President Hinckley and a Prophet’s Reward

I learned something notable from Brother Guggisberg. He bore his testimony and expressed gratitude for President Hinckley’s great ministry as prophet and said something about how we all expected his reward would be great in heaven.

Then he whipped out his scriptures and read from Matthew 10:41....

He that receiveth a prophet in the name of a prophet shall receive a prophet’s reward; and he that receiveth a righteous man in the name of a righteous man shall receive a righteous man’s reward.

I had always wondered just what this scripture meant and I was ever so happy to be instructed about it. I learned that even though we can’t all be the prophet of the church or apostles either, if we consider the prophet to be the prophet and follow him as such, then we receive a prophet’s reward too. It is just as difficult to follow the prophet in a wicked world as it is to be the prophet in a wicked world.

The second part is about the same. If we consider a righteous man to be a righteous man, and follow their example, then we receive the same reward, because it takes the same amount of righteousness and moral courage to follow a good example as it takes to be a good example. (Especially when we are accused of being brainless "sheeple"!)

The Repentance Imperative

I had an insight into a scripture during my reading. I read these verses:

Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father who is in heaven.
Many will say to me in that day: Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name, and in thy name have cast out devils, and in thy name done many wonderful works?
And then will I profess unto them: I never knew you; depart from me, ye that work iniquity.
(3 Nephi 14:21-23)

The point of this scripture is to show us how necessary repentance is. Christ tells us that people are going to say to Him, “But we bore testimony of you! We converted people and baptized people! We administered priesthood blessings to people! We did all kinds of service for your sake!”

Unfortunately, while they did lots of good things, they also did lots of bad things too, things that they didn’t think it was necessary to repent of. And their filthiness disqualifies them from entering the kingdom of heaven, because not only is the will of the Father that we do good things, but also that we repent of all our sins through the Atonement of Christ.

So, it is more necessary for me to repent of my sins than it is to be instrumental in converting someone. It is more necessary for me to repent of my sins than to bear testimony. It is more necessary to repent of my sins than it is to do noble works of love. Repentance is so important, it is the work that must come before all else. (Except it comes after faith in Christ.)

Because of this I am very happy that Heavenly Father shows me my faults. It means I know what to repent of! Yaaaaay!

The Captive Daughter of Zion

I discovered something cool!

Shake thyself from the dust…
Loose thyself from the bands of thy neck,
O captive daughter of Zion
(Isaiah 52:2)

I realized that “shake thyself from the dust” is another way of telling us to separate ourselves from everything unclean and filthy, just as the dust is filthy. It means to repent and be different from the world.

As for “loose thyself from the bands of thy neck”, I wondered why Isaiah used that particular expression. My usual way of reading it was to imagine a woman with an iron manacle around her neck. But I started rethinking it. I wondered why Isaiah used that particular expression “bands of thy neck”. I wondered what was so important about the neck.

The neck holds up the head. It also holds our vocal cords. It suddenly hit me in a flash that “cords” and “bands” were about the same thing—something to bind with. It seemed to me that Isaiah was saying that we must loose our vocal cords and not be afraid to tell people what we believe.

I know this can be difficult. There are many times when I want to share an insight with people but I don’t feel very comfortable bringing it up, and then I feel like I am strangled silent. However, Isaiah teaches us here that the only thing keeping us captive is ourselves. If there isn’t a gag in our mouth, we are free to talk all we want about religion with people.

Both sin and hesitancy to share the gospel keep us captive and Isaiah tells us that Heavenly Father wants us to be free!

The Second Temptation

Devon and I were reading through Psalms for our family scripture study. I read ahead a little and ran into two verses that struck me.

For he shall give his angels charge over thee,
to keep thee in all thy ways.
They shall bear thee up in their hands,
lest thou dash thy foot against a stone.
(Psalms 91:11-12)

This was the scripture that Satan quoted to Christ to try to get Him to jump off the pinnacle of the temple, trying to get Him to test this promise. (Matthew 4:5-7) The interesting thing is, when Satan was quoting these verses he left out the phrase “to keep thee in all thy ways” in order to make it apply to falls from high places. But when you read these verses in full, you realize that it wasn’t meant to mean falling from high places at all. (unless it is in a spiritual sense) It was meant to show that angels would come to Christ from time to time to teach Him and warn Him just as He was about to make a mistake. The stone that He might dash his foot against was meant to represent a tricky place where He could mess up. This lest He stumble and err and defile His perfect purity and thereby ruin the chances of salvation for the rest of God’s children.

We know of a few angels that visited Jesus during his ministry – Moses and Elias (Matthew 17:3) and the angel that came to strengthen him in Gethsemane (Luke 22:43).

Then the next verse is fascinating too.

Thou shalt tread upon the lion and adder:
the young lion and the dragon shalt thou trample under feet.
(Psalms 91:31)

The lion symbolizes violence, and the adder and dragon symbolize subtleness, sneakiness, and deception. All aspects of Satan. This verse testifies of how Christ would totally reject violence and sneakiness of all sorts in his life and how he will eliminate them when he comes again.

The Universal Solution

While reading the book called "The World's Greatest Speeches" I happened upon a speech by Pope John XXIII, in which he said something that caught my eye and heart. (I search for truth wherever I can, you see, and the Spirit does the enlightening part.) It was his quote of Christ, "Seek ye first the kingdom of God, and all the rest will be added unto you" and it suddenly hit me that this could be read as another way of saying, "All the world's problems can be solved by the gospel, so get to work becoming obedient to it and every other world problem and perplexity will come out in the wash."

Thus, we get to work on living the Law of Chastity, and then the problems of unwed mothers and adultery and various divorces work themselves out. When we get to work on living the Law of Consecration, poverty and inequality will fade away. When we get to work on honesty, theft of all sorts and various burdensome laws are eliminated. When we focus on conquering our pride and anger, violence of all sorts vanishes and then there is no issue of gun control. I'm sure that it is the same with every gospel principle; adopt each one and you also help eliminate a society ill.

From My Journal: Blacks getting the Priesthood (12/15/07)

Devon has had a bunch of people at work asking him about a McLaughlin group rant about Mormons not giving blacks the priesthood until 1978. He isn’t sure what to say to defend the church. I wasn’t either until a few hours ago.

It occurred to me that the objection that people continually make about this is it was long overdue, since the civil rights movement had occurred in the previous decade (the `60s). They accuse the church of being backward.

However, if we cast about for comparisons, we discover some interesting things. The black slaves were emancipated by Lincoln during the Civil War, yet the white south was very slow to concede this freedom and give them all their civil rights.

Once the Reconstruction enforcement troops left, the white south allowed freedom in name only for about 90 years after, enforcing a de facto subjection with terror (a la Ku Klux Klan) and Jim Crow laws. This shows us that you can declare freedom until you are blue in the face, but the "masters" must have a change of heart to allow it, and the white south had to be forced and pressured into giving blacks their civil rights when blacks should have had 100 years of it already. Even in other areas of the nation blacks suffered from economic discrimination. There is still much struggle with prejudice.

Now, contrast this with the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The continuous perplexity of the prophet on the issue, wondering for years “why?”. The prophet pleading with the Lord on behalf of the black men who did not get to hold the priesthood, the revelation finally received, the change announced immediately, completely unforced by any outside influence of God or man, but instead requested and desired. And then, when announced, the implementation hailed with celebration and rejoicing by both white and black members and immediately embraced from the beginning! None holding back.

Now, reader, be the judge of who has been more backward. Is it the Latter-day Saints or the nation at large? The revelation could have come at any time, but the people’s acceptance and compliance is the thing that really means something.

Beautiful feet on the mountains?

I've run across the phrase "how beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him that bringeth good tidings.." (Isaiah 52:7) in my scripture study and a few things strike me.

First, the “on the mountains”. I think this points out that those who teach us the gospel are visible, established as a city on a hill, shining light that none can miss.

What is that mountain? The mountain of the Lord – the temple. There are many temples now, so it can truly be mountains.

Furthermore, Isaiah probably saw a vision of the Latter-day Saints settled in the mountains of Utah and loved what he saw.

What are the “good tidings”? It is the gospel of Christ.

“him that bringeth good tidings” – Christ made it all possible, so certainly He is the first one we think of. Then the prophets who have all testified of Christ. Then the missionaries who go to all the world. And then all of us, whether male or female. Everyone in the church must be able to share these glad tidings, so Isaiah is referring to all of us who share our faith.

Secondly, the phrase “how beautiful…are the feet of them”. We learn more about this phrase when we consider that in Isaiah’s culture, the feet were extremely dirty and that they symbolized the lowliest parts. If the Isaiah says that even the feet of those who teach the gospel are beautiful, then these people must be well onto perfection. Saintly. Even in a dirty world, they keep themselves unsoiled.

This scripture isn't about having photogenic feet. I think the lesson for us here is that to best teach the gospel, we must keep ourselves clean from the sins of the world.

An interesting characteristic of light and truth

The scriptures say light and truth forsake the evil one. (Doctrine & Covenants 93:37) This is interesting, because it suggests that light and truth are self-organizing. So many things in this world mix, dilute, and increase chaos and disorganization, but light and truth separates itself from evil. It is not a case of opposites attracting, but of opposites separating.

Epiphany on the Sacrament

Devon and I got in a discussion about the sacrament as he was preparing for his primary lesson.

I started thinking about the symbolism and realized that that piece of bread symbolized Christ's flesh and that water symbolized Christ's blood that had been shed for my sins.

I held out my hand and in it I visualized a piece of flesh torn from Christ's body and a little cup of His blood and thought, "That is the price of my sins."

I thought about whether I could possibly dare to commit sin if I knew that my best friend was going to have to pay for it with a chunk of flesh and a cup of blood and I knew then that I could never do it.

If anytime I was tempted to sin if only I could remember that flesh and blood torn for me, I wouldn't ever want to sin.

And then I realized that is precisely what we covenant to do in the sacrament--to always remember Christ and his suffering for us and the effects of our sin on him. (Michaela runs out of the room crying)

The sacrament will never be the same for me again.

The Parable of the Talents - Is it only temporal?

I was reading the scriptures and I happened upon the parable of the talents (or the pounds, whichever you prefer), and it struck me that not only was it talking about temporal stewardship, but also a spiritual stewardship of doctrine, because the Lord has told us to seek for wisdom.

He said therefore, A certain nobleman went into a far country to receive for himself a kingdom, and to return.
And he called his ten servants, and delivered them ten pounds, and said unto them, Occupy till I come.
But his citizens hated him, and sent a message after him, saying, We will not have this man to reign over us.
And it came to pass, that when he was returned, having received the kingdom, then he commanded these servants to be called unto him, to whom he had given the money, that he might know how much every man had gained by trading.
Then came the first, saying, Lord, thy pound hath gained ten pounds.
And he said unto him, Well, thou good servant: because thou hast been faithful in a very little, have thou authority over ten cities.
And the second came, saying, Lord, thy pound hath gained five pounds.
And he said likewise to him, Be thou also over five cities.
And another came, saying, Lord, behold, here is thy pound, which I have kept laid up in a napkin:
For I feared thee, because thou art an austere man: thou takest up that thou layedst not down, and reapest that thou didst not sow.
And he saith unto him, Out of thine own mouth will I judge thee, thou wicked servant. Thou knewest that I was an austere man, taking up that I laid not down, and reaping that I did not sow:
Wherefore then gavest not thou my money into the bank, that at my coming I might have required mine own with usury?
And he said unto them that stood by, Take from him the pound, and give it to him that hath ten pounds.
(And they said unto him, Lord, he hath ten pounds.)
For I say unto you, That unto every one which hath shall be given; and from him that hath not, even that he hath shall be taken away from him.
But those mine enemies, which would not that I should reign over them, bring hither, and slay them before me.
(Luke 19:12-27)

The servants who took their talents and increased them by 10 and by 5 were doing their best to learn about the gospel and they did their business by trading knowledge with people so that they could obtain what they didn’t yet have and learn to do what they couldn’t already do.

The fellow who buried his talent in the sand didn’t search for more wisdom or share what he had already acquired, and when his master called him to account, he said he didn’t know how to gain more, because he thought his master gained everything he had by magic and didn’t have to work for it. This shows us that there are people who think that knowledge comes magically without work or study or searching.

The master actually doesn’t remove his servant’s false notions, but merely upbraids him for not putting his talent in the bank so that it could at least acquire interest. The spiritual counterpart of the bank is the church. Christ wants us to at least “deposit” what wisdom and testimony we have in church meetings and classes by sharing them so that at least other people will learn and perhaps we will learn something new in the exchange of ideas that takes place there, even if we are unwilling to do it anywhere else. This is the absolute minimum for increasing our store of wisdom.

In the past I've been a little bit perplexed by how the master didn't educate the unfaithful servant about the real source of gains, but recently I realized that if the servant had had the least bit of curiosity to know how the master got his gains, he had plenty of time to make inquiries, but he didn't.

Then the chilling conclusion: the talent is taken from the unfaithful servant and given to someone with more. This shows us that if we don’t use what we know, we lose it.

And an even more frightening epilogue: the master commands his enemies--those who would not have him to rule over them--to be brought before him and be slain. This shows us that there are also people who just plain do not want to be obedient to gospel principles and follow Christ and the end of that course is spiritual death.

I want to be like that servant who increased their talents ten fold. This is another reason why I am putting these things I’ve learned on a blog. I'm looking for an exchange of knowledge.