Comparing the Lord’s counsel between Philadelphians and Laodiceans

In Revelation 3, I noticed some imagery used that was used in two different ways, as the Lord gave messages to two different churches in the John's day.

To the Philadelphians:

I know thy works: behold, I have set before thee an open door, and no man can shut it: for thou hast a little strength, and hast kept my word, and hast not denied my name. (Revelation 3:8)

To the Laodiceans:

Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me. (Revelation 3:20)

One church had permanently opened a door, and the other church had many who had shut it. It gives some sense that some had taken advantage of spiritual opportunities and were open, while others had closed themselves off.

Are we open or are we closed off from the Lord?

I notice that even though the Laodiceans were described as those with closed doors, the Lord had not given up on them. He told them He stood at their doors and knocked and called them.  That suggests for us that if we feel and hear the Spirit inviting us to do something, we can choose to respond though we may not have in the past.

A Police Officer's Experience of Spiritual Guidance

Every once in a while I run across an extraordinary story of how the Holy Ghost can guide and protect.  Stan Cronin’s story is one of these.  It’s a story of how he was guided by the Holy Ghost to where he could do some good as a Phoenix police officer and protected with specific instructions in such a way that he came through a very tricky situation, while if he had gone strictly according to his training he would most certainly have been killed.

Several features stick out to me about his story.

--He was in a habit of consistently praying for guidance as to where to go to do good.

--He was not afraid to look silly.

--He received specific promptings to do things contrary to his training, things that seemed risky and weird to him.  He anticipated becoming a statistic and a training case study of what not to do.  But he had the humility to follow these impressions, and he trusted the Lord had a good reason. 

--He had to deal not only with a potentially dangerous situation, but also with the tension of knowing he was going “off script” from standard operating procedures, yet he didn’t give up and dismiss additional impressions as they came.  He saw things through to the end, continuing to follow guidance from the Holy Ghost. 

We believe keeping the commandments will bring us safety and peace.  We know rules and standard operating procedures are very helpful for bringing order and much safety to our lives. A well-trained police officer with integrity would expected to hold to that line.  And yet, we see in the particular situation of this story, that would have gotten him killed. The only way he escaped was by following the Holy Ghost.

It strikes me that the above features can be applied in each of our lives too, no matter our field of labor.  We can cultivate a habit of praying for guidance to do good. We can practice humility and learn to trust promptings.  We can recognize the tension we might feel if we’re off-script when following the Spirit and choose to continue to trust to the end.

Avoiding Lust

28 But I say unto you, that whosoever looketh on a woman, to lust after her, hath committed adultery already in his heart.

29 Behold, I give unto you a commandment, that ye suffer none of these things to enter into your heart;

30 For it is better that ye should deny yourselves of these things, wherein ye will take up your cross, than that ye should be cast into hell.(3 Nephi 12:28-30)

The part of this scripture that is most memorable is that looking to lust is accompanied by the mental act of committing adultery.  In this day and age, probably the main sin we probably associate with looking is pornography.  But the warning is about adultery, which is a sin associated with another person one knows and probably commonly associates with.

There’s another part which is just as important but which is not so well noticed—the instruction to “suffer none of these things to enter into your heart.”  What are “these things”?  I think it could be two different things.  In one way, it could mean the lustful desires.  But it could also be a reference to the interactions that led to the lustful desires rising in the first place.

Those who are visually oriented maybe attracted one way, but others may be attracted by a small and simple acts of consideration over time.  If a person doesn’t guard their heart, they can build up an affection rivaling their marriage. Ego gets involved and feels fed in a new way.  This is why Christ gives further instructions to deny oneself “these things” and take up the cross.  One must deny oneself thoughts and ruminations about the other person.

Taking up the cross is a good way to express how one must deny oneself thoughts of the forbidden one.  Taking up the cross is a burden one carries hour by hour. It will be the last thing a person wants to do, so comparing it with the prospect of bodily torture is apt.  The forbidden thoughts will seem too sweet, too delightful, and putting them out of mind will seem too hard, but it must be done, or else a person will wallow in a sea of lust.

When Christ says it is better to deny self of these things than be cast into hell, that hell He speaks of is not just after mortality. It is also in mortality.  In fact, “hell” is His name for that sea of lust one may have unwittingly become immersed in.  This might seem contradictory; lust is so alluring to those in it.  But in the unflinching light of truth, “hell” is a good name for a state in which a person wants something very badly but can never lawfully have it, worlds-without-end-Amen.

How does Christ know this? To me it implies that in these things as in all others, He had faced the same temptations, was tempted to the very extremity, and He overcame it.  He who is called the epitome of love was Himself tempted with the counterfeit. He accepted worship and devotion without using it as an occasion to gratify any appetite or lust.

An Example of Pre-mortal Memory Returned

When Jesus asks the Nephites about the past records they have kept, there is this interesting verse:

Verily I say unto you, I commanded my servant Samuel, the Lamanite, that he should testify unto this people, that at the day that the Father should glorify his name in me that there were many saints who should arise from the dead, and should appear unto many, and should minister unto them. And he said unto them: Was it not so? (3 Nephi 23:9)

I was struck by this curious example of Christ’s memory.  Samuel the Lamanite’s witness was given five years before Christ’s birth, and after he was chased out, he never was heard of more among the Nephites. So Jesus remembered something He had commanded one of his servants before Jesus’s pre-mortal ministry.

Some might argue that Jesus never had a veil over His memory at all, but I personally believe He had to walk by faith like us and learn of His mission through divine tutorials so that He could share our experience of mortality.  But the resurrected Christ knew what He had commanded His servants in the Americas, which makes me think He had that pre-mortal memory restored. 

That suggests to me that we will have our pre-mortal memory restored as well.  I don’t know whether it would be after death or after the resurrection, but the important thing is that it will.

And if we get that memory back, what a tragedy it would be if we discover we have become little stunted scrubby beings instead of noble Saints poised on the brink of godhood with Christ.  On the other hand, how happy we will be if we find we have acted in complete harmony with our divine identities, even while walking without full knowledge or sight.

I was pondering how I might know if I was living up to a forgotten divine identity, and I realized that just knowing I am a daughter of God is a great help because it invites me to make the best decisions I can.

Today let’s concentrate on making decisions that are most consistent with our knowledge that we are children of God.

Some thoughts about gospel basics

One of the things about having a scripture blog is that I’ve noticed I have a tendency to charge toward the new, interesting, and occasionally speculative topics. 

Looking over this month, I’ve had a few posts on basics such as family,  something in the Beatitudes, and self-deception recently, but my topics have also touched on prophecy of events after the Millennium, chronology in the Book of Revelation, bishop’s recommends for going to Zion, all of which at first glance are may not seem terribly useful or practical for today.  (I’ve tried to give them practical twists, but I don’t know how successful I’ve been at that.)

This kind of thing has been likened to stepping out onto the far branches of the gospel tree where one’s footing can break rather easily.  It can be a dangerous thing to do if the basic principles of the gospel are neglected.

So I want to take some time to share some thoughts about the basic principles of the gospel: faith in Christ, repentance, baptism, and the gift of the Holy Ghost.

When I do my scripture study, no matter what I learn, I have to ask myself, “How does this help me today?”  There has to be some way to relate it to what I can do, or some way that it helps build my faith in Christ. 

The gospel is a path. It’s a way of living and acting.  Those basic principles of the gospel I listed above are things that should be used daily. (Baptism’s counterpart, the sacrament, is weekly, but preparation and keeping of covenants is a daily thing.)

Here are some questions I need to pose to myself:

1)   How am I demonstrating faith in Christ today?  Do I do my work with faith in Christ? Do I complete my chores with faith in Christ?

2)   What do I need the grace of Christ to strengthen me to do today?  What weaknesses do I need Christ’s help to overcome today?  What do I need to repent of today?

3)   How have I worked to keep my baptismal covenants today?  When have I remembered the Savior? Can I increase the number of instances when I remember Him?

4)   How have I seen the Spirit work in my life today?  Am I open to spiritual promptings? Am I obedient to impressions?  Do I record my experiences to create a reservoir of faith for the future?

    Will you share with me how you incorporate these basic gospel principles in your life each day?

For when scripture study feels stale

From time to time I find myself at a stage when it is hard to find new things to learn in the scriptures and then it becomes hard to get myself to read the scriptures.  You may experience this from time to time too.

I feel very lucky that I got advice from my mom about this.  I mentioned to her my problem some years ago, and it turned out that she was the perfect person to help because she was very diligent at scripture study. She had been doing it a lot longer than I had. 

She told me, “Satan would like you to think that it is boring so that you stop doing it. But it just means you need to find a new way to study that excites you.”  This had a great impact on me, and I still think about it from time to time. 

She also shared with me different ways that she had studied the scriptures. At one point she was very focused on studying by topic.  At another point, her study consisted of meticulously copying down in full in a notebook every single scripture listed in the Topical Guide about Christ.  (It took her months and months. I remember seeing her working on that, and it was special to see my mother take her study so seriously in order to learn more.)

While I wasn’t particularly interested in trying those particular methods, hearing about them helped me see that there were potentially a bunch of different ways to study the scriptures.  Of course, I felt at sea at first because I didn’t know 1) how to find a new method or 2) how to know if I would like a new study method.  I was a little worried that it would take me a long time to find my next method.

Since then, I’ve also learned that finding process sometimes it takes some time. I think I'm a little more comfortable with those transition points now. I have to try different things. It helps to follow my curiosity. It helps to seek out resources and books.  (I suspect that one of the useful things about scripture commentaries is simply how they may offer a different perspective that can make the scriptures new and help us find new study methods.)

Two things I would always do, no matter my method: 1) pray to be edified before starting and 2) write what I learn in a scripture journal.

I didn’t use to pray before reading, but someone I trusted and respected recommended it, so I decided to experiment with that. (I just wish I could remember who told me so I could thank them.) Anyway, it really made a difference. There have been times that I’ve forgotten to pray first, but I can say for sure that every single time I remembered, the Lord always answered my prayer. 

I didn’t use to write when I discovered something cool in the scriptures. But at some point, I felt like I was learning such cool stuff I didn’t want to forget it. That drove me to write it down somewhere.   So I wrote it in my personal journal.  Those types of journal entries started to increase to the point that it started to feel like they were crowding out life-event stuff.  Finally, a seminary pre-service class I took had an assignment to write down scripture insights every day in a notebook. I loved that assignment so much that I continued it after that class ended, and that’s how I realized it was permissible and desirable for me to have a scripture journal as well as a personal journal.

What do you do when you’re trying to find a new way to study the scriptures?  What practices stay the same for you?

Some thoughts on the family being ordained of God

This month’s visiting teaching message had the theme of “The family is ordained of God.”  It seems like such an obvious principle, one that everyone should be able to accept.  And yet, I’ve realized that there are people who have serious problems with the idea of family. 

I took a few writing classes some years ago at ASU.  Through a series of events I happened to read the personal blog of one of my teachers and found that in a post she mentioned her personal decision she had made that she would never get married and never have children. (She never said this in class though.)  Yet she had a boyfriend, and from things she wrote, it was clear she had been with him for some years. It seemed odd to me, and a bit of a shame that she wouldn’t want to take that relationship to the next level.  But I didn’t get all judgey-pants over that. I took it simply as data.

Fast forward some years past graduation. This teacher sent me an email asking if I would read and review her new book. I ended up deciding I didn’t have time, but as I thought about her, I went to her blog to see what she was posting about her life. I read about her writing process she went through as she was putting together a memoir. She had an image of a spreadsheet she had made to distill and organize the chronology of her life in her memoir.  From looking at that spreadsheet and the kinds of events listed month-by-month, I realized that my former teacher must have had a very difficult childhood, and that the tempestuous family relationships had continued into her adulthood.

That’s when I realized that for this woman, “family” was probably a term loaded with negative associations instead of positive ones. “Family” was something to escape from and put behind her and heal from if possible.  I sensed that for her, her experiences may not have given her confidence that she could be a successful wife or mother if she followed her main example (her mom). For her, she may have felt it was all she could do to stop the cycle of pain by not marrying and not having children. 

Some people are able to make the cycle of abuse and trauma end with them as they start and have their own families.  But other people, for whatever reason, don’t have the confidence for that.

Family is ordained of God as a means of transmitting knowledge and values to the next generation, particularly to introduce children to the gospel and start them on the path leading to exaltation. But no family is perfect, and some are truly dysfunctional. Some parents teach the right things, but their example subverts the message.  Some parents abdicate responsibility.  Some parents teach well, but their children make bad choices that affect the rest of the family.  Some family members may have weaknesses—emotional/mental/physical—that make it difficult to have a stable family.  There are infinite permutations of interpersonal challenges that are possible.

I take a lot of hope from a statement in the Family Proclamation that says, “Happiness in family life is most likely to be achieved when founded upon the teachings of the Lord Jesus Christ.”  I take two things from that.  First, it is a nod to the fact that there can be successful families outside the gospel, but following the principles of Christ’s gospel is the best way.  Second, that language of “most likely to be achieved” tells me that following the gospel of Christ greatly increases the statistical probability of having a happy and successful family even with all the challenges faced.

It seems to me that holding up to world the principle that the family is ordained of God is not about waving around a shiny ideal of perfection (which doesn’t exist). It’s about declaring its great potential as a nursery of formative experience and a laboratory for the refinement of character and connection to others.  We want that laboratory to have the best equipment—father, mother, and children.  We want that nursery of formative experience to include faith, prayer, repentance, forgiveness, respect, love, compassion, work, and wholesome recreational activities. 

It’s about opportunity, potential, and growth!

Selective destruction

It is interesting to think about how the righteous may have escaped the destruction in the Americas at the death of Christ.

12 And it was the more righteous part of the people who were saved, and it was they who received the prophets and stoned them not; and it was they who had not shed the blood of the saints, who were spared—

13 And they were spared and were not sunk and buried up in the earth; and they were not drowned in the depths of the sea; and they were not burned by fire, neither were they fallen upon and crushed to death; and they were not carried away in the whirlwind; neither were they overpowered by the vapor of smoke and of darkness.

14 And now, whoso readeth, let him understand; he that hath the scriptures, let him search them, and see and behold if all these deaths and destructions by fire, and by smoke, and by tempests, and by whirlwinds, and by the opening of the earth to receive them, and all these things are not unto the fulfilling of the prophecies of many of the holy prophets. (3 Nephi 10:12-14)

First, I have to say that I feel rather cheated that we don’t have Zenos and Zenock and Jacob-Israel’s words about these things, since Mormon cites them particularly in following verses as prophets who testified of these destructions. The way Mormon challenges the reader to search the scriptures and see for ourselves, it is evident he thought we would have those particular prophecies.

However, at least we have a different source that prophesied of those destructions—Nephi saw it all in his sweeping visions of world history. While some would dismiss that as too easy for the Book of Mormon to be self-referential this way, I think it is an instance where we are presented with a choice to believe the account or not. 

Another thing that fascinates me about these verses is how clear-cut the division is between the righteous who survived and the wicked who didn’t. I wonder if the righteous were gathered out of the most dangerous areas, or whether disasters were so precision-targeted to the wicked that no righteous people nearby were killed along with them.

Really, it could be either way. The Book of Mormon has a number of instances when the righteous were led out from among the wicked before the wicked were destroyed. Also, before the destruction at Christ’s death, the tribes were already stoning the prophets and casting them out, so to a certain degree they were self-sorting.

But some disasters can be so isolated as to seem selective.  For example, who has not seen aerial photos of the path of a tornado that demolishes the houses in its path, yet leaves other houses next door still standing?  I also recently watched a Nova TV program on sinkholes, and there was a story of a family who had a sink hole open up just under one bedroom and swallow up the brother or brother-in-law of the owner such that he died. The owner was conflicted because on one hand that room had previously been that of his young child, but the child had been moved to a different bedroom. So one of his family was saved, and another perished.

I am not giving these examples to suggest that people who suffer these disasters are wicked and are being punished. (I’m sure we have people tested like Job at the same time there are Sodoms and Gomorrahs.)  I’m using them to illustrate the precision these disasters can have.    But I think if the Lord chooses, He can use them to weed out the wicked. I also imagine that if/when in the future the Lord uses disasters this way, the inhabitants of each place will know it.  Also, Christ announced to the righteous people that the destruction among them happened because of wickedness, and they also had prophecies to refer to that told them such a thing would happen, and when it did, they realized the prophecies had been fulfilled. The Lord didn’t want them to have any doubt on that score.

I notice that Mormon doesn’t look at it as selective destruction, but actually points out instead who was saved.  To me the story underlines how physical salvation is strongly linked to spiritual salvation. It is yet another way of expressing the message, “Repent and be saved.”

Whosoever shall say, Thou fool

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But I say unto you, That whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment: and whosoever shall say to his brother, Raca, shall be in danger of the council: but whosoever shall say, Thou fool, shall be in danger of hell fire. (Matt 5:22)

Preliminary note: The JST omits “without a cause” from the text.

This verse is interesting because it warns of judgments, councils, and hellfire may be the lot of those who are angry, deride, and verbally abuse others.

The council Jesus spoke up meant a religious council for the purpose of discipline and judgment. Thus, someone who said “Raca” (a term suggesting contempt) to someone else was dehumanizing and verbally abusing and would eventually do worse things that would ultimately lead to church discipline.

Now for the term “fool.”  This seems relatively mild to us, since we have a tradition of the word being used for people who were merely unwise or ignorant or jerks.  However, my perspective on this was changed when I read that the term “fool” in the scriptures actually meant something like “apostate.”  (Here’s an interesting paper on this verse that I also found enlightening.)

With that bit of knowledge, suddenly the verses in Proverbs about fools mean something completely different.  And here in Matt. 5:22, we are warned not to call someone apostate. We are warned this will put us in danger of hellfire.

Why might this be?  First, it is hostile, exclusionary behavior. It has the effect of driving away someone who is already probably somewhat alienated. So in effect, it does Satan’s work for him, and there are consequences for that. (Who wants to be agents of Satan? Not me! [raises hand])

We don’t know people’s hearts or their inner struggle. All we can see are their words and actions. We don’t know, but that our continued forbearance and kindness might be instrumental in helping those we consider faithless to begin believing again.

The Battle after the Millennium

These verses describe some interesting conditions and happenings about the end of the Millennium, which I find fascinating to think about:

110 And so on, until the seventh angel shall sound his trump; and he shall stand forth upon the land and upon the sea, and swear in the name of him who sitteth upon the throne, that there shall be time no longer; and Satan shall be bound, that old serpent, who is called the devil, and shall not be loosed for the space of a thousand years.

111 And then he shall be loosed for a little season, that he may gather together his armies.

112 And Michael, the seventh angel, even the archangel, shall gather together his armies, even the hosts of heaven.

113 And the devil shall gather together his armies; even the hosts of hell, and shall come up to battle against Michael and his armies.

114 And then cometh the battle of the great God; and the devil and his armies shall be cast away into their own place, that they shall not have power over the saints any more at all.

115 For Michael shall fight their battles, and shall overcome him who seeketh the throne of him who sitteth upon the throne, even the Lamb. (D&C 88:110-115)

Verse 110 tells us Satan will be bound and not loosed again for 1000 years. One of the things that binds Satan is when he and his temptations are completely ignored. If no one listens, he has no power.

Verse 111 tells us that Satan will be loosed for a little season and allowed to gather together his armies. That means that people start giving into temptation again, which is sad. So there will be some apostasy similar to that described in 4 Nephi.

However, Satan will not be unopposed.

Verse 112 tells us that Michael the seventh angel (or archangel) will gather his armies, the hosts of heaven. We know that Michael is also Adam. So we’ll have the resurrected Adam and all the first-fruits of the resurrection still living on the earth since they were resurrected at the beginning. 

It seems absolutely incredible to me that people would apostatize even with resurrected beings—prophets, Saints, and once-martyrs—still living among them!  It’s insanity!  But it seems to be the case.

Verse 113 tells us the devil will gather the hosts of hell and come up to battle against Michael and his armies. I notice it is the wicked who initiate the attack, not the righteous.

Verse 114 says there will be “the battle of the great God” and the devil and his armies will be cast away to their own place and have no more power over the Saints.  

Now, I have to wonder what idiot will have decided it is a good idea to fight against godly, resurrected beings who can’t die any more.  Obviously mortal apostates can’t win against that!  But maybe they would be deceived into thinking that the resurrected are defenseless because of the profound concern for life they exhibit. Maybe the apostates will think the resurrected will choose to suffer anything rather than defend themselves by taking any life. (Because after all, if you take life, you’ve just ended someone’s probationary period and they might have repented.)  Still, the battles have to be fought for the sakes of those mortals who are still righteous.

Verse 115 says Michael will fight the Saints’ battles. This is an interesting modification on the usual assurance that the Lord would fight our battles.  From the perspective of righteous immortals, it would make sense to have a policy of choosing just one resurrected person to do all the fighting (since one immortal is more than a match for any number of mortals).  No overwhelming show of numbers is necessary. 

I found myself asking why this was all made known so far in the future if we wouldn’t have the change to see it happen in our lifetime. I think it is part of the way that God proves He knows the end from the beginning and prepares the way for various generations to build and exercise their faith in Him. We look at prophecies made far in the past about the gathering of Israel and we see them being fulfilled, so we exercise faith that God will continue to fulfill what He has said will happen in the near future and in the far future.  It will also give future Saints just as much reason to read our modern scriptures to see what has been said of them.