, “Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve.” He was determined to stay completely true to God, whether people liked it or not. He was determined He would never break commandments to succeed in His ministry. That is a lesson we can all relate to. We have to love the Lord so much that we become determined to never break His commandments in order to succeed in the world.

Will you share a temptation that you were able to overcome using the scriptures?

Jacob 5: Grafting back in the mother tree versus starting a new tree

2011-12-15T06:00:00.000-08:00

52 Wherefore, let us take of the branches of these

which I have planted in the nethermost parts of my vineyard,

and let us graft them into the tree from whence they came;

and let us pluck from the tree those branches whose fruit is most bitter,

and graft in the natural branches of the tree in the stead thereof.

53 And this will I do that the tree may not perish,

that, perhaps, I may preserve unto myself the roots thereof for mine own purpose.

54 And, behold, the roots of the natural branches of the tree

which I planted whithersoever I would are yet alive;

wherefore, that I may preserve them also for mine own purpose,

I will take of the branches of this tree,

and I will graft them in unto them.

Yea, I will graft in unto them the branches of their mother tree,

that I may preserve the roots also unto mine own self,

that when they shall be sufficiently strong

perhaps they may bring forth good fruit unto me,

and I may yet have glory in the fruit of my vineyard. (Jacob 5:52-54)

These verses have always puzzled me about the allegory of the olive tree in Jacob 5; when the Lord of the vineyard finds all his trees corrupted, he decides to graft the natural branches back into the natural roots. I read this in relation to my knowledge of the great apostasy and the restoration, and I wonder, “Why doesn’t the allegory represent the newness of the restored church as starting with a new tree? After all, there has been an apostasy, and there are all these other branches hanging on with bad fruit, and they are the remnants of an apostate Christianity!”

The important thing that I realized is that the ROOT is Christianity. It is not Christianity as other denominations today believe Christianity is (Nicene creed and all); it is Christianity as Christianity really is/was. The Lord of the vineyard says:

36 Nevertheless, I know that the roots are good,

and for mine own purpose I have preserved them;

and because of their much strength

they have hitherto brought forth, from the wild branches, good fruit.

37 But behold, the wild branches have grown

and have overrun the roots thereof;

and because that the wild branches have overcome the roots thereof

it hath brought forth much evil fruit;

and because that it hath brought forth so much evil fruit

thou beholdest that it beginneth to perish;

and it will soon become ripened, that it may be cast into the fire,

except we should do something for it to preserve it. (Jacob 5:36-37, emphasis added)

Then the servant says:

…Is it not the loftiness of thy vineyard—

have not the branches thereof overcome the roots which are good?

And because the branches have overcome the roots thereof,

behold they grew faster than the strength of the roots,

taking strength unto themselves. (Jacob 5:48, emphasis added)

Several different ideas are expressed here. One is that the branches have “overrun” the roots, as if the branches are seeking to represent themselves as if they are the roots. This would account for the layers of incorrect traditions and erring beliefs that have become associated with Christianity over time. These other Christian denominations believe they are the roots of Christianity, when they are only branches. Because they think they are the roots, they think that the only way others can be Christian too is by grafting on to them and believing the exact same doctrine. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is a natural branch that is newly grafted into the ROOT of Christianity, not into any of the branches, and that is why those other branches are so mad.

Another idea expressed by these allegorical verses is that the branches had “overcome” the roots, evoking the sense of a battle the branches won over the roots, which would capture the sense of widespread apostasy graining ascendency over the faithful and driving them out. (Evil fruit is named as a direct result of overcoming the roots.) Additionally, there is the idea of “taking strength to themselves” and “loftiness,” which certainly must express the part that pride played in the vineyard’s corruption.

What does this mean for us?

We gain intelligence to answer the claims of those who say that religion is evil because of all the cruel things Christians have done over the centuries, such as the Inquisition, the cruelties in the Crusades, the massacres, etc. As the Lord of the vineyard says, the FRUITS of the wild corrupted branches were evil, but the ROOT is still good and still alive. The evils done by Christians were undeniably evil, but at bottom, Christianity (the gospel and works of Christ for our salvation, the pure doctrine and principles) itself was still good and still alive. The Lord of the vineyard is intent upon preserving the ROOTS.

Further, from this allegory, we gain guidance about what to say of Christians who commit terrible crimes. Rather than rhetorically chopping them from the Christian tree by declaring that person was never on it in the first place, as many others do by saying “That person wasn’t a real Christian,” we can reject the works without rejecting the person by saying, “That Christian brought forth evil fruit.”

Finally, these verses from the allegory give us a better picture of why we still have so many other Christian denominations around today. “Pluck not the wild branches from the trees, save it be those which are most bitter” (Jacob 5:57). This gives us a sense of the Lord’s great mercy. Rather than sweeping the wild branches wholesale from the earth, He is willing to let those that do not bear the bitterest fruits abide. And too, these Christian denominations with their vocal support for Christianity are a blessing to the natural branches, to the extent that they keep knowledge of Christ and moral principles alive in the earth.

The Lord is at work on all the branches of the Christianity tree.

65 And as they [the natural branches] begin to grow

ye shall clear away the branches which bring forth bitter fruit,

according to the strength of the good and the size thereof;

and ye shall not clear away the bad thereof all at once,

lest the roots thereof should be too strong for the graft,

and the graft thereof shall perish, and I lose the trees of my vineyard.

66 For it grieveth me that I should lose the trees of my vineyard;

wherefore ye shall clear away the bad according as the good shall grow,

that the root and the top may be equal in strength,

until the good shall overcome the bad,

and the bad be hewn down and cast into the fire,

that they cumber not the ground of my vineyard;

and thus will I sweep away the bad out of my vineyard. (Jacob 5:65-66)

It seems that the Lord will clear away the bad from the tree of Christianity while grafting in more natural branches. (And the natural branches need pruning too from time to time.) This way, Christianity will maintain strength, but more and more, that strength will come from the natural branches. The Lord of the vineyard designs that the good shall overcome the bad by clearing the bad away gradually as the good grows. He designs to keep the branches and the roots equal in strength, so all the branches (natural and otherwise) that stay on the tree will have to grow strong with the roots.

Joseph, Jesus’s father’s spiritual gifts

2011-12-13T06:00:00.000-08:00

In the account of Matthew, about the circumstances surrounding Christ’s birth, it is notable how much guidance comes to Joseph through dreams of angels. He learns through a dream that he need not fear to take Mary to wife. He learns from an angel in a dream that he must take his family and flee to Egypt to save Jesus from being killed by Herod. He learns from an angel in a dream that he can take his family back to Israel when Herod died. And it seems he was directed in a dream to settle in Galilee.

Joseph reminds me a lot of Joseph in Egypt with all those dreams. It is also no less neat that he followed the guidance he received. His spiritual sensitivity and obedience marks him as an excellent surrogate father for Jesus.

Also, from the beginning, Joseph knew the mission of Jesus. In the first dream when he was reassured about Mary, the angel in his dream said, “she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name Jesus: for he shall save his people from their sins.” (Matt. 1:21)

Mary gets a lot of attention for the angelic visitation she had, but if we were comparing her spirituality and Joseph’s, could we really say that she was more spiritual? No, they were equal. They both received revelation—the method isn’t as important as the message--and they were both obedient. It is the same for us today. When we receive revelation and follow that guidance, we are no less worthy than Mary and Joseph.

While shepherds watched their flocks by night

2011-12-11T06:00:00.000-08:00

For some reason this Christmas I have found myself focusing on the story of the shepherds in the Nativity.

8 And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night.

9 And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were sore afraid. (Luke 2:8-9)

Imagine what it must have been like to be one of these shepherds, sitting out in the dark night, minding your own business, when suddenly…. AN ANGEL comes and there is light everywhere!

And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. (v10)

Something that always causes me to wonder is why these particular shepherds were chosen for this visitation. I don’t think God said to Gabriel, “Go announce the birth of my Beloved Son to people on earth. Doesn’t matter who,” and I don’t think Gabriel said, “Those shepherds look mighty bored down there; let’s give them some excitement.” And too, this news was fantastically great; why were the shepherds chosen?

For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord. (v11)

Notice how immediate this news is—“this day.” What better newscaster could one have?! The news isn’t going to trickle out slowly; it is going to hit like the bombshell that it is. And too, the immediacy suggests to the shepherd the possibility of seeing it for themselves, since they are in the immediate neighborhood.

And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger. (v12)

This further suggests the possibility that they could see the baby Savior for themselves; they’ve been given a key by which to tell which baby the angel is referring to among all the babies that are in the town. (It wouldn’t do for people to pay homage to the wrong baby, would it?) And the manger-cradle. What mother in her right mind would voluntarily put her baby where cows feed—in tickle-y irritating straw—unless under great necessity? That’s a very good sign. The very circumstances that make it so inconvenient for Mary and Joseph are what make it easy for their child to be found and recognized.

13 And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying,

14 Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men. (Luke 2:13-14)

Oh, how thrilling that must have been, to see that army of angels, to hear them exclaiming with such excitement! Others have said that perhaps we were there with them. It is interesting that the angels aren’t praising Jesus; they praise God in the highest for the entire Plan of Salvation that is being put into place. After many years of anticipation, the Atonement is soon to be made, the Resurrection to come! Only this could bring true peace to the earth, and only Atonement for sins could bring good will to fallen men from God. The reconciliation is near.

The great rejoicing of these angels must have built great wonder and anticipation in those shepherds. We too often are unable to see the excitement and wonder in something unless we hear others get excited about it, and the more people we find are excited, the more we see the object of their excitement to be significant. And too, sometimes it is hard to get excited about righteous good things unless we have seen and heard other righteous people get excited about those good things. (Not to mention the difficulty of overcoming the natural man or woman…)

And it came to pass, as the angels were gone away from them into heaven, the shepherds said one to another, Let us now go even unto Bethlehem, and see this thing which is come to pass, which the Lord hath made known unto us. (v15)

The shepherds now want to see what they’ve been told about. They have been placed in a position to act, and they take it. It is interesting that they weren’t commanded to go; they made that decision on their own. Choosing to go and see would strengthen their faith.

And they came with haste, and found Mary, and Joseph, and the babe lying in a manger. (v16)

I wonder how long they searched before they found Jesus? How many cows and goats did they startle, peering into mangers? Eventually they found Him and saw Him just as the angel had said.

And when they had seen it, they made known abroad the saying which was told them concerning this child. (v17)

The shepherds became witnesses, and very enthusiastic ones too. Because there was more than one shepherd that experienced this, they fulfilled the Law of Witnesses. They could say they had heard from an angel where to go, what to look for, and the significance of what they had seen. They could say that they went and saw that it was exactly as the angel had said, therefore, they knew that this baby was to be the Savior.

18 And all they that heard it wondered at those things which were told them by the shepherds.

19 But Mary kept all these things, and pondered them in her heart. (v18-19)

This story certainly is cause for wondering and something to ponder. The miracles come thick and fast in these stories of the Nativity. I think something in us yearns to have a part in that.

And actually, we DO have a part in this story, over and over again. Our part changes, depending on our circumstances. Sometimes we are the angels that excitedly share the good news of the gospel and the signs by which others can know the true church—“The Holy Ghost will tell you in your mind and in your heart that these things are true.” Sometimes we play the part of the shepherds, receiving the news and the signs and experimenting upon the word. And sometimes we play the part of the wondering crowds whom the shepherds share their witness with of their miraculous experiences; like the crowds, sometimes we haven’t participated, but we learn through others’ experiences, mustering our faith to believe and act.

There is no beauty that we should desire him

2011-12-09T06:00:00.000-08:00

2 For he shall grow up before him as a tender plant, and as a root out of a dry ground: he hath no form nor comeliness; and when we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him.

3 He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not. (Isaiah 53:2-3)

We have a lot of paintings that depict Christ, and they all seem to make Him appealing to look at. Yet it seems Isaiah is telling us that Jesus was not good-looking, and whatever drew people to Him, it was not His appearance.

So I guess the question that we should ask ourselves is, “Will I be disappointed when I find Jesus isn’t the handsome speciman of manhood that He’s been depicted as? Will I mind if I meet my Savior and find He is plain… or even… ugly?”

I asked this of myself and I realized that answering honestly, I might be disappointed. It caused me to realize that I need to become better at looking deeper than skin-deep at the people around me. It caused me to realize that the ability to see someone’s potential, their goodness, their talents, their wisdom, their valuable experience, and appreciate them for who they are is basically charity… the pure love of Christ.

How do we keep from usurping authority in the church?

2011-12-07T06:00:00.000-08:00

This is one thing that is of concern to me because I want to explore doctrine and learn from the scriptures and learn from other members both at church and help other people learn, and I don’t want take honor and glory to myself or become a false prophet or deceive or lead others astray. I want to know what I should not do to keep myself firmly in the right.

In my scripture study recently, I ran across some scriptures that seemed to help clarify this.

2 For behold, verily, verily, I say unto you, that ye have received a commandment for a law unto my church, through him [the prophet] whom I have appointed unto you to receive commandments and revelations from my hand.

3 And this ye shall know assuredly—that there is none other appointed unto you to receive commandments and revelations until he be taken, if he abide in me. (D&C 43:2-3, emphasis added)

5 And this shall be a law unto you, that ye receive not the teachings of any that shall come before you as revelations or commandments;

6 And this I give unto you that you may not be deceived, that you may know they are not of me. (D&C 43:5-6)

Okay, so this shows me that none of us except the prophet can

Give revelations for the whole church or
Give commandments for the whole church

So what can we do?

8 And now, behold, I give unto you a commandment, that when ye are assembled together ye shall instruct and edify each other, that ye may know how to act and direct my church, how to act upon the points of my law and commandments, which I have given.

9 And thus ye shall become instructed in the law of my church, and be sanctified by that which ye have received, and ye shall bind yourselves to act in all holiness before me— (D&C 43:8-9, emphasis added)

We can:

instruct and
edify each other

so that we learn how to:

Act and direct the church and
Act on the points of the Lord’s law and commandments already given

We have to obey the commandments that we’ve got.

When I think of receiving and giving instruction and edification about the law, I often think of Relief Society meetings when the teacher asks the class something like, “How can we teach our children to love and serve one another?” after which everyone chimes in with ways and techniques they have worked out. (And even though I don’t have children, I chime in with ways that my parents tried teach me and my siblings and share how it had an impact on me.) In this case, the teacher has called the class’s attention to the well-known commandment to teach their children and is focusing on how to teach the specific principles of love and service. Everyone shares the different ways they have tried to fulfill this commandment and everyone listens for something they can learn to do that will help them fulfill the commandment more effectively. Instruction and edification is about enlarging our vision of various ways we can act upon the general revelations and commandments we have already been given.

Let’s look at some scriptures about instruction to see if we can find anything else.

INSTRUCT

And men are instructed sufficiently that they know good from evil. And the law is given unto men. (2 Nephi 2:5)

One of the ways we instruct each other is by helping each other understand the difference between good and evil. We need to know WHAT is good and WHY it is good. We need to know WHAT is bad and WHY it is bad. One of the things that I always appreciated about my parents is that when we kids did something wrong (or even borderline wrong), they didn’t just tell me to stop, they told me why.

This is a tiny example, but I remember when I was a kid, I somehow started saying “Jeez” as an exclamation. I remember I was with my dad while he was working on something at his workbench in the basement and he turned to me and said, “Michaela, ‘Jeez’ is not a good thing to say. It is a shortened version of ‘Jesus’. If you say that, you are taking the Lord’s name in vain.” I still remember the jolt that bit of information gave my young mind. I never used it again after that. The instruction to stop was effective for me because it was connected with an important commandment and principle.

77 And I give unto you a commandment that you shall teach one another the doctrine of the kingdom.

78 Teach ye diligently and my grace shall attend you, that you may be instructed more perfectly in theory, in principle, in doctrine, in the law of the gospel, in all things that pertain unto the kingdom of God, that are expedient for you to understand; (D&C 88:77-78)

The instruction to “teach diligently” is coupled with the promise of grace and being instructed more perfectly. Most of us have seen this occur when we have been asked to give a lesson or a talk. As we have researched and pondered and prayed and written our thoughts, and searched the scriptures and the conference talks relating to the topic given to us, we have truly come to know more perfectly all those things—theory, principle, doctrine, gospel law, things about the kingdom of God. We find ourselves practically swimming in it all and we are challenged by the necessity of cutting it down to fit the time. (The Spirit has to help us distill the parts that will best help our listeners.) This is why teachers and speakers say they “learned far more than the listeners.” It’s not often that I get a chance to participate in this immersing preparatory learning process before teaching gospel lessons at church because I get to substitute-teach only rarely, but happily, I experience this as I am putting together many of my blog posts. Writing these blog posts is always an important learning experience for me.

And inasmuch as they sought wisdom they might be instructed (D&C 1:26)

This scripture has extremely practical implications for both teachers and learners because both teachers and learners approach lessons wanting to learn things. Teachers want to learn how they can best teach the lesson. Class members want to get something from the lesson that can help them in their lives.

The above scripture puts the responsibility firmly on us all. No longer can we sit back during lessons, complacent in our knowledge. No longer can we assume we know everything about what must be taught. That little verse tells us we receive instruction inasmuch (proportional to) our search for wisdom. If we’re not seeking, we aren’t going to be learning. In fact, the more we have been instructed, the more we should be seeking. I freely admit that as a learner, I find myself the most bored during lessons that I haven’t put forth the effort to study ahead of time.

Then said he unto them, Therefore every scribe which is instructed unto the kingdom of heaven is like unto a man that is an householder, which bringeth forth out of his treasure things new and old. (Matthew 13:52)

I was puzzling over this particular verse and I asked Heavenly Father to help me understand it better and just as I was about to write what I thought it meant, something happened. Two boys who lived next door came to the door asking for pennies they could take to school and give for charity. We had saved pennies in a jar, so I gave them to them. Then I sat back down to ponder this scripture and realized that what had just happened seemed very similar to what I was pondering. I was a householder, and I had brought out part of my treasure, pennies I’d had for a long time and pennies that I’d recently collected.

This incident became an object lesson to me that taught that when we are instructing, we bring out when it is needed--wisdom we’ve treasured up for a long time not knowing why and wisdom that we’ve recently acquired. It doesn’t much matter whether it is old or new if it is what is needed at the time. It does the job and it is all treasure, no matter how small or basic.

And the Book of Mormon and the holy scriptures are given of me for your instruction… (D&C 33:16)

This shows us that if we use the scriptures heavily when we instruct each other, we will be more helpful to each other, since that’s why God gave them in the first place. There is a simplicity and power in the scriptures unmatched by other moralizing writings.

16 All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness:

17 That the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works. (2 Timothy 3:16-17)

This shows us that the scriptures contain:

Doctrine (they tell us who to believe in and what to believe)
reproof (they tell us what we are doing wrong)
correction (they tell us what we should be doing instead)
instruction in righteousness (they tell us how to do it and why)

All of this is given to us to guide us toward perfection, so that we can be like Christ and be equipped and capable of doing every good work that exists. The scriptures furnish us with the tools for all of this.

One example of a way that a scripture has furnished me for good works is something I learned about prayer. I noticed in 3 Nephi in the account of Christ’s coming that He prayed for the multitude and they were filled with joy because of what He said. I decided that I should try this when I went visiting teaching. During my visits I would try to pick out from the conversation specific things that my sisters were struggling with and in my prayer at the end, I would pray about those things for them and get very specific as I requested blessings for them. I have seen miracles occur in their lives because of those prayers. Our hearts have been knit together because they feel I care when I plead for them to Heavenly Father. I probably would not have thought to try doing this if I hadn’t found it in the scriptures.

EDIFY

My dictionary widget says that to edify means to “instruct or improve (someone) morally and intellectually.” It means that we build them up.

…Knowledge puffeth up, but charity edifieth. (1 Cor. 8:1)

This scripture is a great guide for teachers. It says that if we are just telling what we know to show how smart we are, we will come off sounding arrogant and puffed up. But if we tell what we know out of love and concern for our listener, it will edify them and build them up.

Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but that which is good to the use of edifying, that it may minister grace unto the hearers. (Ephesians 4:29)

For many people, speaking and writing is only about self-expression. However, this scripture shows us that the effect we have on our audience is just as important. We can corrupt, or we can edify. It is interesting that Paul puts edification as the opposite of corruption. If this is so, then edification becomes synonymous with purification, as it “ministers grace,” which means that power from God has been given where it was needed.

All things are lawful for me, but all things are not expedient: all things are lawful for me, but all things edify not. (1 Cor. 10:23)

This shows us that when we are instructing, there may be things that are lawful (allowed), but which don’t necessarily edify. If we are seeking to edify and to be edified, that is going to put our communications on a higher level than just being concerned about what’s allowed and what’s not.

22 Wherefore, he that preacheth and he that receiveth, understand one another, and both are edified and rejoice together.

23 And that which doth not edify is not of God, and is darkness. (D&C 50:22-23)

This tells us that edification is marked by understanding and rejoicing. It also tells us that unity between teacher and learner increases when edification is occurring because they both understand one another and both rejoice together. Something that edifies is of God and is light, whereas something that doesn’t edify is not of God and is darkness.

Seeking edification is very important to me. When I’m reading something, I’m always looking for the places where the writer seems to make things clear. I try to notice when the writer seems to be building reasoning up to a point and I look for that point. I can tell when a writer seems to be putting tons of embroidery on their writing, using up paragraphs when a single sentence would be fine. You probably can too. A little bit can make it fun, but too much is a waste of time. My major goal in this blog has always been to edify, to give my readers as much substance as I possibly can. Our time is limited and there are so many voices competing for our attention that not only do we want to choose the best, but we should be striving to be our best.

And if any man among you be strong in the Spirit, let him take with him him that is weak, that he may be edified in all meekness, that he may become strong also. (D&C 84:106, emphasis added)

This shows us that edification occurs when we are meek. And once we are edified, we are stronger than we were before. I’ve observed that the best edification occurs when both the teacher and the learner are meek.

When I was growing up, there were times when I needed to be disciplined. One of the major ways that my mom taught me was by telling me stories from her life when she had troubles with the same issues. She told me how the Holy Ghost had taught her important principles to correct her and how she obeyed and had been blessed. I gained a lot of respect for my mom’s integrity through those stories and they became an inspiration to me as I tried to change. She demonstrated her meekness as a teacher by sharing those stories because they showed me that she once had those same faults. Listening to stories about her took the focus off me and my bad behavior so I felt safe and free enough to learn from her experience. When I felt safe during the conversation, my heart was soft enough that the Spirit could convince me that I needed to repent and change. So my mom’s meekness contributed to my meekness. Having learned from her, I became willing to change.

Appoint among yourselves a teacher, and let not all be spokesmen at once; but let one speak at a time and let all listen unto his sayings, that when all have spoken that all may be edified of all, and that every man may have an equal privilege. (D&C 88:122, emphasis added)

Also the body hath need of every member, that all may be edified together, that the system may be kept perfect. (D&C 84:110)

This shows us that the participation of every member in the general edification of the church can keep the system perfect. I’ve noticed that when enough people in a church class comment on a principle, the perspective on it widens and widens and it becomes more difficult for teachings to be taken out of context and skewed.

…we speak before God in Christ: but we do all things, dearly beloved, for your edifying. (2 Cor. 12:19, emphasis added)

This shows us that not just our words can edify, but our deeds can too, when they provide good examples.

Blessings promised for edifying and instructing each other

The blessings of edifying and instructing each other can be found after the command for the members to instruct and edify each other.

9 And thus ye shall become instructed in the law of my church, and be sanctified by that which ye have received, and ye shall bind yourselves to act in all holiness before me—

10 That inasmuch as ye do this, glory shall be added to the kingdom which ye have received. Inasmuch as ye do it not, it shall be taken, even that which ye have received. (D&C 43:9-10)

Each person that works to edify and instruct others will be edified and instructed themselves in the law of Christ’s church. (One big place I have seen this promise fulfilled is when I go visiting teaching. No matter how prepared to teach I am, in the end, I always feel that I have been taught more by those I visit.) Another promise in these verses is that we will be sanctified by what we receive. This happens as we realize what we need to repent of and then pray for forgiveness. Christ’s Atonement will cleanse us.

We will bind ourselves to act in holiness, meaning that we will commit to obey. In the eternities, this adds glory to our kingdoms that we will inherit, which I associate with the promise that light cleaves to light. We are also told that the glory of God is intelligence, which is light and truth, so if we receive and obey light and truth, we increase our intelligence toward the goal of becoming like God.

In summary, we’ve learned:

We are not to give revelation and commandment to the church, but we are to instruct and edify each other.
We have to learn the what, why, and how of the commandments.
If we teach diligently, we’ll be instructed more perfectly.
The more we seek wisdom, the more we will be instructed.
When we teach, we use what we’ve known for a long time AND what we’ve just learned.
The scriptures prepare us for perfection with doctrine, reproof, correction, and instruction.
Teaching out of love to benefit others will edify them. (Teaching to show off will not.)
Edifying words bring hearers to sanctification.
Not everything that is allowed will be edifying.
When edification occurs, teacher and learners understand each other and rejoice together.
What comes from God is light and edifies.
Meekness prepares us to be edified.
When we are edified, we become strong.
We all need to edify each other to keep the system perfect.
Good deeds can edify.
We can be sanctified by what we have received through instruction.
Edification binds us to act in holiness.
Acting in holiness adds glory to our kingdom.

Have you seen those promises fulfilled in your life? If so, how?

Christ is at the bottom of the name “Mormon”

2011-12-05T06:00:00.000-08:00

I was reading recently about the people of Alma and their experience of taking the baptismal covenant with God and I came across this verse:

And now it came to pass that all this was done in Mormon, yea, by the waters of Mormon, in the forest that was near the waters of Mormon; yea, the place of Mormon, the waters of Mormon, the forest of Mormon, how beautiful are they to the eyes of them who there came to the knowledge of their Redeemer; yea, and how blessed are they, for they shall sing to his praise forever. (Mosiah (18:30)

This tells of the principle that when we make great positive changes in our lives, the place that is associated with that change becomes more precious and beautiful to us. (I can remember the place where I first received my testimony of the Book of Mormon, and the place where I learned about the healing power of the atonement.)

Mormon has a special reason for rhapsodizing about these environs of Mormon. It is the place he was named after. We only find this out much, much later in 3 Nephi though.

And behold, I am called Mormon, being called after the land of Mormon, the land in which Alma did establish the church among the people, yea, the first church which was established among them after their transgression. (3 Nephi 5:12)

I think there is something special in that. Mormon was named after a place of conversion, and we might even say it was a place of restoration (though in the personal sense, not in the dispensational sense).

Since Mormon points out the place of Mormon was where the church was established by priesthood authority among the people after their transgression, it becomes a model or type of conversion after having partaken of the fall of Adam.

And how interesting that the book Mormon wrote carries the memory of that place onward. And then, consider the nickname our church carries – Mormon. Even our nickname references back to conversion and being born again.

So when people ever ask us why we are called Mormons if we claim to be Christians, we can tell them:

1) The name “Mormon” was a nickname given to us by others because we believe in the Book of Mormon as well as the Bible.

2) The Book of Mormon is named after the prophet-historian who wrote and compiled it many years ago.

3) That prophet-historian was named after a place where priesthood authority established the church of Christ among a people who had transgressed the commandments. At that place called Mormon, many people came to know Christ, who would redeem them.

4) At bottom, the name “Mormon” is about coming to a place where one is converted to Christ.

Stripling warriors and self-organization

2011-12-03T06:00:00.000-08:00

We are pretty familiar with these verses:

16 But behold, it came to pass they had many sons, who had not entered into a covenant that they would not take their weapons of war to defend themselves against their enemies; therefore they did assemble themselves together at this time, as many as were able to take up arms, and they called themselves Nephites.

17 And they entered into a covenant to fight for the liberty of the Nephites, yea, to protect the land unto the laying down of their lives; yea, even they covenanted that they never would give up their liberty, but they would fight in all cases to protect the Nephites and themselves from bondage.

18 Now behold, there were two thousand of those young men, who entered into this covenant and took their weapons of war to defend their country.

19 And now behold, as they never had hitherto been a disadvantage to the Nephites, they became now at this period of time also a great support; for they took their weapons of war, and they would that Helaman should be their leader. (Alma 53:16-19)

“they did assemble themselves together” (v16) I was reading this recently and for the first time it stuck me how extraordinary this was and it just seemed to get more amazing with every verse. It is hard for us to grasp it because it is written so matter-of-factly. I’ll try to explain.

No one assembled them; they assembled themselves. This indicates the level of initiative they had. But not just initiative; they were unified too. (Can you imagine 2,000 of our young men today spontaneously deciding they have to do something about a national problem and assembling themselves for a meeting to discuss it?) Maybe they had some natural leaders among them who passed the word around that there was something important they all had to talk about. But in any case, they came together of their own volition.

And they entered a covenant to fight to protect the Nephites and themselves from bondage. I really wonder how they got to that point of decision with so many young men gathered together. I’m trying to imagine how it happened. Some of them had to give speeches and voice their concerns and summarize their position and make the proposal of the cause they had to fight for. And the Spirit of the Lord must have been present too. (Would they have decided to make a covenant if it had not been?)

In any case, it is amazing that such a mass of young men were able to come to agreement that they should take action and that they all saw the need for a covenant and willingly took it. It is a great example of taking collective action, thinking seriously, taking responsibility, and making an extremely serious commitment.

One of the things about organizing in response to a threat is that it is very easy to make all kinds of resolutions when your mind is wrought up with concern about it, but at some point, other concerns come to take their place and then it is difficult to call forth the same fervor of feeling when it is needed to bring ourselves to action well after the first rush of enthusiasm has past. I imagine that it is the continual concern of all leaders to keep their people motivated so that they will act when the moment for action has come. Evil leaders try to keep their people in a continual foment of anger with recitals of the wrongs they suffered and calls for retribution. Good leaders have it harder because they refuse to use anger or hate and they depend upon their people to have proper feeling and be rational at the same time. So, I imagine that the stripling warriors were well aware that their concern might flag over time, but they knew how powerful a motivator it would be to keep a covenant. (They knew very well about how their fathers went to extraordinary lengths to keep their covenant.) So they decided to use the power of covenants to hold them to their determination to fight for their fathers and their country. The covenant would not keep their feelings wrought up; rather, it would become the motivator for the time when they might be less interested in fighting and when the drudgery of army life had begun to wear away their resolve.

Here are some more scriptures about organizing ourselves.

And thus I grant unto this people a privilege of organizing themselves according to my laws. (D&C 51:15)

I love that. We don’t have to wait to be commanded. We can organize ourselves as long as it according to righteous principles.

Organize yourselves; prepare every needful thing;….That your incomings may be in the name of the Lord; that your outgoings may be in the name of the Lord; that all your salutations may be in the name of the Lord, with uplifted hands unto the Most High….Appoint among yourselves a teacher, and let not all be spokesmen at once; but let one speak at a time and let all listen unto his sayings, that when all have spoken that all may be edified of all, and that every man may have an equal privilege. (D&C 88:119-122, emphasis added)

This has a number of important ideas about organizing ourselves. First, the importance of preparation. Evidently these things can’t be completely spontaneous but require some planning. Second, that everything be “in the name of the Lord,” which I think means something that the Lord would approve of. Third, a teacher is chosen from among the group so that there can be some leadership and order. Fourth, that everyone gets to have their say with the complete attention of the whole group. Fifth, that those speaking should do their best to edify the group (so that no one’s time is wasted). And sixth, that everyone in the group has equal privileges (so there has to be enough privilege that people want to participate, but not so much privilege that the operation of the organization becomes unwieldy or collapses under its own weight).

Wherefore, a commandment I give unto you, to prepare and organize yourselves by a bond or everlasting covenant that cannot be broken. (D&C 78:11, emphasis added)

It is notable that after the stripling warriors organized themselves, they sought for priesthood leadership, asking the prophet Helaman to be their leader. To me, this indicates that no righteous self-organization is complete without priesthood leadership.

In a number of ways church has done what the stripling warriors did. In Nauvoo, the women decided to organize themselves into a Relief Society and they went to Joseph Smith with their proposal and constitution and he led them to organize under the direction of the priesthood. The D&C scriptures above describe three separate ways that the church organized itself: establishing a storehouse, starting the school of the prophets, and building temples.

Organizing ourselves isn’t just for the young. It can be any age group that is concerned about something in society and feels the need to do something about it.

What I’m not sure about is how and when this can be applied in our lives. When is it appropriate to self-organize? I’ve had difficulty trying to come up with a way to apply this in life today and it seems to be for several reasons.

First, it seems that the cause for concern has to be serious enough to unite large numbers. This kind of organizing can’t be for unimportant or frivolous purposes. Sorry, but craft night is out.

Second, we face an uphill cultural battle to organize ourselves because our culture values individualism over collective action. When purposeful movements grow beyond a certain point, naysayers argue that all the participants are “sheep.” Also, the movement undergoes greater scrutiny because naysayers will try to find fault with the movement to justify themselves for not joining in, even if it is a good cause. (There are people who fear becoming too passionate about a cause because they fear how it will affect the rest of their lives and take over. They forget the words of Christ that whosoever will lose his life for Christ’s sake will find it.)

There two ways that the Book of Mormon gives us insight on times that is not appropriate to self-organize—seeking revenge and forming secret combinations.

Mormon tells about how the Nephite armies of his day swore by all that was forbidden them to avenge the death of their brethren. It could be that these Nephites were taking their cue from the old story of the stripling warriors, but they were perverting it and applying it to a corrupted cause—revenge. This was why Mormon utterly refused to lead them any more. It would certainly offend him to find religious oaths taken for such an unjust purpose. Any good priesthood holder would want to decline to lead such a group with such a purpose.

Mormon also tells how groups of Nephites self-organized into secret combinations. In one case the goal was to assassinate the leader who had condemned their leader to death (see Helaman 1:9-11). In another case it was to deliver from the grasp of justice certain judges who had overstepped their authority and had prophets killed. (see 3 Nephi 6:25-30). In other cases the goal was to get gain and acquire complete control of the government so they could do what they wanted with impunity (see Helaman 6:21-23). These negative cases help us know what self-organization purposes should be avoided.

The Lord gives us the privilege of organizing ourselves and wants us to do it according to celestial laws. What causes do you see that seem to call for self-organization?

Bonus link only slightly related to this topic: The Theology of Counsels by Richard Bushman gives great insights on how revelation leads the church today and how counsels evolved. Check it out!

Take the gratitude challenge!

2011-12-01T21:02:00.000-08:00

The Ensign this month had a little article “Take the Gratitude Challenge” suggesting the youth write a list of 100 things they are grateful for. I think I’d like to do this too. The article suggests doing it in units of 10. So, in no particular order, I give you the following:

10 physical abilities I am grateful for

1) walking

2) running

3) seeing

4) hearing

5) tasting

6) talking

7) reading

8) smelling

9) singing

10) laughing

10 SILLY physical abilities I am grateful for

1) burping

2) blinking

3) rolling my tongue

4) scratching

5) tickling

6) rolling over in bed

7) walking tiptoe

8) cleaning my ears

9) snapping my fingers

10) playing with my hair

10 material possessions I am grateful for

1) our house

2) my car

3) my shoes

4) my food storage

5) my computer

6) my piano

7) my scriptures

8) my books

9) my contact lenses

10) warm fuzzy socks

10 living people I am grateful for

1) Kimella Walker (my mom)

2) George Walker (my dad)

3) Jesus Christ (my Savior)

4) President Thomas S. Monson (prophet)

5) Devon L. Stephens (my husband)

6) Tennille Walker (my sister)

7-11 Cameron, Spencer, Stuart, Nelson, and Trent Walker (my brothers)

What? I have to stop? Dang!

10 deceased people I am grateful for

1) Joseph Smith

2) Isaiah

3) Marie Walker (my grandma)

4) Jane Austin

5) C. S. Lewis

6) Rudyard Kipling

7) George Washington

8) Thomas Edison

9) Alexander Graham Bell

10) Steve Jobs

Write 10 things about nature you are grateful for

1) snowflakes

2) sandy beaches with lots of shells to pick up

3) big juicy blackberries

4) trees with golden autumn leaves

5) seed pods that spin like a helicopter when they fall

6) mud puddles for stomping in

7) foggy summer mornings

8) fireflies

9) big waves on the seashore

10) smooth river rocks

10 things about today I am grateful for

1) receiving spiritual promptings

2) reading the Ensign

3) talking to ward members

4) having a job

5) using a fast computer with fast internet

6) getting to use my organizing skills to help others

7) finishing the laundry

8) rain in the morning

9) cleaning the kitchen

10) time to study the scriptures

10 places on earth I am grateful for

1) Gethsemane

2) Krape Park in Freeport, Illinois (best park EVER!!)

3) The temple

4) The Sacred Grove

5) Calvary

6) The garden tomb

7) Valley Forge

8) Northwest Illinois

9) Boyce-Thompson Arboretum (Arizona)

10) Mount Rushmore

10 modern inventions I am grateful for

1) telephones

2) cars

3) electricity

4) computers

5) vaccination

6) anesthetic

7) the printing press

8) TV

9) Radio

10) Canning

10 foods I am grateful for

1) Did I mention big juicy blackberries?

2) Sweet potato soufflé

3) Wassail (non-alcoholic)

4) Granola

5) Sugar snap peas

6) Avocados

7) Grapes

8) Chocolate

9) Bran muffins

10) Slurpy noodles

10 things about the gospel I am thankful for

1) repentance

2) revelation

3) priesthood

4) prophets and apostles

5) the promise of exaltation

6) temples

7) scriptures

8) family

9) service

10) missionary work

Yeah, that just barely scratched the surface and I’m up to 110. I could especially go on with my list of people I’m grateful for.

How about this—if you have a blog, post on it your own list of 100 (or 110) things you are grateful for, following the categories I’ve used, and then leave me a link to your list. I want to see what you all come up with!

To never taste of death

2011-12-01T06:00:00.000-08:00

I happened to be searching the church’s scriptures online for instances of the word “taste” and I happened upon some verses that were very curious.

51 Verily, verily, I say unto you, If a man keep my saying, he shall never see death.

52 Then said the Jews unto him [Jesus], Now we know that thou hast a devil. Abraham is dead, and the prophets; and thou sayest, If a man keep my saying, he shall never taste of death. (John 8:51-52, emphasis added)

17 And it was by faith that the three disciples obtained a promise that they should not taste of death; and they obtained not the promise until after their faith. (Ether 12:17, emphasis added)

25 Behold, I was about to write the names of those who were never to taste of death, but the Lord forbade; therefore I write them not, for they are hid from the world….

37 But behold, since I wrote, I have inquired of the Lord, and he hath made it manifest unto me that there must needs be a change wrought upon their bodies, or else it needs be that they must taste of death;

38 Therefore, that they might not taste of death there was a change wrought upon their bodies, that they might not suffer pain nor sorrow save it were for the sins of the world. (3 Nephi 28:25, 37-38, emphasis added)

Is Jesus asserting that those who are obedient to His commandments can be translated like Elijah or Moses (or the three Nephites)? It seems that the Jews understand it that way. They use this as grounds to accuse him of having a devil (or lying) by pointing out that Abraham and the prophets died although they were known for their righteousness. If the Jews are to believe Jesus, then Abraham and the prophets tasted death because they did not keep Jesus’s sayings. (Pretty shocking, huh?)

Looking at this another way, it seems that Jesus asserted that if His words were always followed, death would never have power over a person and they would be translated like Enoch. This is something great to aim for.

The church has a number of things that we members can aspire to during our life:

Receiving the Second Comforter (being personally visited by Jesus Christ)
Having one’s calling and election made sure (1)
Being translated like Enoch (2)

As far as I can tell, these things have nothing to do what position we have in the church, but they have everything to do with our faithfulness.

I used to wonder why Mormon took such care to write about the three Nephites and the nature of the change they experienced. I considered it a peripheral concern, food for the speculating mind. But having come across these verses together, it seems that the Lord’s intent was to add a second witness to the possibility of literally never tasting death through faithfulness.

I also used to wonder why the Lord prevented Mormon from writing the names of the three Nephites who were never to taste death. Perhaps it was to leave us with the impression of possibility. Just like ANY of the listed disciples of Jesus could have been the ones received this change, perhaps this makes it easier to apply it to ourselves and have hope that ANY of us could receive it too.

A question that also came to mind as I looked at these verses was this—if Jesus did everything He said to do, and He said those who keep His sayings will never taste of death, does that mean that Jesus was worthy to be translated? I suppose so, since He is our exemplar. Yet He condescended to taste death for our sakes.

So how does one go about qualifying for this privilege?

Verily, verily, I say unto you, If a man keep my saying, he shall never see death. (John 8:51, emphasis added)

I was pondering this and I thought, “Oh. I should make a very careful study of all of Jesus’s words in the New Testament then, and try to live them.” And then I remembered that we have Jesus’s words in the Book of Mormon too. And then I remembered that the Doctrine & Covenants is essentially… the words of Christ

To me, this gives more reason to search the scriptures and try to live by them.

Notes

(1) see “Accepted of the Lord: Making your Calling and Election Sure”, Roy W. Doxey, Ensign, July 1976. http://lds.org/ensign/1976/07/accepted-of-the-lord-the-doctrine-of-making-your-calling-and-election-sure?lang=eng&query=calling+election

(2) The church’s “Guide to the Scriptures” has a very nice page listing different scriptures about translated beings. [http://lds.org/scriptures/gs/translated-beings?lang=eng&letter=t]

The Old and New Baptismal Prayers

2011-11-29T15:55:00.000-08:00

And when he [Alma] had said these words, the Spirit of the Lord was upon him, and he said: Helam, I baptize thee, having authority from the Almighty God, as a testimony that ye have entered into a covenant to serve him until you are dead as to the mortal body; and may the Spirit of the Lord be poured out upon you; and may he grant unto you eternal life, through the redemption of Christ, whom he has prepared from the foundation of the world. (Mosiah 18:13)

These words are different from the baptismal prayer that we say today, but I think we can benefit by studying the difference between this one and our current one.

Alma’s baptismal prayer is valuable to know about because it shows that the covenant of baptism used to be explicitly stated during the prayer. The terms of the covenant are simple.

We:

serve God until our mortal life ends,

and He will:

pour out His Spirit upon us and
grants us eternal life through the redemption of Christ.

We quote Mosiah 18:8-10 with all that stuff about bearing each other’s burdens, mourning with the sad, standing as a witness of God, etc. because it makes it easier to see what kinds of specific acts are meant by the phrase “serving God.” (I don't think that list was meant to be an all-inclusive list, but rather a list of examples.)

It is not known whether the prayer Alma used was a traditional one passed down over generations, but the one we use now is similar to another one in the Book of Mormon that was given by Christ to the Nephites after His resurrection.

23 Verily I say unto you, that whoso repenteth of his sins through your words, and desireth to be baptized in my name, on this wise shall ye baptize them—Behold, ye shall go down and stand in the water, and in my name shall ye baptize them.
24 And now behold, these are the words which ye shall say, calling them by name, saying:
25 Having authority given me of Jesus Christ, I baptize you in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Amen.
26 And then shall ye immerse them in the water, and come forth again out of the water.
27 And after this manner shall ye baptize in my name; for behold, verily I say unto you, that the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Ghost are one; and I am in the Father, and the Father in me, and the Father and I are one. (3 Nephi 11:23-27)

The baptismal prayer that Jesus gave is much shorter (and thus much more easily memorized). It covers the authority of the baptizer, where that authority comes from, what the act is, and to whom one is being baptized. Since it doesn't explicitly state the covenant, it is assumed that the baptized person understands they are participating in a covenantal act, whereas in Alma's baptismal prayer, baptism is referred to as a testimony that a covenant has already been made with God earlier. (Innnnnteresting...)

The baptismal prayer we use today is slightly different from the one Jesus gave to the Nephites, but in most particulars it is the same. The one we use today was still revealed from Jesus, but it was given to Joseph Smith.

The person who is called of God and has authority from Jesus Christ to baptize, shall go down into the water with the person who has presented himself or herself for baptism, and shall say, calling him or her by name: Having been commissioned of Jesus Christ, I baptize you in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Amen. (Doctrine and Covenants 20:73)

Here the words were changed from "having authority from" to "having been commissioned of." To me, this adds a layer of meaning. "Having authority from" to me evokes the idea of someone being given a badge to act, like police officers. "Having been commissioned" adds the idea of an artist who is given a commission to do a particular work for someone. This is conveys how people who baptize do it under presiding authority that emanates up the chain of priesthood all the way to Jesus Christ.

Something that is interesting about the newer Nephite baptismal prayer is that Jesus says it is in His name, but when He gives it, He says, “in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.” It is odd that the specific name of Jesus Christ is not in that list, and instead He is “the Son.” I wondered why. After thinking about it for a while, it seemed to me that “the Son” was being made into a name just as important as the name “Jesus Christ.” (This reminded me of the temple.) Perhaps it is used in the baptism prayer to subtly reinforce the principle that baptism is a rebirth to become a son (or daughter) of God and also to show that Jesus submitted to be baptized as an example.

It is notable that Jesus explains to the Nephites why the Father and the Holy Ghost are included in the “in the name of” clause of the prayer. He says it is because He is one with the Father. What a neat thing it would be to be one and united like that in purpose, will, and action with the Godhead! Ultimately that is what we’re aiming for—to return to be united with them in heaven. We won’t be able to stay unless we also become united with their purpose, will, and action. So maybe the naming of all three members of the Godhead is a promise of eternal life with them. Being born again to "sonship" by baptism is the first step to becoming re-united with them.

Alma's baptismal prayer also mentions all members of the Godhead, but they are scattered throughout. The authority comes from “Almighty God,” which I assume must be the Father, and the Spirit of the Lord is promised, and the redemption of Christ is mentioned as the way to eternal life. The newer baptismal prayer unites the members of the Godhead into one clause. Could this be another way of expressing how they are united in purpose?

In Alma's baptismal prayer, the authority comes from "Almighty God," but in the new prayer, the authority and commission is from Jesus Christ. I think this is meant to show how Christ had ascended up and gained the power to draw all men unto Him.

Is there anything that you notice about the difference between the baptismal prayers? What do you learn from those difference?

What’s part of the mighty change of heart?

2011-11-23T06:00:00.000-08:00

2 And they all cried with one voice, saying: Yea, we believe all the words which thou hast spoken unto us; and also, we know of their surety and truth, because of the Spirit of the Lord Omnipotent, which has wrought a mighty change in us, or in our hearts, that we have no more disposition to do evil, but to do good continually.
3 And we, ourselves, also, through the infinite goodness of God, and the manifestations of his Spirit, have great views of that which is to come; and were it expedient, we could prophesy of all things.
4 And it is the faith which we have had on the things which our king has spoken unto us that has brought us to this great knowledge, whereby we do rejoice with such exceedingly great joy.
5 And we are willing to enter into a covenant with our God to do his will, and to be obedient to his commandments in all things that he shall command us, all the remainder of our days… (Mosiah 5:2-5)

We’ve often heard of this might change of heart, and I think we focus a lot of our attention on the particular aspect of having no more disposition to do evil and wanting to do good continually. But as I was reading through these verses, I realized that there is so much more to the might change of heart than just that. If we only notice the change in our disposition and miss all the other spiritual gifts that go along with it, we don’t get a chance to enjoy the full manifestation of the mighty change!

It is worth studying these facets of the mighty change to see if we can remember feeling something similar in our own experience.

“through the infinite goodness of God” The mighty change of heart also brings a huge appreciation for the goodness and mercy of God. Goo seems infinitely good, not just good. Really, that’s just seeing things as they really are, isn’t it?

“manifestations of his Spirit” They know they have felt the Spirit multiple times. It is obvious to them. They know what it feels like and they know where it comes from.

“great views of that which is to come” One of the things that seems to happen with the mighty change of heart is that one’s view of the future is expanded. I know what this feels like. It is as if the possibilities jump from just pretty words to being realities, although still in the future. At least one great view that I’m sure these people received was that of the coming of Christ to atone for their sins. It is like a mystery suddenly has been unfolded.

“we could prophecy of all things” With a great view of what is to come, the words to share it are ready at a moment’s notice. One wishes one could be called on to spontaneously bear testimony to the truth.

“faith” This is the faith to act to obtain the promises given. It feeds on hope.
“great knowledge” With the mighty change of heart, one’s considers the knowledge gained to be no small thing. It is so precious, it is reflected upon again and again.

“we do rejoice with exceedingly great joy” Wouldn’t you call this the best part of the mighty change? Here is joy given as a spiritual gift. For me, it is both electrifying and my heart seems to swell wide.

“we are willing to enter into a covenant with our God to do his will” Along with the desire to do good continually comes the desire to make a covenant with God. The covenant seems like a perfectly natural and desirable thing to make. Submission to the will of God seems easy. One wants to obey ALL of God's commandments, ALL the time, for the rest of one's mortal life.

I notice that these facets of the change of heart affect one’s thoughts, one’s words, and one’s deeds. That is certainly what makes it a mighty change.

I’m thankful to Mormon for including those verses because they are so spiritually perceptive. They help me recognize that these feelings I have felt are all part of receiving the mighty change of heart.

Strong as to the strength of men

2011-11-21T06:00:00.000-08:00

Here’s a few verses I’ve been pondering:

11 Now, the Lamanites knew nothing concerning the Lord, nor the strength of the Lord, therefore they depended upon their own strength. Yet they were a strong people, as to the strength of men.
12 They were a wild, and ferocious, and a blood-thirsty people…(Mosiah 10:11-12)

As I was reading this, I found myself puzzled as to how the Lamanites could be a strong people without knowing anything about the Lord or the strength of the Lord. When you have a testimony of the strength that comes from the Lord, it is hard to see how someone can be strong any other way.

But it becomes easier to see when you examine the implications of not knowing anything about the Lord. If you think there is no higher power to depend on, then everything depends on you, how strong you are, how smart you are, how rich you are, how capable you are, how much you know… If you can only depend on yourself, then the only way you can get anywhere in this world is by being stronger, faster, smarter, richer, more knowledgeable, and more ruthless than the next guy. Why? So you can gain control over your life and what happens to you. So you can get what you want. (It’s easy to see this attitude today, isn’t it?)

And what is the result in a society in which everyone is jockeying to be the strongest, fastest, smartest, richest, most ruthless, most dangerous, and most in control? Things get taken to incredible extremes. “They were a wild, and ferocious, and a blood-thirsty people.”

The trouble with this way of thinking is life has a way of showing us all that we aren’t totally in control, that we don’t have everything figured out, that we arent’ the richest, that our plans can come to naught, and we aren’t strong enough to do everything on our own. There are times when life just plain kicks our tail, kicks it good and hard, and kicks it for months at a time. Or maybe years. NO ONE IS IMMUNE TO IT, NOT EVEN THE STRONGEST.

What does a Lamanite do when everything depends on their own strength and life’s yogurt suddenly hits the hurricane fan? Lamanites dealt with it by getting angry and blaming. They fed off their anger.

…believing in the tradition of their fathers, which is this—Believing that they were driven out of the land of Jerusalem because of the iniquities of their fathers, and that they were wronged in the wilderness by their brethren, and they were also wronged while crossing the sea;
13 And again, that they were wronged while in the land of their first inheritance, after they had crossed the sea, and all this because that Nephi was more faithful in keeping the commandments of the Lord (Mosiah 10:12-13, emphasis added)

Notice how many times “wronged” was used in those verses. Anger was the only way they could deal with disappointments and setbacks and tragedies because everything depended on them and everything depended on being strong. Any kind of weakness was dangerous; if they showed weakness or admitted weakness to anyone then everyone would take advantage of them. They couldn’t even develop the virtues of patience, long-suffering, meekness, kindness, humility, or forgiveness, lest they be mistaken for weakness and invite oppression. (I have it on good authority that it is like this in prison.) They couldn’t help others, lest it give someone an advantage and create a dangerous rival later.

So they were forced to be wild, ferocious, and bloodthirsty. No other behavior or attitude would survive. And no other way would even seem possible.

But what happens when you know that you can depend on the Lord? If you know that, it is to your advantage to realize and admit your weakness as soon as possible and ask for help. Admitting weakness isn’t dangerous; it is part of showing that you know the Lord’s strength and trust in Him. It shows that you are ready for help, whether it comes from God directly or from other people. It doesn’t mean you’re not trying, it just means you know when you’ve hit your limits, and you realize your needs are greater than your strength. Also, when you trust in God, you are excited to help others because it means you get to be an instrument in the Lord’s hands and partake of the Lord’s strength in so doing. You realize that your talents and strengths are gifts and blessings from God. (Even frequent opportunities to practice a skill to develop a talent is a gift from God.)

To someone who knows nothing of the Lord or the strength of the Lord, people who depend on the Lord’s strength seem very weak because of how much they admit weakness. Belief and trust in God seem like a crutch. But it’s not. It is the key to obtain greater strength.

There are people who cope with tragedies, setbacks, and chronic problems by saying everything is fine and nothing is wrong. "I don't have an addiction." "My marriage is fine." "Nothing is wrong with my health/my child's health/my spouse's health/my parents' health." "I've done nothing wrong." "My financial affairs are just fine." "I get along with people just fine." Yet denying one's weaknesses doesn’t mean they go away; if anything it hides them. Like a tree with a wedge buried deeper and deeper in the wood, hiding weaknesses from yourself makes you even weaker. When the storm comes, trees with wedges deep in them break.

When you trust in the Lord as the one with the power, it doesn’t mean the storms never come or that pain is avoided. But it frees you from feeling there is something terribly wrong with you for feeling weak, inadequate, and devastated by life’s tragedies and troubles. You are free to admit that you can only do so much. You are free to admit your weaknesses, sins, and mistakes for them to be healed. You are free to develop the more refined virtues. You are free to ask for help.

Really. Trusting God is just a better way.

How I gained my testimony of the law of tithing

2011-11-19T06:00:00.000-08:00

I want to share this story from my life with you.

First, I have to say that my parents taught me about paying tithing, and I grew up paying it without any question. 10% right off the top.

When I started going to college at BYU, I found that it was necessary for me to earn a certain amount every summer in order to have enough for the rest of the school year. That’s when it started to feel a little more difficult to pay tithing. I would look at the amount I was writing for a tithing check, and somehow it seemed large to me, and I would resent it just a little bit.

My second summer home from BYU, I heard of another guy in the ward who had paid all his paychecks as tithing at the beginning until it reached 10% of the full sum he needed and how he was blessed to make enough money for college. I decided I wanted to do that to bind the Lord to bless me with the money I needed for college.

I got a part time job as a telemarketer at the beginning of that summer. (This was back when telemarketers still sold things.) That job was really hard for me, especially because I had to try to convince people to take out a second mortgage. (More debt, bad!) It was also especially hard to pay my entire paychecks as tithing. I remember crying a few times as I was filling out the tithing slip. But I had faith that Heavenly Father would bless me.

Then, I lost my telemarketing job. On one hand, I was happy about that because I didn’t like telemarketing to try to get people to go deeper into debt. On the other hand, I was sad because it meant I had to go on the job search AGAIN. Deep down, I didn’t worry at all because I had paid all the tithing for the sum I needed for college, so Heavenly Father was now BOUND to bless me. The iron had entered my soul. I sensed that there was a better job out there for me.

There was. With a job application miraculously pulled from the trash, I became one of two candidates for a job with a mosquito abatement company. They chose me. All of a sudden, I had a job counting dead mosquitoes and treating standing water for mosquito larvae. The amount of work I had depended upon how bad the mosquitoes were and how much standing water there was for mosquitoes to breed in. In turn, the amount of mosquitoes depended upon high temperature and lots of rain. That summer became a very hot and rainy summer. The mosquitoes were so terrible, my hometown used up all of that year’s mosquito abatement budget and had to use part of the next year’s mosquito abatement budget to pay for mosquito abatement services.

At the end of the summer, I didn’t have all the money I needed for the school year, but I still wasn’t worried because I knew that Heavenly Father was bound to bless me. While I was at BYU, I was prompted to get an on-campus job. I picked out a job at an electronics parts storeroom, which I felt qualified for and applied. They didn’t hire me, but as I left, I felt prompted to go back and ask if they knew anyone else who might need me. They directed me to a different electronics storeroom on campus. The second storeroom didn’t need employees at the moment, but they took my name and number. After that, I didn’t feel any extra urgency to apply for jobs. Near the beginning of winter semester, I got a call from the second storeroom with an offer of a job to work there. I took the job and thereby earned the rest of the money I needed.

When I looked back at the end of the year, I could see how the Lord had blessed me with what I needed, and I had a strong testimony of the law of tithing. But that wasn’t the end of it. A few years later, I could look back and see that not only had the Lord blessed me with the money I needed, He led me to a job where I met my future husband. Every time I think of this experience, I am always flabbergasted by the immensity of this blessing the Lord poured out upon me. I feel like what I did was so small in comparison, even though it was an extra trial of faith for me. I learned that sacrifice does bring forth the blessings of heaven.

Will you share with me how you gained your testimony of the law of tithing?

13 Principles for Building Belief in the Face of Fear, Uncertainty, and Doubt (FUD)

2011-11-17T06:00:00.000-08:00

A few months ago, I read a book written by a man who has struggled with obsessive-compulsive disorder his entire life. (I just wish I could remember the title and the author.) I read his description of the anxiety that underlay his compulsive behaviors and I empathized to a certain extent because I was struggling with anxiety at that time.

Then man shared a number of principles that he had to remind himself of often to deal with his obsessive-compulsion, and I really resonated with them. I could see that at bottom, they were part of the gospel.

I think they are worth sharing.

13 Principles for Building Belief in the Face of Fear, Uncertainty, and Doubt (FUD)

1. Choose to see the Universe as friendly. God is in charge, and the Universe is the friend and servant of God.

8 For behold, the dust of the earth moveth hither and thither, to the dividing asunder, at the command of our great and everlasting God.
9 Yea, behold at his voice do the hills and the mountains tremble and quake.
10 And by the power of his voice they are broken up, and become smooth, yea, even like unto a valley.
11 Yea, by the power of his voice doth the whole earth shake;
12 Yea, by the power of his voice, do the foundations rock, even to the very center.
13 Yea, and if he say unto the earth—Move—it is moved.
14 Yea, if he say unto the earth—Thou shalt go back, that it lengthen out the day for many hours—it is done;
15 And thus, according to his word the earth goeth back, and it appeareth unto man that the sun standeth still; yea, and behold, this is so; for surely it is the earth that moveth and not the sun. (Helaman 12:8-15)

2. Affirm your divine potential and infinite worth.

Remember the worth of souls is great in the sight of God; (D&C 19:10)

For behold, this is my work and my glory—to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man. (Moses 1:39)

28 They who are of a celestial spirit shall receive the same body which was a natural body; even ye shall receive your bodies, and your glory shall be that glory by which your bodies are quickened.
29 Ye who are quickened by a portion of the celestial glory shall then receive of the same, even a fulness. (D&C 88:28-29)

3. Resolve to keep sight of the big picture

Where there is no vision, the people perish (Proverbs 29:18)

20 My God hath been my support; he hath led me through mine afflictions in the wilderness; and he hath preserved me upon the waters of the great deep.
21 He hath filled me with his love, even unto the consuming of my flesh.
22 He hath confounded mine enemies, unto the causing of them to quake before me.
23 Behold, he hath heard my cry by day, and he hath given me knowledge by visions in the night-time.
24 And by day have I waxed bold in mighty prayer before him; yea, my voice have I sent up on high; and angels came down and ministered unto me.
25 And upon the wings of his Spirit hath my body been carried away upon exceedingly high mountains. And mine eyes have beheld great things, yea, even too great for man; therefore I was bidden that I should not write them. (2 Nephi 4:20-25)

4. Accept and let go of what you can’t control. Let it go into the hands of God and the Universe.

5 ¶Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding.
6 In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths. (Proverbs 3:5-6)

When Joseph went to Carthage to deliver himself up to the pretended requirements of the law, two or three days previous to his assassination, he said: “I am going like a lamb to the slaughter; but I am calm as a summer’s morning; I have a conscience void of offense towards God, and towards all men. I shall die innocent, and it shall yet be said of me—he was murdered in cold blood.” (D&C 135:4)

5. Allow for bigger plans than your own to unfold. Think, “This or something better.”

Remember, remember that it is not the work of God that is frustrated, but the work of men; (D&C 3:3)

And the Lord God doth work by means to bring about his great and eternal purposes; and by very small means the Lord doth confound the wise and bringeth about the salvation of many souls. (Alma 37:7)

And I do this for a wise purpose; for thus it whispereth me, according to the workings of the Spirit of the Lord which is in me. And now, I do not know all things; but the Lord knoweth all things which are to come; wherefore, he worketh in me to do according to his will. (Words of Mormon 1:7)

For the eternal purposes of the Lord shall roll on, until all his promises shall be fulfilled. (Mormon 8:22)

6. Picture Possibility. Use your imagination to visualize the end you want.

And he shall be led in paths where the poisonous serpent cannot lay hold upon his heel, and he shall mount up in the imagination of his thoughts as upon eagles’ wings. (D&C 124:99)

28 And when [Jesus] was come into the house, the blind men came to him: and Jesus saith unto them, Believe ye that I am able to do this? They said unto him, Yea, Lord.
29 Then touched he their eyes, saying, According to your faith be it unto you. (Matthew 9:28-29)

These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off, and were persuaded of them, and embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth. (Hebrews 11:13)

7. Embrace the possibility of every moment.

Jesus said unto him, If thou canst believe, all things are possible to him that believeth. (Mark 9:23)

8. Direct your attention and choose what you pay attention to.

For how knoweth a man the master whom he has not served, and who is a stranger unto him, and is far from the thoughts and intents of his heart? (Mosiah 5:13)

36 Yea, and cry unto God for all thy support; yea, let all thy doings be unto the Lord, and whithersoever thou goest let it be in the Lord; yea, let all thy thoughts be directed unto the Lord; yea, let the affections of thy heart be placed upon the Lord forever.
37 Counsel with the Lord in all thy doings, and he will direct thee for good; yea, when thou liest down at night lie down unto the Lord, that he may watch over you in your sleep; and when thou risest in the morning let thy heart be full of thanks unto God; and if ye do these things, ye shall be lifted up at the last day. (Alma 37:36-37)

33 Therefore let the church take heed and pray always, lest they fall into temptation; (D&C 20:33)

…cast away your idle thoughts… (D&C 88:69)

How precious also are thy thoughts unto me, O God! how great is the sum of them! (Psalms 139:17)

9. Notice the abundance given to you from the abundance of God by counting your blessings

For the earth is the Lord’s, and the fulness thereof. (1 Cor. 10:26)

For the earth is full, and there is enough and to spare; yea, I prepared all things (D&C 104:17)

And now, I ask, what great blessings has he bestowed upon us? Can ye tell? (Alma 26:2)

And the Lord was with us; and we did prosper exceedingly; for we did sow seed, and we did reap again in abundance. And we began to raise flocks, and herds, and animals of every kind. (2 Nephi 5:11)

And now, because of the steadiness of the church they began to be exceedingly rich, having abundance of all things whatsoever they stood in need—an abundance of flocks and herds, and fatlings of every kind, and also abundance of grain, and of gold, and of silver, and of precious things, and abundance of silk and fine-twined linen, and all manner of good homely cloth. (Alma 1:29)

Who could have supposed that our God would have been so merciful as to have snatched us from our awful, sinful, and polluted state? (Alma 26:17)

Now have we not reason to rejoice? Yea, I say unto you, there never were men that had so great reason to rejoice as we, since the world began; yea, and my joy is carried away, even unto boasting in my God; for he has all power, all wisdom, and all understanding; he comprehendeth all things, and he is a merciful Being, even unto salvation, to those who will repent and believe on his name. (Alma 26:35)

Oliver Cowdery describes these events thus: “These were days never to be forgotten—to sit under the sound of a voice dictated by the inspiration of heaven, awakened the utmost gratitude of this bosom! (Joseph Smith History 1:75, footnote)

10. Go through the motions and act.

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)

27 Verily I say, men should be anxiously engaged in a good cause, and do many things of their own free will, and bring to pass much righteousness;
28 For the power is in them, wherein they are agents unto themselves. And inasmuch as men do good they shall in nowise lose their reward.(D&C 58:27-28)

Wherefore, the Lord God gave unto man that he should act for himself. Wherefore, man could not act for himself save it should be that he was enticed by the one or the other. (2 Nephi 2:16)

Therefore, cheer up your hearts, and remember that ye are free to act for yourselves—to choose the way of everlasting death or the way of eternal life. (2 Nephi 10:23)

And Christ hath said: If ye will have faith in me ye shall have power to do whatsoever thing is expedient in me. (Moroni 7:33)

11. Act to empower yourself and serve the Lord, not to assuage FUD.

Brethren, shall we not go on in so great a cause? Go forward and not backward. Courage, brethren; and on, on to the victory! (D&C 128:22)

Wherefore, as ye are agents, ye are on the Lord’s errand; and whatever ye do according to the will of the Lord is the Lord’s business. (D&C 64:29)

36 The glory of God is intelligence, or, in other words, light and truth.
37 Light and truth forsake that evil one. (D&C 93:30)

12. Resolve to put your commitments and covenants ahead of your comfort.

And thus ye shall become instructed in the law of my church, and be sanctified by that which ye have received, and ye shall bind yourselves to act in all holiness before me— (D&C 43:9)

8 Verily I say unto you, all among them who know their hearts are honest, and are broken, and their spirits contrite, and are willing to observe their covenants by sacrifice—yea, every sacrifice which I, the Lord, shall command—they are accepted of me.
9 For I, the Lord, will cause them to bring forth as a very fruitful tree which is planted in a goodly land, by a pure stream, that yieldeth much precious fruit. (D&C 97:8-9)

13. Use purpose and service to overcome FUD.

Now they wept because of the fear of being slain. Now when Ammon saw this his heart was swollen within him with joy; for, said he, I will show forth my power unto these my fellow-servants, or the power which is in me, in restoring these flocks unto the king, that I may win the hearts of these my fellow-servants, that I may lead them to believe in my words. (Alma 17:29)

I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. (Romans 12:1)

Now they never had fought, yet they did not fear death; and they did think more upon the liberty of their fathers than they did upon their lives; yea, they had been taught by their mothers, that if they did not doubt, God would deliver them. (Alma 56:47)

I have to remind myself of these principles from time to time, and they have helped me. I hope they can help you too.

Things that make my brain explode inside my skull

2011-11-15T06:00:00.000-08:00

Last week when I had to get ready to teach a primary song about reverence, I found myself wondering where reverence comes from. We all know that reverence is more than just behaving respectfully. Where does that respect come from? I asked myself, “How do I cultivate reverence for Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ?”

I remembered some things I learned in my astronomy class in high school. (Humor me on this little scientific diversion..)

This picture has squished all the planets together in one frame and distorted all the sizes of the planets and the sun. The big planets are much bigger and all the distances are much more far apart. (If you want to teach your kids about the real distances and sizes of the planets, here is a link to instructions for a “planet walk” you can do to help bring the proper scale into perspective.)

Consider each of these things carefully..

The earth is about 8,000 miles across.
Light travels about 186,000 miles per second.
(If the earth were completely hollow and two mirrors were placed opposite each other at the equator, light could bounce between them 23 times in a single second.)

The earth is about 93 MILLION miles from the sun.
It is so far away that it takes light 8 minutes to get from the sun to the earth.
Pluto’s average distance from the sun is about 40 times greater than the earth’s. It is about 5.3 light-hours away from the sun.

The closest star to us is Proxima Centari, a red dwarf star 4.2 light-years away.

Now let's jump to the galaxy level.

The sun is about 2/3rds of the way out from the middle of the Milky Way galaxy, or about 25,000 light years away from the center (1).
The Milky Way galaxy is an estimated 100,000 light years across (2). Our solar system is so small in comparison that the smallest dot in its approximate location on the map would exaggerate its size by 100 times.
Astronomers estimate our galaxy may have between 200 to 300 BILLION stars in it (3).

Now.. check out this next picture..

Look at all those galaxies… *

I remember when I saw a picture very similar to this in my astronomy class, it made my brain explode inside my skull. HEAVENLY FATHER CREATED ALL OF THAT AND MORE! It is a testimony to the glory, majesty, and power of God. This awes me to no end. That awe leads to a deep sense of reverence for God.

Mind-blowing Concept #2

There’s something else that brings me to a feeling of deep awe and reverence. When I think of all the mistakes I have made and the sins I have committed and the pain I have experienced in my life, it is amazing to me that Jesus Christ suffered for all of it too. But then when I remember He also suffered those things for my family…

and for my ward…

and for all the people of our church…

and for all the people living on earth right now…

and for all the people who have ever lived or who will yet live on earth….

That causes my brain to explode again inside my skull.

Mind-blowing Concept #3

Heavenly Father hears my prayers and He answers them. He understands my language. He also hears and answers prayers in every other language, even when the prayers are being said simultaneously. The idea that He can make sense of, let alone respond to such a staggering array of messages, languages, pleas, thanks, praise, and more causes my brain to explode again inside my skull.

All of this brings me to a feeling of great reverence for God. With an awareness of Heavenly Father’s powers of creation, we can trust His purposes for us. With an awareness of Jesus’s magnificent demonstration of love in the atonement, we can obey the commandment to repent. With an awareness of Heavenly Father’s ability to hear and understand so many different messages directed to Him, we gain the ability to trust His responsiveness.

Awe for God leads to reverence.
Reverence toward God leads to love and trust.
Love and trust in God leads to obedience.

* There are many galaxies in this picture, and some of them have so much gravitational energy that they actually bend the light of other galaxies, producing multiple images of them. Google "gravitational lens."

Sources

1 Gene Smith Astronomy Tutorial, “The Milky Way Galaxy”, http://casswww.ucsd.edu/archive/public/tutorial/MW.html

2 “Milky Way Galaxy”, Space Yuga, Feb. 6, 2011, http://spaceyuga.com/milky-way-galaxy/

3 Nicholos Wethington, December 16, 2008, “How Many Stars are in the Milky Way?”, http://www.universetoday.com/22380/how-many-stars-are-in-the-milky-way/

Images

Milky Way Galaxy Image from http://spaceyuga.com/milky-way-galaxy/,

Galaxy Cluster Image from Starts with a Bang, http://scienceblogs.com/startswithabang/2010/11/hey_dark_matter_where_are_you.php

Solar system Image from Purple Slinky, http://purpleslinky.com/trivia/science/amazing-things-about-our-solar-system/

Thoughts on President Monson’s talk “Stand in Holy Places”

2011-11-13T06:00:00.000-08:00

President Monson starts out telling how technology had changed during his life and continues to change. “In fact, yesterday’s science fiction has become today’s reality. And that reality, thanks to the technology of our times, is changing so fast we can barely keep up with it—if we do at all.” Then he tells us about the moral changes that have called increasing decay in society, but assures us that God’s laws are eternal.

Although the world has changed, the laws of God remain constant. They have not changed; they will not change. The Ten Commandments are just that—commandments. They are not suggestions. They are every bit as requisite today as they were when God gave them to the children of Israel. If we but listen, we hear the echo of God’s voice, speaking to us here and now…

Three important principles also help.

[W]e know that morality is not passé, that our conscience is there to guide us, and that we are responsible for our actions.

Like Abinadi speaking to King Noah, President Monson repeated for us the Ten Commandments, and we can test ourselves to see if we have them written on our hearts.

We know we are accountable for our actions, but we also seek joy, and sometimes we may get confused as to where to find it. President Monson understands this well.

It may appear to you at times that those out in the world are having much more fun than you are. Some of you may feel restricted by the code of conduct to which we in the Church adhere. My brothers and sisters, I declare to you, however, that there is nothing which can bring more joy into our lives or more peace to our souls than the Spirit which can come to us as we follow the Savior and keep the commandments. That Spirit cannot be present at the kinds of activities in which so much of the world participates.

Watch and Pray

President Monson talked about how we can’t allow ourselves to become complacent or inattentive because there are so many moral dangers everywhere.

We must be vigilant in a world which has moved so far from that which is spiritual. It is essential that we reject anything that does not conform to our standards, refusing in the process to surrender that which we desire most: eternal life in the kingdom of God.

This implies that we need to be more committed to our standards (and the promise of eternal life that comes with them) and notice when we are tempted to violate them. According to the dictionary, vigilance means “keeping careful watch for possible danger and difficulties.” It means we have to be able to notice situations that lead to temptation and be ready to diffuse or flee it. It means we have to be able to notice when it becomes difficult to keep our standards and prepare ourselves to take steps.

Vigilance won’t do much good though, unless we can access the power of God to resist the temptations we face.

As a means of being in the world but not being of the world, it is necessary that we communicate with our Heavenly Father through prayer. He wants us to do so; He’ll answer our prayers. The Savior admonished us, as recorded in 3 Nephi 18, to “watch and pray always lest ye enter into temptation; for Satan desireth to have you. …
“Therefore ye must always pray unto the Father in my name;
“And whatsoever ye shall ask the Father in my name, which is right, believing that ye shall receive, behold it shall be given unto you.”

This implies that we need to learn to pray always and learn to pray when we are being tempted. Certainly the Lord will help us overcome the temptation so that it doesn't appear desireable any more.

President Monson then tells the story of how he gained his testimony of prayer as a 12-year-old boy, after having lost $5 in the wash. ($5 would have been the equivalent of $77 today, so it was a substantial sum for a 12-year-old, especially at the tail end of the Great Depression.)

Certain phrases from this story could make it a type of all stories about prayer:

“I had worked hard”
“I just remember how important that...was to me”
“I was sick with worry”
“The chances…were extremely remote”
“I wanted…;I needed…;I had worked very hard…”
“I turned to my Father in Heaven and pleaded with Him”
“somehow”
“relief flooded over me”

These phrases remind me of so many situations of need that I have faced when the Lord answered my prayers.

I love that President Monson didn’t omit thanks to Heavenly Father.

I suppose that just as many of us have gained a testimony of Heavenly Father's ability to help us regain our lost possessions, each of us has to gain a testimony of Heavenly Father's ability to help us resist temptation through our prayers.

The next paragraph is something so indicative of President Monson’s character and something I aspire to.

Since that time of long ago, I have had countless prayers answered. Not a day has gone by that I have not communicated with my Father in Heaven through prayer. It is a relationship I cherish—one I would literally be lost without. If you do not now have such a relationship with your Father in Heaven, I urge you to work toward that goal. As you do so, you will be entitled to His inspiration and guidance in your life—necessities for each of us if we are to survive spiritually during our sojourn here on earth. Such inspiration and guidance are gifts He freely gives if we but seek them. What treasures they are!

When President Monson says that he would be literally lost without his relationship with Heavenly Father, it gives me a sense that prayer acts for him like a road map and guide. I love that he says Heavenly Father freely gives inspiration and guidance if we seek it.

If we’re looking for our marching orders from this talk, it has to be this bit from the above paragraph: “If you do not now have such a relationship with your Father in Heaven, I urge you to work toward that goal.” He calls it a treasure and a necessity of survival. I suppose that we may not fully realize how truly necessary it is to our survival until we have it, so it may be we have to take his words on faith.

The second story President Monson tells is quite an extraordinary one: that of being inspired to announce Peter Mourik would speak at a temple dedication, even after having specifically told that Peter Mourik was not there. At the same time that President Monson announced the speaker, Peter Mourik received an impression that he had to get to the temple as soon as possible, which he obeyed, and not a moment too soon.

This story was truly striking and even somewhat disturbing. It causes me to wonder if I could have such confidence if I had been in President Monson’s position. President Monson’s words after how he felt afterward are instructive:

I have pondered the inspiration which came that day not only to me but also to Peter Mourik. That remarkable experience has provided an undeniable witness to me of the importance of being worthy to receive such inspiration and then trusting it—and following it—when it comes.

There are three important things there for us to do:

Be worthy to receive inspiration
Trust the inspiration
Follow the inspiration

I also notice that President Monson pays tribute to Peter Mourik for being worthy of inspiration, trusting it, and following it. The situation wouldn't have worked out if President Monson had been the only one to receive that inspiration. This shows just how necessary it is that we as members receive our own inspiration as well as the prophet. It also shows that individuals may be partners in inspiration and work together to bring to pass the purposes of God without even knowing that they are partners.

I have to point out that President Monson’s preface to this story also provides us with additional insight about it.

I am always humbled and grateful when my Heavenly Father communicates with me through His inspiration. I have learned to recognize it, to trust it, and to follow it. Time and time again I have been the recipient of such inspiration.

President Monson has had so much acquaintance with the feelings of inspiration and guidance and so much practice following that they have become unmistakable to him and he follows with confidence. It isn’t necessarily that they always make sense; in fact, President Monson specifically said the “unmistakable inspiration” he received that Peter Mourik should speak “was counter to all [his] instincts, for [he] had just heard from Elder Asay that Brother Mourik was definitely not in the temple.” He had to trust the inspiration he received and act upon it with faith, knowing it would cause chagrin to some.

This then was the difficulty in the inspiration he received—it appeared against all common sense. It appeared completely irrational. This is why the story is disturbing. It causes us to wonder how we would be able to tell whether we are truly inspired or simply being irrational. It is beyond explanation in words and requires experience (of both painfully wrong and joyously successful varieties) to learn to be able to tell the difference. (And perhaps praying always can bring us the positive experience we need to tell the difference.)

President Monson then says that prayers and inspiration is necessary to weather the storms and trials of life and shares the comforting promise from the Lord:

The Lord invites us, “Draw near unto me and I will draw near unto you; seek me diligently and ye shall find me.” As we do so, we will feel His Spirit in our lives, providing us the desire and the courage to stand strong and firm in righteousness—to “stand … in holy places, and be not moved.” As the winds of change swirl around us and the moral fiber of society continues to disintegrate before our very eyes, may we remember the Lord’s precious promise to those who trust in Him: “Fear thou not; for I am with thee: be not dismayed; for I am thy God: I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness.”

In summary, the message in President Monson’s talk is that we must keep the commandments, watch and pray, and develop a relationship with Heavenly Father such that we, like President Monson, would be lost without it.

I have to say that I was kind of confused about why President Monson titled his talk “Stand in Holy Places” when there was more talk of keeping the commandments and praying than there was of temples. But part of that last quote above explains it. “stand strong and firm in righteousness—to “stand … in holy places, and be not moved.””

An Amalekite demands: "Why do not angels appear unto us?"

2011-11-11T06:00:00.000-08:00

5 Therefore, as Aaron entered into one of their synagogues to preach unto the people, and as he was speaking unto them, behold there arose an Amalekite and began to contend with him, saying: What is that thou hast testified? Hast thou seen an angel? Why do not angels appear unto us? Behold are not this people as good as thy people?
6 Thou also sayest, except we repent we shall perish. How knowest thou the thought and intent of our hearts? How knowest thou that we have cause to repent? How knowest thou that we are not a righteous people? Behold, we have built sanctuaries, and we do assemble ourselves together to worship God. We do believe that God will save all men. (Alma 21:5-6)

I used to think the Amalekite’s questions were indicative of envy of the spiritual experiences Aaron had had.

Recently I realized the Amalekite was actually trying to invalidate Aaron’s testimony. From the Amalekite’s questions, it is evident that Aaron was telling about his experience of being called to repentance by an angel and then using that to issue a more general call to repent. The Amalekite was trying to invalidate Aaron’s testimony on the grounds that unless an angelic call to repentance came to the Amalekites too, then they had no need to repent.

The problem with this view is that it is an attempt to dictate to the Lord and limit His workings to one method. Not only that, but the method they ask for, they implicitly disbelieve. They don’t understand that calls to repentance come in many different ways, and the needful thing is to sensitize oneself to them and obey.

I’ve seen calls for me to repent in many different places. I’ve found them in talks and lessons. I’ve found them in books and movies and songs. I’ve found them in pictures. Sometimes I’ve found them when visiting someone else’s home. Sometimes I find calls to repentance in blog posts or conversations even when the very word was never mentioned. I’m sure you’ve had this kind of experience too.

Without giving the details of the sin, will you tell me about a call to repentance you received from an unconventional source?

As a thief

2011-11-09T06:00:00.000-08:00

Remember therefore how thou hast received and heard, and hold fast, and repent. If therefore thou shalt not watch, I will come on thee as a thief, and thou shalt not know what hour I will come upon thee. (Revelation 3:3)

This Christ’s counsel to the church in Sardis after He tells them to strengthen those ready to be martyred.

That phrase “If therefore thou shalt not watch, I will come on thee as a thief” tells how the sudden requirements the Lord asks of us can feel like He is stealing something from us if we are not watchful and ready to comply. This means that at no point can we allow ourselves to get too comfortable and complacent with our plans and our lives because at some point, the call comes to place that comfort on the altar and it is much harder to do if we aren’t watching.

For the church in Sardis, if they were too comfortable, then any sudden change that required their death to seal their testimony would seem as if the Lord had come to steal their peace and their lives.

From Samuel, prophecies of Christ

2011-11-07T06:00:00.000-08:00

Peter says this to the people after healing the lame man:

22 For Moses truly said unto the fathers, A prophet shall the Lord your God raise up unto you of your brethren, like unto me; him shall ye hear in all things whatsoever he shall say unto you.
23 And it shall come to pass, that every soul, which will not hear that prophet, shall be destroyed from among the people.
24 Yea, and all the prophets from Samuel and those that follow after, as many as have spoken, have likewise foretold of these days. (Acts 3:22-24, emphasis added)

Every time I run across these verses, I can’t help but wonder, “When did Samuel foretell of those days?” Elsewhere too, Jesus says that Samuel and all the prophets spoke of Him, and I couldn’t recall anything Samuel said like that.

So I decided I needed to look closer at Samuel’s life in the Old Testament. As I studied 1 Samuel, I first started to see that Samuel’s life was a type of Christ.

Samuel was born to a woman who otherwise would not have children—Hannah was infertile. (Christ was born to a woman who otherwise would not have had children—Mary was a virgin.)
Samuel was the firstborn son of his mother (Christ was the firstborn of His mother)
Samuel was given to the Lord all the days of his life. (Christ was given to the Lord all His life.)
Samuel grew up serving amidst wicked priests. (Christ grew up among hypocritical scribes, Pharisees and the corrupt sanhedrin.)
Samuel hid none of the things from Eli the priest that God had said against Eli. (Jesus hid none of the things from the chief priests that God had said against them.)
Samuel prayed for all Israel (1 Sam. 7:5) (Jesus interceded for all covenant Israel.)
Samuel traveled around Israel to judge them. (1 Sam. 7:16) (Jesus traveled around Israel to teach the people.)
Samuel witnessed how Israel rejected the Lord as their true king and wanted a man instead. (1 Sam. 10:19) (Jesus was rejected as “king of the Jews” when the Jews cried “we have no king but Caesar!”)
Samuel was cleared of any guilt or injustice. (1 Sam. 12:3-5) (Jesus was innocent of any wrong-doing.)

Seeing Samuel’s life as a type of Christ is helpful, but we are interested in seeing how Samuel prophesied of Christ. I found a few instances, somewhat disguised.

“And on whom is all the desire of Israel? Is it not on thee, and on all thy father’s house?” (1 Sam. 9:20) This was spoken to Saul before Saul was anointed king, but it was also true of Christ, who was the Messiah all Israel looked forward to, as well as his father’s royal Davidic lineage.

Samuel’s specific instructions to Saul that he should go to Gilgal and wait seven days until Samuel would come and show him what to do (1 Sam. 10:8) is a type of Christ instructing the apostles (Acts 1) to wait for the promise of the Father of the Holy Ghost to be poured out on them, which it was on the day of Pentacost, 8 days later (Acts 2).
“And Samuel said to all the people, See ye him whom the Lord hath chosen, that there is none like him among all the people?” (1 Sam. 10:24) Samuel was speaking of Saul, but the words were also true of Christ. There was none like Jesus among all the people, considering his nature was part man and part God.

“the Lord hath sought him a man after his own heart, and the Lord hath commanded him to be captain over his people” (1 Sam. 13:14) This is Samuel’s words of rejection and chastisement to King Saul after Saul committed an act of unrighteous dominion by offering sacrifices that he didn’t have authority to offer. Jesus truly was a man after Heavenly Father’s own heart, being perfectly united in purpose and mission with Him in all things.

27 And as Samuel turned about to go away, he [Saul] laid hold upon the skirt of his mantle, and it rent.
28 And Samuel said unto him, The Lord hath rent the kingdom of Israel from thee this day, and hath given it to a neighbour of thine, that is better than thou.
29 And also the Strength of Israel will not lie nor repent: for he is not a man, that he should repent. (1 Samuel 15:27-29)

These are Samuel’s words to Saul after Saul disobeyed instructions to completely wipe out the Amalekites. In verse 29, Samuel testified to the complete truthfulness and integrity of Christ as one who had no need to repent because he was “not a man,” which I take to mean “not a fallen man.”

I also found three other people in 1 & 2 Samuel who seemed to be prophesying of Christ: 1) Hannah, 2) the man of God who chastised Eli, and 3) Nathan.

Hannah

“The Lord killeth, and maketh alive: he bringeth down to the grave, and bringeth up." (1 Sam. 2:6) Here Hannah spoke of Christ’s power of resurrection.

The man of God who reproached Eli

“And I will raise me up a faithful priest, that shall do according to that which is in mine heart and in my mind: and I will build him a sure house; and he shall walk before mine anointed for ever.” (1 Sam. 2:35) Christ was a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek and did everything according to the will of Heavenly Father.

Nathan

12 ¶And when thy days be fulfilled, and thou shalt sleep with thy fathers, I will set up thy seed after thee, which shall proceed out of thy bowels, and I will establish his kingdom.
13 He shall build an house for my name, and I will stablish the throne of his kingdom for ever. (2 Samuel 7:12-13)

Nathan’s prophecy, which spoke of the establishment of the kingdom by a son who would come from David. It speaks of a human being, Solomon, who would build a house for God. However, elements of the prophecy could be interpreted as having messianic meaning.

Having found all these instances of prophecy, it seems I’m going to have to go through all the other prophetic books and look for prophecies of Christ. (That will have to be another post, though.) It’s nice to know exactly what Samuel said that prophesied of Christ.

Thus it whispereth me to do according to his will

2011-11-03T06:00:00.000-07:00

And I do this for a wise purpose; for thus it whispereth me, according to the workings of the Spirit of the Lord which is in me. And now, I do not know all things; but the Lord knoweth all things which are to come; wherefore, he worketh in me to do according to his will. (Words of Mormon 1:7)

I have always been enthralled with this verse from Mormon, who discusses his feelings about including the small plates of Nephi in his record after having already made an abridgment of the same material from the large plates of Nephi. (Many of us are very familiar with the results and the larger picture. The Lord worked upon Nephi to make that extra record. The Lord worked upon Mormon to include that record. Then, when Joseph Smith lost the translation of the main record, the extra record was in there to save his bacon from enemies who had altered the first translation and were waiting for him to retranslate it so they could show the altered version and cast aspersions upon his spiritual gifts and calling. Joseph Smith translated the extra record rather than retranslate what was lost, and this showed the great fore-knowledge and preparation of the Lord.)

As I was saying, it always enthralls me that Mormon was able to realize this prompting and follow it, considering it was asking him to do something as unusual as add a repeat of the material he had summarized. He explains it with the only explanation possible in such a situation—“I do not know all things; but the Lord knoweth all things which are to come; wherefore, he worketh in me to do according to his will.” That is true humility and trust right there. His submission is palpable.

To experience the Lord working in you to do according to his will is a fascinating experience. I had a recent sample of it myself. It’s as though you find a topic occupying your mind and/or you feel you must do something in particular, usually something you ordinarily would not consider needful. Sometimes it requires you to change your plans at the last moment, and that can be embarrassing, especially if other people are involved in those plans and participating. It can be disquieting to find that the same thoughts are recurring about what needs to be done, as much as you try to push them away. You may come up with excuses why it should not bother you, but you can’t get rid of the slightly unsettled feeling that you have to do it until you actually get it done. (Or at least that’s my experience from my less-humble less-submissive perspective. (See? I have a long way to go..))

It is possible to detect from the previous verses HOW the Lord worked on Mormon to include the small plates of Nephi. You can follow it by the action words from verses 3-6:

3 And now, I speak somewhat concerning that which I have written; for after I had made an abridgment from the plates of Nephi, down to the reign of this king Benjamin, of whom Amaleki spake, I searched among the records which had been delivered into my hands, and I found these plates, which contained this small account of the prophets, from Jacob down to the reign of this king Benjamin, and also many of the words of Nephi.
4 And the things which are upon these plates pleasing me, because of the prophecies of the coming of Christ; and my fathers knowing that many of them have been fulfilled; yea, and I also know that as many things as have been prophesied concerning us down to this day have been fulfilled, and as many as go beyond this day must surely come to pass—
5 Wherefore, I chose these things, to finish my record upon them, which remainder of my record I shall take from the plates of Nephi; and I cannot write the hundredth part of the things of my people.
6 But behold, I shall take these plates, which contain these prophesyings and revelations, and put them with the remainder of my record, for they are choice unto me; and I know they will be choice unto my brethren. (Words of Mormon 1:3-6, emphasis added)

I find this description precious because it shows me that the whispering of the Spirit wasn’t a sudden impulse that was felt for a moment and then gone; it was something that drove Mormon onward. It stirred a hunger in him to find more material, it pushed him to search and read, it must have heightened his sense of edification and pleasure in what he read in Nephi’s small plates, it must have made those things seem extra precious as he pondered them at length, it must have increased his desire to share them with us.

How does this apply to us today? I think the process Mormon describes happens over and over today in the church as diligent teachers prepare their lessons, as speakers carefully prepare their talks. Heck, I’m a primary chorister and I’m finding myself go through that process as I plan for singing time. (I SEARCH for the best songs for the theme, I FIND a good song, the song PLEASES me, I CHOOSE it, it is CHOICE to me and I KNOW it will be choice to the children who sing it.) As we seek out the best and choose the best for ourselves and to share with others, we will find that the Lord has worked in us to do according to His will.

Can you recall a time when you experienced the Spirit working in you to do the Lord’s will this way? Did you know it was the Spirit right off or did it take a while to sink in? Was it easy or hard for you to submit? What was the result?

Image: Mormon Abridging the Plates, lds.org, http://lds.org/library/display/0,4945,8555-1-4779-5,00.html

The Mark of the Beast in Revelation 13

2011-11-01T06:00:00.000-07:00

And he [the second beast] causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads: (Revelation 13:16)

This scripture consistently gets people all freaked out. I’ve written on it before, but I want to write about it again because I discovered something interesting from the Book of Mormon that can inform this passage and throw a different light upon it.

One aspect that is so worrisome about this verse is that EVERYONE seems to be FORCED to receive the mark, even if they don’t want to, and then Revelation 14:9-10 warns that anyone who receives this mark is doomed to suffer the wrath of God with fire and brimstone, etcetera, etcetera. This makes it seem as if there is no escape from it. However, here’s where the Book of Mormon gives us a different (and possibly more hopeful) view.

4 And the Amlicites were distinguished from the Nephites, for they had marked themselves with red in their foreheads after the manner of the Lamanites; nevertheless they had not shorn their heads like unto the Lamanites….
14 Thus the word of God is fulfilled, for these are the words which he said to Nephi: Behold, the Lamanites have I cursed, and I will set a mark on them that they and their seed may be separated from thee and thy seed, from this time henceforth and forever, except they repent of their wickedness and turn to me that I may have mercy upon them.
15 And again: I will set a mark upon him that mingleth his seed with thy brethren, that they may be cursed also.
16 And again: I will set a mark upon him that fighteth against thee and thy seed….
18 Now the Amlicites knew not that they were fulfilling the words of God when they began to mark themselves in their foreheads; nevertheless they had come out in open rebellion against God; therefore it was expedient that the curse should fall upon them.
19 Now I would that ye should see that they brought upon themselves the curse; and even so doth every man that is cursed bring upon himself his own condemnation. (Alma 3:4,14-16,18-19)

The Book of Mormon gives us the insight that people actually choose to set the mark upon themselves when they come out in open rebellion against God, and they don’t know they are fulfilling the words of God when they do it. So the message for us is, “don’t rebel against God and you won’t end up with the mark.” Also, we are told that the mark (and the attached curse) can be put off through repentance and turning to the Lord; the Lord promises to have mercy on the repentant. I find this more reassuring.