“When the earth begins to tremble, Bid our fearful thoughts be still; When thy judgments spread destruction, Keep us safe on Zion’s hill” (Hymn 83)

Over the past few days, my thoughts have been severely disjointed. As long as this condition is but temporary, it’s still preferable to having a disjointed body! I’m still neglecting so many things and not responding to several people’s requests, but I’m afraid if I don’t put down a brief entry tonight, that’ll just be one more wheel spinning in my head.

Ah, yes! That’s why this entry is captioned as it is, though nothing else I say will have anything to do with that—it’s just a phrase that’s been running constantly across my mind’s stage, especially when I’m about to fall asleep. I really hope this blog will get that one out, though I’m willing to retain the accompanying scripture thought (one of my favorites), that of Mosiah 5:15, which is for some inexplicable reason not cross-referenced to 1 Corinthians 15:58. I almost hesitate to say that the provided cross-referencing scheme is inadequate. It certainly isn’t to those who don’t use it. All the same, I won’t go into my studies about the history of scripture in print; it suffices me to say the footnotes are a tremendous effort, but hardly all-inclusive, on the mark, or always the best selection out of what would fit in a limited space. I have no idea where that came from, but it seems to foreshadow the rest of tonight’s data dump. My apologies in advance for a more informal and nostalgic entry.

I hope I don’t seem too much like the beloved “idiot” savant, Kim Peek, in this respect, but I do always chuckle at his statement: “I read books in the morning and in the evening. I go to the libraries in the afternoons” (Fran Peek, The Real Rain Man: Kim Peek [Salt Lake City: Harkness Publishing Consultants LLC, 1996], 74). (Incidentally, he tackled a perennial question: “One individual, a male teacher who seemed a bit negative in his body language as Kim responded to comments from others, raised his hand and asked, ‘If you are so smart, Kim, maybe you can tell us which came first: the chicken or the egg?’ Without a second’s hesitation, Kim shot back in an unusually feisty tone, ‘Did you ever see an egg cross the road?’” (Ibid., 123).)

I’ve been reflecting back on BYU apartment days with considerable fondness. That is where some of my oddities first escaped. I regularly clipped Church quotes and stuck them on my bedroom wall, then walls, and eventually the ceiling. My roommate looked at it askance and said, “Kris, you have a ‘Beautiful Mind.’” (That will make no sense if you haven’t seen the movie.) Right above my head I stuck President Hinckley’s thought (Teachings of Gordon B. Hinckley, 145):

This work requires sacrifice, it requires effort, it means courage to speak out and faith to try. This cause does not need critics; it does not need doubters. It needs men and women of solemn purpose. As Paul wrote to Timothy: “. . . God hath not given us the spirit of ear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind. Be not thou therefore ashamed of the testimony of our Lord. . . .” (2 Tim. 1:7-8.)

I would that every member of this church, and every good man throughout the world, would put those words where he might see them every morning as he begins his day. They would give him the courage to speak up, they would give him the faith to try, they would strengthen his conviction of the Lord Jesus Christ.

I believe that miracles would begin to happen over the earth.

Frustratingly, I soon realized that my eyesight was too poor to actually read the thing from that distance when I first opened my eyes! I also recall coming home from the Nauvoo Temple dedication, as held in a stake building, to print off President Hinckley’s statement “You cannot turn your back on this work and prosper” and plaster it under the windowsill. That was the first time my roommate gave me a look like I was taking over.... But we were always friends. Even though he had this way of tensing up, shaking his head, and saying, “You’re so weeeeeird.”

One night in the front room, while I was cheerfully reviewing newly copied quotes, a visiting Relief Society sister asked me what one was about. ‘Twas one of my favorites, quite relevant to recently unveiled thoughts:

Numerous leisure hours have been made available to men. It is noticeable that many use these extra hours for fun and pleasure. Certainly an increased part of it could profitably be used for gaining knowledge and culture through the reading of good books.

Numerous people fail to take advantage of these opportunities. Many people spend hours in planes with only cursory glancing at magazines, and in the train or bus, time is spent “sitting and thinking,” and in many cases, “just sitting,” when there could be such a constructive program of reading. People in beauty parlors, professional offices, waiting rooms, and elsewhere waste precious hours thumbing through outdated magazines when much valuable reading could be done in these islands of time. (The Teachings of Spencer W. Kimball, 383)

That is hardly all that I do. I’m making a renewed effort to also practice President Hinckley’s counsel (TGBH, 44):

I want to make it clear that I am not adverse to some recreation. All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy, and likewise Jill a dull doll. But when it becomes an end in itself, then we are in danger. We cannot expect to refine the substance of character from “the husks of pleasure.”

I’m spurred on by President Monson’s words—and I’m too tired to find what is undoubtedly a corresponding thought within more recent publications:

Here was one who was content to travel in any direction, according to the whim of the driver who stopped to give him a free ride. What an enormous price to pay for such a ride! No plan. No objective. No goal. The road to anywhere is the road to nowhere, and the road to nowhere leads to dreams sacrificed, opportunities squandered, and a life unfulfilled. (Be Your Best Self [Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Company, 1979], 45)

Focus. The sharper the focus the greater the risk of insanity, I suppose, hence the need for the balancing effect of understanding as many principles as possible. In the end I see little wriggle room from the phrase “an eye single to the glory of God.” The corollary is that an eye capable of viewing His glory must be open to seeing quite a lot indeed. Else we can be broadsided easily. Maybe in my fatigue I’m trying to say that depth and breadth are required for true discipleship. Either one by itself seems to trifle with the other, totally out of sync with what’s necessary.

Still, I almost single-mindedly hold to President George Albert Smith’s mentality (TGeAS, 130): “This life is not given to us as a pastime. There was a solemn purpose in our creation, in the life that God has given to us. Let us study what that purpose is, that we may progress and obtain eternal life.” There are lots and lots of instructions about the most important knowledge being spiritual, etc., etc. (Whoa. That’s unlike me. Now I know I’m trying to wrap things up!) Etc. in this case=please look them all up. It does not=I don’t care, I’m bored.

Since I’ve been burning the candle on both ends, lately my “islands of time” have been spent snoozing. “You snooze, you lose” is fairly apropos. Just rising early without retiring early seems to me like I’m disobeying prophetic counsel, and I’m guilty enough right now, so good night!!!

P.S. I'll have you know that I could not do otherwise than bestir myself from slumber once this nagging thought took up a mighty commotion. This after a long day wherein I went to two jobs, two FHEs, and nearly finished my taxes. I discover that I'm attempting to imitate the "vices" of great men, rather than their virtues.

From Prophet to Son: Advice of Joseph F. Smith to His Missionary Sons [Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Company, 1981], 89-90, 96-97:

I never asked, never expected anybody else to carry my load or lighten my cares. I never worked with any man who worked longer hours than I did myself. President George Q. Cannon is the only man I ever met to whose capacity for endurance I had to bow, and he possessed one gift--a rare one, too--which I, unfortunately, do not possess. It was this, at night when the toil of the day was done and we laid ourselves down for rest, the moment his head pressed his pillow, he slept and snored, and snored and slept, while I would toss and roll and sigh for sleep and rest, but like the will of the wisp, it would mockingly dance before my o'er wrought nerves, and perhaps for hours when most I needed it, elude me. . . . I have carried this nervous temperament for more then [sic] 66 years and still I live! But it is due to kind providence, and to the mercy and love of God, and not due to any wisdom, caution or power of my own. I shall endure it until He says it is enough, and then I will give up. . . . The burden would be too heavy for me to bear alone. But I can do it easily with God and my family on my side! . . .

You were writing your letter of January 8 after 12 midnight, and you had not "been to bed before 12 midnight for almost a month." I think I might almost say the same of myself. But whether it is I or you, it is all wrong! I know that in this respect I am guilty of transgressing the laws of life and health, and yet it seems as tho' I was impelled by necessity to do it. All day I give my time and effort to public duty, and what I have to do for myself and my five families I must do after working hours. Besides these duties necessary to myself and family, I do all the writing, reading, reviewing of matter for the [Deseret News] press, which I have to do by electric light, generally after everybody except myself (not even excepting the office guard), are wrapped in the arms of Morpheus. Still it is wrong, especially is it not wise when necessity compels one to get up early in the morning after working past midnight. It is wrong even though one sleeps in the morning to make up for lost rest, for it is turning day into night and night into day. In a manner it is consuming artificial light at much cost to the pocket and wasting free natural light, also at more or less cost to health. . . .

The Lord said, "Retire to bed early," and this is wise advice, but we do not heed it. Now let me say it, Let us go to bed early, that we may rise early and be refreshed. So far as we can. It is God's plan. He tells us to do it, and we should obey.

While turning pages in search of this thing brought most inconveniently to my remembrance, I recollected two other items I cannot fail to share with you, since they're in front of me.

Joseph F. Smith: Portrait of a Prophet [Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Company, 2000], 278 contains President Anthon Lund's funeral tribute to President Smith. Watch for his incautiously and unintentionally humorous implication:

We have heard President Grant speak about Brother John Taylor, about Brother Woodruff, and Brother Lorenzo Snow, and we have for some time looked forward to a day on which speeches should be made in memory of the prophet Joseph F. Smith.

Also, I was reminded on pages 308-309 of the exact language (to quote President Smith's April 1902 Conference address, contained in multiple sources) of a concept I drew upon in my last entry:

I believe that the Lord has revealed unto the children of men all that they know. I do not believe that any man has discovered any principle of science or art, in mechanism or mathematics or anything else that God did not know before man did. Man is indebted to the Source of all intelligence and truth for the knowledge that he possesses and all who will yield obedience to the promptings of the Spirit which lead to virtue, to honor, to the love of God and man, to the love of truth and that which is ennobling and enlarging to the soul will get a clearer and more expansive and more direct and conclusive knowledge of God's truths than any one else can obtain.

If I could save time in a bottle...

These are something of a stream-of-consciousness exercise for me, if my reader (as if there’s more than one!) will bear with me.

Yesterday I managed to squander some major blocks of time. Naturally, this brings some remorse. I can be a team player, but ultimately responsibility rests upon myself as to what I must answer for. Earlier this week a powerful realization came to my mind: a lot of what I’ve managed to accomplish in life was either a divine gift, or because of what I chose to do while others were doing something else. That latter step has not always been entirely voluntary, and is certainly not intended as an insult to or isolation from others.

I turn to President Monson to help this entry take shape (and many of these thoughts are contained in various sermons):

Work will win when wishy-washy wishing won't. . . .

There is no place for procrastination, defined by Edward Young two centuries ago as "the thief of time."

Procrastination is really much more. It is the thief of our self-respect. It nags at us and spoils our joy. It deprives us of the fullest realization of our ambitions and hopes. But procrastination is a guest who prefers to visit the lazy, and never feels at home with the busy and diligent. . . .

Our noble thoughts must be part of a purposeful plan, if the dream castles we have envisioned are to become a reality. The Lord taught, "Organize yourselves; prepare every needful thing." (D&C 88:119.) A reading of the book of Genesis gives one insight into the painstaking planning undertaken by God himself.

At times the preparation period may appear dull, uninteresting, and even unnecessary. But experience continues to demonstrate that the future belongs to those who prepare for it. And if we are to become leaders, we cannot skimp on our preparation. . . .

Spirituality is not like a water faucet in that it can be turned off or turned on at will. Some make the fatal error of assuming that religion is for others now and perhaps someday for us. Such thinking is not based on fact or experience, for we are daily becoming what we shall be. . . .

It has been said by one, years ago, that history turns on small hinges, and so do people's lives. Our lives will depend upon the decisions we make, for decisions determine destiny. . . .

When the time for decision arrives, the time for preparation is past. (Be Your Best Self [Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Company, 1979], 117, 121-122, 126, 131; see President Kimball’s extensive exposition on “procrastination”; for the more earnest reader, consider how seriously Church leaders have applied an interpretation of the parable of the ten virgins to the Church)

Time! The plight of mortality: “The future is something that everyone reaches at the rate of sixty minutes an hour, whatever he does, whoever he is” (C.S. Lewis). Or: “We seem free to move around in space at will, but in time we are like helpless rafters in a mighty stream, propelled into the future at the rate of one second per second” (J. Richard Gott III, Time Travel in Einstein's Universe: The Physical Possibilities of Travel Through Time [Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 2001], 4-5). God, if not outside of space-time in ways we couldn’t dream of comprehending, is at least the very Master of it. (So it’s not “Einstein’s universe.”) Furthermore, there’s little need for physical travel through time for one who is master of all possibilities, or when under the workings of the Spirit our own minds may just as easily traverse such distance (if that’s an adequate term for something which has neither temporal constraints nor geographical boundaries, and requires considerable expansion of the understanding).

We mere mortals are prone to let the pundits of modernity define our lives for us. We depend upon technological advances to wow us into thinking it’s amazing what we can do nowadays. God could do it all along, and we are only enabled to do so at His sufferance. (Need I whip out the quotes about our progress of the last couple of centuries being a sign of the times?) Practically all of holy utterance is scrapped because it contradicts—as my Nibley quote in the previous entry somewhat alluded to—the picture painted by puny mortals trapped in the trend and tempo of the present. With information more available and less desired, we are squelching a certain degree of imagination, and this contributes to precluding personal revelation. Look to the giver of every good gift! (See Moroni 10:18-19.)

I recall a neuroscience major roommate of mine who appreciated my sharing this thought:

His [Father's] method of conveying intelligence is far more rapid than that of light. Light, how slow! Only 185,000 miles in a second. It would take three and a half years at that rate for light to come from one of the nearest fixed stars. A long time to wait, especially if you were in a hurry to get an answer to any message you may send; you would have to wait three and a half years for the message to go, and probably for the same time, for the returning answer. Now, the Lord has powers beyond those with which we are acquainted. (Orson Pratt, JD, 19:294)

In the movie K-Pax, an individual tells the incredulous psychiatrist that he has traveled faster than light a distance of something like eleven (?) light years. He then has to correct the psychiatrist, saying it would have taken eleven (?) years if he’d only traveled at the speed of light. That fictional conversation illuminates the need for something that the correct definition of the light of Christ answers, a medium by which Heavenly Father instantaneously communicates with the entire universe (see D&C 88:4-13). That light came into the world and was rejected by it, and in large measure still is.

Surprisingly, in light of my lack of left brain, my mind once opened up, however briefly, to much of what physics describes as time travel. What if both components of this process (e.g., “time” and “travel”) were rendered obsolete by the eternal processes at work? What if energy is matter, and the mode of universe operation is organization? Science is currently undergoing lots of rethinking in relation to matter and energy. We have the assurance (D&C 131:7), with special reference to spiritual bodies, that “there is no such thing as immaterial matter.” We also know that inanimate objects are clearly animated with spiritual forces beyond the possibility of measurement by scientific instruments, and that these heed God’s commands even when man doesn’t! (The bestowal of sentience, upon beings described as being intelligences themselves, apparently does not guarantee what I’ve long called the ultimate form of intelligence: obedience.) But what I want to discuss is time usage, not evasion. I also steer away from the closest thing to speculation in which I ever engage. All I will add is a quotation with strong bearing upon my considerations of this topic:

Fortunately, a limited understanding of the physics of helium does not constrain its lifting power. But an improved understanding does enhance one's ability to tap into that lifting power. So it is with faith. The lifting, buoying, saving power of faith in Christ that can be accessed by believing children and believing adults is not constrained by the level of our understanding. Thus I firmly believe that if we will hold to the string of faith and reach out for our Heavenly Father's hand we will be lifted into heaven. (Stephen D. Nadauld, Justified by Faith [Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Company, 2001], 2)

“Time only is measured unto men” (Alma 40:8), but the feature that makes our timed labors really matter is this: “it was appointed unto men that they must die; and after death, they must come to judgment, even that same judgment of which we have spoken, which is the end” (Alma 12:27). How awful it would be to finally escape time and death, both temporary conditions, but never more be able to escape your own torment of soul!

I like how this one man, in agreement with scripture of which he was unaware, captured that scenario:

Think whether, when the Bible says anything about your soul, it means this mysterious being that you call "I." . . .

Then realize that whether you exalt or degrade it, it is with you for ever. YOU CAN NEVER, NEVER, NEVER GET AWAY FROM YOURSELF. You will be the very same self after death as before. (J. Paterson-Smyth, The Gospel of the Hereafter [New York: Fleming H. Revell Company, 1910], 27-28)

Hence the importance of these scriptural words:

And the wicked shall go away into unquenchable fire, and their end no man knoweth on earth, nor ever shall know, until they come before me in judgment.

Hearken ye to these words. Behold, I am Jesus Christ, the Savior of the world. Treasure these things up in your hearts, and let the solemnities of eternity rest upon your minds.

Be sober. Keep all my commandments. Even so. Amen. (D&C 43:33-35; see D&C 76:40-49)

Many, many prophets have counseled that we are already in eternity. That sort of perspective can’t help but have a profound impact upon one’s acts. Does the thought of the veil literally being lifted to disclose that God’s eyes are upon us do anything for one’s motives? I have said many times that the real and utmost importance of the sealing power is that it makes things eternal in what we perceive as a trap of entropy. For weal or woe, some sort of future state will become eternal for us, whether we are sealed unto the fate of the devil (Alma 34:35) by our own consistently poor choices or unto eternal lives by the Holy Spirit of promise.

It appears that I tackled a portion of this subject in 1993, in an understandably juvenile fashion:

In the six thousand years or so since Adam's fall, one of the single most important factors upon human life has been time.

Given time, all governments will change or fall, worlds will pass away and worlds will be created anew. . . .

It is simply impossible for us to conceive the notion of never ending, and especially never beginning.

In an effort to preserve our sanity, we established a system by which we measured a small allotment of eternity. We set forth days, months, years, and millennia. Thus we note the passage of time.

But all is the same to God. While we live and die throughout the centuries, very little seems to have occurred from the immortal side. He sees no need in determining the elapsement of time, since it has no hold on him. There is no fear in heaven of anything ever decaying or ending.

I wrote the following on 05/18/96:

Lasting happiness can only come from lasting preparations and holds only with lasting principles. What can the chaos about us offer that will still be here in 10 billion years? . . . Even if Satan managed to continually renew the interest in such evil through the generations, God would not suffer it to carry on for so long. Our world will soon fulfill its purpose, and then where will many of these people find themselves?

Back to a prophet, for eternal perspective . . . .

I will give you a figure that brother Hyde had in a dream. He had been thinking a great deal about time and eternity; he wished to know the difference, but how to understand it he did not know. He asked the Lord to show him, and after he had prayed about it the Lord gave him a dream, at least I presume He did, or permitted it so to be, at any rate he had a dream; his mind was opened so that he could understand time and eternity. He said that he thought he saw a stream issuing forth from a misty cloud which spread upon his right and upon his left, and that the stream ran past him and entered the cloud again. He was told that the stream was time, that it had no place where it commenced to run, neither was there any end to its running; and that the time which he was thinking about and talking about, what he could see between the two clouds, was a portion of or one with that which he could not perceive.

So it is with you and I; here is time, where is eternity? It is here, just as much as anywhere in all the expanse of space; a measured space of time is only a part of eternity.

We have a short period of duration allotted to us, and we call it time. (Brigham Young, JD, 3:367)

Tolstoy reduced it to laughable simplicity:

"Why is it hard to imagine eternity?" asked Natasha. "There's today, there will be tomorrow, and forever; and there was yesterday, and the day before. . . ." (War and Peace, trans. Ann Dunnigan [New York, New York: Signet Classic, 1968; orig. 1869], 632)

Indeed, why so hard when we continually strive to please a Holy Being who is the same (stated in many verses) “yesterday, today, and forever”? That stability certainly wins my admiration, confidence, and devotion for His perfect system of laws, not to mention the happiness that derives therefrom. My faith therein has often been fortified since at least the tender age of four, and one journal entry (07/26/95) attests:

I have obtained the Holy Ghost, and my most solemn thoughts are opening up worlds of pondering and joy. I can be saved through Christ, the Atoning One! The universe is open to all who would obey God. I simply cannot express how I feel on this paper. . . . I cannot understand a life without the vision that I have now.

It is only one feature or another of mortality (whether our own or others’, or God’s specific plans for this mortal real estate) that ever places a limitation upon what we can do. “All things are possible to him that believeth” (Mark 9:23).

I’ve had occasion to contemplate a television show—not truly adapted for spiritual reflection, though I seem to insist on it—and many of its plot elements. It leaves one pondering about the effect that we might have upon a hideous future (in our case, that preceding a day great and dreadful enough in itself), with arguments landing upon neither determinism nor fatalism. Knowing precise details about impending events scarcely makes a difference when people will not listen or prepare, so God often forebears from heaping further condemnation upon the deaf.

In reality, too certain a knowledge would paralyze some. Elder Joseph F. Merrill stated, “If we were assured of success we probably would be less deserving of success, the reasons being readily apparent; and if we knew that discouragements, troubles, and failures awaited us we would likely lose heart, thus making these adversities more severe. A moment’s thought will convince us that it is best as it is—that a kind Providence wisely withholds our future from us” (MS, 96:8). Small wonder that Isaiah referred to his “burden.”

Much like the show’s unique storyline, there are momentous events that we cannot avert. (At some point in coming days I’ll locate the reference for Pres. Joseph Fielding Smith expressing dismay at the commonly taught idea that by our actions we can sway the Lord’s mind as to when He comes.) The question, in a universe where the worth of every soul is great, is how many people we can help change before the inevitable strikes. I often view the future as something like hardening cement, with many markers driven indelibly deep into the ground. Prophecies are given in generalities, with the Lord being more sparing as to how He reveals individuals’ places. Some prophecies are conditional; many are not. As the show also recognizes, the voice of warning tends to get one ousted, committed, or worse. “You may go into any court in the world and say, ‘Thus saith the Lord,’ and they will kick you out. Try it and see” (John Taylor, JD, 5:188).

To quote from a Persian in Herodotus again: “No one would believe us, however true our warning. This is the worst pain a man can have: to know much and have no power to act” (The Histories, trans. Aubrey de Selincourt [London: Penguin Books, 1996], 504). Whether commanded to preach (3:2-3) or forbidden to do so (1:17), Mormon certainly felt helpless (3:16).

With some hesitation, for fear that personal, practically private, musings may be mistaken for public assertions, I’ll share a dream of mine (December 2000) that exposed me to some inkling of what that feeling of frustration must be like:

I detected so many evil spirits that my head was buzzing and I was almost brought to my knees. Everyone ignored my pleas that we depart from the awful place. They just wanted to gaze in the pit. . . . I looked away fearfully and saw someone walking on the valley floor. This man was in a fine black suit and I knew him instantly as Lucifer himself. . . . I anxiously told this to my companions, but they simply responded like, "We don't see any devil. You're annoying us. Stop it." . . . Then they began to feel an otherworldly influence. They were terrified and called out for me to help them. I said something to the effect of, "I can't help you now. It will be all I can do to get myself out of here." I exerted all my spiritual force to beat a hasty retreat.

It’s pretty painful, but I’d still contend a worse pain would be to know much and not warn, or, worst by far, to know much and not even act for ONESELF upon that knowledge.

Speaking of a mortal condition becoming eternal, I discovered for myself the recommendable majesty of Dickens’ Christmas Carol. One passage serves as dramatic warning to the careless, while further helping me to harp on using our agency while in mortality:

Scrooge fell upon his knees, and clasped his hands before his face.

'Mercy!' he said. 'Dreadful apparition, why do you trouble me?'

'Man of the worldly mind!' replied the Ghost [Jacob Marley], 'do you believe in me or not?'

'I do,' said Scrooge. 'I must. But why do spirits walk the earth, and why do they come to me?'

'It is required of every man,' the Ghost returned, 'that the spirit within him should walk abroad among his fellowmen, and travel far and wide; and if that spirit goes not forth in life, it is condemned to do so after death. It is doomed to wander through the world--oh, woe is me!--and witness what it cannot share, but might have shared on earth, and turned to happiness!'

Again the spectre raised a cry, and shook its chain and wrung its shadowy hands.

'You are fettered,' said Scrooge, trembling. 'Tell me why?'

'I wear the chain I forged in life,' replied the Ghost. 'I made it link by link, and yard by yard; I girded it on of my own free will, and of my own free will I wore it. Is its pattern strange to you?' . . .

'Jacob,' he said imploringly. 'Old Jacob Marley, tell me more. Speak comfort to me, Jacob!'

'I have none to give,' the Ghost replied. 'It comes from other regions, Ebenezer Scrooge, and is conveyed by other ministers, to other kinds of men. Nor can I tell you what I would. A very little more, is all permitted to me. I cannot rest, I cannot stay, I cannot linger anywhere. My spirit never walked beyond our counting-house—mark me!—in life my spirit never roved beyond the narrow limits of our money-changing hole; and weary journeys lie before me!' . . .

'Oh! captive, bound, and double-ironed,' cried the phantom, 'not to know, that ages of incessant labour, by immortal creatures, for this earth must pass into eternity before the good of which it is susceptible is all developed. Not to know that any Christian spirit working kindly in its little sphere, whatever it may be, will find its mortal life too short for its vast means of usefulness. Not to know that no space of regret can make amends for one life's opportunity misused! Yet such was I! Oh! such was I'

'But you were always a good man of business, Jacob,' faltered Scrooge, who now began to apply this to himself.

'Business!' cried the Ghost, wringing its hands again. 'Mankind was my business. The common welfare was my business; charity, mercy, forbearance, and benevolence, were, all, my business. The dealings of my trade were but a drop of water in the comprehensive ocean of my business!' . . .

Scrooge followed to the window: desperate in his curiosity. He looked out.

The air was filled with phantoms, wandering hither and thither in restless haste, and moaning as they went. Every one of them wore chains like Marley's Ghost; some few (they might be guilty governments) were linked together; none were free. Many had been personally known to Scrooge in their lives. He had been quite familiar with one old ghost, in a white waistcoat, with a monstrous iron safe attached to its ankle, who cried piteously at being unable to assist a wretched woman with an infant, whom it saw below, upon a door-step. The misery with them all was clearly, that they sought to interfere, for good, in human matters, and had lost the power for ever.

At one time I was actively admiring the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising, acquiring newfound respect for Raoul Wallenberg, and not even attempting to repress disgust over such facts as provided in, for one, While Six Million Died: A Chronicle of American Apathy. (Wiesenthal talks about all of Europe looking the other way, when they must have known what was going on.)

With surprising ferocity, I wished that I could go back and at least be one more person against the tide of evil which fomented the Holocaust. Then it came to me that the participants of that day will all go to their corresponding reward; the past must lie where it is. God already made every provision. Ours is the battle of the future, and the war is still on! (I hope this wasn’t remotely akin to those saying they’d die for former prophets but wouldn’t for the current one.) My desire became to join the ranks of those to “foil Satan’s best-laid plans.” Thanks to a great mother, I’ve been constantly reminded of the obligation to resist evil heedless of apparent outcome, since many a time she’s told me to remember that Abinadi didn’t even know he’d made a difference.

Still, it is characteristic of Satanic whisperings to argue against the possibility of change, in our own lives or others’. The captain of our salvation makes it otherwise. In his frequently reiterated message, we may read Elder Richard G. Scott’s hope:

The Savior gave His life that even the most serious transgressions can be overcome and an individual can be made new, clean, and pure through repentance and obedience to the Lord’s commandments. To believe otherwise would be to deny the power of the Atonement of our Savior. (Ensign, Jun. 1997, 55)

Yes, in a chilling assessment, Satan even makes his own prophecies and actively seeks to carry them out (see Heber J. Grant, Gospel Standards, 364, for but one example along lines I don’t have time to develop). It may just be that frequently only the living, active power of the true gospel of Jesus Christ is sufficient to rebuke such demonic design.

Let’s serve as forward-looking time travelers, realizing that present choices have eternal consequences. Whether you know little or much, you DO know the future: prepare accordingly. Arm yourself even as you move at sixty minutes an hour toward appointed events. The victory has already been obtained through Jesus Christ, and He has empowered us with so much. Myriads of prophets foresaw what should befall the inhabitants of the earth “unto the latest generation,” at which time there shall be time no longer, and their accounts are written with useful clarity. Modern revelation helps us understand exactly how to combat the evils unleashed at this particular segment of time. We have been given every needful thing—we must simply prepare, and act at the same time. Fear is our adversary’s weapon, continually directed against those willing to step up to the challenges ahead.

The Prophet Joseph Smith wrote with a sort of poetic rapture (TJS, 595):

When I contemplate the rapidity with which the great and glorious day of the coming of the Son of Man advances, when He shall come to receive His Saints unto Himself, where they shall dwell in His presence, and be crowned with glory and immortality. . . . I cry out in my heart, What manner of persons ought we to be in all holy conversation and godliness!

In winding down this agitated tone of discourse, I return to where I started: a sense of guilt. As a result of my recent poor time management, I’ve slackened in some duties for which I had to account today.

I feel, frequently, that if we would go about doing our duties properly and fully, that somehow out of the small as well as the great experiences of our lives would crystallize the great thing for us, the thing that we most need. I cannot understand eternal life any other way. I do my duty, little by little, day by day, year by year, and then the Lord takes the deeds of my life, and as we use bricks in the building of a house, he builds for me eternal life. We may have forgotten that, at times, in our eagerness to accomplish. (John A. Widtsoe, CR, Apr. 1935, 81)

Six days a week the devil works,
Works overtime on Sunday.
And then is ready once again
To go to work on Monday.
And if all evil we would shun
And keep our conscience level,
We must get up at early dawn
And work--like the devil. (used in William H. Bennett, "Make the Best Better," BYU Speeches of the Year, 14 Jul 1970, 3)

I’m piecing together a great number of clippings from one of President Joseph Fielding Smith’s books, again mostly for his clearness of style, which does not vary from the other prophets in information. The reader may skip over it if in some strange likelihood putting up with such wonderful paragraphs would fatigue them too much to read the conclusion.

It is, of course, a gloomy picture; but is it not the duty of the elders of Israel to speak of these things with warning voice? Shall we close our eyes and our ears and seal our understandings simply because some things are unpleasant to the ear and to the eye? Shall we refuse to raise a warning voice when danger approaches? When trouble is near? When destruction is at our door? Such a course would be cowardly if we know the truth. We cannot cry “all is well” when danger lurks on every side. We must not lull the people to sleep in a false security. President Woodruff declared that “no man that is inspired by the Spirit and power of God can close his ears, his eyes, or his lips to these things!”

The cup of indignation is full and the Lord’s wrath is being poured out upon the wicked as he said it would be. Yet we are seeing only the beginnings of sorrow. The whole world needs repentance—repentance and the humble acceptance of the gospel as it has been revealed. This is all that will, or can, save the world from the destruction which awaits it. . . .

We need not “kid” ourselves into thinking that this world is growing better. If so, then the prophecies have failed. This world today is full of wickedness. That wickedness is increasing. True, there are many righteous people scattered throughout the earth, and it is our duty to search them out and give unto them the gospel of Jesus Christ and bring them out of Babylon. . . .

What is astonishing to me is the nature of some of the questions that some of the members of the Church write to me about, which, if they would turn to their Standard Works and spend just a little time studying them, they would not have to ask the questions, because they are all answered, and the Lord has given them to us. . . .

I feel that the Latter-day Saints . . . are under condemnation before the Lord because he has given us so much pertaining to our present needs and our salvation, and yet the great majority of us, if I have the right understanding of us, we don’t study, and we don’t hunt for these things and we don’t know about them, and so we are in danger—danger of being led astray. . . .

We are in a wicked world. I know there are good people in the world, yes. But the Lord says it is wicked, and if he says it is wicked, I think maybe I can, too, and I think it is getting more so every day. We have many responsibilities, but none of them to cause us to neglect our homes. . . .

I get quite a number of letters from people who don’t want to observe the Sabbath day, and they are trying to find excuses and loopholes so they won’t have to keep the commandment. It isn’t a grievous commandment to keep. The Lord never gave us a commandment which was hard to keep. I have heard people say it is hard to keep the commandments of the Lord. I don’t want to confess a thing like that. I don’t want to say his commandments are hard to keep. They are not hard for anyone to keep if they make up their minds to keep them. And in keeping them, they get great joy and satisfaction. And the pleasure and happiness that comes from the keeping of those commandments is far greater than the little pleasure they get out of breaking them. . . .

We [my good brethren] were discussing a few days ago the power of Satan. We were discussing about our Savior—and somebody asked the question: Does Satan really know that in the end he is going to lose? Then someone raised another question: Well, if he is sure he is going to lose, he would give up the struggle. We had quite a discussion. Then one of our brethren said, “He already has 90 per cent of the people who have lived on the face of the earth.” We have all been on his side, or nearly, at times. You stood out and opposed him in the spirit world. He has captured most of the inhabitants of the world and perhaps he thinks that when the final war comes he will be strong enough to win the battle. I wonder if he does!

I think he is here this afternoon, so I am going to tell him that he is going to lose the battle. He is usually with us, he is right in the way. That’s one thing we ought to learn—that his forces are organized and he would rather destroy a member of this Church than anyone else on the face of the earth, and he has a force big enough to send a legion after any one of us if he thought it took that many. Don’t think he is sleeping and has lost any of his energy, whether he knows he is going to lose eventually or not. That matters little. But it does matter much whether we are going to be on his side or on the side of Jesus Christ. . . .

Satan today is busier than he has ever been in the history of this world. He is filled with more hate and rage and determination, in my judgment, than ever before. Now John saw this and spoke of it. It is recorded in the Book of Revelation that this would be the case, and that he would put forth his efforts with greater vigor because he knows he has but a short time. . . .

We have reached a stage in our history, according to my understanding—and I have had some experience through the years—that the fashions of the world and the things and the pleasures of the world find more place in the hearts of members of the Church than ever before. I would like to have somebody point out to me that I was wrong, but I don’t think they can. Many of our young people are growing up with the love of the world in their hearts, and the fashions of the world and following of the world. . . .

The children of the Latter-day Saints today are becoming rebellious and disobedient, and I think it is largely due to the fact that there is neglect of the responsibility the Lord has placed upon us to be exercised in the home. . . .

In the Doctrine and Covenants, Section 86, it says: “He that seeketh me early shall find me, and shall not be forsaken.”

Procrastination as it may be applied to the gospel is the thief of eternal life, which is the life in the presence of the Father and the Son. There are many among us who feel that there is no need for haste in the observance of the gospel principles and the keeping of the commandments. We are living in the last days. Bad habits are easily formed. They are not so easily broken. . . . Do we expect that our bodies will be cleansed in the grave and we shall come forth with perfect and sanctified bodies in the resurrection? . . .

One of the greatest responsibilities that is ever entrusted to any human being is that of building his own personality. The chief business of our lives is to build a house that will bear the weight of eternal life. . . .

The greatest waste in mortal life is that men love evil instead of righteousness. We come to this world to be tried and proved to see if we will keep the commandments when we are shut out of the divine presence. Most human beings live below their possibilities. Mortal life is short at best. It is, however, the life in which we prepare for eternity. . . .

The words of the prophets are rapidly being fulfilled, but it is done on such natural principles that most of us fail to see it. . . .

If the great and dreadful day of the Lord was near at hand when Elijah came, we are just one century nearer it today. But some will say: “But no! Elijah, you are wrong! Surely 136 years have passed, and are we not better off today than ever before? Look at our discoveries, our inventions, our knowledge and our wisdom! Surely you made a mistake!” . . .

Is not the condition among the people today similar to that in the day of Noah? Did the people believe and repent then? Can you make men, save with few exceptions[,] believe today that there is any danger? Do you believe the Lord when he said 136 years ago:

[D&C 1:35.]
[Ibid., 99:5.]
[Ibid., 1:12-13.]
[JS-M 1:34.]

Shall we slumber on in utter oblivion or indifference to all that the Lord has given us as warning? I say unto you,

[Matt. 24:42-44.]

(Take Heed to Yourselves! [Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Company, 1966], 182, 207, 243, 263, 278-279, 304-305, 353-354, 413-415, 428, 431-433)

President Monson will also help me close this entry (and I additionally hope the way I word that sounds more like deference to him than misusing him):

One writer said that the door of history turns on small hinges, and so do people’s lives. If we were to apply that maxim to our lives, we could say that we are the result of many small decisions. In effect, we are the product of our choices. We must develop the capacity to recall the past, to evaluate the present, and to look into the future in order to accomplish in our lives what the Lord would have us do. (Ensign, Nov. 2007, 59)

Such would seem to be an invitation to keep past, present, and future continually before us (see D&C 130:7) in imitation of our Father in heaven.

This joined several other talks that stressed the importance of taking action now to reap benefits in eternity. Our stake president refers to prophetic priorities. I snatch just such a phrase from Wilford Woodruff (DWW, 103, 260): “We have no time to waste.”

Last of all, since my call to action was already abundantly enunciated, I append two pertinent statements that President Monson made in the October 2000 Conference:

Inscribed on the wall of Stanford University Memorial Church is this truth, that we must teach our youth that all that is not eternal is too short, and all that is not infinite is too small.

President Gordon B. Hinckley emphasized our responsibilities when he declared: “In this work there must be commitment. There must be devotion. We are engaged in a great struggle that concerns the very souls of the sons and daughters of God. We are not losing. We are winning. We will continue to win if we will be faithful and true. . . . There is nothing the Lord has asked of us that in faith we cannot accomplish.”

We cannot call back time that is past, we cannot stop time that now is, and we cannot experience the future in our present state. Time is a gift, a treasure not to be put aside for the future but to be used wisely in the present.

Mid-Week Meanderings/Maunderings (but not from truth!)

I’m gonna preach to the choir! One can never fully enjoy such preaching under the awareness of one’s own inadequacies, and the constant yearning that the choir were much, much larger (at least encompassing the entire congregation and pulling in others from the streets...as in Matthew 22:2-10)! “Then saith he unto his disciples, The harvest truly is plenteous, but the labourers are few; Pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he will send forth labourers into his harvest” (Matthew 9:37-38). There is an interestingly wry remark in the Tractate Avot, 2.20 of the Mishnah: “The day is short; the task is great; the workmen are lazy; the reward is abundant; and the Master is pressing.”

Needless to say—a rather curious phrase to say—I find it far easier to let my excessive thoughts spill over into a new entry, rather than bulking up the comment section.

Susan, is this the same instructor who said he was prepared to lecture on the unrevealed features of the Abrahamic facsimiles? What happened to that guy? I don’t mean to allude to your age in any way, but is it even possible for your instructor to have taught his warped notion before The Family: A Proclamation to the World boldly reminded everyone that “gender is an essential characteristic of individual premortal, mortal, and eternal identity and purpose”? Not that I think he had any right to be confused, anyhow. Frequently people create their private doctrines on assumptions that please them or reveal their hearts (i.e., Moroni 8:14-16), which really makes me worry about him. That is also not to say that doctrine never defies the natural understanding, even to those at least somewhat spiritually tutored. Some time ago an elders quorum instructor challenged his group to name one gospel principle that didn’t make sense. Out of respect, to him and the actual message he was teaching, I didn’t mention that Elder Lund addresses that rather well in Hearing the Voice of the Lord, pp. 12-14.

Yet the eternity of gender is one of those facts so patently obvious that we may not think of commenting upon it, or noting when we come across it in Church literature. But, naturally, it has always been taught. Elder Oaks covered it thoroughly in October 1993 General Conference (portions of which I will excerpt in addition to the theme at hand, since they’re so excellent, but I shall try to remain on but one or two conversation pieces this evening):

All of the myriads of mortals who have been born on this earth chose the Father’s plan and fought for it. Many of us also made covenants with the Father concerning what we would do in mortality. In ways that have not been revealed, our actions in the spirit world influence us in mortality. . . .

Satan seeks to discredit the Savior and divine authority, to nullify the effects of the Atonement, to counterfeit revelation, to lead people away from the truth, to contradict individual accountability, to confuse gender, to undermine marriage, and to discourage childbearing (especially by parents who will raise children in righteousness).

Maleness and femaleness, marriage, and the bearing and nurturing of children are all essential to the great plan of happiness. Modern revelation makes clear that what we call gender was part of our existence prior to our birth. God declares that he created “male and female” (D&C 20:18; Moses 2:27; Gen. 1:27). Elder James E. Talmage explained: “The distinction between male and female is no condition peculiar to the relatively brief period of mortal life; it was an essential characteristic of our pre-existent condition” (Millennial Star, 24 Aug. 1922, p. 539). . . .

We live in a day when there are many political, legal, and social pressures for changes that confuse gender and homogenize the differences between men and women. Our eternal perspective sets us against changes that alter those separate duties and privileges of men and women that are essential to accomplish the great plan of happiness. We do not oppose all changes in the treatment of men and women, since some changes in laws or customs simply correct old wrongs that were never grounded in eternal principles. . . .

Our concept of marriage is motivated by revealed truth, not by worldly sociology. The Apostle Paul taught “neither is the man without the woman, neither the woman without the man, in the Lord” (1 Cor. 11:11). President Spencer W. Kimball explained, “Without proper and successful marriage, one will never be exalted” (Marriage and Divorce, Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Co., 1976, p. 24).

According to custom, men are expected to take the initiative in seeking marriage. That is why President Joseph F. Smith directed his prophetic pressure at men. He said, “No man who is marriageable is fully living his religion who remains unmarried” (Gospel Doctrine, Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Co., 1939, p. 275). We hear of some worthy LDS men in their thirties who are busy accumulating property and enjoying freedom from family responsibilities without any sense of urgency about marriage. Beware, brethren. You are deficient in a sacred duty. . . .

We know that many worthy and wonderful Latter-day Saints currently lack the ideal opportunities and essential requirements for their progress. Singleness, childlessness, death, and divorce frustrate ideals and postpone the fulfillment of promised blessings. . . . The Lord has promised that in the eternities no blessing will be denied his sons and daughters who keep the commandments, are true to their covenants, and desire what is right. . . .

We who know God’s plan for his children, we who have covenanted to participate, have a clear responsibility. We must desire to do what is right, and we must do all that we can in our own circumstances in mortality.

In all of this, we should remember King Benjamin’s caution to “see that all these things are done in wisdom and order; for it is not requisite that a man should run faster than he has strength” (Mosiah 4:27). I think of that inspired teaching whenever I feel inadequate, frustrated, or depressed.

Regarding the Elder Talmage reference, it’s at times like this that I wish I owned the Millennial Star. In coming years I’ll either get it myself or hint subtly via wish lists until I acquire the volumes. :o) And gospel library software packages just don’t cut it, which is why I hope we’re not seeing the complete demise of printed matter. I recently related to my sister how a high council speaker in our ward said to the preceding young single adult speaker, “You must have used the same search engine I did.” That would have had me suppressing hopping mad feelings, for it seems like an insult! What missionary goes forth under the power of google or some commercial software, rather than adequate preparation in the word and spirit of God? One general authority gives us insight: “Someone asked him when he found time to prepare so many addresses. His reply was: ‘You should study all your life and read with the thought of developing material for the future’” (Conway B. Sonne, A Man Named Alma: The World of Alma Sonne [Bountiful, Utah: Horizon Publishers, 1988], 196).

I once edited some manuscripts at length that could scarcely conceal a simplistic plug-in-the-search-term usage of gospel passages all strung together. As in...you could find the same term in each one, and sometimes that's all they seemed to have in common, when far more relevant quotes would come immediately to the mind of almost any seasoned CES instructor (showing that the authors weren't even making a serious effort)! It tried my patience to breaking point. I don’t think our society realizes what it’s doing to its knowledge base, such that learned commentators must refer in passing to “an age when the memory was commonly keener and more retentive than in our own” (Victor Watts, introduction to Boethius, The Consolation of Philosophy, rev. ed. [New York, New York: Penguin Books, 1999], xxii). Nibley, whom I feel could occasionally be erratic in his gospel interpretations, nonetheless made a valuable, revolutionary observation:

Joseph Justus Scaliger, who died in 1608, was the last man ever to make a serious attempt to read what the written human record said. It covers thousands of years. The human race has documented its doings for a long time, and no one pays any attention to the record. Nobody in the world does that anymore. Oh, it’s a librarian’s paradise: we classify, we photograph, we reproduce, we store and preserve, and we transfer. We can do all the tricks electronics can do today, but nobody reads the records. Nobody knows what is actually in these books. I mean this literally. A few specialists may consider documents in one area or in another, but who knows what the record as a whole has to tell us? It’s a most interesting thing the way these records have been shamefully pushed aside. . . .

Giorgio de Santillana . . . . shows that the Egyptians knew more than we have ever given them credit for. Levi-Strauss, an anthropologist, has written an astonishing book on that quite recently—how much more our “primitives” have really known all along than we’ve been giving them credit for. We had the idea that since people lived long ago and before our science, their ideas must be superstitious. . . .

Now comes an interesting question: If you were to read these written records, would they give you the same picture of the world that the scientific transcripts give us? . . . No they don’t. They give a totally different picture of what was going on in the past, the so-called scientific view. This is very good news, because until now we have been told there is only one possible valid picture of the world—the picture science gives us at the moment. Many scientists are getting over that now—men like Karl Popper and Thomas Kuhn. People like that are giving us a very different picture, showing us that it’s always changing—which we should have known all along anyway. We shouldn’t be stuck with just one picture at one image, even if we are laymen and can’t understand the scientists. They say, “Well, you have to take it, this is it; this is it.” That’s the voice of authority speaking: “I’m sorry we’ll just have to settle for that.” But it hasn’t been particularly good news, because in recent years the picture’s become a rather dismal one, and many scientists have been talking about that. Quite a number say the picture’s not only dismal but false in many respects. There’s something radically wrong with it. It doesn’t match the real world we live in, certainly not in all points. Then why do we accept it? Because, as I say, we’ve been told there’s no alternative. Many scientists have said that about evolution. It’s a very defective tool, but they must use it because it’s the only one they have. So we’ve been left with but one picture of the world, and all the time there’s the other one from the books. I don’t say it will give you a true picture of things or anything like that; I will say there might be something very wonderful if you went and looked. Yet nobody goes and looks. It’s just too much trouble. (Hugh Nibley, Old Testament and Related Studies, ed. John W. Welch, Gary P. Gillum, Don E. Norton [Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Company, 1986], 116-120)

Anyway, my review of Millennial Star materials is not altogether disappointed, since I was reminded of this: “He believes so intensely in the principles which he preaches that we fear his attitude is sometimes misunderstood” (Bryant S. Hinckley, about Joseph Fielding Smith, MS, 94:405).

My available notes from that text don’t contain the passage quoted by Elder Oaks, but it does appear contemporaneously in another Church publication, the Liahona: The Elders Journal, 23:73, and I share a fuller passage with you for its value:

We affirm as reasonable, scriptural, and true, the eternity of sex among the children of God. The distinction between male and female is no condition peculiar to the relatively brief period of mortal life; it was an essential characteristic of our preexistent condition, even as it shall continue after death, in both the disembodied and resurrected states. . . .

There is no accident or chance, due to purely physical conditions, by which the sex of the unborn is determined. The body takes form as male or female, according to the sex of the spirit whose appointment it is to tenant that body as a tabernacle formed of the elements of earth, through which means alone the individual may enter upon the indispensable course of human experience, probation, and training. . . .

Scriptures attest a state of existence preceding mortality, in which the spirit children of God lived, doubtless with distinguishing personal characteristics including the distinction of sex, for "male and female created he them," spiritually, "before they were [created] naturally upon the face of the earth." It is plain that this spiritual creation of mankind embraced the entire human family and not alone the pair ordained to be the first mortal parents of mankind; for it is expressly stated that "the Lord God had created all the children of men" before a man had been placed upon the earth "to till the ground," even before the earth was tillable or capable of supporting the vegetation necessary for human food. . . .

[Alma 40:23]

With such definite word as to the actuality of a bodily resurrection, which shall come to all, righteous and sinners, is it conceivable that the essential differences of sex shall be eliminated? Children of God have comprised male and female from the beginning. Man is man, and woman is woman, fundamentally, unchangeably, eternally. Each is indispensable to the other and to the accomplishment of the purposes of God, the crowning glory of which is "to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man." (Pearl of Great Price, p. 7.)

There’s no way I can forego quoting a prophet on the “gender gap”:

We had full equality as his spirit children. We have equality as recipients of God’s perfected love for each of us. . . . Within those great assurances, however, our roles and assignments differ. These are eternal differences—with women being given many tremendous responsibilities of motherhood and sisterhood and men being given the tremendous responsibilities of fatherhood and the priesthood—but the man is not without the woman nor the woman without the man in the Lord (see 1 Corinthians 11:11). Both a righteous man and a righteous woman are a blessing to all those their lives touch.

Remember, in the world before we came here, faithful women were given certain assignments while faithful men were foreordained to certain priesthood tasks. While we do not now remember the particulars, this does not alter the glorious reality of what we once agreed to. (The Teachings of Spencer W. Kimball, 315-316)

Sir Mister Landlord President Tall Man Sir,
I know enough about you to guess that not only did you mean no harm by teaching mythology, but probably did no harm, and I’m willing to bet there’s a good story to that. So I won’t launch into a wholly unnecessary, and offensive, discourse against melding philosophy with gospel teaching.

I was about to excuse the practice (in jocularity) altogether, stating that Greek philosophy was worse than the mythology, which was more of a cultural expression. How, though, could we really weigh the relative damage done in modern society by campuses versus Hollywood? (Sometimes they seem to be absolutely on the same team.)

I really only inveigh against philosophy more, I suspect, because my life so far has brought me more in contact with Worldly-Wise Men than icons of popular culture.

Even so, there is strong warrant in gospel teaching for drawing upon the acknowledged cultural norms of the people (somewhat in accord with Alma 12:9-11 (w/18:26-36 and 22:7-12), 2 Nephi 31:3, and D&C 50:12). I find one such example enlightening. S. Michael Wilcox, The Writings of John [Orem, Utah: Randall Book Company, 1987], 64-65:

Christ immediately tells the Greeks, "The hour is come that the Son of man should be glorified." He explains the method of that glorification with an analogy that would have significant meaning to Greeks. The analogy he uses is the planting and harvesting of corn or wheat. Considering that one of the most important Greek myths revolved around Demeter the Goddess of Corn and her daughter Persephone's annual return to the underworld, this analogy would in all probability be understood by one coming from a Greek background. Christ's analogy is given as follows:

[John 12:24-25.]

Paul definitely utilized the prevailing culture and even its literature, but there are limits!

There’s a reason Tennyson wrote (The Poems of Alfred Lord Tennyson [Roslyn, New York: Black's Readers Service, 1932], 144):

Hold thou the good, define it well;
For fear divine Philosophy
Should push beyond her mark, and be
Procuress to the Lords of Hell.

The last thing I’ll stay up to post demonstrates how Christianity traveled such a great distance from its origins. One of my greatest concerns in life is PROVENANCE. I want everything my mind ponders to have its ultimate origin with God, and to be highly proximate thereto.

Philo died in 50 A.D. while most, if not all the original Apostles yet lived. Yet none of their statements confirm his views. If Philo's teachings about God were inspired, why don't they appear in any Apostolic writings? Why was it that more than a hundred years passed before Philo's views on God were adopted by Christian writers? There is but one valid explanation. They were heretical when Philo taught them, and they were a sign of apostasy when the early Church later adopted them.

With the idea of a transcendent God, the concept of incorporeality was first applied to the God of the Bible, not in the early Church, but in Hellenized Judaism by Philo of Alexandria. Some time before 50 A.D., he wrote the following about God's nature: "He is 'without body, parts or passions;' without feet, for whither should He walk who fills all things: without hands, for from whom should He receive anything who possesses all things: without eyes, for how should He need eyes who made the light."

This language has great poetic beauty, but there is no biblical nor logical foundation to the ideas expressed. Why should God's creation of light imply that He has no eyes to see it with? The whole idea is illogical. Philo quotes no passage of scripture in support of his notions, for there are none. His ideas are borrowed entirely from Greek philosophy, the source later used by the Apologists to arrive at the same false conclusions. There was no inspired basis for adopting any of his notions. (Richard R. Hopkins, How Greek Philosophy Corrupted the Christian Concept of God [Bountiful, Utah: Horizon Publishers & Distributors, Inc., 1998], 266-267)

Oh, yes. One final quotation, in partial explanation of why I mentally linked ancient Greek mythology with modern cultural expression (or, to put it more plainly, cultural lack of restraint):

Although the influence of the Bible has guided Western civilization for two thousand years, there are still those who seek to revive the gods of paganism, only now the gods have modern names: not Kronos but Progress; not Aphrodite but Sex; not Apollo but Culture; not Athena but Science. (Dennis Rasmussen, The Lord's Question: Thoughts on the Life of Response [Provo, Utah: Keter Foundation, 1985], 48)

By the way, thank you for your comments. My thought processes tonight were not intended as anything but favorable, albeit impersonal, interaction.

1 John 2:24-29

“Do not be so proud to think that you are beyond the adversary's influence. Be watchful that you do not fall prey to his deceptions. Stay close to the Lord through daily scripture study and daily prayer. We cannot afford to sit back and take our salvation for granted.” –Joseph B. Wirthlin

This Friday before last I was the recipient of an e-mail entitled “For my LDS buddies, Tribute to a Prophet.” It saddened me greatly, on two counts: 1) it seems indicative of a trend that always troubles me; 2) while it may be a tribute to something, it is certainly no tribute to a prophet. A portion of President Hinckley’s labors went into refuting unsound rumor.

Here is the message in full:

You were generals in the War in Heaven and one day when you are in the spirit world, you will be enthralled by those you are associated with. You will ask someone in which time period they lived and you might hear, "I was with Moses when he parted the Red Sea, " or "I helped build the pyramids'" or "I fought with Captain Moroni." And as you are standing there in amazement, someone will turn to you and ask you which of the prophets' time did you live in? And when you say "Gordon B. Hinkley" [sic] a hush will fall over every hall and corridor in Heaven, and all in attendance will bow at your presence. You were held back six thousand years because you were the most talented, most obedient, most courageous, and most righteous.
Elder Boyd K. Packer

I miss President Hinckley.

The first and best reaction to provide you with is President Packer’s. Please visit the genuine Church News link given there, since it constitutes an absolute rejection.

In the interest of time (and reader interest) I haven’t provided every reference for every quote in my entries, but they’re available upon request. In fact, it’s unlike me not to cram them in, regardless. It is not without very good reason that I will always have exact citation when quoting upon spiritual matters.

These entries are no cut-and-paste venture. (Sunday’s was entirely typed afresh, with at least two typos that I’m aware of.) However, here I will benefit by pulling in my initial journal reaction to this sort of teaching, when I encountered it on August 22, 2001:

From some murky origin comes a saying that has gone abroad, namely that some day individuals of past ages will bow down in awe to the youth of this generation. How false! How inflated! I understand this may be an exaggeration of someone's statement at an Especially For Youth conference. I wish teachers would find more appropriate ways to praise and/or encourage the youth. I don't know but that it will only grow in popularity, for nothing seems to check it. The tendency of my peers to imbibe false doctrine never ceases to amaze me. So it might be all the more a problem by the time you read this.

I will say, quite simply, that we ought to stand in awe of the sacrifices of past generations and quit making excuses to equate our circumstances to theirs. Admittedly, we are not thrown to the lions and must be faithful in other ways, but need we fabricate reasons why our daily trials are like theirs? Very few of us indeed stack up to the standard provided in Hebrews 11 and Ether 12. The point is not for us to match their deeds -- which are varied -- but to match their faith. Do we?

When a future day of blessed reunion comes, we will fall upon one another's necks. There will be no falling upon our knees. That is reserved for our King. Should such a lapse occur, the response will no doubt be as it was anciently: "See thou do it not: I am thy fellowservant, and of thy brethren that have the testimony of Jesus: worship God" (Revelation 19:10).

Doctrinally, I haven’t got the time to debunk the passage. (I have the space, but no one really wants me to use it!) I merely quote something in passing which is abundantly supported elsewhere: “Some of our Father’s sons developed spiritual talents to a marked degree, and they were foreordained to spiritual callings in mortality whereby their talents would be utilized to administer salvation to our Father’s children” (The Teachings of Howard W. Hunter, 12). Yet even this should give no rise to a certain Protestant notion of determining election (for it is only God who knows the end from the beginning), since we have an interesting prophetic illumination:

I have seen many in the world that never have been able to discern the difference between foreknowledge and foreordination. I thought that I could always discern the difference. If I know that an act will transpire tomorrow, it by no means follows that I had decreed it. It is the design, wish, desire of our Heavenly Father that every soul in this congregation should be crowned in the celestial kingdom. Will they be? No. I know that some will not. But does it follow that some are ordained to go to hell? No. It is the design of the Gospel to save this congregation, all the Latter-day Saints, and all the world besides that will believe the testimony of Jesus and become obedient to the Gospel of salvation. And none need to turn round and say, "It is the design of the Lord, I shall be saved;" for its being the will and design of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, and of every Saint that ever was or ever will be, that you should be a Saint, will not make you one, contrary to your own choice. All rational beings have an agency of their own; and according to their own choice they will be saved or damned. (Brigham Young, JD, 6:97; see Hel. 12:25-26)

So much for James Michener’s confused preacher:

We are the sweet selected few,
The rest of you be damned;
There's room enough in hell for you,
We don't want heaven crammed. (character Lanning Harper, in Texas [New York: Fawcett Crest, 1985], 308)

As for this business of generals, I don’t think we have any point of reference to be bothering ourselves much with the division and organization of the conflict, but it seems more than a little unrealistic to flatter ourselves that all served with equal valiance. (And, again, I’ve commented recently on the odd temptation to rest upon laurels, especially imagined ones!) Still, if some distinguished themselves above others, that strongly suggests that—even if “average” was stupendous—there was a more average plane among the rest. But I am not into this comparison game, in a world where there’s quite enough confusion and battle already.

On a tangent, I also learned long ago, much to my sorrow and distress, as well as constant internal derangement, that I simply could not view dating as an opportunity to boast. If someone wanted to marry a braggart, at least they’d be taking one of many off the market. I would sooner be viewed as a mute imbecile—when acting in the spirit of my best self—than inappropriately interject commentary. (Though it might say something if in the course of the conversation I can’t ever find a way to discuss what matters most to me.) I like to see honor, valor, commitment, etc. demonstrated, rather than spoken of endlessly...or, perhaps, that much at all. There is also much to be said for delightful discussion of doctrine, followed by mutual inclination to go and do.

One of my temptations in life has sometimes been a disposition to seek attention. Yet I am coming to learn this: of what value is it? Heaven knows the wrong kind of attention isn’t worth getting! I arrived at a difficult conclusion back in July: “I . . . passed up a ‘perfect’ opportunity to disclose personal bragging rights about something. It occurred to me that saying it would in no way assist the other's salvation, and I cannot really guess how it might damage me. I trust that the next person to truly extol my virtues will have to have truly gotten to know me.”

I cannot be altogether certain I’ve escaped what Pascal noticed: “Few men speak humbly of humility.” I just know that, having been around some monsters of arrogance, I really don’t want to wind up like that. Who wants to be around someone who makes themself the starting and finishing point of every conversation? What a call to fight off my natural man! I do want to clarify at this time that my strict attention to what great men have said has occasionally, and inexplicably, been taken as a sign of pompousness. I suffer from pride, it’s true, but I can almost invariably strip it out of my reverence for gospel truth, something I constantly and freely confess is so much larger than myself that my own personality means nothing.

At any rate, I prefer at this time in life to improve my observation skills, what I’ve jokingly called for over a decade my project of studying human nature.

A wise old owl lived in an oak;
The more he saw the less he spoke;
The less he spoke the more he heard:
Why can't we all be like that bird? (Author Unknown, in Jack M. Lyon, Linda Ririe Gundry, Jay A. Parry, and Devan Jensen, ed., Poems That Lift the Soul [Salt Lake City: Deseret Book (Shadow Mountain), 1998], 122)

Some of my expressed views, from a December 2002 talk:

President Taylor lectured, “I hear a great deal said about which is the ‘biggest’ man. . . . I think that the man who can be most like a little child will be the greatest in the kingdom of God. Greatness does not consist of talking of things, but in doing them.” President Lee counseled, “There is no end to the amount of good we can do in this church if we are not concerned about who gets the credit for it.”

Ultimately we will be known by our fruits, thus judged by our works, and rewarded accordingly. There are two classes, with plenty of gradations: the dos and the do nots. Every mortal lacks the ability to establish permanent residence in the “do” category, but one’s heart can live there, with one’s hands following suit according to ability. We can do everyone a favor by letting our lips be the last things to lay hold of our duty.

I had opportunity to speak further on this war in heaven matter before a congregation in April 2002, and I still don’t feel inclined to modify my language one bit:

We children of our Heavenly Father are sandwiched between premortal and postmortal life. So much hinges upon what we do here, but this is nevertheless such a “small moment.” President Harold B. Lee quoted the phrase: “What we are hereafter depends on what we’re after here.” Honestly, if someone had served as a general during the war in heaven, that would have little bearing if they refused to serve the Lord here and now. Failure to keep the second estate is good grounds for a fall from grace. The Kingdom is built by service and not by rank, as many apostles have humbly attested. Indeed, how can there be distinction—in terms of worth—between those who are equally children of God? The lines won’t be irreversibly drawn until God passes final judgment. Everyone deserves to be treated like a celestial candidate, regardless of attainment or ability.

“Be loyal to the royal within you,” said President Lee. So it is that we distinguish ourselves by living worthy of our divine potential. Knowledge of divine identity alone cannot save us, without our coming unto Christ. In his famous discourse on faith with works, James wrote almost sarcastically, “Thou believest that there is one God; thou doest well: the devils also believe and tremble.” This verifies that knowledge by itself is not power, and “of him unto whom much is given much is required; and he who sins against the greater light shall receive the greater condemnation.” God placed us upon this earth to “prove [us] in all things, whether [we] will abide in [His] covenant, even unto death.” We are not told to endure as long as we’d like. In fact, we are told to endure to the end, and to “endure it well.” . . . Brigham Young’s counsel is challenging: “So live that when you wake in the spirit-world you can truthfully say, ‘I could not better my mortal life, were I to live it over again.’” Knowing that we can always do better doesn’t help much, but there’s something to be said for at least living without regrets.

The Proclamation further reassures us that “in the premortal realm, [we] knew and worshiped” our Father, accepting His plan of progression. “Ultimately,” we can “realize [our] divine destiny as an heir of eternal life.” Charles W. Penrose, of the First Presidency, once said: “We haven’t heard the story, fully, of the . . . pre-existence of our Savior, nor of our own. We imagine a great many things concerning what we were and what we agreed to do and what we promised. . . . One certain thing is this: that we are here, born on the earth in the latter days for the purposes of God . . . and the things that he has promised us will all be fulfilled if we will do our duty, if we will learn his word today and keep his commandments now.”

Returning to my blast against false reports within the Church, President Benson said many things about correctness in one’s information-gathering. I include a few direct statements:

“My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge,” said the prophet Hosea (see Hosea 4:6). Let us not let it happen to us. First, let us do our homework, because action without the proper education can lead to fanaticism. But after we have done our homework, let us take action, because education without action can only lead to frustration and failure. . . .

Students, study the writings of the prophets. Fortunately, a consistent position has been taken over the years by the prophets of the Church on vital issues facing this nation. Pray for inspiration and knowledge. Counsel with your parents. Let Sunday be the day to fill up your spiritual batteries for the week by reading good Church books, particularly the Book of Mormon. Take time to meditate. Don’t let the philosophies and falsehoods of men throw you. Hold on to the iron rod. Learn to sift. Learn to discern error through the promptings of the Spirit and your study of the truth. . . .

Study the scriptures and study the mortals who have been most consistently accurate about the most important things. When your freedom and your eternal welfare are at stake, your information best be accurate. (TETB, 301, 304-305)

President Monson has weighed in on the subject, one of three vital characteristics for a Latter-day Saint (Ensign, Mar. 1996, 2,4):

I would like to suggest that if we are really to be a chosen generation, we have the responsibility to be prepared, to be productive, to be faithful, and to be fruitful as well. . . .

I’d like to suggest that when we search for truth, we search among those books and in those places where truth is most likely to be found. I’ve often referred to a simple couplet: “You do not find truth groveling through error. You find truth by searching the holy word of God.” . . .

You and I have the responsibility to learn the word of God, to understand the word of God, and then to live his word. By so doing, we will find that we have learned and accepted the truth. The Prophet Joseph Smith provided direct counsel. He said, “I made this my rule: When the Lord commands, do it.” . . .

This is a day when time is precious. This is a time when we cannot afford not to be engaged in an earnest search for truth. May we fill our minds with truth.

Accuracy and discernment was in large part the burden of President Joseph Fielding Smith’s message. I have encountered a book taken far too seriously by certain scholars and eager students alike, founded upon unacceptable premises (that is, if one accepts Joseph F. Smith and Joseph Fielding Smith as prophets of God—and at last report, the author was unapologetic about downplaying their statements), pretending to pass for a doctrinal treatise. On the matter of issues that should have been laid to rest long ago but never will die, because Satan keeps reviving them, consider Joseph Fielding Smith’s tone:

Several times within the past three months I have been approached by individuals and have received communications through the mails, making inquiry concerning a certain purported revelation said to have been given many years ago to President Joseph F. Smith, in which he saw the destruction of many great cities and many countries of the world and other very unusual things. Inquiry has also been made regarding a purported vision given to the Prophet Joseph Smith in relation to the same things, and which has been in circulation for many years. It is evident that these things are again being circulated and many of the people are becoming agitated over them wondering if they are true or not, and some of the people have been deceived.

At the October Conference of the Church in the year 1918, which was the last General Conference attended by President Joseph F. Smith, I made some remarks in relation to these two so-called visions and pointed out the fact that they were not true. At the close of my remarks President Smith arose and also spoke of them. Let me say that this communication that has come into my hands recently, and about which I have been asked for advice, was being circulated very extensively at that time. It is a purported revelation given to Joseph Smith many years ago. . . .

Now, I think we are fortunate in having President Smith's own expression in regard to these purported revelations. It seems strange to me that now, some twelve years later, we still find them in circulation. But the thing that astonishes me more is the fact that members of the Church seem to be bewildered and in wonderment whether or not these purported revelations were indeed given to the Prophet Joseph and to President Joseph F. Smith. . . .

Who is it that is deceived in this Church? Not the man who has been faithful in the discharge of duty; not the man who has made himself acquainted with the word of the Lord; not the man who has practiced the commandments given in these revelations; but the man who is not acquainted with the truth, the man who is in spiritual darkness, the man who does not comprehend and understand the principles of the Gospel. Such a man will be deceived, and when these false spirits come among us he may not understand or be able to distinguish between light and darkness.

But if we will walk in the light of the revelations of the Lord, if we will hearken to the counsels that are given by those who stand in the councils of the Church, empowered to give the instructions, we will not go astray.

In the twenty-fourth chapter of Matthew, as the Lord revealed it to the Prophet Joseph Smith, not as you find it in the Bible, but as you find it in the Pearl of Great Price, we find this expression:
"And whoso treasureth up my word, shall not be deceived, for the Son of Man shall come, and he shall send his angels before him with the great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together the remainder of his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other."

I repeat: "And whoso treasureth up my word shall not be deceived." Therefore let us go to with our might in the labor of this Church, and in the study and understanding of the principles of the Gospel, these principles of light, and as we study them the Lord will reveal to us further light, until we shall receive the fulness, in due time, of the perfect day, and we shall not be under the necessity of being subject to doubt and seeking for advice when confronted by matters of this kind, because the Spirit of the Lord itself will teach us. (CR, Apr. 1931, 68-69, 71)

This raises an interesting point, difficult to the immediate understanding, but critical if we are ever to attain the point where we may speak (under inspiration) without reservation, unafraid that an accidentally—or insidiously?—conceived pet doctrine might be exposed at such time as a general authority takes the pulpit about it. It is absolutely critical in order to escape the deceptive spirit of our times.

From President Packer:

It is important to know the gospel, for instance, according to the leaders of the Church. But an even better starting place is to know the gospel according to one's own self; that is, to take a subject such as the Word of Wisdom and really search our own minds as to how we feel about it. We should read what we can find in the scriptures about the subject and then write down our feelings. Then we may compare those feelings against what leaders of the Church have written or said.

If we are sincere, we will find our conclusions being sustained by their conclusions. If we are searching inside ourselves in the right way, and we have included prayer as part of that search, we are tapping the same source of intelligence that the leaders of the Church are tuned-in upon.
Then we may become independent witnesses of that principle from our own inquiry. Then our obedience is not blind obedience. Then our agency is protected and we are on the right course. Then we will do things because we know they are right and are the truth. We will know this from our own inquiry, not simply because someone else knows it. (Teach Ye Diligently, revised ed. [Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Company, 1991], 119)

I have had so many wonderful experiences with strengthening testimony of truths that I can and always do bear testimony that “personal revelation will come only in confirmation of the prophets, and not in contradiction.” It seems to me that the greater my (legitimately acquired) confidence in the prophets, the faster the Spirit attests to the truth of what they’ve said, in an upward spiral.

As for exercising our agency mightily (and individually) within the gospel framework, I’ve often referred others to President Faust: “I strongly urge you that if there is any question in your minds or hearts about whether your personal conduct is right or wrong, don't do it. Each of us has moral agency, and the gift of the Holy Ghost will sharpen our impressions of what is right and wrong, true and false. It is the responsibility of the prophets of God to teach the word of God, not to spell out every jot and tittle of human conduct. If we are conscientiously trying to avoid not only evil but the very appearance of evil, we will act for ourselves and not be acted upon.” (Ensign, May 2003, 51)

(I can’t resist the urge to remark that conservatives are often misunderstood over the issue of wishing to avoid the very appearance of evil. Frankly, it should be refreshing to know individuals about whom one never need wonder where they stand, or what they’d do or say—none of this constant vacillation in an enormous realm of gray! In support, see, for example, Teachings of Gordon B. Hinckley, 678.)

Now, to share what President Joseph F. Smith said in the October 1918 Conference:

This wonderful, mysterious revelation that I have been said to have received a great many years ago, was given in French, and I never knew but two or three words in French in my life; consequently, I could not have been the originator of that revelation. I want you to understand that. I have denied it, I suppose, a hundred times, when I have been inquired of about it. It was gotten up by some mysterious person who undertook to create a sensation and lay the responsibility upon me. I am not guilty. When the Lord reveals something to me, I will consider the matter with my brethren, and when it becomes proper, I will let it be known to the people, and not otherwise. . . .

Now, these stories of revelations that are being circulated around are of no consequence except for rumor and silly talk by persons that have no authority. The fact of the matter is simply here and this. No man can enter into God's rest unless he will absorb the truth in so far that all error, all falsehood, all misunderstandings and mis-statements he will be able to sift thoroughly and dissolve, and know that it is error and not truth. When you know God's truth, when you enter into God's rest, you will not be hunting after revelations from Tom, Dick and Harry all over the world. You will not be following the will of the wisps of the vagaries of men and women who advance nonsense and their own ideas. When you know the truth you will abide in the truth, and the truth will make you free, and it is the only truth that will free you from the errors of men, and from the falsehood and misrepresentations of the evil one who lays in wait to deceive and to mislead the people of God from the paths of righteousness and truth.

President Wilford Woodruff:

“The Elders have a world of truth to preach about. There is enough revealed to fill the whole earth as long as you live. Preach the truth as you understand it. Do not speculate on things you know nothing about, for it will benefit no one. If you listen to false doctrine you will be led away by false spirits. Remember and observe this, and you will be all right. Keep in the paths of truth, and all will be well with you” (CD, 2:60-61).

I was once subjected to an entire semester with a—put in initial caps so as not to falsely advertise—Persuasive Writing teacher (at BYU, no less) who took every opportunity to cast doubt about matters upon which prophets have pronounced plainly. This teacher always alleged sympathy for the wrongdoer, in seeming oblivion to this sentiment:

Some of our good Latter-day Saints have become so exceedingly good (?) that they cannot tell the difference between a Saint of God, an honest man, and a son of Beelzebub, who has yielded himself absolutely to sin and wickedness. And they call that liberality, broadness of mind, exceeding love. I do not want to become so blinded with love for my enemies that I cannot discern between light and darkness, between truth and error, between good and evil; but I hope to live so that I shall have sufficient light in me to discern between error and truth, and to cast my lot on the side of truth and not on the side of error and darkness. The Lord bless the Latter-day Saints. If I am too narrow with reference to these matters I hope that the wisdom of my brethren and the Spirit of Light from the Lord may broaden my soul. (Joseph F. Smith, CR, Oct. 1907, 6)

By the end of the course, I was quite grateful that the conservative mindset finds ready and complete backing in the revelations. Thanks be to God that she didn’t succeed in her objective, stated directly to me, of changing my mind. It was also gratifying to encounter more clever couplets (attribution rather more certain than the opening quote):

Academic Freedom
They say we're anti-intellect,
Afraid to even think--
Our paranoid, deep fear of truth
Has caused our minds to shrink.
We're bigoted and prejudiced,
Withdrawn, afraid, regressive.
They must speak out and save the Church;
Someone must be progressive.
But them! How could we dare believe?
No! No! They're nowhere near it.
For shame that we should think the thought
That they are anti-spirit.
A Narrow-Minded Bigot (Boyd K. Packer, in Lucile C. Tate, Boyd K. Packer: A Watchman on the Tower [Salt Lake City: Bookcraft, 1995], 265)

I was appalled in another classroom setting to witness the birth of a Second Coming myth and realize that no one else noticed or cared. My whole life I’ve thought the average church member understood that the Second Coming was in the top five things you don’t speculate about!

Somewhat in keeping with 2 Jn. 1:7-11, 2 Tim. 1:13-14, 2:15-16, 3:16-17 (JST), and Titus 3:11, I hope that we can all find greater courage to shun false teachings. President Joseph Fielding Smith, about one of his overriding concerns:

Sometimes those who are serving as bishops and presidents of stakes, and in other leading positions, I fear, may overlook this fact, and in the choosing of teachers in classes, as teacher trainers, or wherever it may be, think of the man’s educational qualifications as they would be looked upon in the world and forget the spiritual and doctrinal qualifications which are more essential. . . .

What do we accomplish if we spend our time and means preaching in the world to make converts to the gospel, if we place instructors before the youth in the stakes and wards who destroy the faith in the hearts of the young people in the divine message intrusted to our care?

How careful our instructors . . . should be to guard the revealed truth from heaven! How fearful we should be lest we teach that which is false and thereby lead souls astray, in paths that lead to death and away from the exaltation in the kingdom of God. . . . There is no greater crime in all the world than to teach false doctrines and lead the unsuspecting astray, away from the eternal truths of the gospel. . . .

What a dreadful thing it would be to be going forth to teach, to lead men, to guide them into something that was not true. . . .

He who blinds one soul, he who spreads error, he who destroys, through his teachings, divine truth, truth that would lead a man to the kingdom of God and to its fulness, how great shall be his condemnation and his punishment in eternity. For the destruction of a soul is the destruction of the greatest thing that has ever been created. (DS, 1:312-314)

Don’t get me wrong, perceiving me as Mr. Doom and Gloom or Mr. Know-It-All. I have had many exceptional teachers. I hope I won’t be blamed for being discriminating in how I place my trust. I had the opportunity to thank one teacher of sound doctrine last year, along these lines, “My home ward’s instructor seems more intent on entertaining the students. I really appreciate how much you clearly want to bear testimony to them.”

To supply a TKO from Pres. J. Reuben Clark, Jr.: “In matters of gospel doctrine, there is no such thing as academic freedom in your teaching of youth. You declare the word of God as written in the scriptures, and as interpreted by his Prophet, Seer, and Revelator. Otherwise there is chaos and apostasy, and we shall follow the route of the primitive, post-Apostolic church” ("Reflective Speculation," BYU seminary + institute address, 21 Jun 1954, 1).

So why do I seem so particular even about small things, to the point of appearing to raise contentions over points of doctrine? For starters, while many would change their tune if corrected, often the only difference between a mistake and open heresy is timing and opposition. Persisting in a false belief often occurs, regardless of OR in the absence of that correction factor. Also refer back to the Johnson quote, which I hinted was prelude to more dissertation.

These are “perilous times,” wherein so many are “ever learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth” (2 Tim. 3:1, 7). The winds of doctrine, ready to blow the unprepared about (Eph. 4:14; see Hel. 5:12), move with increasingly gale force. A previous entry utilized the scripture admonishing us to “be not moved.”

To quote Pres. Joseph Fielding Smith on a strain he used often, “I do not believe, as some seem to think, that the world is growing better. I cannot make that thought appear consistent with the word of the Lord, for he has emphatically said otherwise. If the world is becoming more righteous, then the coming of the Lord will of necessity have to be postponed, because he is going to come in the day of wickedness, in the day of judgment, and when vengeance against the ungodly is in his heart. At that time he will cleanse the earth of its unrighteousness, and we are told there will be ‘few men left’” (CR, Oct. 1930, 24). President Marion G. Romney issued similar warning (and don’t fail to look up D&C 45:57):

"They that are wise and have received the truth" are they who, when they hear the gospel, accept it. They who "have taken the Holy Spirit for their guide and have not been deceived" are they who have not only had the gift of the Holy Ghost bestowed upon them, but who have thereafter so lived by faith as to have received the guidance of the Holy Ghost to such an extent that they have not been deceived. Such are they who, whether resurrected or living in mortality, shall abide the day of Christ's second coming. (George J. Romney, Look to God and Live: Discourses of Marion G. Romney [Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Company, 1971], 51)

I’ve often felt that if Latter-day Saints applied themselves to understanding the plainness of the book of Revelation (see Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, 290) and other legitimate prophecies, they’d be sufficiently alarmed that they’d have no more time to waste on passing around useless myths. However, remember what was just reiterated at Worldwide Leadership Training, a theme taken up by President Packer before, that Latter-day Saints should be prepared, not afraid.

One of the things I’ve most admired about Pres. Joseph Fielding Smith—aside from his sheer consistency, for he endorsed his lifetime of systematic theology after becoming president of the Church—is the focused necessity of his warnings. Note the incisiveness of this remark: “The thing that [is] needed as much as anything else among the Latter-day Saints [is] a better understanding or comprehension of the gospel. . . . I say to you, my brethren and sisters, you cannot keep the commandments of the Lord and walk in righteousness unless you know what they are. The Lord has commanded us to search the scriptures, for the things which they contain are true and shall be fulfilled, and so I say to you, and this is my closing message: Search the scriptures; make yourselves familiar with that which the Lord has revealed for your salvation, the salvation of your house, and of the world” (CR, Oct. 1920, 58-59). To fast forward to April 1971 Conference:

We are engaged in the Lord’s work; this is his church; he is the author of the plan of salvation; it is his gospel which we have received by the opening of the heavens in this day; and our desire and whole purpose in life should be to believe the truths he has revealed and to conform our lives to them. No person in or out of the Church should believe any doctrine, advocate any practice, or support any cause that is not in harmony with the divine will. Our sole objective where the truths of salvation are concerned should be to find out what the Lord has revealed and then to believe and act accordingly.

Elder McConkie was not the only man of apostolic stature in this dispensation of whom this might be said (as it was in the January 1973 Ensign): “He is impatient with half truth and intolerant of untruth. The way to righteousness is a clearly marked road of scriptural and revealed truth. He will have nothing else.”

I’m disappointed that the Conference Report containing the kernel of these quotations appears to be lent out at the moment. I choose to heedlessly advance some of Elder Mark E. Petersen’s thoughts:

But in spite of all the work that is done in the Church in the way of conversion and teaching, and so much wonderful work is done, there are some instances where people go in reverse and fall away. Sometimes they accept the teachings of false leaders and false teachers who lead them astray.

Often I have asked myself why it is that some people apostatize from the truth. I have never believed that a person falls away suddenly, all at once, any more than a person who has been righteous and honest all his life would go out and suddenly rob a bank. There is some preparatory work done in advance. There is some "softening-up" process which leads to the apostate condition. Big sins generally are preceded by little ones, and I believe that this is true with respect to people who fall away from the truth. . . .

I have heard of a man who claims to be a very good Latter-day Saint. He claims that he loves the Church, but he also loves the world, and he lives as closely as he possibly can to the line of disobedience without actually violating the letter of the law. He does not realize that he must avoid even the very appearance of evil. He does not realize, possibly, that by living as close to the line of disobedience as he can, he sows seeds of doubt and distrust in the minds of others.

There are those who live in open rebellion against the word of God and violate the commandments continuously and intentionally, and of course they always leave doubt in the minds of others, with some disrespect for them themselves.

And then there are the seeds that are sown by some of our teachers and preachers within our own organization, who like to advance some new doctrine, or some new interpretation, or some speculative theory, or advance something that is sensational, because to advance the sensational seems to feed their ego inasmuch as they become the center of a discussion.

Most of our teachers and preachers are wonderful. They teach the truth; they bring about conversions in the minds and hearts of those who listen to them. But there are these few teachers who sow seeds of doubt by speculative and unsound doctrines, and as they do so they "soften up," to use the army expression, some of their hearers who might later be taken over by the apostate teachers who come among them.

It is my full belief that whenever any of us accepts a position of any description in the Church, we accept along with it the responsibility of that office, whatever it may be. I believe that if a person accepts a position as a teacher in one of our organizations, or if he accepts the responsibility of preaching from the pulpit, such person accepts the responsibility which goes with that call. He becomes a representative of the Church in that position. Every teacher and every preacher therefore is duty bound, upon accepting such a call, to represent the official views and doctrines of the Church, and to teach those official doctrines in his class or from the pulpit, with the one thought in mind that conversion is to come about in the hearts of those who listen to him. I do not believe that conversion to the truth comes through the teaching of half-truths or untruths.

Our classrooms and our assembly rooms have been built at great expense with only one thought in mind, and that is that in them we may teach the truths so that we may convert those who come there, so that they in turn will live the gospel and work out their salvation in the earth.

I do not believe that the classrooms or the pulpits of our Church are for laboratory purposes in which to experiment with new doctrine and speculative notions. They are exclusively for the use of those who are willing to convert men and women and boys and girls to the truth.

There is only one man in all the world who has the right to introduce a new doctrine to this Church, and that man is the President of the Church. So teachers, until you become the President of the Church, will you be willing to content yourselves with the present officially accepted doctrines of the Church?

I do not believe that we can escape the responsibility of starting someone off on the wrong way if we teach wrong principles. I do not believe that any of us can afford to take that responsibility.

I do not believe, therefore, that we can bring into our classes or our sermons views and doctrines which are not accepted and officially advocated by the Church. . . .

I do believe that the Lord has given to the Latter-day Saints a fair amount of intelligence. I do believe that he expects us to use that intelligence in studying his revealed word and following his prophets here on earth, so that we will not be tossed about by every wind of doctrine.

I do believe that he expects our teachers and preachers to use the common sense he has given them to teach the simple truth which saves, rather than the speculations and theories of men, which only confuse the mind and lead some of our people right out of the Church.

I do believe that by proper teaching of the revealed truth we can convert ourselves and our children and all others who are willing to listen to us.

I do believe that people are converted to the truth only by the truth and not through the teaching of half-truths and untruths.

I do believe that only in loyally teaching and living the true principles of the gospel can we fulfil the responsibility which God has given us, and this is my testimony in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen. (reprinted in Messages of Inspiration: Selected Addresses of the General Authorities of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints [Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Company, 1957], 99-106)

AGAIN, I am perturbed because in my estimation half truths can be lethal. As far as the elect are concerned, they may be more deadly than total untruths. Many outright philosophies of man are easily discerned, but what of these rumors and mixed truths, which are the devil’s specialties? (Refer to D&C 46:7-9.) I’ll let President Kimball teach us:

The adversary is subtle; he is cunning, he knows that he cannot induce good men and women immediately to do major evils so he moves slyly, whispering half-truths until he has his intended victims following him, and finally he clamps his chains upon them and fetters them tight, and then he laughs at their discomfiture and their misery. . . .

And the Savior said that the very elect would be deceived by Lucifer if it were possible. He will use his logic to confuse and his rationalizations to destroy. He will shade meanings, open doors an inch at a time, and lead from purest white through all the shades of gray to the darkest black. (TSWK, 151-52)

Do we doubt the extent of Satan’s dominion? Elder Holland just used the phrase “cling to the doctrine” at least thrice in Worldwide Leadership Training, and once more, “cling to the revelations.” (Lehi’s dream is highly descriptive of our path of safety!) Then I encountered a portion of Mormon 8:33, with especial application to apostasy, “Why have ye transfigured the holy word of God, that ye might bring damnation upon your souls? Behold, look ye unto the revelations of God . . .” The Prophet Joseph Smith, one individual very accustomed to fighting Satan, cautioned, “The devil has great power to deceive; he will so transform things as to make one gape at those who are doing the will of God.” (Remember that phrase, that he “transformeth himself nigh unto an angel of light”?)

Again, and I’m not simply saying this on the basis of the few quotes utilized above, our steadiness in the truths of the gospel has direct correlation to our usefulness to the kingdom of God in these crucial last days. Here’s my plea for us to adhere to another recurring theme of Worldwide Leadership Training: let’s stop taking our pattern from the world, and turn back to the gospel of Jesus Christ. I think that includes a certain depth of discipleship that spurns fables, seeking instead that which doth not rust nor corrupt, which will not pass away with the rest of the world. Who and what can abide the day of the Lord?