Enoch walked with God

48 Enoch was twenty-five years old when he was ordained under the hand of Adam; and he was sixty-five and Adam blessed him.

49 And he saw the Lord, and he walked with him, and was before his face continually; and he walked with God three hundred and sixty-five years, making him four hundred and thirty years old when he was translated. (D&C 107:48-49)

I find it very interesting all the different ways it says Enoch was close to God. 1) He saw the Lord, 2) he walked with the Lord, 3) the Lord was before Enoch’s face continually.  What exactly does that mean to you?

To see the Lord is pretty plain. But how does one walk with the Lord? It has to be something more than a figurative expression about obedience, since there are lots of prophets of whom the same might be said of them. But why is it particularly said of Enoch that he walked with God?

And what does it mean that the Lord was before his face continually? Did Enoch always see Him there, or did he live with a sense that the Lord was with him and watching him?

What do you think? Is it possible to cultivate a sense that the Lord walks next to us constantly? What would life be like if we did that? How might it help us?

Education Week Class Notes: Classes on Spirits, Trials, and the Pearl of Great Price

“What Is This Thing That Men Call Death?” – LDS Teachings about the Spirit World: “Enveloped in Flaming Fire:--Attributes and Abilities of the Spirit Body (by Brent L. Top)

The Apocrypha principle from D&C 91: There are many things that are true, many things that are not true that are interpolations.  Read with the Spirit and to obtain benefit from it.

“enveloped in flaming fire” symbolic of God’s power.

Those departed from us are not far from us.

D&C 77:2  Spiritual beings in the likeness of that which is temporal, and temporal like spiritual.   Systems of spiritual world like here, here like there.

Specifics

The spirit of man in the likeness of his person (D&C 77:2)  We think spirits looks like our bodies.  This isn’t true.  Genetics determines physical appearance. Spirits have a different appearance, like our Heavenly Father and mother.

Our spirits recognize other spirits.

Tabernacles become deformed by accident, but this doesn’t deform the spirit. (Orson Pratt)

We’re part genetics, part our ourselves, part department store.

The body is the clothing of the spirit. (first presidency)  (Glove analogy)

Take the spirit from the body, and the body is lifeless.

Experience of feeling the departure at the death of father.  Something is missing, and it’s more than just life.  It doesn’t seem like it is really them.

A hospice worker.  Did lots of study. Elizabeth Cooper Ross.

Someone dying was surprised she still had hands and a feet and a form.

The quadriplegics were no longer paralyzed outside their body. Wheelchair patients were able to stand and dance.

We can’t understand after-life without understanding pre-mortality and spirit birth.

We gain a spirit body from heavenly parents.

Immanuel Swedenborg wrote a book about experiences of spirits.

Many people believe spirits to be minds without form, like gases containing something living. They think they can’t sense without organs. 

Top insists spirits are completely people in form. 

Swedenborg published that in 1852. We take that info for granted.

Alma 40:12 – Righteous spirits received into paradise a state of rest, peace, where they rest from trouble, care, and sorrow.

Spirit is free from difficulties, fatigue, troubles, sickness, etc.

The state between death and resurrection. The spirit continues to live after the body dies.  “What do we know about interaction between pre-mortal and post-mortal spirits?”  We know NOTHING about this.  Top is comfortable with the idea of interaction between the two. (his personal opinion)

Alma doesn’t tell us some things. But we tend to make charts and Powerpoints and lists about things the scriptures don’t teach.

The scriptures just say they are in a “state” of being.

Spirits enjoy life, glory, intelligence. Have the father to speak to us, we enjoy the society of the just and pure until the resurrection. (Brigham Young JD 14:231)

Why can’t we confine the evil ones and confine them in spirit prison?

Answer: Why can’t you have prison where righteous and wicked mingle together?  Certain places are free from pollution of the wicked.   The separation isn’t necessarily the place but the state of being of the spirit.

Enhanced capacities of spirit body

--Travel/movement!   Brigham Young JD 14:231  Spirits move like lightning, think and you’re there.  Think of a time, and you’re there to see it spiritually.  God has revealed some little things with regard to his movements and power. When we pass into the spirit world, we will possess a measure of this power.

--When the veil is no more, then time will be no more.

Time whispers to us that we are strangers here. 

--Communication!   How do spirits communicate with each other?  They might have a more refined system of communicating ideas.  (JD 3:100) Orson Pratt    Heart-to-heart, mind-to-mind, spirit-to-spirit.

Emanuel Swedenborg – speech so full of wisdom, word full of meaning, things men can’t grasp or verbalize. Inexpressible that the ear or eye couldn’t see or hear.

--Telepathy?  (Careful with your thoughts)

--Learning!  Learning without fatigue. Learning easier, 1000X faster, (JD 8:10) Brigham Young.

We shall learn many more things there, more than five senses.

Orson Pratt speculated God would give us new senses, maybe many more.  See things we couldn’t see before.   Telescope of the spirit to see farther and learn more.

Mind is strengthened in proportion to the knowledge imparted to bear it.

Learning and remembering so we don’t forget.  The spirit can remember much better without the imperfection of the body.

--Sociality!  Familiar, conversation, naturalness, more friends, rejoicing to see friends.   What is more desirable than meeting all our families, knowing each other, and the experiences we have?  What is there in any religion superior to that?  (Joseph F. smith)

little children die and are mature spirits in the spirit world.

“They are only absent for a moment, we shall soon meet again. It will be an eternity of felicity.” (Joseph Smith)

“Wading through Much Tribulation: Powerful Principles from the Book of Mormon for Dealing with Trials: Jaredite Ocean Voyage—Parallels of Our Earthly Voyage (by C. Robert Line) 

[We came in the middle of this class]

Isaac as a type of Christ

Joseph was a type of Christ

--Favored son of the father

--Prophesied to be ruler

--Rejected by brothers

--Falsely accused

--Sold into hands of gentiles

--Sold for silver, price of a slave

--Judah made the sale (Judas)

--Plan backfires, a blessing in disguise

--Mission to save Israel starting age 30

--Raised to exalted station

--Provided bread for Israel

The promised and another promised land comparing to the latter-days

1950 National Geographic article on the comparison.

Jaredite ocean voyage parallel to our earthly voyage. (Ether 6)

1 Nephi 4 Nephi trying to get the plates, led by the spirit.

D&C 133:42  Christ will come wearing red, symbol of the atonement, treading the winefat. He became sin for us. He had the Spirit withdraw from him for our sins.

Compares Christ to Laban. Laban had to die so that a nation would not dwindle in unbelief. (sort of a left-handed type)

Jaredite Voyage

Ether 2 – receiving revelation. Problems: can’t steer, no air, no light.  Solution: Lord will steer so don’t worry. Here’s instructions for getting air. What do you want to get light, because it can’t be ___?  These are different ways of receiving revelations.

Solutions can come a piece at a time without the end in sight. 

Ether 6

We have two lights. Light of Christ and light of the holy ghost.

Prepared all manner of food – we had to be prepared pre-mortally before going off into our bodies.

The whole house of Israel was inclined toward spiritual things.

God caused the winds to blow toward the promised land – Trials blow us toward the promised land.  (Impression: Pray for our trials to bring us closer to God)

No pain we suffer is wasted. It ministers to our education to development of our character. (Orson F. Whitney, Improvement Era, Mar 1966, 211)

When trials are not a consequence of disobedience, then they are evidence that the Lord feels you are prepared to grow more. So he gives experience that stimulates growth, understanding, and compassion.  Ask better questions.

The 11 moves of Joseph Smith’s family made before they got to Palmyra.  They were the things that brought them closer to where they needed to be. It looked by one failure after another, but from the larger view, they were all progress.

Jaredites buried in the depths of the sea. But no water could hurt them because their vessels were tight like a dish. – We can’t always control outward influences and temptations, but we can control our responses to them. We are to be in the world, but not of the world.

1 Ne 15:16-27  Lehi’s mind was swallowed up in other things and didn’t behold the filthiness of the water.

The wind did never cease to blow toward the promised land. – we will always have trials in our life. The sharp side-by-side contrast of sweet and bitter is essential until the end of mortality.  Blessings may be quickly followed by needed spiritual stretching. This prevents us from forgetting others in deep need. 

We can have trials ourselves or in bearing others’ burdens.  Why not help others?

Jaredites sang praises to the lord all the day long, not ceasing. – People who are always happy and praising God are a blessing.

Your religion isn’t just part of Sunday. It’s 7 days a week and 365 days a year.

Story of a SLC police officer undercover detective. He was also a high counselor. He had to go undercover as a gang member. He came home at night and infiltrate gangs during the day.  He had temp tatoos. He went for a year with the gang.  The toughest thing was an incident with a son of stake president who was having a gang party at the stake president’s house.  Raucous party. The detective saw the young man standing between a picture of the temple and the prophet; detective got so mad he almost blew his cover right there. He went up to the young man and asked him, “Isn’t that your prophet right there? Didn’t he say something about this stuff?” The young man said, “Both the prophet and gang-banging are two different things and they are both important to me.”   (Very sad how religion was not affecting the young man’s everyday life.)

Jaredites had light continually , whether above or under the water. – True happiness is not a function of our circumstances, but a function of how much light we have in ourselves.

A happy person is a person with a certain set of attitudes.

Jaredites humbled themselves and cried with joy because of the multitude of his tender mercies

Out of 70,000 people, only 3000 pioneers when west in handcarts.

While we have stories of handcart pioneers who were faithful, there were also handcart pioneers who were broken down by their trials and afflictions. 

Story of a pioneer family with eleven children who lost the mom and dad and about six siblings. The oldest 18-year-old son was so devastated by the loss of all those family he left the pioneer company and went back east.  His younger siblings were taken in by other families and continued west.

We must see the tender mercies in midst of the trials.

Pearls from the Pearl of Great Price: As it was in the Days of Noah, Zion and the second coming  From Moses 7:28-69, 8:1-30  (by Larry W. Barkdull)

God Weeps when he sees the residue of the people (Moses 7:28-39) 

Similar to the Allegory of the Olive Tree as God is distraught by how corrupted things have become.

How is it God can weep?

“I have them their knowledge, agency, commandments to love me and each other” They hate me and they hate each other.

When God foresaw the suffering that would inevitably follow this self-willed, rebellious course of sin, he wept. (Marion D. Hanks)

Among all the workmanship of mine hands there has not been so great wickedness as among thy brethren. (Moses 7:36)  God can see it all inside and out, and nothing has been worse.

The last days are equally wicked. “But as it was in the days of Noah, so it shall be also at the coming of the Son of Man” (JST Matt. V41)

Wickedness once localized is now out in the open, and even accorded legal protection.

The fate of these people: Their sins shall be upon the heads of their fathers, Satan shall be their father, misery shall be their doom, the whole heavens shall weep over them.  Shouldn’t the heavens weep, seeing these shall suffer?  These shall perish in the flood, I will shut them up in a prepared prison. (Moses 7:37-38)

In our day, they will be burned up,

but Jesus suffers for them..   And as much they will repent, and until then, they shall be in torment.

The Rest of the Story in D&C 138 28-34 

Joseph F. Smith saw Jesus didn’t go in person to the wicked, but organized His forces and appointed messengers to teach to the captives.  This was the gospel preached to those who 1) died in their sins 2) without a knowledge of the truth 3) in transgression having rejected the prophets in order to qualify themselves that they might be judged according to men in the flesh, but live according to God in the spirit.

Enoch wept

He had capacity to feel as deeply as God feels. He sees as God sees, views the destruction of the world. Refuses to be comforted when he sees the flood come.

Conditions that define ancient and modern times:

--Lack of affection

--Vengeance, wide-spread violence

--Every man lifted up in imagination of thoughts being only wicked continually

--Widespread corruption .  Attempts to change things from original purpose

--Easily offended, betrayal, hatred, deception

--Wars and rumors of wars

--Denial of God

--False Christs, prophets, churches, secret combinations, great pollutions, murders, thievery, widespread sexual sinning, every form of abomination, denial of accountability

--Scoffing at God and true religion, follow the lusts of the heart, denial of sings of times.

The Lord comforts Enoch

The Solutions: Noah, Jesus, Zion

Enoch sees Noah would be saved by the Lord’s destroying the wicked and preserving the righteous.

Enoch’s distress over the death of his brethren brings forth the promise of a Savior. The blood of the Righteous (Christ) would be shed that all they that mourn may be sanctified and have eternal life?

When? In the meridian of time, in the days of wickedness and vengeance.

Enoch received some relief 

Because of Jesus’s atonement, Enoch and his family could receive eternal life and live forever in the society of Zion.  He wants to preserve it.

The Lord and Enoch are not the only ones who mourn.

Enoch heard the earth mourn in weariness and pain because of the wickedness and filthiness on her face, wondering when she would rest and be cleansed.

Enoch’s Prayer

Enoch prayed for the Lord to have compassion on the earth. Also asks for the earth to never have a flood again.

The Lord promised to call on the children of Noah and not flood the earth again.

The everlasting Covenant is given as an act of compassion by the Father and the Son.

Promised: 1) No more universal destruction by water, 2) All children offered the everlasting covenant, 3) Enoch’s seed would always be found on the earth.  (Moses 7:51-52) Could be Noah’s seed too…

When the Son of Man comes in the flesh, shall the earth rest?

Answer is delayed, but he’s shown more stuff.

Again the question, “When shall the earth rest?”

The question changes “Wilt thou come again upon the earth?”

The Lord says “I will come in the last days in the days of wickedness and vengeance to fulfill the oath I have made unto you concerning the children of Noah (all offered the everlasting covenant)

The earth shall rest, but before then, the heavens shall be darkened, the veil of darkness shall cover the earth, the heavens shall shake, and also the earth, and great tribulations shall be among the children of men, but my people will I preserve (Moses 7:60-61)

Process of giving rest to the earth 1)Break the grip of wickedness with the restoration, angels, Book of Mormon, coming forth of Zion.  (Moses 7:62)  Righteousness and truth will sweep the earth like a flood to gather the elect out to the Holy City the Lord will prepare.. (Moses 7:62)

Another Flood.

The Book of Mormon is the instrument of God designed to sweep the earth as with a flood to gather out God’s elect.

Men and angels are to be coworkers.

Zion is to be prepared for the elect to be gathered from the four quarters of the earth, to be established an holy city.

D&C 45 Talks about Zion.

Place of safety, peace, refuge. The wicked won’t come to it.  Everyone who won’t fight will flee there. The wicked will be scared to fight Zion.

Enoch and Zion is Translated.  God received it to himself and people said “Zion is fled”

Zion will Return – A reunion.

Enoch’s Zion and modern Zion will joyously greet.

Rainbow is an everlasting covenant that Zion will come down again.

(JST Genesis 9:21-23)

When thy posterity shall embrace the truth and look upward, then Zion looks downward and all the heavens shall shake with gladness, and the earth shall tremble with joy.

Zion and Enoch finally rest!!

The Culture Enoch Preached To

37 And it came to pass that Enoch went forth in the land, among the people, standing upon the hills and the high places, and cried with a loud voice, testifying against their works; and all men were offended because of him.

38 And they came forth to hear him, upon the high places, saying unto the tent-keepers: Tarry ye here and keep the tents, while we go yonder to behold the seer, for he prophesieth, and there is a strange thing in the land; a wild man hath come among us. (Moses 6:37)

These verses give us subtle details about the culture Enoch preached to and we see some of the kinds of wickedness they were involved in.

First, we are told that as he testified against their works, all men were offended in him.  They were not used to being told they were doing the wrong thing.  It seems their culture had squelched forms of chastisement against sin.  Enoch comes along and he gives it to them straight exactly what they were doing wrong and their first reaction was to take offense.  Everyone felt convicted in their conscience.

Second, they hire tent-keepers to watch their tents while they go listen to Enoch.  Why did they need tent-keepers?  Because there were thieves everywhere who would steal whatever was not nailed down if someone wasn’t in the tent to watch things.

Third, they call Enoch a wild man.  His frank speech and freedom to express truth seems positively untamed and predictable.  He was a loose cannon to them.  Interestingly enough, they can’t stop listening.  It is also possible that his “wildness” was divine drive and anxious engagement in the good cause of preaching.

So, Enoch preached to a culture that lied about good and evil, that stole from each other, and that had silenced social reformers, and probably had to be prodded constantly into doing anything resembling duty.

It is so interesting to me that these people have one foot firmly in the world – taking measures to prevent their stuff from being stolen, which is a consequence of their own rampant dishonesty and thievery – and one foot inching toward Zion—wanting to hear the prophet Enoch speak.  I wonder what attitude they had as they listened more.  I wonder if they were willing to be chastised in order to hear others be chastised too, or whether they were starting to learn and accept the righteous principles Enoch taught.

I’ve had a few experiences recently when sharing the truth has made me feel a little “wild.”  In one conversation a woman was telling me that there are so many churches out there that you can choose the one that you like that works best for you.  I plucked up my courage and said, “Actually, it isn’t a matter of choosing what we like.  It is about finding the way of salvation.”  She looked at me like she had never thought of it that way or had never expected me to say something like that. 

Have you had an experience like this that you could share?

Quality company in celestial glory

These are they who have come to an innumerable company of angels, to the general assembly and church of Enoch, and of the Firstborn. (D&C 76:67)

There are some neat things in this verse that I learned as I was pondering it.

who have come to an innumerable company of angels – How neat is it that qualifying for celestial glory will bring us among angels!  Sometimes, when I have eyes to see, I can look around our congregation and see that my fellow ward members are already becoming angels to each other, bringing messages of hope, comfort, and inspiration.  They also help each other in times of need, in small but nonetheless extraordinary ways.   There have been times when I have been helped by my ward, and when I look back at those times, I think that if an angel from heaven had come down, they would have done exactly the same thing as those ward members did.  

And just think of someday joining an innumerable company of angels!  I grew up in Illinois, where members of the church were few and far between.  I remember what excitement I always felt when I got to go to Especially For Youth and meet so many Mormon youth who held similar standards to me.  Those were watershed days for me, and I was always sad when it had to end after a week.  When I went to college at Brigham Young University and I got to be with a whole university of students and teachers that shared my beliefs, it is hard to describe how wonderful that was to me.  I figure that when I come to the innumerable company of angels in the celestial kingdom, I will have that same sense of excitement.

who have come…to the general assembly and church of Enoch – Did you ever think that we will mingle with Enoch and his people?  When I first read this, I kind of took it for granted—duh, we’re Zion, right?—but as I thought about it, I realized how neat it will be to fraternize with them, even though several thousand years separated our respective generations during mortality.  It brought home to me that there are no generation gaps in the celestial kingdom.  Living the same principles of the gospel and partaking of the Spirit of God brings all the generations of Saints together.

and of the Firstborn – If we remember the Biblical practice, the firstborn inherited a double portion from their father.  In the Abrahamic covenant, the firstborn inherited the birthright blessing with authority in the patriarchal order.  In the Mosiac covenant, the firstborn were to be given to the Lord’s service, or else redeemed with a sacrifice.   The Bible dictionary enumerates the ways Christ was the Firstborn:

• Firstborn of the spirit children of Heavenly Father
• The Only Begotten of the Father in the flesh (first and last)
• The first to rise from the dead in the resurrection

Faithful Saints will inherit all things the Father hath, through Jesus Christ, just as if they were also “firstborn,” so they become the church of the Firstborn.  In Genesis, Joseph received the inheritance from Jacob, even though Joseph wasn’t the firstborn.  So did Ephraim, even though he wasn't the firstborn.  In these stories I see a type and shadow of the promise given to us that we will inherit all the Father has, if we are faithful.  We can become firstborn.

Here’s something else I was pondering: 

They who dwell in his presence are the church of the Firstborn; and they see as they are seen, and know as they are known, having received of his fulness and of his grace; (D&C 76:94)

That bit about how they “see as they are seen, and know as they are known” takes some probing to understand and appreciate, at least for me.  One way to rephrase it might be, “they see and are seen, and they know and are known,” which to me implies full participation and honor in the celestial society, that every individual knows, recognizes, and appreciates every other individual and receives the same themselves.    How many of us feel like we are not fully known by others?  How many of us feel like we are not fully appreciated and recognized for all the talents we have built, for all the things we can do, for who we are, and for the good we have done?  Someday all of that will be made known, everything will be rewarded, and we will truly KNOW each other and see each other for who we really are.

I really look forward to that day.  I really want to know my fellow Saints better.  There is so little time to talk it seems, and I’ve gotten to the point in life where I realize there is so much more to every person than what meets the eye, so much that each person has learned by experience and study, so much wonderful variety in talent. 

So now I ask you, dear reader, what is something about you that you wish people could know and appreciate?

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

12 And God said, This is the token of the covenant which I make between me and you and every living creature that is with you, for perpetual generations:
13 I do set my bow in the cloud, and it shall be for a token of a covenant between me and the earth.
14 And it shall come to pass, when I bring a cloud over the earth, that the bow shall be seen in the cloud:
15 And I will remember my covenant, which I have made between me and you for every living creature of all flesh; and the waters shall no more become a flood to destroy all flesh. (Genesis 9:9-15, JST included)

Then verse 16 and 17 are expanded as JST Genesis 9:21-25:

21 And the bow shall be in the cloud; and I will look upon it, that I may remember the everlasting covenant, which I made unto thy father Enoch; that, when men should keep all my commandments, Zion should again come on the earth, the city of Enoch which I have caught up unto myself.
22 And this is mine everlasting covenant, that when thy posterity shall embrace the truth, and look upward, then shall Zion look downward, and all the heavens shall shake with gladness, and the earth shall tremble with joy;
23 And the general assembly of the church of the first-born shall come down out of heaven, and possess the earth, and shall have place until the end come. And this is mine everlasting covenant, which I made with thy father Enoch.
24 And the bow shall be in the cloud, and I will establish my covenant unto thee, which I have made between me and thee, for every living creature of all flesh that shall be upon the earth.
25 And God said unto Noah, This is the token of the covenant which I have established between me and thee; for all flesh that shall be upon the earth. (JST 9:21-25)

I was thinking about the rainbow as a token and I wondered why God chose the rainbow for this. After pondering a while, I realized that it has a number of characteristics that make it an ideal token of these promises the Lord makes.

First, rainbows appear during/after rain. This makes it perfect for a divine reminder to man that the rain isn’t going to be as bad as it was in Noah’s time.

Second, rainbows are lines and thus connect together whatever is at both ends. In this way, they serve as a great symbol of the covenants connecting God and man, especially when one end of the rainbow comes from the sky and the other end seems to connect with the earth. A connection of light—what more beautiful symbol of the everlasting covenant could you ask for? (Forget finding a pot of gold at the end of a rainbow; finding God would be awesome!)

Third, the rainbows that arch from the earth to sky to earth are a great symbol for the trajectory of Enoch’s city of Zion, which was once on the earth, was taken to heaven, and is promised to return to earth in a day of righteousness. The glory of that rainbow certainly symbolizes the miracle of that ascent and promised descent, as well as the glory of holiness that the city attained. It gives us something to work for and look forward to.

Fourth, the rainbow reminds us to embrace the truth and “look upward” and reminds God and Enoch’s Zion to “look down.” The rainbow becomes an occasion of remembering the covenant, which will give us all great trembling joy. (Have you ever had joy so great that you trembled? I don’t know that I have yet.)

Fifth, each color in the rainbow can remind us of one of the covenants that we make with the Lord.

How can this help us today? Rainbows are beautiful, and they will give us even more joy if we know the gospel meaning behind it. If our covenants define our lives, then we have great reason to be happy when we see a rainbow because we can know that the Lord is also looking at it and is thinking of the covenants He made with us. Won't that be a great feeling to know that you and the Lord are both looking at the same thing and thinking of the same thing? What a great connection that can be!

Can you think of any other things that rainbows teach about the everlasting covenant?

Image of Noah and rainbow: “Notes to Poem: Michalangelo’s Bow,” http://www.wisdomportal.com/Poems2011/Notes-Michelangelo%27sBow.html, accessed 9/17/11.

Image of rainbow to cloud: “Finding the Li” blog, http://liology.wordpress.com/2009/11/30/re-weaving-the-rainbow/, accessed 9/17/11.

Image of rainbow arch: Rainbow gallery on Flickr, http://www.flickr.com/photos/16154905@N04/galleries/72157622809052156

Enoch becomes a Seer

And he heard a voice from heaven, saying: Enoch, my son, prophesy unto this people, and say unto them—Repent, for thus saith the Lord: I am angry with this people, and my fierce anger is kindled against them; for their hearts have waxed hard, and their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes cannot see afar off; (Moses 6:27)

When the Lord calls Enoch to be a prophet, the first wrongdoing the Lord wants Enoch to testify of against man is that “their hearts are waxed hard, their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes cannot see afar off.” Enoch is eventually told to anoint his eyes with clay and then wash them, with the promise that he would see. Other people have noted how this washing becomes a symbol of washing the world out of Enoch’s eyes. The result:

And he beheld the spirits that God had created; and he beheld also things which were not visible to the natural eye; and from thenceforth came the saying abroad in the land: A seer hath the Lord raised up unto his people. (Moses 6:36)

This seems to be how the Lord works to encourage others to see also—He raises up a seer to be a good example of the benefits of seeing afar off. He shows men how natural eyes (of the natural man) can’t see. Enoch’s seer eyes could see the spirits God created, whether embodied or not, I suppose. He could also see things not visible to the natural eye. This could be coming events as consequences of actions, the past from a truer perspective, the evidences of God’s hand, the coming promises that would be fulfilled, and more.

What things do you “see” because our current prophet's example? What do you "see" as a member that others around you don’t see with their “natural” eyes?

The God of heaven weeps

28 And it came to pass that the God of heaven looked upon the residue of the people, and he wept;
and Enoch bore record of it, saying:
How is it that the heavens weep,
and shed forth their tears as the rain upon the mountains?
29 And Enoch said unto the Lord:
How is it that thou canst weep,
seeing thou art holy,
and from all eternity to all eternity?....
32 The Lord said unto Enoch:
Behold these thy brethren;
they are the workmanship of mine own hands,
and I gave unto them their knowledge, in the day I created them;
and in the Garden of Eden, gave I unto man his agency;
33 And unto thy brethren have I said,
and also given commandment,
that they should love one another,
and that they should choose me, their Father;
but behold, they are without affection,
and they hate their own blood;
34 And the fire of mine indignation is kindled against them;
and in my hot displeasure will I send in the floods upon them,
for my fierce anger is kindled against them.
35 Behold, I am God;
Man of Holiness is my name;
Man of Counsel is my name;
and Endless and Eternal is my name, also.
36 Wherefore, I can stretch forth mine hands
and hold all the creations which I have made;
and mine eye can pierce them also,
and among all the workmanship of mine hands
there has not been so great wickedness as among thy brethren.
37 But behold, their sins shall be upon the heads of their fathers;
Satan shall be their father,
and misery shall be their doom;
And the whole heavens shall weep over them,
even all the workmanship of mine hands;
wherefore should not the heavens weep, seeing these shall suffer? (Moses 7:28-29,32-37 )

I was thinking about Enoch’s vision of God weeping over the wicked and I wondered what was important about that. Was there any other place in the Old Testament where God is seen weeping? Then I realized that there isn’t. There is nothing in the Old Testament that compares with it. I searched for instances of the following words to see if there were any connected with God in the Old Testament:

weep, wept, weeping, cry, cried, crying, sorrow, sorrowed, sorrowing, sorrows, mourn, mourning, mourned, sad, wail, wailed, wailing, howl, howled, howling, grief

I found three instances in the Old Testament in which it is stated that Lord was “grieved” and one instance of “grieve” associated with the Lord. Here they are:

At the time of Noah:

And it repented the Lord that he had made man on the earth,
and it grieved him at his heart. (Genesis 6:6)

In Psalms:

How oft did they provoke him in the wilderness,
and grieve him in the desert! (Psalms 78:40)

Forty years long was I grieved with this generation,
and said, It is a people that do err in their heart,
and they have not known my ways: (Psalms 95:10)

In Judges:

And they put away the strange gods from among them, and served the Lord:
and his soul was grieved for the misery of Israel. (Judges 10:16)

That’s all there is in the Old Testament. Just four. If we count Old Testament prophecy of Christ’s future sorrows in mortality, there are more instances, but of a weeping pre-mortal Jehovah, we see only the four cases above.

When there are oodles of cases in the Old Testament when “the anger of the Lord was kindled” and only four when the Lord is grieved, that contributes to the general impression that the God of the Old Testament is an angry, jealous God.

This is what makes Enoch’s vision so precious to us. Enoch testifies that God also weeps for all the wicked because of their wretched, sinful state and the anguish they will suffer after they die until they can be redeemed. God can’t deny Himself when justice has its claim, and He can’t help but weep for those who sin.

This helps us see that Jehovah of the Old Testament is the same as Jesus Christ of the New Testament.

All thy words will I justify

When God first calls Enoch to be a prophet, Enoch wonders why he has been called, since he is slow of speech and everybody hates him. This is the typical “reluctant prophet syndrome.” Enoch probably was perfectly content to valiantly follow his leaders in the righteous land of Cainan. But if Enoch came from a righteous land, why did he say everybody hated him? Hmmm. I suppose that in Cainan the people were able to bear with his slow speaking, but when he started traveling around, he found people were much more impatient. And they probably hated him for his goodness.

God tells him,

32 …Go forth and do as I have commanded thee, and no man shall pierce thee. Open thy mouth, and it shall be filled, and I will give thee utterance, for all flesh is in my hands, and I will do as seemeth me good.
33 Say unto this people: Choose ye this day, to serve the Lord God who made you.
34 Behold my Spirit is upon you, wherefore all thy words will I justify; and the mountains shall flee before you, and the rivers shall turn from their course; and thou shalt abide in me, and I in you; therefore walk with me. (Moses 6:32-34)

I suppose if Enoch felt he wasn’t a good speaker and he was hated, his social status couldn’t get much worse.. He could only get better. Yet, he could have refused.

So Enoch puts his whole heart and soul into saying what the Lord wants him to say. I suspect he had a very hard time at the beginning. It says “Enoch went forth in the land, among the people, standing upon the hills and the high places, and cried with a loud voice, testifying against their works; and all men were offended because of him.” (v37) What he said annoyed the natural man and how he said it was, from a worldly perspective, probably not artistic at all, but somehow the Spirit reached them and they couldn’t keep away, whether they believed or not. (Have you ever known people like that?) The people say to each other, “Tarry ye here and keep the tents, while we go yonder to behold the seer, for he prophesieth, and there is a strange thing in the land; a wild man hath come among us.” (v38) Perhaps he was a bit of a loose cannon at first, but those who believed what he said already considered him a seer and knew he prophesied.

Here was their reactions:

And it came to pass when they heard him, no man laid hands on him; for fear came on all them that heard him; for he walked with God. (Moses 6:39)

And as Enoch spake forth the words of God, the people trembled, and could not stand in his presence. (Moses 6:47)

…all nations feared greatly, so powerful was the word of Enoch, and so great was the power of the language which God had given him. (Moses 7:13)

We may think that Enoch’s words were magic somehow, but their power lay in his priesthood and speaking with the Spirit. When he said something was going to happen, it came to pass, so people couldn’t dismiss him. Yes, the wicked became his enemies, and they fought against him, but they couldn’t dismiss him.

This is what caused me to want to pay closer attention to what Enoch said, to see if I could feel what his people felt.

Is there anything that impresses you about the words of Enoch in the Pearl of Great Price?

Seeing double names in the Book of Moses?

There's an interesting duality that is being set up throughout the Book of Moses. It has to do with duplicated names. (I really wish I could find the internet source that first pointed this out to me. I tried to find it, but I couldn't.)

* There is Enoch the son of Cain, and there is the holy Enoch who builds the city Zion, preaches, and walks with God.
* Cain's Enoch built his own city too, but it wasn't Zion.
* There is the righteous land of Cainan, where the good Enoch came from (Moses 6:17,41), and there is the bad people of Canaan (Moses 7:6-8) who live in a hot, barren, cursed wilderness and who destroy people.
* There is the good Lamech, the father of Noah, and then there is the bad Lamech, who killed his great grandfather.
* There is Methusael (great-grandson of the bad Enoch) and then there is Methuselah (son of the good Enoch).

We are being shown the two possible ways we can go. One leads up, the other leads down. We are shown the author of each way, and the consequences of each way. They each have their organization and their covenants, but one is counterfeit of the other. One leads to life, the other leads to death. We choose which one we take.

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

Previous to now I had read Enoch’s discourse in Moses 6:41-68 and I don’t know what I thought it was, but I wasn’t very impressed with it. But this time, I happened to notice something extraordinary that I had never noticed before—Enoch’s discourse has nested inside of it a fairly hefty conversation that God had with Adam on the first principles of the gospel (possibly excluding verse 54, which seems to be Enoch explaining how the doctrine of little children’s innocence was extrapolated). Here it is:

51 And he [God] called upon our father Adam by his own voice, saying: I am God; I made the world, and men before they were in the flesh.
52 And he also said unto him: If thou wilt turn unto me, and hearken unto my voice, and believe, and repent of all thy transgressions, and be baptized, even in water, in the name of mine Only Begotten Son, who is full of grace and truth, which is Jesus Christ, the only name which shall be given under heaven, whereby salvation shall come unto the children of men, ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost, asking all things in his name, and whatsoever ye shall ask, it shall be given you.
53 And our father Adam spake unto the Lord, and said: Why is it that men must repent and be baptized in water? And the Lord said unto Adam: Behold I have forgiven thee thy transgression in the Garden of Eden.

54 Hence came the saying abroad among the people, that the Son of God hath atoned for original guilt, wherein the sins of the parents cannot be answered upon the heads of the children, for they are whole from the foundation of the world. [I think these are Enoch's thoughts]

55 And the Lord spake unto Adam, saying: Inasmuch as thy children are conceived in sin, even so when they begin to grow up, sin conceiveth in their hearts, and they taste the bitter, that they may know to prize the good.
56 And it is given unto them to know good from evil; wherefore they are agents unto themselves, and I have given unto you another law and commandment.
57 Wherefore teach it unto your children, that all men, everywhere, must repent, or they can in nowise inherit the kingdom of God, for no unclean thing can dwell there, or dwell in his presence; for, in the language of Adam, Man of Holiness is his name, and the name of his Only Begotten is the Son of Man, even Jesus Christ, a righteous Judge, who shall come in the meridian of time.
58 Therefore I give unto you a commandment, to teach these things freely unto your children, saying:
59 That by reason of transgression cometh the fall, which fall bringeth death, and inasmuch as ye were born into the world by water, and blood, and the spirit, which I have made, and so became of dust a living soul, even so ye must be born again into the kingdom of heaven, of water, and of the Spirit, and be cleansed by blood, even the blood of mine Only Begotten; that ye might be sanctified from all sin, and enjoy the words of eternal life in this world, and eternal life in the world to come, even immortal glory;
60 For by the water ye keep the commandment; by the Spirit ye are justified, and by the blood ye are sanctified;
61 Therefore it is given to abide in you; the record of heaven; the Comforter; the peaceable things of immortal glory; the truth of all things; that which quickeneth all things, which maketh alive all things; that which knoweth all things, and hath all power according to wisdom, mercy, truth, justice, and judgment.
62 And now, behold, I say unto you: This is the plan of salvation unto all men, through the blood of mine Only Begotten, who shall come in the meridian of time.
63 And behold, all things have their likeness, and all things are created and made to bear record of me, both things which are temporal, and things which are spiritual; things which are in the heavens above, and things which are on the earth, and things which are in the earth, and things which are under the earth, both above and beneath: all things bear record of me.
64 And it came to pass, when the Lord had spoken with Adam, our father, that Adam cried unto the Lord, and he was caught away by the Spirit of the Lord, and was carried down into the water, and was laid under the water, and was brought forth out of the water.
65 And thus he was baptized, and the Spirit of God descended upon him, and thus he was born of the Spirit, and became quickened in the inner man.
66 And he heard a voice out of heaven, saying: Thou art baptized with fire, and with the Holy Ghost. This is the record of the Father, and the Son, from henceforth and forever;
67 And thou art after the order of him who was without beginning of days or end of years, from all eternity to all eternity.
68 Behold, thou art one in me, a son of God; and thus may all become my sons. Amen. (Moses 6:50-58)

It is described:
-how the voice of the Lord commanded Adam to do all those basic principles of the gospel,
-how Adam questioned the need to repent and be baptized,
-and how the Lord answered this question and taught about:

• the fallen nature of man,
• the agency of man,
• the need for repentance,
• the purity of the kingdom of God,
• the coming judgment,
• the way baptism is a rebirth,
• and the role of the Holy Ghost.
• And at the end, God identifies these teachings as the plan of salvation.
  

And when God had taught these things, Adam understood he needed to repent and be baptized, and he wanted to obey, and we can tell because it says “when the Lord had spoken with Adam, our father, that Adam cried to the Lord.” Adam undoubtedly prayed expressing his repentance and desire to be baptized, since the Lord does not force repentance or baptism upon anyone. “And he was caught away by the Spirit of the Lord, and was carried down into the water, and was laid under the water, and was brought forth out of the water.” (v64) After that, he experienced a spiritual rebirth as the Spirit of God descended upon him, and to make sure Adam knew what was happening to him, God’s voice out of heaven told him what he was feeling:

66 And he heard a voice out of heaven, saying: Thou art baptized with fire, and with the Holy Ghost. This is the record of the Father, and the Son, from henceforth and forever;
67 And thou art after the order of him who was without beginning of days or end of years, from all eternity to all eternity.
68 Behold, thou art one in me, a son of God; and thus may all become my sons. Amen. (Moses 6:66-68)

I don’t know why I didn’t see all this before. Somehow in my previous readings I kept losing the sight of which words were Enoch’s and which were Enoch’s quotations of God’s instructions to Adam.

So why is this important? It shows Adam was instructed by the voice of the Lord on all the first principles of the gospel—faith, repentance, baptism, and the gift of the Holy Ghost. These principles are the same as what we are taught today. Enoch taught these same principles of the gospel by referring to the precedent set by Adam and using the same discourse the Lord gave to Adam. Enoch was using the story of Adam’s baptism to teach the people the first principles of the gospel, much like missionaries today use the discourse of Nephi in 2 Nephi 31. To me, this makes Enoch's discourse much more powerful.

Whoso climbeth up by me shall never fall

“whoso…climbeth up by me shall never fall” (Moses 7:53)

This is a very simple idea, but it also has embedded in it some important principles which are taught using the image of climbing to a higher place.

A climber has to grab something to pull on and push off of it to make any progress. They have to be supported by something. In the above line, Enoch learns that in life, Jesus is that support. A climber has to believe that what they hold on to will not move and will fully support their weight. Likewise, we must believe that Jesus can fully support the weight of our sins and sorrows. We must believe that His grace is all-sufficient.

The other thing we learn is that even though Jesus is our support, we make no progress without climbing. Our total effort and commitment is required.

One final thing I learn from this line is how necessary it is to make sure we are climbing by Christ and not by something else. I’ve done some climbing of rocks and (small) cliffs and learned that sometimes what I thought was a secure handhold loosens. (I learned to test my hold before putting my full weight on it.) If we try to climb up by anything besides Christ, those supports will ultimately fail and we will fall.

I'll give you a recent, rather painful example of how real this principle has become for me. For the last year I have been trying to become a seminary teacher. That’s what I wanted to do. Last week I was told that I had not been chosen to become one, and there was no opportunity to try again. I thought a position as seminary teacher would be perfect for me. I could think of so many ways that I had been prepared for something like that. Now I have no idea what to do instead. I’ve been praying for help to know what I should do. I’ve also begun to encounter subtle temptations from Satan; he tries to get me to think that because I’ve been refused, none of that gospel stuff and scripture stuff really matters any more, since I won’t have a job teaching it. Blatantly false, I know, but I still have to resist it. And the non-acceptance into seminary teacher-land has thrown me for a loop to the point that I’ve felt spiritually like I’m falling.

So this is why the above line from the scriptures has struck me as so precious. I’ve thought, If I feel like I’m falling, then perhaps I was not climbing up by Christ and was climbing up by seminary teacher-ness. Somehow, imperceptibly, I got off the real support onto something that could fail me and drop me. I’m trying to learn the difference between a temporal support (job) with spiritual elements and a true spiritual support.

In no way do I fault those instrumental in my rejection as a candidate. I’m not a perfect teacher and I know some of my faults; other candidates were better than I at connecting with teens.

For now and always, I have to climb up by Christ; any other way will drop me.

Will you tell me about a time when you had to learn this through difficult experience?

Image: Watchmojo, http://www.watchmojo.com/blog/health/tag/rock%20climbing/

God promises Enoch influence

Behold my Spirit is upon you,
wherefore all thy words will I justify;
and the mountains shall flee before you,
and the rivers shall turn from their course;
and thou shalt abide in me, and I in you;
therefore walk with me.
(Moses 6:34)

Recently I was thinking about this verse when God calls Enoch to be a prophet. I realized that while God was talking literally about mountains fleeing and rivers changing course, mountains and rivers were also being used as symbols for types of people. The mountains symbolized people who were lifted up in pride. The rivers symbolized people who were very set in their ways, who did things a certain way, and who flowed down to the lowest spiritual level. God promised Enoch that through the words given him, the proud would begin to fear (and humble themselves) and those who were set in their ways would change their course (for something better). I thought that was awesome. Literal control of the elements is miraculous, but I think that change for the better in a person’s life is no less miraculous.