Month: September 2020

The Test

Growing up in the LDS church I was taught that I was extra valiant in the preexistence life, which is why I was born into a special covenant. It meant that I didn’t have to be tested in finding and choosing the correct church; it picked me. I didn’t have to search for God, I only had to endure to the end in order to achieve salvation. I always wondered about that. Why did I deserve this special treatment? Why did I earn a special seat at the table with Christ and Abraham, while people like Gandhi, Mother (Saint) Teresa, St. Francis of Assisi (a favorite hero of mine), and a myriad of faceless and unknown saintly people who have lived, but are consigned to a lesser glory than me. Really? I guess their saintly acts don’t really count so much because they were born in a time when there was less light and the spirit wasn’t in abundance, according to the doctrine I was taught. I was told that they will be sufficiently tested so that they can choose, or not, to accept the ‘fulness’ of the gospel later. So there is to be some test of their innate spiritual nature that predisposes them to choose correct doctrine, and thus claim a greater glory. A test that, I was assured, I had already passed before I came to this earth.

There is a quote written by Joseph Smith that goes like this: “…A religion that does not require the sacrifice of all things never has power sufficient to produce the faith necessary unto life an salvation.” and, “It is in vain for persons to fancy to themselves that they are heirs with those, or can be heirs with them, who have offered their all in sacrifice,”…1

I have to tell you, I don’t think there is any test in heaven or the preexistence that can come close to comparing with the test mortality has to offer. I have also come to believe that the “test” is not really about choosing the “correct” dogma. The test is all about overcoming yourself, the world, seeking truth no matter where you find it, and living by the word of God. The soft words of a man who claims to hold keys of salvation who is telling you not to worry, “all is well”, will show you the way to another place, but not the celestial kingdom.

The Lord says he will spew the lukewarm person out of his mouth.2 The lukewarm personality is content with what he or she has been given and is afraid to dig any deeper for fear of having to rock the boat. They believe without question that truth is what another man tells you it is. Sometimes they even have good feelings about it; they will have a warm and emotional response whenever their pastor, priest, or apostle speaks to them. Listening to a good speaker at church and receiving emotional good feelings is not an answer from God that the speaker is telling you truth. It is only a response that the speaker is telling you what you have already made up your mind to be truth. Why is it that every religion believes that God speaks to them by the good feelings they have? I suppose the terrorist who walks into the market place with a bomb strapped around his chest also has good feelings about what he is doing.

Joseph Smith taught us the real test for discerning truth. He said, “ A person may profit by noticing the first intimation of the spirit of revelation; for instance, when you feel pure intelligence flowing into you, it may give you sudden strokes of ideas, so that by noticing it, you may find it fulfilled the same day or soon; (i.e.) those things that were presented unto your minds by the Spirit of God, will come to pass; and thus by learning the Spirit of God and understand it, you may grow into the principle of revelation, until you become perfect in Christ Jesus.“3 No where in scriptures does it describe receiving testimony from the Holy Ghost as being warm emotional feelings. You can receive chills and warm feelings as a response to the Holy Ghost, but it will be accompanied by knowledge and intelligence received in your mind, or as Joseph describes it in revelation: God will tell you, “in your mind and in your heart…“4

The seeker of truth will jump out of the boat if need be to follow light and truth. Beware when someone with authority says, “Don’t study that”, or, “Stay away from mysteries, it is the beginning of apostasy.” It is only a way to keep you from questioning, a way of controlling you. Ask God, He will answer your questions. Why listen to another man or woman who does not know the voice of God, even though they may claim it. The lazy person will assume that what they have been brought up to believe and were taught their whole life is the truth. But, the questioning person, the one who tests what he has been taught will find eternal life. God will not punish you for asking questions that show your doubt towards your tradition. It was meant that every person who lives on this earth be tested in this way.

A zealot will tell you not to question. A zealot will say that to question is a sin. But, the problem with zealots is that they tend to be fanatics, religious bigots. They project their desire for control with a faux religiousness that becomes stronger and stronger to protect the religious façade they project.5 They use such phrases as, “avoid the very appearance of evil” and devise ever more rules and commandments in order to justify themselves and to control. “God told me” or “the spirit said” or a revelation has been given. All of these claims have to be tested. You shouldn’t accept they are true without confirmation no matter who makes these claims because “it is the nature and disposition of almost all men, as soon as they get a little authority, as they suppose, they will immediately begin to exercise unrighteous dominion.“6

Religious bigotry is part of the pride of the Gentiles. It includes the idea that we Americans deserve a better station in the afterlife. Believing Baptists and other so-called fundamentalists7 (fun-damned-mentalists) believe that America is blessed, evidenced by its posterity, and they, and only they will be heaven bound, while everyone else will live in eternity in physical agony as punishment for not being Baptists. Most Protestants and American Catholics feel similarly entitled, although their concept of hell isn’t quite so horrific. Mormons believe (American Mormons anyway) they were extra valiant in the preexistence and thus deserved a better earth life and gained a special ticket to heaven. This is an insidious logic that damns people to assume they don’t have to “work out their salvation with fearing and trembling.“8 There is also no evidence, zero, that a person had earned prosperity in a preexistence in the scriptures. If anything, according to Alma (Alma 13) some spirits condescend from the preexistence to live an exemplary life of self sacrifice to teach others. They do not live a life of worldly abundance.

No, the real trial in life, the hardest test, is having been born in a tradition of exclusivity, where judgement and condemnation for leaving it is so strong that it is breathtakingly difficult to leave. Will you have a desire to seek truth, no matter where it is found, or will you stay comfortable where you are? Salvation comes at a sacrifice that is just as difficult as my pioneer ancestors sought it by leaving their families forever in England and Denmark and crossed the American plains dragging a handcart. It is supposed to be as difficult a test as the Jews who were thrown out of the synagogue and excommunicated in the days of the Apostles, or even the early Christians who became spectacles for the Romans in the Coliseum. It is supposed to be just as difficult as it was for Francis of Assisi to reject a wealthy inheritance from his father and live a life of luxury, to reject it and live a life of poverty and sacrifice. It was never meant to be easy. Thus, as Alma describes it, you must, “fear, and tremble before God, for ye ought to tremble.“9

The Gospel of Christ is a gospel of love, not of fear. And we should not have to fear asking questions or having doubts that we seek to answer. God will never, never, ever chastise you for wanting clarity. He may not give you the answer you want to hear, and He may not answer you right away, but my experience is He will always answer your questions if you present your questions in belief. But He will never be angry with you for wanting to seek and to obtain knowledge (Matthew 7:7-11). In fact, He encourages inquiry and dialogue. So, ask Him. Start a conversation with Him.

Notes:

1 Lectures on Faith, Lecture sixth.

2 Revelation 3:16. “I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot: I would thou wert cold or hot. So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spew thee out of my mouth.“

3 History of the Church, p.381.

4 D&C 8:2

5 “Zealots, ideologues, and tyrants are usually the people who feel that free speech is dangerous because it challenges their power.” Human Time Bomb, C.A.A. Savastano

6 D&C 121:39

7 Salmon Rushdie said, “Fundamentalism isn’t about religion, it’s about power.” and, “Zealots, ideologues, and tyrants are usually the people who feel that free speech is dangerous because it challenges their power.” Human Time Bomb, C.A.A. Savastano

8 Philippians 2:12

9 Jacob 15:26

Half a Time

“And after three days and an half the Spirit of life from God entered into them, and they stood upon their feet; and great fear fell upon them which saw them.” (Rev. 11:11)

There is something special about the half day mentioned in scripture. Its not three days, its three and a half days, precisely. Or sometimes its three and a half years, expressed in different ways, but always it means three and a half of some time interval. One example that I think is overlooked by most everyone is the command to build the Nauvoo Temple. This episode is really instructive to those who are open to it.

In January 1841 Joseph Smith received a revelation what would become the One Hundred and Twenty-fourth section of the Doctrine and Covenants. In it the Lord commanded that a temple be built so that He could “restore again that which was lost to you” (v. 28), which the Lord explained was the “fulness of the priesthood“. He said that He would grant “a sufficient time to build (it)” (v. 31). He didn’t mention how long a “sufficient time” was. What He did say was that He expected the saints to go to “work with their might and with all that they have to perform the work, and cease not their diligence.” (v. 49)

The Lord promised great blessings to the saints if they would be diligent and build the temple. First, they would have the fulness of the priesthood restored to them (v. 28). Secondly, the ancient ordinances would be revealed to them (v. 40). Thirdly, the Lord would “reveal hidden things hidden from before the foundation of the world‘ (v. 41). But the temple must be completed before these things would be given to them.

If they didn’t complete the temple there were a number of curses pronounced upon them:

  1. No fulness, no ordinances and no hidden things.
  2. They along with their baptisms for their dead would be rejected.
  3. The people will be moved from their place in Nauvoo.
  4. Instead of blessings there would be cursings, wrath, indignations and judgements

In the beginning construction was undertaken enthusiastically by the saints in Nauvoo. It was a costly venture, perhaps too ambitious an enterprise for the church which was in the process of recovering from the terrible ordeals of being chased out of Kirkland and mobbed in Missouri. But the blessings promised by Joseph and the Lord captivated the saints and kept them engaged. The problem was that progress on the temple was slow, too slow. The saints committed to spending one day in ten on the work of the temple, but, were slow to actually follow through with their promise. There were competing interests in the city of Nauvoo of mostly commercial nature and it was too much of a temptation to get involved in the speculation that gripped the people.

Money was to be made as the city began to grow and money began to flow into commercial ventures such as stores, construction, bars, and other enterprises. All of these activities competed for resources and labor which were needed for the temple. The lumber that was being shipped down from Wisconsin, meant for the building of the temple and the Nauvoo House, was being diverted into private concerns, the building of homes and businesses. Even the apostles and other leaders of the church were caught up in the speculation of the growing city.

Tithes of goods or tithes of labor were being given by the saints to help build the temple, but as Brigham Young characterizes the spirit of the giving:

“In the days of Joseph, when a horse was brought in for tithing, he was pretty sure to be hipped or ringboned, or have the poleevil, or perhaps had passed routine or horse-disease until he had become used up. The question would be, “What do you want for him? “Thirty dollars in tithing. and thirty in cash.” What was he really worth? Five dollars, perhaps. They would bring in a cow after the wolves had eaten off three of her teats, and she had not had a calf for six years past; and if she had a calf, and you ventured to milk her, she would kick a quid of tobacco out of your mouth. These are specimens of the kind of tithing we used to get.” 1

The temple was never completed. The walls were only half built by the time that Joseph and Hyrum were killed. Brigham Young continued building the temple until the Mormons were forced out of Nauvoo in 1846-7. But even then the temple was only a skeleton of a building when the Apostles snuck back into the city to dedicate it. Nevertheless, the temple was dedicated in the hopes that the Lord would accept a half finished temple project. Endowments were performed in it before its “dedication” with canvasses thrown up to separate the rooms because there were no interior walls. But the spirit-filled, ecstatic manifestations that accompanied the Kirkland Temple’s dedication were missing in Nauvoo. The heavens never registered it’s acceptance of the temple as in Kirkland. In fact, God’s rejection of the temple was complete when the temple was burned out in a great arson fire and then demolished in turn by a great storm and later by explosive devices.

In defense of the saints in Nauvoo and their exile from that place, people will quote D&C 124:49 as justification for their not being able to complete the temple because of being hindered by mobs. But the operative words in that verse are these: if…”those sons of men go with their might and with all they have to perform that work, and cease not their diligence,…”. I am sorry, but they remain under condemnation by those words.

It should also be considered that there was never an account written, or revelation given of the fulness of the priesthood being restored to the saints. There is no account of hidden things being revealed. The LDS church counts the endowment ceremony as the great ordinance, the fulness, that was presented to the church for their faithfulness. But the endowment was revealed by Joseph Smith in 1842 in preparation of the temple’s completion, not as a consequence and fulfillment of the promise to build a temple. Also, Joseph always meant for the temple to be a place where man meets God– in person.2 That was the great revelation, the fulness of the priesthood, that was to be restored. An example of what acceptance by the Lord would look like was the smoke and fire that took residence in the Tabernacle of the twelve tribes and later in Solomon’s Temple, and even in the Kirkland Temple.

What was given to the saints as a result of their failure to put God first was their removal from their place. They were cursed, judged, and forced to endure wrath and great indignations. That is not to say that they were totally rejected by God. He prepared a place for them in a desolate place that by their industry and focused labors were able to transform into an oasis. But they had to learn the lesson of all covenant breakers–God comes first. If you make a covenant with God that you will serve Him with all your might, you had better do so.

Kirkland Temple dedication

In contrast to the saints experience in Nauvoo is their earlier response to the Lord’s command to build a House of the Lord in Kirkland, Ohio. The revelation as a command was given on May 6, 1833 (D&C 94). The Temple was completed and dedicated on March 27, 1836. The dedication was accompanied with wonderful outpouring of the Holy Spirit along with revelations and reports of actual “burnings” and angels attending the dedications.

The contrast between the experience in Kirkland and Nauvoo is instructive. After three years the Kirkland temple was completed and dedicated with multiple indications of the heaven’s acceptance of the Saint’s efforts to build the temple. After three and half years of cajoling and pleadings from Joseph Smith to complete the temple in Nauvoo, the walls were completed only to the first story. From the time that Joseph Smith received the revelation to build the Nauvoo temple in January 1841 until he was killed in June 1844 would be 42 months, or three and a half years. Almost to the day.

What is important about three and half years and what does it have to do with all this? Three and a half years, or “a time, and times, and half a time” are mentioned a dozen times in the scriptures. It is significant. I tell the story of the failure of the Nauvoo Temple to be built and the 42 months period when Joseph and Hyrum were killed to register that is exactly what happened. The timing is sacred and indicates that the people failed. We may be under the same sacred requirement to live a covenant today even though the Lord has given us no declared time limit.

In Revelation 12:14: “And to the woman were given two wings of a great eagle that she might fly into the wilderness, into her place, where she is nourished for a time, and times, and half a time, from the face or the serpent.”

Daniel 12:5-7: ” And I heard the man clothed in linen, which was upon the waters of the river, when he held up his right hand and his left hand unto heaven, and sware by him that liveth for ever that it shall be for a time, times, and an half; and when he shall have accomplished to scatter the power of the holy people, all these things shall be finished. “

Daniel 9:27: “And he shall confirm the covenant with many for one week: and in the midst of the week (3 1/2 days) he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease, and for the overspreading of abominations he shall make it desolate, even until the consummation, and that determined shall be poured upon the desolate.“

Elijah sealed up the sky for three and and a half years so there was a famine in Israel. (Luke 4:25 and James 5:17)

Other mentions of a specific three and a half year period in prophesy: Daniel 7:25; Daniel 12:11 and 12; Revelation 11:3; Revelation 13:5)

I am not going to even try to interpret the meaning of the time + times + half a time, many people have commented on that and you can read books on that subject. Most assume that it is meant to convey a three and half year period of time, and the mention of a three and half year period several times in the scriptures supports that assumption. I can make an educated guess that it is meant to represent a very significant, perhaps sacred, interval in heaven. That bears out in the case of what happened in Nauvoo. It looks to be significant, pertaining to covenants; from the offering of a covenant to the execution of either a curse or a blessing, or both.

It can also be a period of time for purification, or the time that the Lord allows for a people to repent for the last time. Examples of this are the famine that Elijah declared in Israel, and also take a look at Daniel 7:25 which appears to be the time that the Lord allows a tyrant to try the saints. It seems to me, that by adding the “half” to the time interval, God is being very serious about the timing. He means what He says. It is mystifying why the Lord didn’t specify the time the saints in Nauvoo had to build the temple. I think He was testing them to see if they would turn to and build the temple out of love and not out of fear of missing a deadline.

In September 2017 a covenant was offered to us by the Lord. You can read about this here: https://thenorthstarchronicle.com/2018/09/19/new-covenant-of-2017-was-fortold/ and here: https://thenorthstarchronicle.com/2018/09/22/signs-that-2017-was-a-year-of-prophecy/. The written covenant can be found here: http://scriptures.info/scriptures/tc/section/158. In the covenant offered in September 2017 is contained this warning:

“But if you do not honor me, nor seek to recover my people Israel, nor teach your children to honor me, nor care for the poor among you, nor help lighten one another’s burdens, then you have no promise from me and I will raise up other people who will honor and serve me, and give them this land, and if they repent, I will abide with them.” (T&C 158:19)

I am not one to believe that we can foretell the exact timing of the Lord’s prophecies, but I don’t know, will something significant happen around late winter or early spring 2021? Will there be a temple offered to the covenant keepers, assuming that the people have kept their end of the covenant? Or will there be a cursing? Just thinking out loud.

Notes:

1 Journal of Discourses, 8:346

2 “No man can truly say he knows God until he has handled something, and this can only be in the holiest of holies.” “A proclamation of the First Presidency to the Church,” January 8, 1841, in Joseph Smith’s History, 4:269.