10:2
For those of us who have experienced life living close to the Spirit and, at other times, further away - this verse resonates. “And you also lost your gift at the same time, and your mind became darkened.” When we don’t enjoy the companionship of the Spirit, we are left to ourselves and our minds don’t work the same way:
We can’t think clearly.
We are more easily deceived or pushed off track.
We can’t comprehend complex principles.
It’s as if our front lobe shrinks and we lose our mental capacity. Once you’re used to living with the Spirit, it’s a hard thing for your mind to be suddenly darkened.
10:4
“Do not run faster or labor more than you have strength and means provided to enable you to translate; but be diligent unto the end.” Two big principles that we should all burn into our mind:
We don’t need to do better than what we can do. Many young people and mothers and others have a problem with scrupulosity (excessive worry, doubt, and guilt about religious or moral issues) or toxic perfectionism. We should not compare ourselves with the wonderful, talented neighbors and friends and fellow church members. We should only compare ourselves to ourselves yesterday. Are we progressing from where we were?
We must diligently press forward. We recently met with a girl who has gone through a disciplinary council four times. She doesn’t want to do it again. Her unwillingness to continue to press forward is a bigger problem than her weaknesses that require a disciplinary council. This failure to press forward and try again is the beginning of an open rebellion. Rebellion against God is the only sin that has the potential to continue into eternity and forever push us off the path to becoming like our Heavenly Father.
So, we don’t have to be perfect. But, we MUST continue to try to improve. God can do anything with anyone who is willing to continue to repent and be better.
10:5
What is the secret weapon to defeating Satan in our lives? “Pray always, that you may come off conqueror; yea, that you may conquer Satan, and that you may escape the hands of the servants of Satan that do uphold his work.” So, a major way we can conquer Satan and escape the hands of wicked men is to pray? Done.
10:19
The 116 pages were taken. They were in the hands of wicked men who anticipated that Joseph would retranslate the plates. Their plan was to alter the pages that they had so that their copy and Joseph’s new copy wouldn’t match and it would prove him a fraud. “Therefore we will destroy him, and also the work; and we will do this that we may not be ashamed in the end, and that we may get glory of the world.”
If Joseph Smith were a real prophet who was saying that no church was true, that presented a problem for a bunch of people. Consider the congregations who don’t want to believe that their beloved church was false. Consider the pastors and preachers who would lose their source of income and status in the community. There were many who needed him to be a fraud.
If he could be proven a fraud, then their income, status and beliefs would be intact. They wouldn’t be ashamed and would have their glory connected to protecting the world from an evil Joseph Smith. In addition, it just makes some of us feel good when others fail. Others’ failures makes us look good by comparison. That could have also been part of their motivation.
10:20-24
It was more than that though. It wasn’t just their inherent greed and pride that was fueling their desire to destroy Joseph. Their partner, whether they knew it or not, was Satan himself. Satan saw what was happening and understood the damage to his kingdom that would be created by Joseph Smith’s work. He was the most motivated to destroy him.
Satan can’t control anyone. But, he can sure stir people up to do wicked things. “Verily, verily, I say unto you, that Satan has great hold upon their hearts; he stirreth them up to iniquity against that which is good.” What does it mean to “stir people up?” It means that he provokes, agitates, and excites their emotions so they act in rebellion against righteousness.
“Satan stirreth them up, that he may lead their souls to destruction…yea, he stirreth up their hearts to anger against this work.” Satan definitely has power to stir us up. How does he do it today?
Contention and Division. Encouraging anger, debates, and social division to distract from truth. It’s easy to see people stirred up if you take a look at social media!
Immorality and Worldly Pleasure. Making sin appear desirable while mocking moral standards. Men are easily stirred up to seek worldly pleasure.
False Doctrines and Confusion. Spreading misinformation, deception, and distorted truths about God and his church. We are seeing much false doctrine being taught online.
Pride and Rebellion. Influencing people to reject authority, commandments, and divine guidance. People are getting stirred up to find their truth and be their authentic self. They want what they want and when anything corrects or corrals those desires makes them angry.
Complacency and Apathy. Convincing people that they don’t need God or that truth doesn’t matter. It sounds weird to be stirred up to apathy. Strangely, this is one of Satan’s most diabolical techniques. He doesn’t necessarily need us to be stirred up to sin, he can simply stir us up to nap.
10:25, 28-29
“Yea, he saith unto them: Deceive and lie in wait to catch, that ye may destroy; behold, this is no harm. And thus he flattereth them, and telleth them that it is no sin to lie that they may catch a man in a lie, that they may destroy him.” This a play by play in how Satan uses rationalization to encourage/manipulate us to sin. He is literally saying it’s okay to lie because the other person is lying! Asserting that it is okay to “destroy him” because he’s lying. He’s a tricky one!
This is basically combining “the ends justify the means” and the child’s complaint that “he did it first!” It sounds like Satan is whispering the thought. Satan is excellent at fanning the fire of our natural-man instincts. We can safely assume that these wicked people had their own pride and greed to motivate them. Satan pours gasoline on those natural feelings through his whispers.
We have natural-man instincts that are contrary to the will of God and our Spirit-guided consciences. I suppose that our conscience prevents us from giving into the wicked deed. But, when we get a little encouragement through rationalization, we are able to push down that uncomfortable conscience.
The Lord continues this: “Verily, verily, I say unto you, wo be unto him that lieth to deceive because he supposeth that another lieth to deceive, for such are not exempt from the justice of God.” Two wrongs don’t make a right. If you lie to deceive, there will be consequences.
Satan’s approach is a form of flattery. “Now, behold, they have altered these words, because Satan saith unto them: He hath deceived you—and thus he flattereth them away to do iniquity, to get thee to tempt the Lord thy God.” Believing that you can give yourself permission to break a commandment is pretty prideful. Again, Satan loves using our pride for his purposes.
10:32, 43
I think this is interesting to see the Lord react in real time to what is happening. The Lord is truly committed to doing his works through his prophets and in no other way. You’d think that it may be simpler for the Lord to strike the wicked people dead and teleport the missing pages back into Joseph’s hands.
Instead, his power is focused on directing Joseph and working through him. The Lord needs his work to move forward but will not break his own rules about preserving the agency of all of us. He ALWAYS works through his prophets if it is possible. Thankfully, the Lord knows all things and is clever and knew that this was going to happen. “And, behold, they will publish this, and Satan will harden the hearts of the people to stir them up to anger against you, that they will not believe my words.” The Lord will not allow wicked people to thwart his work.
“I will not suffer that they shall destroy my work; yea, I will show unto them that my wisdom is greater than the cunning of the devil.” Yes it is.
10:37
Every General Conference, I find myself wondering if the prophet and apostles are going to deliver some unknown deep doctrine and reveal some unknown mystery of God. Needless to say, it never happens. Why don’t the prophet and apostles explain all of the mysteries that they have learned? Simple - most of us aren’t ready to hear it.
“But as you cannot always judge the righteous, or as you cannot always tell the wicked from the righteous, therefore I say unto you, hold your peace until I shall see fit to make all things known unto the world concerning the matter.” General Conference, which is available to anyone in the world, isn’t the forum for teaching many of the mysteries of God. It is wisdom to rely on each individual’s effort because that effort is what prepares them to have the spiritual strength to handle the deeper doctrine.
10:51-54, 56-57, 63
This gospel is true. That doesn’t mean that much of what other churches teach isn’t true. It’s just that other churches don’t have the full picture nor the power of the priesthood. Put another way, other churches are incomplete in their understanding and completely lacking in authority. The Restoration of the gospel is the vehicle for delivering the complete picture and priesthood authority to the world.
“And now, behold, according to their faith in their prayers will I bring this part of my gospel to the knowledge of my people. Behold, I do not bring it to destroy that which they have received, but to build it up.” This principle was taught to me over thirty years ago when I was a young missionary. I was taught that I didn’t need to tear down others’ religious beliefs to introduce the gospel. Instead, I was supposed to build on common beliefs. This is a key principle to keep in mind whenever we are sharing the gospel to someone who belongs to another religion.
Having said that, there are people who are intent on building up a church to get gain. Their purpose isn’t to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ. Their purpose is to gain followers, status and respect in the community, and money. Often, it’s this type of religious leader who demonstrates the most animosity towards the Lord’s church. “But it is they who do not fear me, neither keep my commandments but build up churches unto themselves to get gain, yea, and all those that do wickedly and build up the kingdom of the devil—yea, verily, verily, I say unto you, that it is they that I will disturb, and cause to tremble and shake to the center.” Those who are building up churches for personal gain who should tremble. Those who are humble followers of Christ but don’t know the truth because they “don’t know where to find it” will eventually, humbly accept the true gospel.
The animosity from other Christian churches has always been confusing to me. You’d think that, inherent in a Christian church, is a natural tendency to be Christlike. I have been mistreated and rejected by plenty of Christians. Jesus empathizes of course. “Behold, I am Jesus Christ, the Son of God. I came unto mine own, and mine own received me not.”
Eventually, it will be made clear where the true gospel is found. “And this I do that I may establish my gospel, that there may not be so much contention; yea, Satan doth stir up the hearts of the people to contention concerning the points of my doctrine; and in these things they do err, for they do wrest the scriptures and do not understand them.” Satan loves contention based on differing interpretations of the Bible. To “wrest the scriptures” is to “distort the meaning or interpretation of something to suit one’s own interests or views. People LOVE to wrest the scriptures to match their personal applied logic.
The strange and unfortunate thing is that those who are most familiar with the Bible are the same people who are the most contentious! I’ve seen YouTube videos of pastors who approach missionaries and other members of the church with the sole purpose of making them question their beliefs and look stupid. That’s weird right? Unfortunately, these pastors are very good and excel at debate. These 40 year old pastors are much more familiar with the scriptures and have practiced this type of debate over and over again until they are expert at making the other person feel foolish and look even more so.
I don’t like it and I unrighteously look forward to the day when I am approached by a preacher with a video camera.
10:68
“Whosoever declareth more or less than this, the same is not of me, but is against me; therefore he is not of my church.” This matches closely the scripture found in Revelation that suggests that “…if any man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book” is actually direction from the apostle John that no one should be adding or taking away from the Bible is a perfect example of someone “wresting the scriptures” to match his point of view.
John is not declaring that anyone who adds other scripture to the Bible is doomed. He, like Jesus, is stating that no one should add or take away from the gospel that Jesus taught. (John may also simply be talking specifically about his prophecies in the book of Revelations…) No one should interpret the words in Revelation or what the Lord said in the D&C to mean that no one should add words to words already written. They’re both saying that it is not man’s place to add doctrine to the gospel.
God alone can alter the way his gospel is taught, administered, or practiced. He reveals these changes through his prophets. That’s how this works. Because I’m a really smart dude in Utah who’s good at words doesn’t qualify me as God’s interpreter of those statements in the scriptures that are ambiguous or somewhat confusing.
If it was up to someone like me to do that, I would come up with some disjointed theory like the trinity. That’s a great example of a bunch of men getting together to wrest the scriptures to fit their confused beliefs.
11:12-13
Who do you trust implicitly? Is it your parents or your siblings? Is it your best friend? Hopefully, your spouse is first on that list. It is the best thing in the world to have someone that you trust. But, what if you could have a relationship with someone that knows you even more intimately, is all knowing and only has good intentions? That would be amazing right!?
All of us to have the Gift of the Holy Ghost can enjoy that trust-filled companionship all of the time! “And now, verily, verily, I say unto thee, put your trust in that Spirit which leadeth to do good—yea, to do justly, to walk humbly, to judge righteously; and this is my Spirit.” The Spirit is a being that we can be assured will not lead us down the wrong path. We won’t get bad advice from the Spirit. He won’t ever work against us. He never has ulterior motives. He won’t manipulate us. Everything that the Spirit does is for our benefit. He’s an amazingly perfect ally.
Unfortunately, we often ignore his promptings or ignore his existence entirely. I know for a fact that if I gave you a robot who would assist you in any situation and had perfect knowledge, you would grow to rely on that robot almost to a fault. Yet, because the Spirit is unseeable, we forget about him.
It takes some mental and spiritual rigor to rely more and more on a being that we’ve never seen or touched. We can only feel his influence through a small whisper. That’s a challenge but it’s not an impossible challenge. It’s a relationship that is definitely worth it. Frankly, any significant relationship in our lives requires some effort to build and maintain. Our relationship with the Spirit is no different. If we work at listening and trusting the Spirit, the strength of that relationship and our reliance on the Spirit will grow and grow.
What are the benefits? There are many but the Lord mentions two in verse 13. “Verily, verily, I say unto you, I will impart unto you of my Spirit, which shall enlighten your mind, which shall fill your soul with joy.” As we read in the last chapter, the absence of the Spirit causes our minds to be darkened. When the Lord imparts his Spirit, our minds is enlightened. I’ve experienced both and I am definitely more capable when my mind is enlightened.
The second benefit aligns with the purpose of this moral experience. In 2 Nephi, we read, “Adam fell that men might be; and men are, that they might have joy.” So, we are that we might have joy and the Spirit will “fill our soul with joy.” That’s interesting. It’s not just the contrast between good and bad that allows us to have joy. That joy can be amplified in our souls through the Spirit. Feeling complete, pure joy is impossible without the presence of the Spirit.
11:15, 21
“Behold, I command you that you need not suppose that you are called to preach until you are called.” This aligns with the Fifth Article of Faith: “We believe that a man must be called of God, by prophecy, and by the laying on of hands by those who are in authority, to preach the Gospel and administer in the ordinances thereof.” This distinguishes us from most Christian religions. Other preachers and pastors and televangelists will explain how they “were called” to preach. They are referring to a feeling or prompting that they had. Some will even share that they heard an audible voice. Others will explain how a series of circumstances led them to know that they were called.
Our church is different. I cannot get a feeling today that I am supposed to be the Bishop of my congregation. It didn’t work like that in Christ’s original church and it doesn’t work like that today. If I am ever the Bishop, it will because someone with authority calls me and sets me apart. That organization is the only what you don’t have religious chaos within a single generation.
We can expect that all of us will receive a calling that will require that we are familiar with the word of God. Likely, anyone reading this already has a calling like that. Being called doesn’t automatically qualify you absent any effort on your part. If I’m called as a teacher, I don’t automatically become a scriptorian. This was also true for Hyrum. “Wait a little longer, until you shall have my word, my rock, my church, and my gospel, that you may know of a surety my doctrine.”
By the way, let’s not wait until we’ve got a rigorous calling before we decide we want to become serious students of the scriptures. We should be diligently studying to obtain the words of Christ so that, whatever comes, we will be ready. “Seek not to declare my word, but first seek to obtain my word, and then shall your tongue be loosed; then, if you desire, you shall have my Spirit and my word, yea, the power of God unto the convincing of men.”
Part of gathering Israel is the ability to teach the gospel to others - inside and outside of the church. For us to be powerful tools in God’s hand, we must gain an understanding of the principles of the gospel and be able to refer to the word of God frequently. We used to have a stake president who couldn’t have a conversation on any topic without referring to several scriptures. I remember being so impressed and influenced by him. His words were powerful on their own - but when combining his reason with the actual word of God - what he said was truly convincing.
11:30
In this verse, the Lord provides two qualifications to becoming children of God. “But verily, verily, I say unto you, that as many as receive me, to them will I give power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on my name. Amen.” So, to be a son of God, I must receive Christ and believe on his name. That sounds simple.
It’s not. We’re talking about having faith in Christ and truly receiving Him. What does that mean? Exercising faith and receiving him is:
Studying his words.
Following his teaching.
Serving in his church.
Receiving his ordinances.
Working to unite all families for eternity.
Learning from his prophets.
Listening to the promptings of his Spirit.
Gathering Israel by sharing the gospel.
Strengthening those around us.
Healing others spiritually and physically.
Obeying his commandments.
If we have faith and receive Christ, we will - slowly but surely - become more like him. As we become like Christ, we will certainly have the power to be the sons of God.