Blog # 52 - When Is the "Living Prophet" More Important than the Scriptures? by J. W. Musser - "It is Written" pp. 93-98 - Part 1 of 7

Link to: Part 2 of 7 of "It is Written"   

http://learnjustice.posthaven.com/blog-number-53-trends-toward-dictatorship-among-us-it-is-written-pp-113-120


Marvin M. Jessop’s words to the people.

Marvin M. Jessop sent the following to five of the brethren of the Council wishing his words to be presented to the people at conference.  For reasons unknown at this time his words were not read to the people, so they are here presented.

 

Marv Sept 2015

2 responses
Oh, Say What is Truth The Joseph Smith religion was about making each man a “Junior Jesus,” a developing prophet, seer and revelator within his own sphere. From a seed of truth, knowledge and loyalty he was to grow and develop as an inspired servant-leader, by seeking and maintaining an active connection with the mind and purpose of God. The Joseph Smith Church (I call it such to differentiate it from what we do) was to be a microcosm of the order of heaven in which each priesthood bearer was joined to an immense family of the like-minded, senior, peer, and junior. He was to have responsibilities to each category of brother. I know this opening sounds irreverent and grating to the ear, but it is memorable. It must be remembered and held up before those of us who really, down deep want to accept the Savior’s work and his invitation to go his way. The reason is that many have forgotten the way back and many more never were firmly set on that road to begin with. They are on a freeway that parallels the king’s highway (a country lane), but subtly edges away until it is its own way. Men will either do things Jesus’ way with Jesus, or their own way calling it Jesus’ way. Discerning the differences is one of the responsibilities of every priesthood bearer. One way is a strait and narrow way, and the other is a counterfeit that uses Jesus’ lane markers and road signs, but has a different destination. The purpose of this article is to pose for your consideration that the Work is on the wrong road and intimate that there is a more effective, surer way. No leader, even the best one that God can raise up can lead you back to the right road, because finding the right road is something you must do for yourself. What you must restore or enhance is your connection to the Spirit of the Lord and it takes continuing effort. Pray, listen, do, listen again. The cycle must be repeated as many times as necessary, occasion after occasion, until you have an inner conviction and your judgment is renewed and strengthened, not just on an important matter, but in all matters wherein your competence at knowing right and doing right is tested. You must join in partnership with the Lord in discerning the nature and needs of other people, because raising people is the Lord’s principal business with this earth school. If the remaining Council at the time of the unholy trinity (or any of Rulon’s successors) had taken the attitude of the Savior’s concern for this people and had adopted King Solomon’s heart in asking the Lord’s wisdom to govern aright, (I Kin 3:7-9) would they be less likely to take a path that leads to them privately becoming laws unto themselves, independent of God? Because our minds tend to wander and become distracted by the pressure of events, we need to return to renewing our partnership with our Lord as many times as we find ourselves to have drifted. We need to discover the Lord’s purpose and share our purpose with his purpose. It is relying on other people (and their unsupported words) without exerting a parallel effort to know via the Holy Spirit that a thing is right -that has left this people exposed to misinterpreting scripture and missing the mechanics and the Spirit with which we are to build our competence and magnify our callings. 11. For the Spirit of the Lord will not always strive with man. And when the Spirit ceaseth to strive with man then cometh speedy destruction, and this grieveth my soul. – Jesus Christ (2Ne 26:11) If men will do things the Lord’s way, their efforts will bear fruit. At the end, when Jesus promises that the overcomers will sit on his throne, they will not be there as strangers, if they lived a practicing partnership. God is big enough and powerful enough to include man according to our doctrine of eternal progression, because we are an integral part of God’s continuing exaltation. “You can lead a horse to water, but you cannot make it drink. You can lead a man to reason, but you cannot make him think.” There are a bunch of things you have to do to build a Jesus nature, a Jesus consciousness, and a Jesus conscience. There are also a bunch of things you have to be. I believe that the basis for how we live our religion should be the New Testament because the New Testament shows the character of Jesus as he modeled how we are to do it. The Book of Mormon is rich with instruction; why have we departed from the inspired words of Nephi, chapter 28? It was directed to those we have emerged from, but it fits what we have become as well. Should not the Lord deal with us similarly? Will he not do so? Here is an endorsement of the New Testament ministry of Jesus Christ. 16. And now, my beloved brethren, I know by this that unless a man shall endure to the end, in following the example of the Son of the living God, he cannot be saved. (2Ne 31:16) If we are not grounded in the fundamentals of faith, knowledge, willingness, and with a track record of conduct, we need to get that way and the New Testament is that primer. We are in trouble with our spiritual skills because we fundamentalists are weak in fundamentals. Do we take our orders, as though from God, from men who have set aside God’s justice, God’s example, God’s attending love, for having their own way, either out of ignorance of how to recover or willfully, indifferent to a God that does not interfere with their version of success? If we were practicing our religion as we should, we would not be content with those who practice a lesser version in the role of authorities. All have to be on the same path, both file leaders and those in the ranks. If they won’t, we have to, ourselves, for our own salvation. We may be obligated to preserve the offices, but not submit to bad example or violate our aroused consciences. They can’t claim authority to have heaven ratify any of their judgments or condemnations if they are not obeying the laws upon which that authority is predicated. “Ask God, who giveth liberally unto all men and upbraideth not.” (Jas. 1:5) As for the notion of the Lord’s anointed being infallible and impeccable, remember that the Lord has to have a hand in the anointing, or it is just part of a show. God is not going to be disobeyed and let men have their way with Him for the sake of good sportsmanship (i.e. a deal’s a deal). I think we would be shocked to find out how much work performed in the name of Jesus Christ by this priesthood will have to be redone, if it will pass muster at all. You know how exacting we understand God is about getting the words right in an ordinance; you should also know God is just as strict about getting the spirit right as well. The purpose of God setting standards of worthiness is not just a spur to get men to act right, but a means to preserve the whole fabric of our communion with one another. If a man is promoted who is not minimally worthy by God’s judgment, he will only do harm to his growth and progress, and can even be tipped into a downward path of increasing separation from God. Example, both good and bad, is contagious. Brigham talked about putting burdensome and fallible men in office to provoke apostasy. I’m staying out of that one, except to say if we truly love the Lord and our brothers and sisters, we ought to do better. (There is more than one known example of Brigham accepting correction from below.) Misgovernment is not an excuse for apostasy or blind following, either. Misgovernment breeds misgovernment, as history shows. This Work depends on the good will and righteousness of its members, not how well we can put up with perpetual stagnation, etc. The New Testament example of Jesus living with us in our world has been largely set aside by Mormons in favor of their unique scripture, the Book of Mormon that distinguishes and differentiates them from the sectarians. And yet, the Book of Mormon prophets identify and decry the same evils that misguided and fallen men have used to oppress others in all times and places. The scriptures can do us no good if we do not heed them, imagining that they only apply to others in other times and places. The Doctrine and Covenants strikes closer to home. These scriptures are not obscure mysteries, they are the voice and wisdom of the Lord, our Redeemer, speaking to us, from which, if we respect our priesthood and our calling, we must go to him for application to our situation. We need to have congruence, agreement among ourselves, our presiders and the Lord, our Master – all three. The elaborate rank structure of the Joseph Smith church was about giving each man a chance, sooner or later, to minister to others the way Jesus would do, to be a practitioner of the gospel faith of Jesus Christ for the sake of others. The profit to a man for doing all this stuff was to his character not to his purse. Jesus in his wisdom has designed what he has presented to man to be incomplete. Men calling upon their pre-existent, essential selves (their innate character) have to figure some things out on their own. Putting yourself into it, heart and soul is one clue from scripture. Men take that to mean they are to be slaves, giving up themselves to an alien, when what Jesus has in mind is for men to merge their nature to be like him. In order to figure out the game, men have to start on that path, which includes praying for instruction, interpretation, and obtain guidance in negotiating life. Men have to build their own short-wave radio from a kit. What does it mean to be a practitioner? Medical doctors, the best of them, anyway, used to be called healers. A doctor who had a strong preparation and good associates would conduct his own experiments (practices) to further the knowledge of the profession and share it with his colleagues. Diagnosis and treatment were individual matters and this is how the science and art of medicine grew to be able to save and extend the lives of more and more people. It was called, and is still called, the practice of medicine. The outcome was not always sure and the doctor had to learn from experience and studying the work of colleagues. Lessons learned from each case could be applied to the next. The doctor was engaged in expanding the boundaries of his own knowledge as well as that of his professional, practicing colleagues. I suggest to you that acquiring competence in the gospel of Jesus Christ requires practice, mindful experimentation in applying it so that increasing ability is acquired. The means we have to work with -must be employed by us and no part left entirely to others. It’s like Jacob wrestling with the angel for a priesthood of his own. Those of us who attain to that degree are well advised to follow the example of the Savior, whose command of priesthood so greatly exceeds our own, and be in continual prayer with their Heavenly Father, lest they damage His cause and their own. If we love the Savior, we will not seek to make our own law and assume or presume upon others that it is His. Pray, believe the voice of God, do as instructed; this is how a practitioner grows an intimate relationship, a knowing relationship with the Savior, and is able to exercise a growing array of supernatural power to accomplish the joint purpose of building the kingdom of God on earth by raising and converting other men and performing various works that support that purpose. Jesus did not intend for the priesthood we hold to be just a pass-through priesthood. We are expected to learn how to score, as well as pass. No priesthood office or degree attained on earth is a grant of independence, rather it is an opportunity that carries with it the responsibility to be and act even closer to the Savior than before. Jesus has commanded us that we love him. When you love somebody, you want to know, understand, copy their virtues, help and support them, champion their cause against opposition – all these are avenues or means that help you to become as they are. Who among us has developed the love of the Savior beyond the theoretical, facts to be committed to memory? The gospel of Jesus Christ is to be lived, not referenced. You have to want the next step just as we expect an investigator to do. The things you do help build what you are. To embrace and incorporate the Jesus-self, adopting Jesus motivation of helping others, to be self-denying marks you as a son of God, after the pattern of the Savior. Men have a different spin on it all, and just like you can get a long way in school by being able to memorize, you can get a long way in this religion by being a follower, a conformer, a parrot, a sycophant, while walling yourself off from changing your inner self. You can get a long way up the ranks by saying the right things, quoting party line and otherwise going through the motions, gradually learning to perfect your skill to blend in and imitate those who have the rewards. The things you imitate become a part of how you present yourself to the world and to the Lord, who sees all. The test really comes when you emerge from subordinate status and are free to exercise yourself. Some men give -in order to take later on. For some men, this religion is a mass of impositions and restrictions. “Be patient, my time will come.” One of the indicators of this double-minded attitude is when a man gets a family how he treats them. The more we do right for the right reasons, the more right we become. The more we do right or wrong for the wrong reasons, the more we seal into ourselves the wrong attitude and spirit. A practitioner is committed to building the whole gospel of Jesus Christ into himself. A follower just wants the minimum or is waiting for the opportunity to be a boss, or has found a comfortable equilibrium in the approval of others. The follower may be familiar with Jesus' gospel enough to know how to act as though – but his heart’s not in it. That’s why when one of these tests comes along like the salvation/damnation test of discerning how to deal with the oath of brotherhood and defend God’s people from sin, the follower-turned-boss hasn’t a clue. He hasn’t developed sufficient God-nature to understand or judge difficult cases. Since he doesn't know God, like he knows his own self through living the gospel with his inner-self, he succumbs to treating God as the other, as a stranger, a punisher. This is how the devils and false religions view God. God has essentially to be appeased, not joined. The responsible thing to say here is that I can't look into the hearts of others or presume, etc. The behavior of the Council shows they are strangers to God in the most important sense – they aren’t connected to Him in the way a man of God, a practitioner is. They know a lot, but it’s all like classroom stuff, if it’s not applied with a connection of their spirits and intent with the Spirit of God as evidenced by His manifest power upon them and upon us as they exhibit the gifts and powers they are supposed to have. Did they choose an oath in the name of a god from whom they are estranged to cloak each other’s sins and apostasies above preserving the power of the priesthood, the oracles of God, the protection of God, or the face of God? The loyalty we do owe to the system God gives us is to honor the office, but we can't be led in paths of righteousness by such men. We can't be led the better to know God and be one with God and be blessed by God –through such men. We should be about building our testimonies and securing our salvation, ourselves. We can take the classroom stuff from them, but we have to apply our own selves to be practitioners of the faith, for that is a place they cannot go as they are now. Intent is so intimately connected to deeds that we have to go back to prayer with a mind to listen and learn and apply. Even if prayer amounts to talking to the walls, it will come if you doubt that God answers prayer and speaks plainly (albeit faintly) at least you can say at the throne of judgment, “I asked.” * * * The last holy man among us was Rulon. He was a practitioner in thought, word, and in deed. He served an apprenticeship under another holy man, Joseph White Musser. The rest have not distinguished themselves to be more than followers. We have a practitioner in our midst, and his name is Steve Murphy. The Council is composed of followers become bosses. If they had been practitioners of this faith would they have allowed such manifest wickedness long to endure among them? If they were practitioners, they would in fact suffer the pain of a participatory justice process out of loyalty to God and God’s word. If they were really practitioners they would discern and heed what is acceptable to the Lord, what is tolerable, and what is accursed. If they were practitioners they would have maintained a sure communication link with the Lord and would have used it to run this work as the Lord would have it, the Joseph Smith church (i.e. group), rather than a tyrannical autocracy. Things really took a turn for the worse in the reign of Owen. Why were not one but two magi, one of Satan and the other of Lucifer relied on, loved, and clung-to despite an outpouring of evidence of their deceitful betrayal? They were practitioners in the midst of followers. Followers are like servants, they don’t know their master. Jesus wanted to call those closest to him friends. Men who do not recognize good from evil and refuse to take warning to the threat it presents to what they are supposed to be, may be nice men, but they are simply not men of God. (The term good man is used to describe a man who one gets along well with. The word in itself actually is a reference to one who practices that which is good, not just that which is agreeable. Therefore I do not adopt the social convention of calling men who merely present a pleasant manner “good men.”) The Master, George, relied on for his knowledge of scripture, sold the rest on this essential perversion of doctrine from which all these departures stem, to wit. an oath of brotherhood made before an unknown, punitive God takes precedence over everything else, even righteousness. (Blog 33, p. 9) By so doing, have they made an oath of brotherhood to assist and preserve colleagues to God’s service into a thieves' oath, to preserve and thus perpetuate iniquity and a spirit of darkness, hiding from the Lord and from the “lesser” brethren? “My house shall be called a house of prayer . . .” (Mt. 21:13) By accepting this false interpretation would it show they never knew God in the first place (“you never knew me”)? (IS from Mt. 7:23) As followers, did they not grasp how the Lord’s strategic intent to save and raise and draw to himself would be violated by making the sinners among them immune from receiving the Lord’s justice and they took a switchback turn to incorporate into themselves “another gospel” (Gal. 1:8) than was preached by holy men of God? In the Lord’s system of justice, rumors are one thing, witnesses are another. What we had in the Owen Allred adultery trial was a parody and his Council have apparently drawn the conclusion that an open justice system is an avenue for them to be impeached for their misdeeds, so they will govern without, and without the Lord’s Spirit, as well. They’re on their own and they know it. Because this people have failed to seek the Lord’s will, they don’t know it. (Blog 46,47 apx. AA-1>4.) When righteousness is forsaken, the whole fabric of the way of the gospel unravels. The words, the ordinances, the scriptures, the authority become mere artifacts and accessories, like the robes and implements used in the Catholic Mass. A different spirit prevails now in our meetings characterized by estrangement, unease and fear to those who are sensitive. Why do the Council not know God as He is? Is it because they are not believing and administering in partnership with God, as this religion was designed by God to do? They listened to the word of men who listened to the word of George, not God. When the constant ministering Spirit of God is severed, men no longer can know God, even though they know enough to keep the show open, and blind followers who do not know God themselves, will dutifully follow. I believe that the Lord has arranged, beginning generations back for there to be a test for his people like that of the Garden of Eden, a choice between two concepts, each containing a seed of truth and an appropriate application. He has done so to prove his people and for them to purge iniquity from their midst this last time before pre-millennial events close in and we have to go into the tribulation with what we’ve got. Authority, loyalty, communication all must be weighed and put into proper perspective and balance between that which belongs to God and that portion belonging to His servants. At the center of this test is who to follow, a sort of Barabbas (literally, “son of the father,” a symbolic counterfeit to Jesus) with a life-record of willful, callous, predatory selfishness covered by a phantom repentance, or the Savior and the teaching of his prophets. Who represents what this Work is all about? Brigham warned about blind following and relying on others to maintain the close, participatory relationship with the Savior via the Holy Spirit. Were his prophetic words just passing though empty air in a kingdom long ago and far away, or do the words of a prophet of God stand without time for all time when referring to an event that contains within it the universal interplay of right and wrong? What should be obvious in applying the oath of brotherhood is that we are to protect each other from calumny and not hand a brother over to those who would administer ungodly justice, but not protect each other from the Lord’s justice. When the stakes are high and the consequences dire, we are to consult with the Lord and carry out his will. “For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there I am in the midst of them.”(Mt. 18:20) “And whatsoever ye shall ask in my name . . .” (Jn. 14:13) Perhaps there are those not under widespread scrutiny who think, “there but for the grace of God, go I,” and so are unwilling to approach God while bearing their own secrets. This is why it is so important to “let virtue garnish thy thoughts unceasingly” (D&C 121:45) and live lives in righteousness sufficient not to be able to punish, but to administer the Lord’s standard of justice in accordance with his will to cleanse and heal and restore. The Work will not scatter and fly into a thousand pieces if the people will set about practicing this religion by means of directed prayer. Lack of faith in the goodness and maturity and competence of the people from those who occupy the Council goes with lack of faith in the goodness and power of God. The lack of faith in each other is yet another sign of serious deficiency. Where was there correct teaching about the fundamentals of our faith? Where was there correct teaching about the practical practice of our faith? The Joseph Smith religion was about control to assist the believer to become independent from sin and fear and graduate to where guidance, alone would be sufficient. Joseph Smith taught men to govern themselves; wherein they are reluctant to do so, they fall under the government of others and, as the gospel would teach: the government of Satan. “Pray always that ye may be accounted worthy to escape . . .” (Luke 21:36) This prayer is a call to mindfulness that judgments are, indeed, coming and that we need to keep ourselves worthy, and that does not meet good conformers and good followers, but rather be practitioners of the religion of the prophets and their close associates who sustained them. A change of administration will not do this; what is needed is a mighty change of heart to return to the gospel the way it was taught by Joseph. He who is worthy to lead among us must also be worthy to follow the teachings and the Spirit in which those teachings were given, as well as obey the prerequi-sites by which the oracles of God and the power of the priesthood is obtained. We cannot be the people of God at this hour and not seek the truth and face the truth and obey the Spirit of truth. We cannot be in the gospel if we will be blind and accept the lie that all is well and right with God under the government of men who defy the laws and justice of salvation. If we cannot be in the gospel and be the people of God by our seeking and obeying truth, we cannot be accounted worthy to escape the judgments and not be cut off. God may have been running a summer camp for kids up till now, but summer is over and its time to graduate or be left behind. Oh, say what is truth, does it lie in the words of men who have made themselves above the law, or is it in the mind and Spirit of the Lord?
— A posthaven user
The Missing Dimension The chief characteristic of all the churches the Savior rejected when he spoke to Joseph was they had become thoroughly grounded on the plane of man, and they gave to men what we should only give to God. The founding premise of each of these religious systems was the essential and unbridgeable separation between men and God. They all put the scriptures through the filter or lens of this premise. They emphasized the barrier of sin that keeps man separate from God, but did not sufficiently explain how to overcome the sin barrier and the full intent of the Savior remains unknown to them – even though it is present in plainness in the scripture they have. They emphasized conformity, not apprentice-partnership. Without exception they deny continuing general revelation from God. They did not explore the role of the Holy Spirit as comforter, when presented, as tutor in the things of God. In all these churches there was a definite ceiling to man’s defined capability to approach God, or to gain understanding of the mind of God. Exaltation was not part of their package. Man was to perfect himself in personal holiness, although that couldn’t be done, but there was no concept of an eternal progression out of the peasant’s vill. The Baptists championed the notion that although man has to be good, his efforts amount to nothing; any claim of men to actually earn their reward is blasphemy by infringement, because only Jesus saves. The scripture that tells of the early Christians allowing themselves to be martyred to earn a better reward has not been recognized by their theological construct for what it means. To them the concept of earning a reward is the equivalent of trying to make salvation a business transaction. From their point of view as men, they see earning one’s salvation as a species of taking, rather than becoming. They have the concept of the importance of works, but they miss that the purpose of works (combined with humble intent) is to change our nature from being essentially separated and fearful or indifferent, to actively seeking to be like unto God and do as Jesus would do and share our thinking and his. This article is not about them, however. The foregoing is illustrative of the phenomenon of having the truth (mostly) of scripture, but drawing the wrong conclusions or no conclusions at all. We recognize such things as baptism for the dead as an integral part of the gospel of salvation. “Else why are they baptized for the dead, if the dead rise not at all.” (1Cor 15:29) We recognize the presence of three levels of reward after this life. “For there is one glory of the sun, etc.” (1Cor 15:40,41) We recognize a pre-existence “Before I formed thee in the belly, I knew thee.” (Jer. 1:5) Close study reveals that the Book of Revelation is a Mormon book, particularly with regard to the rewards promised to the overcomers that matches our theology point by point, and the scenes depicting the final stage of the matriculation of Jesus Christ from Executive Officer (the Word), to conducting Savior (Jehovah and Christ), to full Godhood (“Father”). * * * We as a Work, in spite of having a better understanding of these things, are experiencing our own spiritual blindness in the face of revealed truth. It is such a blindness that no words from man can cross the barrier. Only the light of Christ within you can enable you to recognize that the darkness that envelops the whole world envelops us too, despite all the aids (clarified, detailed scripture, higher ordinances, eternal covenants, unbroken priesthood lineage) we think we possess, understand, and control. Bro. Steve shines in the midst of this darkness and the darkness comprehendeth it not. Adopting the attitude of annoyance with, or shunning of Bro. Steve and the rest of the animus is a reaction of men to ideas they don’t want to face and don’t want to exercise reasoned judgment about. If men were really sure and secure, they would be at peace, resting in the spirit of the Lord and extend that spirit to him, as the Lord would do to someone known by him to be in misapprehension of truth. But what of the Spirit of the Lord have they to share, and what of the truth about these matters, either? The essence of true religion (the one given to us) is to enable us to expand the boundaries of our horizon to be able to do what Jesus intends. He speaks of this in the second and especially the third chapter of the book of revelation when he talks about the rewards for the overcomer, the greatest being to actually share his throne with him. He says so, but the sectarians don’t know what to do with it, so they assume it refers to a special category that cannot possibly be referring to them. And because of their closed-mindedness, it doesn’t. The Joseph Smith religion was about empowering men and women to make their efforts to do good amount to something beyond just being good little boys and girls and earning a passing grade. It combined knowledge to give purpose to one’s actions. (You can't be saved in ignorance.) All this is a part of changing the mind, the thought process, to build-in a sense of purpose, a God-nature, not just to be a perpetual, dependent follower. A Mormon is to join a chain, a hierarchy that involves the more experienced, tested and proven exercising a concerned stewardship of those less endowed. Jesus and his Father grow by growing others to be as they are. So, too, the elaborate gradation of offices and callings is designed to give as many as possible in their turn the opportunity to exercise their best selves as student-apprentices of those above, and caring father-types to those following. The whole thing is to be animated by the concept of servant-leadership as shown by the Savior in his ministry and formalized in the washing of the dirty feet of his disciples. (There were animal dung and urine puddles all over in a city.) In order for this to work, there has to be an intangible that words and explanations can teach, but no preaching can inspire. A person has to be of a mind to accept these things. There has to be a desire (and each person possesses this desire to a greater or lesser degree) to move toward the light. If that inner desire is buried by bad experiences, or bad examples, or distractions, or wasn’t there in the first place, the teaching will not in itself produce the change of heart. Jesus used the instructive story of the seed and the various places it could fall to describe this part of relating to and embracing the gospel. (Mt. 13:3-8) What we need is opening our hearts to the Lord that we may be taught by him. (Mt. 13:15) Although we may be made aware by men, only by accepting the Holy Spirit as teacher can we receive with a listening heart the truths about his religion that we as a Work have forsaken long ago for the convenience of men, as did some of the Mormons in Joseph’s time, as did some of the saints during the earthly ministry of the Apostles, as did most of the children of Israel below, the mountain of the Lord known as Mt. Sinai. Can a man be a tour guide for a place where he hasn’t been?
— A posthaven user