“Wherefore, beware lest ye are deceived; and that ye may not be deceived seek ye earnestly the best gifts…” (D&C 46:4).
“…I exhort you, my brethren, that ye deny not the gifts of God, for they are many; and they come from the same God. And there are different ways that these gifts are administered; but it is the same God who worketh all in all; and they are given by the manifestations of the Spirit of God unto men, to profit them.” (Moroni 10:3)
The Two Ways
One day, a few years ago, I was driving to attend the funeral of a friend. Suddenly the thought came into my mind that I would be asked to lead the singing at the funeral. It was really a thought that just popped into my head. I didn’t think anything of it, but somehow I was sure that it wasn’t just a random thought in my mind. As I arrived at the church, a member of the bishopric ran up to me and said, “I’m glad you are here, will you lead the music?” Leading music wasn’t something new to me, I had no problem leading the music at the last minute so I didn’t really need a warning to prepare myself for something that wasn’t difficult for me. So why would the Spirit warn me? I didn’t need time to prepare, I only needed a minute to coordinate with the organist and select some hymns. As I later thought about this I came to the realization that the Spirit spoke to me on this occasion as a way of teaching me to recognize revelation. It was as if He was saying, “This is the way revelation is given.” This is one of the manifestations of discernment. The following post is based on my own experiences with discernment and deception. I have found that discernment can be as individual and personal as each person is unique.
I happen to believe that the Lord, through His Spirit, talks to us quite frequently. We don’t always pay attention, though, because our minds are focused on worldly concerns. We assume that our thoughts are our own and expect that any divine guidance would always come as something dramatic like a voice or burning feeling in our chest, but the scriptures and my own experience teach otherwise. So before talking about the spiritual gift of discernment I want to spend a little time talking about the nature of spiritual communication–both the good and the bad. The two ways.
The world’s philosophy teaches that the only force that influences the actions of people are natural forces that originate from an instinct for self preservation and natural selection. People do what they do because they are biologically predisposed to actions in order to deal with intense competition. In its pure form this is known as behaviorism. Actions people do are chosen because they benefit the individual, or by extension, the group, tribe, or family they are associated with. Deep down, at the fundamental core of our brains, every action we do is a natural consequence of our environment and DNA. That’s the world view of what motivates our actions.
Although there is some reality to that, we are subject to external environmental pressures. The real truth, however, is that we are influenced as much by supernatural forces as we are by the natural. The Prophet Ameleki wrote this in the Book of Omni: “…for there is nothing which is good save it comes from the Lord: and that which is evil cometh from the devil.” (Omni 1:25) According to Ameleki there are two powers that exist in the world that influence all the actions of men and women– God and the devil. While the adversary’s goal is to influence mankind to pay attention to the natural man, the Holy Spirit, which is in every person, works to influence men and women to resist the natural-man impulses (Mosiah 3:19).
In the preexistence when we were in the presence of God, we received information from only one source and our decisions were really one sided. There was no real choice or free will involved in our spiritual lives because we did not know how to disobey. The war in heaven did provide some limited ability to exercise free will, but the consequences of disobedience were immediate and did not fully allow us to understand or comprehend the dynamics between light and darkness. A fallen world like the one we are in now was required to more fully test and fine tune our resolve to always choose the good , which was impossible in the spirit world where we had a perfect knowledge of God. We had to experience a fallen world where a veil is drawn across our memory where we could make a willful decision to follow God while being pitted against powerful forces hell-bent on influencing us otherwise. This world is the perfect place to exercise and practice our faith and our will.
But what we think is our free will in fact is not as free as we might think, at least not in the form that we have been taught. That is because we are subject to unknown and unseeable forces that insert their will into our thoughts. What we believe is our own thoughts can sometimes actually be those of a “familiar spirit”. Familiar because that spirit has been with us from the beginning of our lives not only tempting and influencing us to do things we would not otherwise have wanted to do, but also getting to know us and our weak points. They will use these weak points against us. These spirits are “familiar” because we usually can’t differentiate these influences from our own thoughts.
When we come to this world our spiritual awareness is encapsulated within a very finite field of view. Initially this is only what the physical senses offer us for stimulation and experience. Since we don’t know anything as small children, we receive Satan’s constant chatter to our minds as part of our own “familiar” thoughts. (Contrary to what you may have been taught, the adversary has full access to tempt, influence, and become familiar with young children.) As we get older and realize that there is a spiritual world we need to pay attention to, we begin to develop spiritual abilities. However, we find that it takes real effort to discern the spiritual influences from a good source, while the influence of the adversary seems natural and normal to us. Almost every decision we make is influenced by either the adversary or the Holy Spirit. Thoughts and the actions that succeed from our thoughts originate in our minds as a result of a combination of our will and influence from one of these two sources. Ideas are not so original as we might think. Both ways entice us to perform actions which strengthen the ties that will bind us to the path they represent. Our will and our desire is the differentiating factor, to follow Christ and the Holy Spirit or indulge in physical appetites.
The Lord has not left us to our own devices. He wants us to have a fighting chance to overcome the mistakes that we made while young and continue to make. The Lord has given us a gift to help us choose correctly in order to overcome the temptations. This gift is called our conscience, also known as the Light of Christ (D&C 84:45-48; Moroni 7:16). As we get older we come to understand that there is an outlet that allows to move beyond the guilt and the consequences of our youthful sins–repentance and the atonement. If we take advantage of the atonement offered to us we can overcome our sins and mistakes and move on to higher states of spiritual awareness. If we don’t take advantage we add to the “cart rope” we drag along with us in our life and the consequences become a yoke around our necks (Isaiah 5:18). One of the consequences of choosing wrongly is the inability to discern spiritual things along with a diminishing of the Light of Christ in our lives.
The Lord’s plan for us is perfectly suited to our disposition and nature as nascent sons of God. According to Paul, “For God has consigned all men to disobedience that he may have mercy upon all” (Romans 11:32, English Standard Version). We are subject to the temptations of the adversity; committing sin before we have a real understanding of what we are doing while young. As we mature we become aware at some point to the presence of light and truth and are faced with a choice: to change course and follow the better way or continue on the path we are on. Paul explains, in somewhat cryptic terms, that we are subject to sin (can’t get away from it) in order to force us to come to the realization that Christ is the only relief.
Once we have matured enough to differentiate between the influence of Satan and Christ, which is spiritual discernment, we graduate to a state of existence where we are not blown about by every doctrine of men, which are really doctrines of devils. “That we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive (Ephesians 4:14).” We are spiritually mature at this point to recognize truth when it presents itself. To get to the point of recognizing real knowledge and light requires a lot of work, study, practice, and prayer. It is vitally important that you have the ability to discern; to know the difference between light and dark, worldly and spiritual, love and fear. You may think you now know how to differentiate, and you have gotten to this point in your life with a certain level of discernment, but it is more difficult then you realize to separate out prejudices and predispositions created in your minds through years of exposure to tradition, public schools, religious teachings, and exposure to powerful propaganda through media. There will come a time in your life when you will be racked on the altar of truth and have to make a decision where there will be no one to tell what to do. You will come to a moment of truth. Although there will be many moments of truth in your life, each one will be a fork in the way, each will be a point of destiny.
Recognizing The Holy Spirit
When I was on a mission in New Zealand many years ago, I remember a young woman that my companion and I met while tracting. As we taught her about Joseph Smith, we could see the light visibly changing her countenance as she recognized the truth of our messages. She had never heard of Joseph Smith before but as we told her of the first vision we could see and feel the light pouring into her. It was as if she was remembering where she had put some long lost articles of great value. (I keep thinking about the parable of the long lost piece of silver (Luke 15:8-9)). She knew, just knew that what we were telling her was true. We had no evidence other than our testimonies. We also knew, without any doubt that she knew the truth and the Spirit was telling her it was true. It was like electricity in our bodies is the best way to describe it. We were being instructed in our hearts and our minds (D&C 8:2). ( It was just as the Doctrine and Covenants describes it in Section 50, “Wherefore, he that preacheth and he that receiveth, understand one another, and both are edified and rejoice together.” We were witness to a soul that was recognizing truth that was being transmitted to her by supernatural means. We also learned at the time that there is often a level of joy and sometimes an outpouring of love that accompanies spiritual communication (revelation) from the Holy Spirit. This was a dramatic instance of discerning the Holy Spirit in our minds and feeling it in our hearts. But the Spirit is not always discerned in such a powerful way.
A good friend told me this story several years ago of an experience he had with a prompting he received. He was hiking in the woods on a path in the mountains one day. Suddenly, a very strong impression came into his mind to stop. He immediately stopped. He listened. The voice in his head, which was really like his own thoughts, said he needed to turn around and that if he continued would result in great harm to him. He paid attention to the prompting and turned away going by a different path. He never learned what the danger was. His purpose in telling that rather undramatic story to me was to relate his understanding that the spirit sometimes comes to us as an interruption to the constant stream of thoughts that occupies our minds. When that happens, it is important to pay attention. That is another way that the Spirit conveys intelligence to us. Discernment in this case was in the acceptance that it was the Spirit of the Lord speaking to my friend, and acting upon it.
Another friend likes to tell this story about his conversion and baptism in the LDS Church. He married a woman who was an active member of the church. Through her years of gentle prodding he finally investigated the church seriously and listened to the missionary discussions. One day during this process he was thinking about the discussion he recently had with the missionaries. He was having a polemic with himself on the subject–you know, he was arguing the advantages and benefits of becoming a member or not. “Is this what God wants?” Maybe. Is this the right thing to do? I don’t know. There are some benefits to being baptized, your wife will be happy and the people in the church are really good people. What if its true? Maybe I should pray about it. Will the Lord really answer me?” Immediately a voice blurted out in his mind, “WHO DO YOU THINK HAS BEEN TALKING TO YOU!”
Spiritual Gift of Discernment
Up to this point I have been writing about how revelation and discernment manifests in us. I have also been describing that the adversary works somewhat in the same way, but has had a head start in making his voice familiar to us before we have really had a chance to know what is going on. I want to present some thoughts now on how to discern truth from false teachings, or how to discern false spirits.
The way the gift of discernment works in us, as a spiritual gift, is that we are able to perceive truth without an abundance of evidence, or any evidence for that matter. If we have the spiritual gift of discernment we are able to tap into “the record of heaven” which is the spiritual memory of valuable things we have forgotten because of the veil of forgetfulness that has been drawn across our minds when we were born.
“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 judgement.” (Moses 6:61)
Discernment is best described as the ability to distinguish between good and evil. But that may be too simplistic a definition. Moroni talks about discernment as the ability to judge righteously.
“For behold, my brethren, it is given unto you to judge, that ye may know good from evil. And the way to judge is as plain, that ye may know with a perfect knowledge as the daylight is from the dark night. For behold, the Spirit of Christ is given to every man that they may know good from evil. Wherefore, I shew unto you the way to judge. For everything which inviteth to do good and to persuade to believe in Christ is sent forth by the power and gift of Christ. Wherefore, ye may know with a perfect knowledge it is of God. But whatsoever thing persuadeth men to do evil, and believe not in Christ and deny him and serve not God, then ye may know with a perfect knowledge it is of the Devil.” (Moroni 7:3)
Discernment actually requires one to be a revelator. The Lord says he will show the way to judge. Discernment then is the beginning of salvation. What do I mean by that? Think back to the time when first introduced to the writings of Denver Snuffer, I remember reading his blogs first, before reading the Second Comforter. I recognized truth, but how do I describe it? I knew I was hearing truth, it was light, intelligence, and there was no contrariness in my discernment. It fit, it tasted good. “the way to judge is plain, that ye may know with a perfect knowledge, as the daylight is from dark.” It was like I was remembering something I had forgotten. I came to understand that the words I was reading were principles that would lead to a greater knowledge of the eternal worlds.
On the flip side of discernment is the work that the adversary does to prevent us from accepting truth. I remember from my missionary days trying to get people to read the Book of Mormon. The response I would often get is something like this, “I won’t touch that book, it is evil.” or, “I tried reading it, but just felt such negative feelings, I put it down.” The Lord does not work that way. He does not influence people with a feeling of fear. As He instructed Oliver Cowdery, ” if it is right I will cause that your bosom shall burn within you; therefore, you shall feel that it is right. But if it be not right you shall have no such feelings, but you shall have a stupor of thought that shall cause you to forget the thing which is wrong;” (D&C 9:7-9) Only the adversary will project feelings of fear and disgust. The Lord does not talk to you in negatives.
Several years ago Nancy and I spent some time in Kyoto, Japan, the old capital of Medieval Japan. Among the dozens of old temples, castles and palaces there is one castle called Nijo Castle, that was built in the 1500s or 1600s, that had floors that squeaked when you walked on them. It is called the Nightingale floor. The Floors are made of very dry boards that creak under pressure. The nails rubbed against a jacket or clamp causing chirping noises. Legend is that the floor was designed to detect robbers, or worse, Ninja Assassins in the night. I am reminded of Luke 8:26, “And now, truly I say these things unto you that you may know this, that the coming of the Lord is as a thief in the night… And it is like unto a man who is a householder who, if he watches not his goods, the thief comes in an hour of which he is not aware, and takes his goods and divides them among his fellow partakers. … And they said among themselves, If the master of the house had known what hour the thief would come, he would have watched and not have suffered his house to be broken through and the loss of his goods.“
The gift of discernment would be handy to have as we approach the time of the coming of Christ. Which signs do we pay attention to? Where do we go to prepare for Zion, when do we go? How will we know? I can promise you that there will not be an announcement from any pulpit. I am convinced the message will come to us individually in a dream or a spiritual prompting.** Are you confident that you are versed enough in the Spirit’s language to know when the time is right? Do you have the gift of discernment? Sometimes it is obvious when the Lord speaks to us, but if you’re not paying attention it will pass you by. All the squeaking of the floors in Nijo Castle will do no good if you don’t pay attention. You will be like the 5 foolish virgins who put their trust in the merchants (the world, men, or the name of someone you trust with your salvation), who were left behind..
I like the story told about the Stake Patriarch sitting on the stand before a stake meeting began. He was watching the chorister put the song numbers up on the song board. He turned to another brother on the stand and said, “She’s going to put up one of my favorite numbers.” Sure enough she put up the page number of his favorite hymn. What was the point of the Patriarch knowing that? There was no great heavenly purpose behind the revelation he received. I believe that he lived his life in such harmony with the spirit that some things could not be withheld from him.
Occasionally the Lord tests us by forcing us to use our discernment. If our motives are good, and we are not seeking selfish gain we will be able to access the source of truth within us. But if we have motives that are not right, or we have not spent enough time strengthening our tie to the heavens we will come to the wrong conclusion. King Saul was waiting for Samuel to come and sacrifice to the Lord before going to battle against the Philistines, but the people had gone into hiding because they were afraid of the Philistines. King Saul pondered what to do. If he didn’t do something quick his people would leave, and he would have no army to fight the Philistines. Why wouldn’t the Lord tell him what to do? He reasoned that the situation was crucial, he might lose the people if he didn’t act quickly. Samuel the prophet had told him to wait for him 7 days, but the 7 days were past. His men were losing confidence in his leadership, he might lose their trust. He decided to perform the sacrifice himself. It was a bad decision because Samuel ended up cursing him and the Lord took away the right of Kingship from him and his sons. Samuel had made his decision purely on the basis of fear.
Sometimes, as with King Saul, the Lord doesn’t answer you at all but makes you reach into the very core of your soul for the answer. When we have a hard decision to make, we sometimes will go to the Lord and ask him to tell us what to do, or if something we have learned is true. The Lord will often not answer. This is because He knows we already know the answer. By answering you, He may actually be infringing on your free agency. If your heart is right, you will do the correct thing or accept the truth you are trying to judge. If you are wrong you will eventually be confronted with the truth and the Lord will correct you. If you are right you will come to know you judged correctly.
Many people can not make decisions righteously because they want the easy thing or the thing which will improve their status, or they depend on the arm of flesh, or make decisions out of fear. Sometimes no answer is just that, a “no” answer. It might be best to postpone a decision if possible. But, to tell you the truth, because of Moses 6:61, you already know the answer. Also, it is important to point out that most people make assumptions about truth that guides their response. They accept the testimony of authority figures without testing it out themselves. Perhaps they are just too plain lazy to work out the truth or perhaps afraid to ask knowing the answer might not be to their liking.
So what are the actual mechanics of receiving revelation? How do we discern through the power of the Spirit? We are going to explore the experience of living by the word of the Lord. We are not talking about theology or doctrine anymore. We are talking about putting faith in action.
Joseph Smith said, “The best way to obtain truth and wisdom is not to ask it from books, but to go to God in prayer, and obtain divine teaching (TPJS p.191).
“It is the privilege of the children of God to come to God and get revelation” (Words of Joseph Smith, p.13).”If we have any claims on our Heavenly Father for anything, it is for knowledge…Could we read and comprehend all that has been written from the days of Adam, on the relation of man to God and angels in a future state, we should know very little about it. Reading the experience of others, or the revelation given to them, can never give us a comprehensive view of our condition and true relation to God. Knowledge of these things can only be obtained by experience…Could you gaze into heaven five minutes, you would know more than you would by reading all that ever was written on the subject” (TPJS p.324).
It is going to become more and more necessary to have spiritual discernment in the days ahead. There will be false prophets, false doctrine, false principles that will sound reasonable and will tickle your fancy. They will seem to be so light filled and logical that even the most elect (the Lord uses “very elect”) will be deceived. But, if your lamps are filled, like the wise virgins, it will work out. You may be deceived on occasion, but hopefully you have enough of the Spirit of the Lord and discernment that you will not be fully taken in and be able to course correct.
There will be many deceptions that will come as we approach the second coming of Christ. It will be chaotic. I believe that we must be prepared to be able to sort out truth for ourselves. We cannot and must not rely on any man, whether he be pastor, priest, prophet or president, to tell us what to do, especially when it comes to questions of salvation (physical and spiritual). Even Joseph Smith had lapses in discernment. One of the greatest purposes of life is to be able to rise above the noise and make decisions on our own, because if you are to become like Christ you must be able to act like Him. It will be required of you to have the gift of discernment and experience enough to be able to call upon the Lord and receive an answer.
As you seek the gift of discernment here are some things to remember:
Behold, you have not understood; you have supposed that I would give it unto you, when you took no thought save it was to ask me. But, behold, I say unto you, that you must study it out in your mind; then you must ask me if it be right, and if it is right I will cause that your bosom shall burn within you; therefore, you shall feel that it is right. But if it be not right you shall have no such feelings, but you shall have a stupor of thought that shall cause you to forget the thing which is wrong; therefore, you cannot write that which is sacred save it be given you from me.” (D&C 9:7-9)
Some of the still, small voice’s characteristics are these:
- It’s heard in your mind: “Behold, the voice of the Lord came into my mind” (Enos 1:10). The spirit will be recognizable because the thoughts may seem foreign to you. You will think, “Where did that come from?”
- Sometimes it will come as an impression. You are driving, maybe coming home from the store or work, and the thought comes to you, “I should go visit so and so.”
- Typically the spirit will never command you to do anything. It will come as a gentle suggestion, but almost never as a command. Rarely, however, when the situation demands an action such as immediate danger, the Spirit will be more urgent; almost like a command. Later, much later, when you are fully matured in the Gospel of Christ, you may receive directives that will be like commands.
- It’s not always just a thought, but will sometimes be accompanied with a feeling. I believe that the Lord at times will tell you “in your heart and your mind”. The heart being the spiritual source of emotion or feeling. Your body will sometimes help you to recognize truth when you hear it because your bosom shall burn within you. Thus, the Spirit also speaks to your heart (D&C 8:2)
- It’s as gentle as a whisper: “It was not a voice of thunder, neither was it a voice of a great tumultuous noise, but behold, it was a still voice of perfect mildness, as if it had been a whisper, and it did pierce even to the very soul.” (Helaman 5:30). Nephi also reminded his brothers that an angel “hath spoken unto you in a still small voice, but ye were past feeling, that ye could not feel his words.” (1 Nephi 17:45).
- Most importantly, it will entice you to do good (Moroni 7:12-13) and speak peace to you (D&C 6:23)
- When in doubt about the answer, can you feel love in the answer? “…I will encircle thee in the arms of love” (D&C 6:20)
- Any thoughts that play to your ego, are enticing, or urge you to actions that are purely for your benefit are suspect.
- I have found that impressions that come to me while I am praying are almost always from the Lord. I pray with a notebook next to me so that I can record those communications. Sometimes they are impressions, sometimes answers to questions I have put to Him.
- Has this ever happened to you? While praying and asking if there is someone you need to help, a name pops into your mind. You think that is just your own thought and you disregard it. STOP! The Lord is answering your prayer, and you must act upon that impression as soon as possible or the opportunity will be gone. Often times, those simple, seeming random thoughts are not what they seem to be. They are words being spoken to you from the mind of the Lord.
- Often when asking the Lord questions I will not receive answers to my prayers until much later when I am doing other things. Answers will suddenly pop into my head out of the blue when I am washing dishes, mowing the lawn, reading a book, in a conversation with someone, or even watching TV.
- The Lord will sometimes communicate with us in dreams. Dreams are often prophetic. I have come to realize that we need to get into the habit of asking the Lord about our dreams, asking whether or not they have a meaning for us (they usually do). Discernment enters into it when we recognize that insights to dreams that come to us are from the Lord, and acknowledge them as such.
- There are many ways that the Holy Spirit communicates to us. The Lord communicates in a perfect way with us. As each of us is unique, when the Lord wants to talk to us He will do it in a way that is personal to us, using a “diversity of operations” (D&C 46:16). ——————————————————————————————————-**Note: Here is a link to an account of a group of farmers who were led by God to escape the Stalin purges in the Ukraine in the 1930’s. This is how I think the word will come to people to leave and prepare for Zion. It is called “A Call to the Churches in America” by Boris Sorokovsky. It is a sermon that contains an account of a people who learned to discern the Lord speaking to them: http://www.sermonindex.net/modules/newbb/viewtopic.php?topic_id=60526&forum=35
