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Sixth Call – A Tale of Two Gospels Example has a lot to do with how the uncomprehending gain a greater understanding. In the problem that confronts us, I can see how a lack of ability to achieve unified thinking has caused me to forget and dismiss much of what I should have retained in the study and living of the gospel. God would be known, but only by those committed to following and obeying Him. If we refuse to allow ourselves the faith to know God, through His teaching and through our experiences in doing as Jesus would do, then we leave ourselves open to embracing the mystery religion that teaches that somehow others who are given high office are on the other side of an unbridgeable divide that God maintains and our competence in things spiritual can never equal theirs and so like good Catholics, we should defer to them in all things. That sort of thinking has sufficed for lay people of the sectarian Christians since the beginning in the first century when some were of Paul and others of Cephas. Those under this misapprehension don’t sufficiently trust their own capacity for goodness and assign to themselves unworthy motivations that they may not in fact have. Faith, conscience, listening heart, confidence: all work together to enable us to progress using the wealth of doctrines with which we have been provided. I have found when dealing with people that around some, my mind is open to explore and grow and be edified. With others, I am constrained within the narrow band of their understandings and prejudices. With some I must be careful so as not to offend or and misunderstood, so I can say little. Among the many gifts of the spirit I would call one the gift of nurturing the faith of others: mentoring, disciplining. The more a man, such as Bro. Rulon has progressed in his acquaintance with God, the more this trait is in evidence. It is all too easy to let respect become neglect of our need to drive our own car on the winding country lane of spiritual growth, and not let our differences from others be taken for a barrier. In the history of men, a great king is all too often followed by someone who has inherited the mantle of greatness, but is not equal to the calling. I believe one of the sins of the Work is in paying so much respect to high office and too little respect for the foundations on which high office is held and exercised. The heights of communion with God have to be scaled by each generation in turn, this thing cannot be conferred. The falling off and the decay is evidenced by more than one sign. “. . . that they may be conferred upon us, it is true, but when a man,” etc. God is unchanging. Parley Pratt’s Key to the Science of Theology, paints a picture of how the powers of the priesthood are exercised, predictably as a scientific experiment. The rules are the same for all men and for all times. Joseph radiated Divine influence and energy from an acquaintance with God and obedience that was built in, and we know why that is so. We have to build our own character using all the parts in a balanced spiritual diet. One of the reasons why the Work does not progress is because our spiritual diet is not being presented or assimilated in the right proportions. Our spiritual food is not properly prepared; it is not properly cooked for easy digestion according to our need. We are supposed to do this for ourselves, but when our leaders are not sufficiently committed to the gospel of Joseph and are unwilling to have sufficient faith in the people to take the risks to empower them in confidence and in spirit, all remain much as they have been since the time when men of God walked among us. The gospel obtained of Joseph was keyed to expansion of understanding, of transformation, of raising each member and gaining new members to a way of hope in which the individual would be respected and valued. It was only imperfectly realized and the faithful had to be gathered out, selected through events for faithfulness and respect for the things of God. This sickness of spirit will not pass as long as our leaders do not have faith in the rank and file, and the rank and file cannot have faith in their leaders, beyond the formalities, until a common law that respects everybody’s rights is restored and practiced in a spirit of open-hearted good will towards all. Our path is the same as the seven churches of Asia in the Book of Revelation. As soon as the wall of priests vs. laity goes up, and we who accept the status of laity are complicit in this, then the falling away picks up its momentum. Each generation of saints will seek its own level of understanding, of adapting to present circumstances. In fact one of the mantras (Hindu chant that brings the devotee in unity with the higher reality) of the LDS church is, “We adapt to change under the direction of the living prophet.” We have a clear view of how that works, but why do we not see the same thing when it happens among us? The “God is too holy for us so we must rely on holy men among us” is the same choice the self-satisfied Egypto-Hebrews made when they rejected the full gospel covenant beneath Mt. Sinai the mountain as we are taught. The real mountain of the covenant is Saudi Arabia, along with potsherds over a vast plain. Rank has its privileges and its pitfalls. One of the most destructive lies we can accept is, “It can’t happen here.” That’s what the Americans believe about the virtue and might and permanence of this country. If we use the excuse that we can't trust ourselves to be righteous in our own right and have to trust in others to be righteous for us, we have condemned ourselves to a lesser reward that Jesus did not intend for us. Brigham warned about this in a famous, oft-quoted speech recorded in the Journal of Discourses. (J.D. 1:312) Brigham wasn’t cuddly enough for the modern LDS church, but the old Yankee was right. Obtaining a full degree of salvation is a do-it-yourself project, but we do have plans and expert advice and a product support hotline we can call if we will make the effort and ask intelligently and with purpose. It’s the same: in bible times, in pioneer times, and in our time, as well. Just because there’s only one clear voice crying in our wilderness something’s wrong, doesn’t make the message insignificant. It doesn't take a chorus, should it, or are we just as much a herd of sheeple as the LDS? (Actually, we are more so, because we are tolerating clear signs of systematic ungodliness in those called our leaders.) The rationale that we pride ourselves on is that the LDS are a theo-demoracy, but we are a theocracy. Fine. The form does not guarantee the function, however, or rightness before God. Along with the proper exercise of priesthood authority, there has to be conformity to the laws of God concerning equity and fair dealing. A piece of machinery only runs as well as the parts that compose it. The frightful, Godless regimes of the twentieth century that threatened to devour humanity were all theocracies, only they were headed by evil dictators acting as gods in the place of God. A form does not confer righteousness, or good sense. We are only true to God in the form of our government if we honor God by keeping His statutes and that includes – law and justice common to all and two-way accountability. (Remember how Joseph Smith Jr. did it; is it not through him that the Work was founded?) I heard a brother say he had obtained a testimony that this is the only place on earth where the keys reside - the mystery again. Does the presence of the keys outweigh the presence of all the other elements of a fullness, including the gifts of the Spirit in power? Some will say the gifts of the Spirit are not with us to a greater degree because of the fault of the people: Fine. “Darers go first.” And what are the faults of the people? Don’t forget blindly sustaining without the confirmation of the Holy Ghost. The gifts of the Spirit are made manifest in anyone at any time he or she has complied with the law upon which the blessing is based, irrespective of what anyone else is doing. Why aren’t the leaders teaching the fundamentals of a better way? Has that testimony of the presence of the keys been revisited for an update? God respects our prejudices and the barriers we put up to insulate ourselves from hearing His voice beyond the bounds we have settled upon. I believe that basic Christianity, love of God and fellow man, are the temple in which the keys reside; they don’t hang around out in the weather of cold-hearted selfishness. The presence of sin, however deeply covered over like a cyst, presents a wasteland in which the keys will not reside. So God says the keys will never be taken from the earth? Fine. I’m not so much concerned with that as what our present state before God is. Will we hold on to “keys,” or will we hold on to righteousness in our dealings with each other and openness before God? Keys are only exercised upon principles of holiness as laid out in Section 121, so what good are they, otherwise? We should be more concerned about how we are living as a people and not delude ourselves that appearing before each other with our Sunday manners, black trousers and floor sweeper dresses amounts to fulfilling God’s expectation of us. The remedy is before us. Restore accountability and fair dealing. Get right with God according to the protocol He has ordained and cease with the counterfeit repentance and the foot-dragging that has all the appearance of a cover-up. Listen to God, take counsel from Him, and if it must be, let the dead bury the dead. The way apostasies have occurred all through history, ours too, is the apostates stopped listening to God and listened to their own minds supporting their notional ideologies and rationales, instead. When one is in disagreement with the majority, one must be practicing all the virtues so as not to become spiritually unbalanced. One of the techniques of the Adversary and those following his discipleship is to get others to be at war with themselves. Scripture battling scripture is not what God intended when He laid them down and carefully saw to their preservation. Narrowly clinging to one or two scriptures as though they contained all truth is the hallmark of the sectarians, as well as those who would preserve an autocracy of authority. The LDS have fallen back on the notion that we need not be concerned about disquieting scripture, but rather stick to the broad highway of belief and behavior as edited by the kindly and benevolent authorities. It works for them. Why not for our Council? The Catholics used to say that only their priesthood was entitled to or capable of interpreting the scriptures (or even having them) and they interpreted them for their benefit. Later sects made the scripture available to all who could read, but they reserved the right of final say of how to interpret them. At the very least of their sanctions they refused the license to preach of those who diverged. In my career, I have gone from incomprehension, to frustration at scriptural passages in apparent contradiction, to a realization that I don’t understand how the pieces of the puzzle fit, to a gradual awareness that the scriptures are unified and present a portrait of God and His purpose that is clear. It’s plain enough that our God is the God of Holiness. It’s plain enough that we are in an elaborately conceived school of character and this school has rules calculated to enable us to change ourselves in our very nature to be like unto the nature of God. We have been placed in a dispensation in which we have more intelligence about the revealed intent of God as well as the track of history to show us how the plan of salvation has unfolded throughout the preceding dispensations. “…it was the duty of the Saints to know for themselves when he [Brigham] spoke unto them, whether it was the word of the Lord or not, but not to dictate what he should say. And if they would apply themselves as diligently as he did, putting all things aside and making their will subservient to the will of God, they like he would know of a surety, that it was the word of the Lord unto them by the Spirit and power of revelation given by the Holy Ghost from on high….” Brigham Young as recorded in the Charles Walker Journal, Feb 15, 1873 “We need the light of the Holy Spirit continually, day by day, as you have been told hundreds of times. How easy it would be for your leaders to lead you to destruction unless you actually know the mind and will of the Spirit yourselves. That is your privilege.” Brigham Young (J.D. 4:368) “I want you to have faith enough concerning myself and my counselors for the Lord to remove us out of the way, if we do not magnify our calling, and put men in our places that will do right.” Brigham Young (J.D. 9:142)* “And so, 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.” (D&C 11:12) Amen. 'Amicus' Finch *Under these circumstances, I recommend making it a matter of active request for God to take action that His will may be done that the Head of this work be without such a blemish and of His choosing.
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