Come Follow Me LDS - Doctrine and Covenants 49-50
May 12, 2021
Doctrine and Covenants Sections 49-50 are similar to what we find with the Children of Israel who were wandering in the desert. They encountered other "religions" and "gods" that were not of Jehovah. The Shakers had some unique beliefs that the Lord, through Joseph Smith, refuted, such as celibacy, shaking, and dismissing baptism and marriage. We learn through these sections that certain"spirits" can appear at first to be from God, but they are deceivers.
Raw Transcript
all right
all right welcome to the quick media
come follow me series we are covering
doctrine and covenants sections 49 and
50.
at this point i think we should look at
a parallel
again to a previous dispensation as
we've brought in these layers of
doctrine and commandments
that are coming through joseph smith
from different
different things that come up right he
asks questions about
what should be done there are issues
problems simple questions that need to
be asked
as he's launching this dispensation
look back at moses another dispensation
where he goes up on sinai and
he brings down the law right the law of
moses
so back in section 42
which was back i believe february of
1831 we're going to be talking about
may of 1831 here with sections 49 and
50.
but that's where we get basically the
law of god
like moses being on sinai that's in
section 42
and then in 45 remember we get
the prophecy about the end of times and
about the translation of matthew and
and uh the signs of the times
and this is something that really gives
purpose to
the saints who are feeling all this
adversity and the shame
from everybody that is piling upon the
mormons
and criticizing what they're doing
and so they need purpose and so they get
that seeing that they are the gentiles
that are part of this great prophecy
of the latter days they find greater
purpose this is just
like moses and the children of israel
remember how much they were murmuring
and he comes down with a law and then
they're to go out and they they're to
find
purpose they need strength right and
they get the manna from heaven
and then eventually they get the the
water from the
rock right and
and this is representative of of jesus
christ this is a representative kind of
of like the
the passover meal of the sacrament the
eucharist
but it's something that sustains them it
gives them
strength it gives them purpose and so
they're being taught in the wilderness
as they
go and travel through the wilderness
these 40 years
uh of of having purpose in what their
journey is
and this is i think very similar to
what's happening with the saints right
now
and yes later on we look at brigham
young as kind of an exodus figure kind
of a moses figure
who's helping them in the exodus out of
the united states over into the mexican
territory of
utah right but
it's the same thing here as well we get
the law we find purpose in their
wandering and of course we're going to
see
the saints wandering an awful lot and
battling in a sense many of the local
towns and counties throughout new york
and kirtland ohio and coming down into
missouri and up into illinois
right and so it's very similar to
to what happens with the uh the
wandering children of israel
and as they wander they have battles and
they they come upon
other canaanites that are
worshiping other idols and and different
gods
and so they are you know there's there's
a problem there they don't want
it's a very important to moses that they
not worship other idols
and have false doctrines we can say and
so this is what happens here in section
49. we've seen some of these sections
where where you have
a different doctrine that comes in and
there's questions that are being brought
to joseph smith
this one is about the quakers who are
the actually the shakers the quaking
shakers
who are who who came from the quakers in
england
and they left because of persecution
they came to the united states
and there's about 18 different
communities of
shakers in the united states at this
time
and the shakers get their name because
of what they do right they
uh i i've seen this i i in certain
certain groups of born-again christians
and so the shakers they shake right as
they as if they've got the spirit
so to speak and they'll speak in strange
tongues and they'll do things that are a
little bit
strange to us and there is one saint
among them named
lehman copely who had been a shaker
and the shakers had a lot of different
types of doctrines
they were pacifists they did not believe
in any wealth
right kind of like that stoic idea that
paul
often times faced in the new testament
they believed a lot in in celibacy
all right it was pushing off everything
physical
that you possibly could which is
something we don't believe in
right we believe the body is actually
sacred and should be it's the way we
treat the body not that the body is bad
or that physical things are bad but it's
the way we treat them
it's do we give them the spirit right do
we master
the body do we mas master the physical
things around us
but in a more of a stoic type of uh uh
denial the shakers
were had were very much
following the the doctrine of of
celibacy
they didn't believe in baptism they
thought that went away with the ancient
uh the ancient apostles they believed
that they had already
started the millennium they were
they believed that ann lee who was one
of the shakers
uh that i believe had come out of
england was the actual messiah she was
the messiah
and that when she passed away and during
her ministry that was the ushering in of
the millennium
now of course they don't believe in the
resurrection of the flesh because there
can't be any flesh
so this is where lehman copely comes in
so he
is taught the gospel he believes the
gospel
but he's hanging on to a lot of these
old doctrines these
false gods so
leaving copely is is an interesting
character he's in and out of the church
a couple of times
he he has land in new york he allows a
lot of the saints to settle on that land
improve the land he's going to end up
moving back to the shakers after he
accepts the gospel
and and takes the land away from these
members of the church
he then accepts the gospel again but in
a trial he bears false witness on
purpose
against joseph smith he's excommunicated
for this
uh he later apologizes for
his false witness to this against the
prophet
and then he's accepted back into the
church right he repents and he's
accepted back into the church
but he never goes with the saints
anymore he never goes to missouri
he never goes to illinois he never goes
to utah
with with the saints
and he ends up dying in ohio in 1860
so he's the one really that triggers
this this section
and and some of the doctrines that we
receive through this section
so in verse 1 hearken unto my word my
servants sidney
and parley and lehman for behold
verily i say unto you that i give unto
you a commandment that you shall go and
preach my gospel
which ye have received even as ye have
received it
unto the shakers um
by the way the shakers i was going to
give you a story on that i remember
there's a strangest thing for me as
being an lds kid
and not being around this at all i went
once with i had a
couple of friends that were girls and
they when i was in high school
there were neighbors of mine and they
invited me you know
at disneyland we used to have mormon
night
they called it mormon night and all the
kids and the families and everybody
would go at a special price
and almost everybody in the park at
disneyland was
lds and they did that maybe once a year
or
once every other year or something like
that for because i grew up in orange
county
california well this was christian night
and and so i or christian day or
whatever they called it and so
i went there with these these friends
they weren't very
religious but they were kind of
associated with them
and uh just some strange experiences i
went in
uh a lot of this was the time of punk
rock so there were a lot of punk rock
christian bands that were
playing everywhere that was interesting
some screaming and some pretty hard
metal that was going on with uh with
talking about christ that was very
different from
you know the hymns we sing but then
we went into this room a bunch of us
went into this room or were invited into
this room
and we all sat down uh around this table
and it was a prayer meeting and there
were some of them were
teenagers and there were a few kind of
these adult leaders that were there
and they'd go around and pray and i kid
you not as
as each one finished praying they would
keep their eyes shut and they would
start shaking
and then the next person would pray next
to them and they would start
shaking after they were done and then
the next person and the next person
right there's
probably a dozen of us around this whole
thing and i'm still sitting there
and they're coming around to me and i'm
like what am i going to do
i i you know what i'm i'm not going to
just fake this
and so i just i just bowed out i just
kind of put my hands up and said you
know i'm passing and my friends didn't
do it either they weren't that religious
actually and and then it just kind of
kept going but it was you know it's
this is something that's done in some
christian sects even today
the shakers it's where they get their
name um
but so they're sent out sydney and
parley and layman are going to be sent
out
on a mission back to the shakers and
they're going to take
this section 49 to them and preach to
them
about the wrong their wrong ways and the
things that the lord has said here
and they're not going to be very
successful with it right they're going
to be kicked out and this is where
layman copely actually kind of is not
happy about it and he ends up going back
to the shakers
but i want to drop down here to
verse five because again i'm going to
bring this up
i think it's important to bring up and i
i bring it up often
uh and that's about the whole idea of
justice and mercy
of of works and grace and
they're both right we want to make sure
we have both and i i
this is just my emphasis here on this
um i think a lot of times uh those that
have
a a voice in the church i'm not talking
about
authorities i'm talking about those that
have a voice we lean sometimes these
days
kind of almost as a an over correction
i think in my view on works and grace
and so we're really into grace right now
that pendulum is swung all the way over
and and it's all pleasant and and god is
so kind and
and he is and he's so loving and all
these things that's that's wonderful but
it's not the only thing we should focus
on
right i don't think it's the only thing
we want to focus on and so
i think it's important to read the
scriptures and see what they say
verse 5 thus saith the lord for i am god
and have sent mine only begotten son
into the world
for the redemption of the world
this is important and have decreed that
he that receiveth him
shall be saved and he that receiveth him
not shall be damned or held off from
progress that's what that means
right so we have to accept christ it's
not just accepting him but the doctrine
of christ
which would include baptism which the
shakers did not believe in
and and otherwise we're going to be held
off from progressing so our works matter
our decisions matter
okay and then he goes right into more of
the doctrine of christ here in verse six
and they have done unto the son of man
even as they listed
this is important why is he just
mentioning this again why would this
matter
right why does it matter that we're
being told that he suffers here that he
was
people did with christ with jesus the
what they wanted to do with him
that's what we're being told it's
because that's the suffering servant of
isaiah
that's that's what it is that's what the
doctrine of christ is
he had to lure himself below all
right this is the suffering servant and
they have done it to the son of man even
as they listed and he has taken his
power
on the right hand of his glory so he
goes right in from
all these things were done to him he
lowered himself below everyone but like
in baptism or we raise up
right he was raised up because he
lowered himself again the opposite of
the great and spacious building where we
lift ourselves up
instead of lowering ourselves to be the
servants for those around us
so here is the doctrine of christ
and he now reigneth in the heavens
and will reign till the descends until
he descends on the earth
to put all enemies under his feet
remember
the footstool right the footstool is the
hierarchical structure
and it's saying that the king the
footstool is where the feet are going to
go on
when he sits on a throne in the in the
temple of solomon
that beca the ark of the covenant
becomes the footstool
at first it is the throne but later
there's a larger throne
built and and the ark of the covenant
becomes the footstool
and you'll see this these paintings in
ancient civilizations in the middle east
and actually outside of the middle east
also where there is a footstool
and there will sometimes be people below
that footstool or
under that footstool showing showing the
that the king is over these people right
it's a hierarchical structure
so with the doctrine of christ here we
have this symbiotic
uh uh relationship between lowering
yourself
and suffering and being raised up
and reigning as king or queen
right they go hand in hand that's how
you do it the greatest among you shall
be the least among you the least among
you is the greatest among you
and where the shakers believed that the
millennial millennium had already
started and
and ann lee was the messiah this is
clarification on this in verse 7 i the
lord god have spoken it
but the hour and the day no man knoweth
when he's going to return neither the
angels in heaven nor
th shall they know until he comes
and our time frame here well at least
for now
in 1831 here in may wherefore i say to
you that i have sent unto you mine
everlasting covenant
the new ever new and everlasting
covenant
administered by the melchizedek
priesthood the higher law
even that which was from the beginning
we think about the beginning here i do
as the council in heaven and coming back
to the doctrine of christ in the great
and spacious building
and that which i have promised i have so
fulfilled and the nations of the earth
shall bow to it they will bow to the new
and everlasting covenant
remember christ is at the center of that
he
the higher law is what comes from heaven
well the center of what comes from
heaven
is the condescension of god it's jesus
christ
and if not of themselves they shall come
down for that which is now exalted of
itself the great and spacious building
shall be laid low of power just like
we're told the great and spacious
building shall collapse and then right
into further into the the doctrine of
christ
because again this is clarifying against
what the shakers believed
repent and be baptized we've talked
about that in the name of jesus christ
according to the holy commandments for
the remission of sins
and whoso doeth this shall receive the
gift of the holy ghost
i submit myself into the fluid hierarchy
i'm lowering myself i'm going to bear
burdens of others i'm going to produce
charity and good works and therefore i
receive
the blessings of heaven through the holy
ghost right it's it's
just like that's why we do it the way we
do it so we have the baptism of water
first because that's what it represents
and then we have the baptism of the
spirit
which is coming from on high right we
sit down in the chair
someone's above us that is representing
the lord with our hands on our head and
they give us the gift of the holy ghost
that's where the blessings come from
that's the higher law
and then of course he clarifies here
with marriage right because again
the shakers are they believe in celibacy
and therefore they don't believe in
marriage
right which is honestly where
where where charity is built
right charity is built in families first
and foremost
and uh not that you can't have charity
outside of that but that is
that is a laboratory it's a laboratory
of charity
is a family and so he says here and
again verily i say unto you that whoso
forbideth to marry
is not ordained of god for marriage
is ordained of god unto man just like
our family proclamation
now this is before polygamy he says
wherefore it is lawful that he should
have one wife
and they twain shall be one flesh again
this is going back to
the doctrine of the garden of eden
and and again we should we should try
when we're reading these scriptures
we should try to pull back to that story
as much as we can
and try to identify that doctrine
there's a reason
it is the core of the story of the
temple
right it's we we want to tie
things back to that that temple imagery
and drama
is real important there that interpreter
and then 18 and 19 are very interesting
because
here we've got something in 49 that is
uh very different from what we get a
couple years later with section 89.
this is all this is something i don't
understand
i've had an issue with this honestly i
mean i don't know if you guys have
brought this up before if you this is
something that has been
uh uh confusing to you this has been
always confusing to me i wrote a
short blog post on this maybe six or
seven years ago
um but here's here's 18 and 19.
it says and whoso forbidden to abstain
from meats because the shakers
many of them would not would not eat
meat
that man should not eat the same is not
ordained of god so abstaining from meats
is not ordained of god and that's
so you start thinking yourself okay well
what about vegetarianism and
veganism in these things he says it's
not ordained of god
19 for behold the beasts of the field
and the fowls of the air
and that which cometh of the earth is
ordained for the use of man
for food and for raiment right it's
where we get you get your material for
your clothing
and that and that he might have in
abundance so
it's it's
here it's saying that that you should
have an abundance of the meat
and of the rainment right that's that's
what it's made for it's for man
it's like we get in the garden of eden
story right
well of course that's different from
what we get in section 89.
and so section 89 we'll get to but
that's
section 89 uh talks about
food the meat being in times of cold and
in
winter and famine and things like that
of when it's best to meet but it should
be eaten sparingly outside of that
so it's conflict there that's a conflict
to me
and and i don't i haven't had an answer
to that i've looked for it
i've even prayed about this i i do not
have an answer to this
and and and maybe it's because for
myself i do eat a lot of meat
because that's what makes me feel best
that for my body for my diet
that is what makes me feel the best is
when when i have
plenty of protein now it does say here
coming down to 21 and woe bend a man
that shedeth blood or that wasteth flesh
and hath no need right so the
the so killing animals without having
the need for them
that is that's a sin right that's that
should not be done
right so if you're hunting it should be
done for the meat
and then talking about ann lee of the
shakers here specifically in 22 and
again
verily i say unto you that the son of
man cometh not
in the form of a woman neither of a man
traveling on the earth
i brought this up in a previous episode
that i did on quick show
but there's a lot of
different christologies i'm going to be
talking about this a lot more
because this is becoming a problem in
christianity
christology is the is the
academy's way of interpreting
theology of christian theology that's
the terminology that they use
it's how they describe the doctrine of
christ
really is what it is and and
so here's an example of a perversion of
the doctrine of christ
right they believed that christ had come
in the form of a woman
well there are christologies out there
today that i have read
from academics
that that talk about christ as a woman
right and so it's he's making it very
clear here
and don't think that's not something
that that
members of the church can start talking
about it it's
it sounds crazy but
we're we're we're treading on some
interesting ground right now
with with the world and and where
a lot of ideology is is creeping into
christianity right now
and 23 is kind of interesting because it
says it's talking about the coming of
the son of man
talking about the the second coming it
says wherefore be not deceived
okay we need to be thinking about that
really hard right now
these these ideologies are going to come
crashing in
to christianity they already are they're
going to come crashing into the church
because they are devouring everything in
their path right now
and so we're being told right here this
is a
this is directly to us today to
understand
this there are a lot of ideologies
that are not from god right and and
and here he says wherefore be not
deceived but continue
in steadfastness looking forth for the
heavens to be shaken
and the earth to tremble and to reel to
and fro as a drunken man
and for the valleys to be exalted before
i finish this off he's saying
follow the signs of the times right
follow the signs of the times and learn
those
time those signs of the times so that
you know and you're not you're not
you're not uh you're not deceived into
thinking that christ was a woman that
hardy already showed up
well for us today be not deceived of
false
christologies you need to look for that
remember when i've said this it's coming
right that is going to be coming soon
so talking about the signs of the times
part of that is for the valleys to be
exalted
right those will be lifted up and for
the mountains to be made
low and for the rough places to become
smooth and all this when the angel shall
sound his trumpet well
that think about joseph smith's
uh section 76 of his vision there what
does he say about the earth
well it's it's flat and smooth like
glass
so whether that's literal or not i don't
know
but it's talking about the earth
becoming
a a large seer stone a large arm and
thumb
a a a large glass and moving toward a
a celestial state and a couple of more
signs that were given here before all
this happens
but before the great day of the lord
shall come jacob shall flourish
in the wilderness that's israel
right that's the the the all of it all
of the lost tribes of israel and the
jews
uh what we know of the jews today and
the lamanites
who are a remnant of the house of israel
shall blossom as the rose
so we may be seeing that already or we
may not have seen that yet
we know that throughout latin america
and throughout the united states that
those that
have uh um latino blood
in them right are are definitely
growing and developing and becoming
members of the church
that's that's i think that's all a part
of this i don't think it's all going to
be within the church
but we need to look for the lamanites to
blossom as the rose then i like this in
26 through 28 to end off this section
here it says
behold i say unto you go forth as i have
commanded you
repent of all your sins ask
and ye shall receive knock and it shall
be opened unto you this is temple
imagery here
and and it's it's saying look be in a
spirit of prayer
be submitted into the fluid hierarchy so
that you can be blessed
so that you can receive the gifts of the
spirit right
behold i will go before you
and be your rear word think about the
the
the exodus and and you see you think
about the column
right a fire light that was with them
that went before them
and he's saying look i'm going to be
before you i'm going to be behind you
and i'm going to be among you
as well think about
i i i would i would think about deseret
with this also with the jaredites
right with the with the with the bees
that were taken
with them i would i would think about
that as well i'm not going to go into
that right now but
that's that's another representation of
that and the children of israel had
something very similar to that as well
he says i will be here i will be go
before you i will be
your rear word and i will be in your
midst and you shall not be confounded
right so he's talking to these brethren
that are going to be going in as
missionaries to the shakers
because you're going to go in there and
you're going to be very confused about
this
different type of doctrine and you
remember the church is very very new
here
but he's saying look i'm going to be
with you and i think that's the same
with us today
if we stay in a state of prayer of
asking to receive and knocking so it
shall be opened unto us
and seeking so sh we will find those
three things right
then then we will not be deceived
right we're not gonna be confounded on
on other doctrines on other
christologies
so this is very very applicable to
to us today behold
in 28 i am jesus christ and i come
quickly
right again an overall 30 000 foot level
look at all of this
this is all to build up to the second
coming of christ
all right then in section 50 we want a
little bit of context for this
uh in understanding this section
remember that when the when the some of
the leaders of the church went the
the mission to the lamanites did not end
up
very fruitful for the most part i mean
some but but not very fruitful but where
it did end up fruitful was actually to
those in kirtland ohio right that's what
comes about from that mission to
to the lamanites back in november of
1830.
right now we're talking about may of
1831 so we're talking about six months
or so previous
is when all the conversions hundreds
at first you know start in in in
kirtland
and so from that time until now
on this this section here in may of 1831
you've got all of these new church
members you know coming in and gathering
and coming into kirtland
and and those that were already based in
kirtland
and you know there's not a whole lot of
leadership really
really structured yet at this time and
those that were leaders
were oftentimes gone um out to visit
joseph smith for example
in in new york for a while and etc
and so there's a lot of strange things
happening at this time with these
individuals and i guess i i can see it
being
very natural when you hear the story of
joseph smith in the first vision
and and the translation of the book of
mormon and
and all of these things and you know you
know you've got john the baptist show up
with the aaronic priesthood
peter james and john come back what and
you you believe in all this and you feel
the spirit
and you're converted and baptized
receive the holy ghost yourself
oh i've got the gift of the holy ghost
what does this mean
well what happens is is without the
proper structure in place that kind of
goes a little wild
right with those thoughts and so there
are many people as we've read in some of
the sections already that start having
visions and they start interpreting
these visions
and different spirits as they would call
them that would happen with different
people
and physically you know how they feel or
or shaking and you know it's the same
time that they're talking about these
shakers
and that that layman copley is is a part
of
right and so there's some instruction
that needs to take place here
in kirtland at this time
and so these are the words here of
parley p pratt
and this is what he says about about the
different branches of the church here
in in the kirtland area at this time he
says as i went forth among the different
branches
some very strange spiritual operations
were manifested which were disgusting
again i i just kind of get the feeling
like i had in that example that i gave
you at disneyland it's like this is
this is odd to me it's very strange um
rather than it was they were disgusting
rather than edifying so in other words
these were what the members oftentimes
would say were manifestations of the
spirit
of spiritual gifts paulie p pratt didn't
feel that way but he was confused
again what does he know about it yet
some persons would seem to swoon away
and make
unseemly gestures and be drawn or
disfigured in their countenances
others would fall into ecstasies this is
kind of what i saw
and be drawn into contortions cramps
fits etc others would seem to have
visions and revelations
which were not edifying and which were
not
congenial to the doctrine and spirit of
the gospel at least he had that
right in short a false and lying spirit
seemed to be creeping
into the church now why
do we need to understand that it's
because it's not just personal to us but
we need to watch out for that
and it's not necessarily that we're
worried about the contortions and the
cramps and the fits and different things
like that but
the the different ideas of where the
spirit
is coming from right and and what is of
the spirit and what is not of the spirit
is really important it's going to become
more and more important to us
to understand that i believe
he continues all these things were new
and strange to me
and had originated in the church during
our absence from kirtland
and previous to the arrival of joseph
smith from new york
again not a lot of leadership in place
here feeling our weakness and
inexperience unless we should err in
judgment
concerning these spiritual phenomena
myself
john murdock and several other elders
went to joseph smith
and asked him to inquire of the lord
concerning these spirits or
manifestations
after we had joined in prayer in his
translating room
he dictated in our presence the
following revelation
again what a an amazing experience right
to have been there with him
and going through that process so he
prays he
asks of the lord and section 50 comes to
him again
problems arise in the church and this is
where the doctrines come
so just a few things here in section 50
that i want to cover
verse two behold verily i say unto you
that there are many spirits
which are false spirits and which have
gone forth in the earth deceiving the
world
again going back to lehi's comments
about opposition in all things
i don't think it's just black and white
up and down right there is context there
is there is
different variations of things there are
many false spirits right
which have gone forth in the earth
deceiving the world
and we can think of this spirit in in
some ways
it's kind of like i would i kind of do
like a greek god
right or a roman god like pan
right who goes around and is deceitful
and and
and is trying to create chaos a little
bit
it's kind of a giving a a
personification to a movement of sorts
to an ideology and so he says
and also satan hath sought to deceive
you
that he might overthrow you
that is really interesting verbiage to
me
that he might overthrow you
why does he why is he trying to
overthrow you
what does that mean think about what you
try to do in a coup
right yeah a military coup you're trying
to overthrow
those in charge well
you're in charge you have your agency
in that way you are kind of like royalty
right you're a king or a queen
of yourself in that way in that regard
but satan is trying to deceive you and
the way he can overthrow you
is through that deception
it's through the false spirits
he can't overthrow you unless he can
deceive you
so again looking at those ideologies
looking at those things that that would
change your idea of where something
comes from
does it come from god or does it not
come of come from god
that's how he's working and
it's done in the name of god right
it's always done in the name of god he
says here behold i the lord have looked
upon you that's the church and have seen
abominations in the church
that profess my name
right think about again the garden of
eden
right what what does satan say about who
he is and he
actually is in many ways right i am the
god of this world
right it's it's it's the idea of of
changing
the symbol of the brazen serpent to
something else
to me there's something to that right
the brazen serpent is
jesus christ as moses holds it up the
healer
but lucifer is the serpent also
right and so you have the idea of of
of the venom right of of the serpent
and then christ being the healer of that
venom but also being a serpent
then he says behold verily i say unto
you there are hypocrites
among you right these are those that are
trying to deceive
who have deceived some which
which has given the adversary power
but behold such shall be reclaimed
but the hypocrites shall be detected and
shall be cut off
either in life or in death even as i
will
okay remember what a hypocrite is right
a hypocrite
is is an actor right it's someone who's
acting they're playing a part
and then down in 10 just like again we
get in isaiah
and now come saith the lord is after
he's talking about
being you know watch out for being
deceived he says and now come saith the
lord by the spirit unto the elders of
this chur his church
and let us reason together
right that ye may understand and what
he's going to do he's going to go into
a logical sequence here he's going to
reason with us because that's what we
have
reason is the lower law it's very
important we need it
right it's our capacity so he's going to
come down and he's going to walk through
things with us
reasonably
he says let us re reason even as a man
reasoneth one with another face to face
and then he goes through it now when a
man reasoneth he is understood of man
because he reasoneth as a man and so he
says
i the lord ask you this question undo
what were ye
ordained to preach my gospel by the
spirit even the comforter which was sent
forth
to teach the truth and then
receive these spirits which he could not
understand
and receive them to be of god and
in this are ye justified behold you
shall answer this question yourselves
nevertheless
i will be merciful unto you he that is
weak among you hereafter shall be made
strong so he's trying to clarify here
on how things are brought truth is
brought to you
about being able to discern things he
continues a little more here verily i
say unto you he that is ordained of me
and sent forth to preach the word of
truth
by the comforter in the spirit of truth
doth he preach it by the spirit of truth
or some other way and if it be some
other way it is not of god
so this is how we we try to do this
right this is the way it
should work typically works we have
those who are ordained
who teach by the spirit
so we need to be able to
feel the spirit not in an odd way
right i mean the spirit can we can we
take that in our minds
logically and think about what that is
what what is that feeling what is the
spirit
and identify that so that when other
things come to us
we know immediately that is not of the
spirit
that would be an important thing to work
on and that's what he said before here
in verse 16 when he said
he that is weak among you hereafter
shall be made strong
well that's how you do it right you work
on learning the spirit
and it says wherefore he that preacheth
and he that receiveth
understand one another and both are
edified
and rejoiced together that's part of our
charity right our relational covenant
the one preaching and the one receiving
and that which doth not edify
is not of god and is darkness
that which is of god is light and he
that receiveth light
and continueth in god receiveth more
light
and that light growth brighter and
brighter until the perfect day
so the spirit is transferred
right or magnified from
one ordained person to
another
it works among people it works in
communication
it works in that dbr right that's how
that dbr follows the spirit
or the spirit follows the dbr
and who is the one who is ordained well
he's like christ
26 he that is ordained of god and sent
forth the same is appointed to be the
greatest
notwithstanding he is the least
and the servant of all so that's another
way to identify
the right people right
i can see how christ is the greatest
because he's willing to do everything
for everybody else
he's willing to bear the burdens of
everyone
he's willing to serve everyone because
of his love because of his charity
so that would be an important
distinguisher
from those who would claim to be
preaching something
of the spirit and if we continue with
that growing light
and distinguishing things by the spirit
it says and by giving
heed and doing these things which ye
have received
and which he shall hereafter receive and
the kingdom is given you
of the father and power to overcome
all things which are not ordained of him
right so we go from being weak in these
things to being strong
and being a part of the kingdom to overc
and having the power to overcome all
things
but it is a process it's a process
40. behold ye are little children and
you cannot bear all things now
you must grow in grace and in the
knowledge of the truth
and how do we do that with our agency
with our works
and by following the example of the
savior
which is a major part of the doctrine of
christ because
he overcame everything and bore
all things right following 40 and 41 is
fear not
little children for you are mine and i
have
overcome the world and you are of them
that my father hath given me
i have done this you can do this
it's not the same level right but i have
overcome all things you can grow to a
point where you have power to overcome
all things
and i find that to be one of the
greatest strengths
of the atonement of the sacrifice of
jesus christ
it's not just that he paid for you
right it's that he is your example and
there is no greater example
than what he did in gethsemane and on
the cross
that's his example to us for us to be
like him
and i think that that's what we do when
we get baptized and receive the holy
ghost
and renew that every sunday with
the sacrament is to be like him to
remember him
so that we can become like him
and just like always when we get this
about the the doctrine of christ
we get the doctrine of the godhead not
the trinity
and the father and i are one
i am in the father and the father in me
and in as much as ye have received me
ye are in me and i in you
right it's union so the father
and the son are one just like we can
also be one with them
in the same way
so we follow his example as we get in
the following verse to end here
wherefore i am in your midst and i am
the good shepherd
and the stone of israel we can think of
the cornerstone
he that buildeth upon this rock shall
never fall
so we build upon the sacrifice of jesus
christ on the doctrine of christ
and we learn through these two sections
here how to help us
discern what is coming from god and what
is not
these principles are eternal and they
come back around over and over again
and so just as there were bad spirits so
to speak
in the time of joseph smith and parley p
pratt and here in kirtland
there's there's going to be more bad
spirits among us
and and we need to be careful of of what
we
believe are we being edified by this do
we feel the spirit
yeah are is there a you are you edified
and i am edified
as we listen to something
is it centered on the doctrine of christ
i'll talk to you next time
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