Come Follow Me LDS- Thessalonians Part 2

'Covenant & Apostasy'
- Paul clarifies the timing of the Second Coming
- There will first be an Apostasy (Desertion)
- The Apostasy is part of a cycle of creation

 

 

 LDS Mormon New Testament Bible

 

in this episode we talked about Covenant

and apostasy here we go so this quick

media episode is on second Thessalonians

this is an epistle that Paul and

apparently Silas and Timothy wrote or

it's from the three of them that they

wrote to the community at the Salonika

shortly after 1st Thessalonians so kind

of the things that we just went over in

the last episode this is shortly after

that he writes a second letter to the

Thessalonians and it's kind of

interesting when you compare the two

because he kind of seems to have to pull

some things back and take a counter

approach on a couple of things but he

starts off here in Chapter 1 and he says

something that is reminiscent of

Doctrine and Covenants section 121 where

Joseph Smith is in Liberty jail and he

just he can't take it anymore and he

cries out to the Lord where is that

where art Thou O God and whereas I

pavilion and the Lord responds to him

and says several things but one thing he

says to him is that look you're not even

his job yet and you're certainly not

like me and what I had to go through and

there's this comparison then that the

Lord is making to Joseph Smith these are

the different degrees of suffering and

for righteousness right so in Paul this

is a theme throughout the epistles that

Paul talks about suffering for

righteousness and how that creates

goodness and in Liberty jail Joseph

Smith is told look

if you endure this well then it will be

counted as righteousness for you which

is a really interesting formula I think

when you think about it that is part of

our life here in mortality is to suffer

it's not that that's what the Lord wants

it's not what we want but it's part of

our learning process and it's part of

our maybe our purification process how

are we going to respond to adversity and

to suffering and of course the only way

we know that is to go through it and if

we endure it well if we learn the

lessons that we're supposed to learn

through this through suffering then it's

counted as righteousness for us so

that's what the Lord obviously went

through what Jesus went through is that

he suffered greater than anybody else

and obviously it is counted as

righteousness for him we're supposed to

as we learn be imitators followers

Mehmet I of Jesus of Jesus Christ and

part of that is suffering for righteous

sake and for righteousness and that's

what he says here to the Thessalonians

again remember they've been suffering

and persecuted through the Jews there

and maybe other places as well and this

is what Paul says to them here starting

in verse four he says so that we

ourselves glory in you in the Churches

of God for your patience and faith so if

you endure it well in all your

persecutions and tribulations that ye

endure five which is a manifest token of

the righteous judgment of God that ye

may be counted worthy of the kingdom of

God for which he also suffer so

worthiness comes through suffering or

that's one way worthiness is

is acquired is through suffering and

suffering for the right reasons or for

the right causes or purposes and then a

little bit lower in the chapter he talks

about those that are persecuting them

and talks about how judgment will be

coming to them and this is something

that the Lord says also in section 121

about those that are oppressing Joseph

and his friends and that there is going

to be judgment that speedily will come

to those that are fighting against

righteousness and he starts to lay the

groundwork here a little bit Paul for

this division right before between the

righteous and those that persecute the

righteous that there is judgment it does

matter and there's a separating

between the wheat and the chaff that's

part of the process we're gonna get into

that here as we go through the next

couple of chapters so in chapter 2 then

he comes back and he starts off in verse

1 talking about the Saints being

gathered so let's think about this theme

that Paul works with throughout the

entire well through all of his epistles

and that is the theme of covenant and so

it's again the Jews and the Gentiles

they're separate but they're going to be

brought together here the first shall be

last the last shall be first those with

different spiritual gifts will reach

down and pull up those that don't have

those spiritual gifts and those people

that are brought up who have other

spiritual gifts will be brought up to

others who don't have those spiritual

gifts and they work with each other it's

part of Covenant through faith hope and

charity and through the different

spiritual gifts so it's this way of

working together to become more one

coming together and that's what he's

starting with here I believe on purpose

with the first verse in chapter 2 here

so he's going to continue with this

theme of being gathered together in a

sense or of Covenant as he goes through

the rest of chapter 2 here he says here

in verse 2

that ye be not soon shaken in mind or be

troubled neither by spirit nor by word

nor by letter as from us think about the

last letter he wrote to them the first

Thessalonians as that the day of Christ

is at hand so as you recall in the

letter of the letter in first

Thessalonians he talks about the Lord is

going to come as a thief in the night

it's urgent it's like you're not you're

not gonna be ready you don't know when

it is and so that must be what's going

on here is that people are starting to

think like hey this is tomorrow this is

next week this is next month and so it's

taken to an extreme not of preparation

but actually the opposite it appears

here throughout the rest of these

chapters here in 2nd Thessalonians that

a lot of people are actually thinking

well I don't need to take care of this

and I don't need to take care of that

because the day of the Lord here is

coming very very quickly and so Paul is

gonna have to real things back in here a

little bit because of the reaction from

apparently his last epistle to them so

he's gotta weigh this out and balance

out this expectation and this principle

of waiting for the second coming of the

Lord so he follows up here and says in

verse 3 this is the verse that we are

most of us familiar with about the great

apostasy and the great apostasy right is

what happens after the Apostles here are

all killed off and the church starts to

fall away from its priesthood Authority

it's revelation it's organization and it

breaks down into different sects with

different values hierarchies in their

doctrine and different heresies and a

lot of paganism coming back into the

church and especially from the doctors

of Alexandria and the philosophers

philosophies of men start to come into

the church but here's what it says in

verse 3 let no man deceive you by any

means for that day shall not come except

there come a falling away first and a

number of different translations of the

new

here actually say until there is an

apostasy an apostasy means to stand away

from Apo would be coming out of our

away from and Stasy would be to stand

and so it's it means to stand away from

or really it would mean to desert

something right - actually desert

something or someone and so we can look

at an apostasy I think and especially

inserting here the knee whore principle

as deserting the ideas and the values

hierarchy of the gospel and deserting

the priesthood and deserting certain

doctrines and deserting Christ and the

fullness of the doctrine of Christ as

well that would be an apostasy because

you'd be deserting him and who he really

is so there has to be a falling away

first and that man of sin be revealed

the son of perdition so as we talked

about apostasy there is also what you

would say in Greek and apocalypse which

means a revelation or a revealing of the

son of perdition also so all heck has to

break loose before the Son of man will

return but again going back to verse one

here where he first he talks about a

gathering gathering together the Saints

think about how we talk about the

gathering of Israel president Nelson is

really big on this I love the way he

talks about this he puts us into the

whole grand picture of the Lost Tribes

of Israel and gathering all of Israel

back together something that had been

split apart dispersed is now being

gathered back together again in the last

days well it's the same thing with the

church and with the priesthood and with

the doctrine that is how things work

that is part of creation a much larger

principle if we're to step back and look

at this we see that

there are cycles of what we call

dispensations and what is a dispensation

a dispensation means dispensing the keys

of the priesthood dispensing the truth

dispensing the fullness of the gospel

and there has to be several

dispensations because when that is

dispersed then the church grows people

have the ordinances they have the truth

they build their families around these

things and then it slowly starts to

break apart and the priesthood is lost

truths are lost and the civilization of

Zion so to speak starts to corrupt and

dwindle away and then there is an

apostasy this isn't the only great

apostasy after the Apostles here right

there have been several before and that

is part of creation that's how it works

there is a separation of things an

apostasy standing apart and then there

is a gathering a bringing everything

back together and Paul I think

understands this very very well and so

he uses this type of language so that we

can see how this is all part of a

process and he's trying to explain to

the Thessalonians the exact principle

here that I'm talking about you have to

have a separation and being brought to

back together that's the whole plan of

salvation from a macro perspective as

well as a micro perspective macro in the

sense that Adam and Eve fell away from

God right and our whole job then in

mortality is to come back together with

him well the 12 tribes of Israel fell

apart from each other and we're supposed

to gather all of that back together

again the Jews and the Gentiles and the

tribes of Israel and the truth is broken

apart into several different factions or

the priesthood and the doctrine of

Christ is lost and falls away it deserts

the people when they don't believe and

so then there has to be a new

dispensation of the keys and the truths

and then everything is brought back

together again and so Paul is using that

language throughout the epistles and we

see it right here in second

Thessalonians so he's trying to reel the

Thessalonians back in a little bit and

saying look don't worry so much about it

yes he's coming as a thief in the night

but it may not be tomorrow it may not be

next week there's a lot that has to

happen here still so move on with your

life and work with faith hope and

charity and then he gives us a clue

about how things are already happening

here to break things apart again he says

here in verse 7 for the mystery of

iniquity doth already work only he who

now letteth will let that's Christ

letting Satan do his job until he be

taken out of the way it's another

process right he's here and then it's

going to be taken apart so when he talks

about judgment and about the people in

the church and those that are also

persecutors that's the other side of

bringing things together you can bring

and gather Israel gather the Jews and

the Gentiles here the Greeks and bring

them together but even from that group

there's going to be a sifting right

there's going to be a breaking apart

between the righteous and the

unrighteous between the oppressors and

the oppressed so to speak between the

faithful and the unfaithful bringing

bringing things together and then things

falling back apart and then in verse 10

he explains why this happens with some

people and why they fall apart it comes

down to that very important principle it

says and with all deceivableness if

that's even a word and unrighteousness

in them that perish because they

received not the love of the truth that

they might be saved

so they don't have the desire right

they've lost the desire and think about

how that desire works there are

missionaries like Paul here who goes out

and paints the picture brings the spirit

and changes hearts and people begin to

desire what Paul is talking about and

understand the truths and then

eventually some of those people turn and

their hearts turn right that means that

really their desire changes they began

to desire other things that become more

important to them and their values

hierarchy begins to alter and so they

lose the love of the truth and you can

see how that principle how the love of

the truth would drive and individuals

actions would drive your actions would

drive my actions that would be righteous

if I really have that desire to really

chase the truth a little further down in

13 he says but we are bound to give

thanks always God for you brethren

beloved of the Lord because God hath

from the beginning chosen you to

salvation what is the beginning again

the beginning is the counsel of God it's

the premortal counsel the sod that

we have in Hebrew and what we have in

Genesis in the beginning right bellick

sheets is that is the Hebrew is the

counsel it's the pre-existent

period it's not the beginning of when

the earth is created it's the premortal

life it's the counsel in heaven so Paul

is saying that these members had been

chosen in that counsel in the beginning

they had been not predestined but four

ordained and then in 15 therefore

brethren stand fast and hold their

traditions which he have been taught

whether by word or our epistle tradition

is very important there are good

traditions and there are bad traditions

like we learn in the Book of Mormon that

the Lamanites are blinded because of the

tradition of their fathers

they have the wrong traditions and the

Nephites cling a little closer to the

right traditions and you can see that

happening in like even in the West right

now where you have a big change in

traditions not necessarily for the

better as Christianity begins to slow

down and fall apart and become less of a

primary and core part of people's lives

those traditions are being lost and I

mean that as far as every sect of

Christianity everywhere

I love seeing things from like the

Orthodox Church and the Catholic Church

the Episcopalians the Church of England

and seeing you know very

tradition rich I may not agree with

everything but you can understand how

rituals and certain traditions that can

be carried on and passed down are

important to a civilization to a family

to an individual and to be able to

repeat those things and then they can

give that to their children etc

strengthens the culture and it

strengthens the people think about the

Jews they have been scattered everywhere

mass murdered and put aside in many

point at many points in history in many

parts of the world but even though we

don't agree with all of the traditions

and even though a lot of the Jews today

are secular there are certain traditions

that are still there and it helps it

helps a people survive and so Paul is

saying hang on to those traditions that

we have taught you and who knows what

that might mean we can think of today a

family home evening we can think of you

know what we might do together as a

family on a Sunday what we do honor

holidays church activities family

activities etc it's an important part of

sticking together as a family and as a

people and then he gives a word of

warning he talks about those that are

not

pulling their weight in the church

they're not working and maybe some of

them are even getting a handout but not

working and he seems to imply here that

some of them may be people that again

are saying hey Christ is coming here

soon what's the point and so he's saying

he talks about work and how it's

important that everybody work for

themselves and earned their own keep and

that's a important principle right it's

an important principle even if something

was coming up shortly you need to work

to earn your own keep and you can see in

different societies and even in

different cultures within the west where

welfare comes in and dominates someplace

it destroys a community completely

destroys a community you need to do the

exact opposite again that is misplaced

empathy that actually destroys and

doesn't help and so by teaching work and

producing something so that you can

enjoy the fruits of your labor and you

can wax confident in your skills and

your capabilities and your leadership

and your parenting and growing up

learning the same types of skills is

crucial and that's starting to fall away

here maybe there is a little bit too

much welfare going on within the church

here or something so he says here in

verse six now we command you brethren in

the name of our Lord Jesus Christ that

you withdraw yourselves from every

brother that walketh disorderly and not

after the tradition which he received of

us tradition of work tradition of

service tradition of obedience and

whatever else they had planted there in

Thessalonica but he's talking again

about a separation right

you've been gathered together you're all

being gathered together but there is

also on the other side of that

separation that needs to occur and we

have that today

we still have that today we don't like

it we don't push for it obviously but we

have disfellowship what does that mean

to be disfellowshipped

it means that you're pulled apart

hopefully it's just kind of a one three

five game suspension so to speak and

then you're back in the game and then we

also have excommunication right which is

obviously goes well beyond that but

there is still separation even as we are

gathering things together and he says

hear about this work about a work ethic

in verse 10 he says for even when we

were with you this we commanded you that

if any would not work neither should he

eat so that's a pretty good principle

unless you're disabled right unless

you've got a real problem everybody

should be working and producing it's

just healthy and I think that we do a

pretty good job of that in the church

there's a welfare where it's needed but

it's usually shorter term and it's

usually with an arm around you helping

you try and get back on your feet so

Paul has gone over again covenant cloven

ear bring together there has to be

separation constantly going on and there

has to be bringing together constantly

going on that is what we read in Genesis

in the creation story and in the story

of the Garden of Eden and uses that to

teach this lesson to the people in

Thessalonica that look I mean there's

still a major separation in apostasy a

desertion that needs to happen before

the Lord is going to come back before

again there is a coming together of God

and man but even as we await that we

need to work we need to serve we need to

grow

and we need to produce I'll talk to you

next time

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