TG Mortality 32 - D&C 50

The topical guide for Mortality pulls us into this section of the Doctrine and covenants with verse 5. 

"But blessed are they who are faithful and endure, whether in life or in death, for they shall inherit eternal life."

Going forward a full verse offers what is obviously a counterpoise -

"But wo unto them that are deceivers and hypocrites, for, thus saith the Lord, I will bring them to judgment."

If we spiral further outward to contemplate the immediate context we come upon a brief guide to the judgment for those who have found the truth, embraced the good news of the gospel and become members of God's kingdom on earth. 

As members of the church we have become they who "profess my name" (v. 4). There are risks associated with so professing.  Some who so profess become "deceivers and hypocrites" (v. 6).  They introduce "abominations" into the church (v. 4). They may honestly have started well, but somewhere on the road they have been "overcome of the world" (v. 8). Their ultimate fate is to be "detected and cut off" (v. 8) and to be brought to judgment (v. 6).  For reasons of his own, God has some face that fate in this life and some in the next (v. 8). 

On the other hand, "they who are faithful and endure" (v. 5) will inherit eternal life.  Some of them may even get deceived by the hypocrites, which allows Satan's power into their life for a time (v. 7).  But "such shall be reclaimed" (v. 7).  Again, for his own purposes, God will do the reclaiming on this side of death or on the other (v. 5). 

If we spiral out even further we find the contrast between those who inherit eternal life and those who are cut off and brought to judgment is embedded in a long passage dedicated to teaching members of the infant church how to discern and deal with the many varieties of spiritual manifestations common along the American frontier in the 1830's.

In response to the restoration, there has been a quickening of the tempo of activity in the unseen world's attempts to influence our own.  There are "spirits which have gone abroad in the earth".  Some of course are angelic helps from God, but others are "false spirits...deceiving the world" (v.2).  By means of spiritual manifestations of his own (v.3) or those of other false spirits, Satan has targeted the church with two goals - first, to deceive, and then to  overthrow (v. 3).

In their ignorance and lack of experience, members of the church had been deceived and confused by some of the manifestations they had run into.  The had received spirits "could not understand" and "received them to be of God" (v. 15).  God then gives some guidelines and rules.  Spiritual manifestations which are from God

• bring understanding, edification and rejoicing and not confusion (v. 15, 22-23).  They bring light and not darkness (v. 22-25).
• help the church in their mission to proclaim the truth (v. 14, 17).
• testify in such a way that those who hear it are led towards accepting the gospel (v. 19, 21).

It is made clear that the saints are not helpless recipients of spiritual manifestations, but have been given guidelines and power (accessible through prayer, to be used with humility) to know the nature of the spirits that try to influence them and to banish those whose influence is not wholesome.

The Lord then turns our focus from the attention grabbing world of showy spiritual manifestations to the slow, steady (but no less spiritual) disciplines of the kingdom - visiting and strengthening and encouraging one another, being diligent in our callings, putting our trust in the lord, growing in grace and knowledge, becoming more aware of the Savior's presence among us, learning to build upon his rock, seeking his face, watching for his coming and making ourselves ready for it.

TG Dreams 35 - Ether 9:3

"And the Lord warned Omer in a dream that he should depart out of the land; wherefore Omer departed out of the land with his family"

We know nothing about this dream except its function.  Here at the end of our study is a good time to turn back and consider dreams from another angle.  How the Lord uses them.  What are the purposes of divinely inspired dreams?

1. Some, like Omer's dream Contain a Warning.  Among those who were 'warned in a dream' were Lehi (1 Nephi 2:1-2), Pilate's wife (Matt. 27:19), The wise men at Jesus's birth (Matt. 2:12-13), Joseph the husband of Mary (Matt. 2:19-20), Abimelech, king of Gerar (Genesis 20:3-8), and Laban, Jacob's Father in Law (Genesis 31:24-29).

2. Similar to the Dream of Warning is the Dream of Instruction.  Again the recipient is told what to do, but with a little less urgency and less danger.  Lehi's instruction to send his sons to get the Brass Plates came in a dream (I Nephi 3:2).  Joseph was instructed to marry the mother of the Messiah rather than divorcing her in a dream (Matt. 1:23).  He was also told by dream when he should return with the mother and young child from Egypt to the land of Israel (Matt. 2:19-21). 

3. A dream can bring a revelatory answer to a question we make to the Lord.  King Saul's choices had brought him to a point of alienation with God.  And when he desired an answer (out of fear and not out of a change of heart) he found that he could not get an answer "neither by dreams, nor by Urim, nor by prophets" (1 Samuel 28:6).

4. A dream of instruction can be for an individual or it can provide guidance for an entire people.  Numbers 12 and Deuteronomy 13 both indicate that dreams were a part of the means by which prophetic utterances might be reach Israel.

5. A certain number of dreams give us a knowledge of future events.  Joseph of Egypt was given early knowledge of his future role of viceroy (Genesis 37) which helped guide him away from vengeance and to blessing when his brothers who had sold him into slavery ended up kneeling before him.  Joseph was also given prophetic insight into the future of two of Pharaoh's servants in prison with him (Gen. 40).  Pharaoh was given a dream that foretold the coming of famine to the entire Middle East (Gen. 41).  A Midianite was given a dream foretelling Gideon's victory in the next day's battle (Judges 7).  Nebuchadnezzar had a dream that foretold the imperial history of the Western World (Daniel 2).  Daniel dreamed of end times (Daniel 7).  Lehi was given insight into future trajectories of his children (1 Nephi 8).  Dreams that foretell the future are usually highly symbolic and require a gift of interpretation.

6. Some dreams impart general knowledge of eternal truths.  Lehi's Dream (1 Nephi 8) is an example of such a dream.

7. Some dreams can contain experiences of divine communication so strong and direct that they form the basis of the creation of the relationship between that person and divinity from then on. Jacob (Genesis 28) and Solomon (I Kings 3) both had such dreams.

TG Dreams 34 - Alma 30

In Alma 30, Korihor takes up a position quite familiar to a modern reader.  But its like can be traced back before Lucretius.  Korihor, in contrast to Jacob, emphasizes the unreal, dreamlike character of spirituality and forcefully contrasts it with what he considers to be true reality - the cold, hard facts revealed by limiting our information to our senses. 

He paints religious tradition and religious experience with a very unforgiving brush.  His words attempt to portray it as

• "ignorance" (v. 23)
• "foolish and vain hope" (v. 13)
• "foolish traditions" (v. 14, 23), the "traditions of your fathers" (v. 16), or the even "silly traditions of their fathers" (v. 31).
• "the effects of a frenzied mind" or "this derangement of your minds" (v. 16)
• this frenzy and derangement specifically includes all spiritual experiences, from the sense of guilt attached to our moral sense, the experience of divine forgiveness, and any supposed revelation in the form of dreams and visions (v. 28)
• especially singled out for ridicule among spiritual experiences and traditions is the concept of "prophecies" (v. 6, 14), a belief that through God men could be shown the future.  And among prophecies, he is particularly critical of those that speak of the coming of a Messiah and an atonement.
• not content to style spiritual experiences as mental derangements, he suggests that some of them are deceptions - pretended mysteries and whims (v. 28) of those who want to control others.

From his point of view, this nonsensical approach to life gives believers the following characteristics:

• they end up with a belief in things they "cannot know" (v.15) and "which are not so" (v. 16)
• these are "foolish things" (v. 13), which "keep them in ignorance" (v. 23)
• they believe things about the future (which is really completely unknown)- specifically about the coming of a messiah or "Christ" (v. 6) who should "be slain for the sins of the world" (v. 26)
• they have a mistaken notion that mankind is "guilty and fallen" (v. 25),
• They thus believe in a need for a "remission of sins" (v. 16)
• these things they believe limit their freedom - they "yoke" them (v. 13), deceived people "bind themselves down under foolish ordinances and performances" (v. 23), in a position where they "durst not enjoy their rights and privileges" (v. 27), because they fear to "offend some unknown being, who they say is God" (v. 28)
• In fact religion is a tool of priests "to usurp power and authority over them" and to bring them down (v. 23).  Religious leaders purposefully keep people in ignorance (v. 23), to "keep them down, even as it were in bondage" (v. 27) that they "durst not look up with boldness"
• The motives of these leaders is to get "according to your own desires" and to "glut yourselves with the labors of their hands" (v. 27).

Reality, on the other hand, must be approached with the following assumptions:

• no man can know anything which is to come (v. 13)
• what you know is only what you perceive, what you see (v. 15)
• therefore God is out!  He is "a being who never has been seen or known" (v. 28)
• The only way a person might accept the existence of God would be the evidence of one's physical senses - the reception of some kind of a physical "sign" (v. 43).

The characteristics of the reality he perceives in this way are as follows:

• "Ye cannot know of things which ye do not see" (v. 15)
• "Therefore ye cannot know that there shall  be a Christ (v. 15)
• In fact, there will be no messiah, no "Christ" (v. 12)
• "there could no atonement be made for the sins of men" (v. 17)
• "when a man was dead, that was the end thereof" (v. 18)
• In the cold hard light of the senses it was obvious that life was structured in a Darwinian manner (v. 17)

                    "every man fared in this life according to the management of the creature"
                    "every man prospered according to his genius"
                    "every man conquered according to his strength"     
                    "whatsoever a man did was no crime"
                    you don't have to be ashamed of anything really,
                    men can "lift up their heads in their wickedness"
                    specifically in pursuing sexual desires - "committing whoredoms" (v. 18).

TG Mortality 31 - Moroni 7 (II)

An experience I had some years back connects deeply with my reading of Moroni 7's list of the characteristics of charity. 

I was in Elder's Quorum one Sunday Morning and a brother began to share some experiences from the last weeks surrounding his daughter's birth.  There were serious, life-threatening complications and his father was on his way to help him administer to the new born infant.  To prepare himself spiritually for the ordinance he was quietly reading his scriptures.  He happened to be in Moroni 7 and he was reading through the characteristics of the pure love of Christ and the desire to possess them filled his heart.  But when he reached verse 48 the full meaning of the verse bowled him over - "Do I realize what I have admitted to myself?  I'm not yet a true follower of Jesus Christ?  What would it take for me to become one?"

The blessing went well, the baby's complications healed and became a non-issue, but for this brother the question became central to his thought and desire.  I watched him undergo what from the outside appeared to be a spiritual rebirth, with a noticeable gain in light and commitment, an excitement over what the Lord was doing in his  life on a nearly daily basis, in the quality of his contributions in quorum meetings and his sacrament meeting talks.

TG Dreams 33 - Jacob 7:26

Sometimes it is THIS life that assumes an unreal, dreamlike quality:

"...and also our lives passed away like as it were unto us a dream, we being a lonesome and a solemn people, wanderers, cast out from Jerusalem, born in tribulation, in a wilderness, and hated of our brethren, which caused wars and contentions; wherefore we did mourn out our days."

TG Mortality 31 - Moroni 7

 I've been struggling with writing up Moroni 7 for some time.  I'm just going to post my notes, disjointed and disorganized. We'll see how they fit into the overall pattern that emerges.

Maintaining
 Mormon speaks of those who have "obtained a sufficient hope by which [they] can enter into the rest of the Lord, from this time henceforth until [they] shall rest with him in heaven"

Signs of Maintaining
They are "the peaceable followers of Christ" and can be know by their "peaceable walk with the children of men."
I judge that ye have faith in Christ because of your meekness. (v. 39).
Faith is also signaled by the presence of miracles and angelic visitations, and their lack indicates a lack of Faith sufficient to save (v. 37-38).  Angelic visitations may not be to you personally, however (v. 31, 32).

"none is acceptable before God save the meek and lowly in heart" v. 44

"this love [charity] which he [the Father] hath bestowed upon all those who are true followers of his Son, Jesus Christ" v. 48



Intentions
It's not a matter of building up points by doing good things to earn an eternal reward.  It's about becoming one who will belong and feel comfortable in your eternal destination.  This means you can't go through the motions.  Your intentions and desires mold you every bit as much as your words and your actions.

"if a man being evil giveth a gift, he doeth it grudgingly, wherefore it is counted unto him the same as if he had retained the gift;"

"....if he shall pray and not with real intent of heart...it profiteth him nothing" (v 8, 9).



In the long term you can't split your loyalties
"a man being a servant of the devil cannot follow Christ; and if he follow Christ he cannot be a servant of the devil" (v. 11).


The Two influences
"That which is evil cometh of the devil; for the devil is an enemy unto God, and fighteth against him continually, and inviteth and inticeth to to sin, and to do that which is evil continually" (v. 12).
"Whatsoever thing persuadeth men to do evil, and believe not in Christ, and deny him and serve not God, that ye may know with a perfect knowledge it is of the devil" (v.17).

"...that which is of God inviteth and enticeth to do Good continually; wherefore everything which inviteth and enticeth to do good, and to love God, and to serve him, is inspired of God" (v.13)
"every thing which invited to do good, and to persuade to believe in Christ, is sent forth by the power and gift of Christ (v. 16)


Judgment
"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 he may know good from evil....
And now, my brethren, seeing that you know the light by which ye may judge, which light is the light of Christ, see that ye do not judge wrongfully; for with that same judgment which ye judge ye shall also be judged.
Wherefore I beseech of you brethren, that ye should search diligently in the light of Christ that ye may know good from evil; and if ye will lay hold upon every good thing, and condemn it not, ye certainly will be a child of Christ." (v. 15 - 18).

And How can we lay hold of every good thing?
1) Faith
Men are fallen, and no good thing could come to them except through Christ through whom all good things come (v. 24).  Men lay hold upon the blessings of Christ through faith.  That faith might be had God has sends angels, speaks by prophets and "did manifest things unto the children of men" through "diverse ways" (v. 22-24). 

Christ atonement has given him the "rights of mercy" towards us (v.27) and he now advocates "the cause of the children of men" (v. 28).  He sends out an invitation to all mankind -
"Repent all ye ends of the earth, and come unto me, and be baptized in my name, and have faith in me, that ye may be saved."

Men began to exercise faith in Christ and began to lay hold of every good thing (v. 25), they cleave unto every good thing (v. 28) and were saved (v. 26) and became the sons of god (v. 26).  To them was made the promise that whatever they asked for (which was good) they would receive (v.26).

This life is a place of answered prayers, of miracles and of angelic visitation.  These help lay the groundwork for men to repent (v. 31) and have faith in Jesus Christ (v. 32) and receive the Holy Ghost.  The power of the Holy Ghost is not withheld from us (v. 36).
2) Hope
Having hope is necessary to gain faith (v. 40)
But the hope that is a sign of our new life is a covenant Hope, the fruit of our Faith (v. 41) - "hope in Him according to the promise" and "through the atonement of Christ" of Life Eternal.
3) Humility
"meek and lowly of heart" (v. 43-44)
4) Charity
As faith seems to be foundational in coming unto Christ, Charity seems to be the keystone.  We "must needs have" it (v. 44).  If not, we "are nothing" (v. 46).

Charity is "the pure love of Christ" (v. 47) and has the following characteristics (v. 45)

• suffereth long
• is kind
• envieth not
• is not puffed up
• seeketh not her own
• is not easily provoked
• thinketh no evil
• rejoiceth not in iniquity
• beareth all things
• believeth all things
• hopeth all things
• endureth all things

Charity has consequences and characteristics that point towards the culmination of the entire process of coming unto Christ.  The terse sentences do not elucidate the timing of Charity's blessings, but they make it clear that Charity is tightly bound with a packet of outcomes that have huge implications both in time and in eternity. 

• It endures forever (all things fail except for it).
• It will be well at the last day with those who possess it.
• It is bestowed on those who are true followers of Jesus Christ.
• Charity helps us become the sons of God
• We will become like Christ
• We gain a hope that we will become purified as Christ is pure.

TG Dreams 32 - 2 Nephi 27

Second Nephi 28 is Nephi's Midrash on Isaiah 27.  Here a dream is first used as a metaphor for the emptiness of human aspirations and ambitions separated from (and even opposed to) God.  Those that "fight against Zion, and that distress her" will find it all to be as an illusion, like a hungry man waking up from a dream of a feast, or a thirsty man waking up from a dream of drinking (v. 3).  Other metaphors of the shock of contact with a true glimpse of their condition are drunkenness (v. 4) and sleep (v. 5).  A drunkenness so strong that one staggers, and a "deep sleep."

But he Book of Mormon itself is prefigured in dream like terms as well - "words of them which have slumbered" (v. 6), "hid from the eyes of the world" (v. 12), "words...as if it were from the dead" (v. 13), and a book that cannot be read.

But in the end, the vivid, violent and powerful struggle of the wicked will prove to be the empty illusion and the seemingly flimsy words from the dust will prove to be trustworthy and clear, enduring, revealing and powerful.