My studying this morning took me to Section 97 in the Doctrine and Covenants. Just a couple of thoughts to record as I was reading.
This comes from the Seminary lessons…
When the Prophet Joseph Smith received section 97, the Saints in Missouri were already suffering persecution. It seemed an unlikely time to build a temple there.
"God was, if we may say so reverently, anxious that His people should rear a Temple in which they could be endowed with power from on high before the conflict with the adversary. The history of Temples teaches us that the people of God have been strong, or weak, in proportion to the faithfulness with which they have attended to their sanctuaries. . . . Since the completion of the Salt Lake Temple, the adversary has had less power to injure the Church than he had before. If we remember that the Temples are the palaces of God, where His Presence is manifested, we can understand why, when the adversary was marshalling his forces against the Church [in Missouri], our Lord urged the Saints to build the Temple speedily. We can also understand why the evil one planned to have them scattered before they could rear that sacred edifice" (Hyrum M. Smith and Janne M. Sjodahl, The Doctrine and Covenants Commentary, rev. ed. [1972], 612).
Unfortunately, as Elder Parley P. Pratt, who was a member of the Quorum of the Twelve, attested: "This revelation was not complied with by the leaders and Church in Missouri, as a whole; notwithstanding many were humble and faithful. Therefore, the threatened judgment was poured out to the uttermost, as the history of the five following years will show" (Autobiography of Parley P. Pratt [1985], 77)
My thoughts turned to the Temple and a couple of lines in that above quote really stood out to me.
- God is anxious that we be endowed with power from on high before the conflict with the adversary. There is power in the Temple covenant. Power that I know I have not even begun to tap in to. Power that enables us to win in the conflict with the adversary.
- People of God have been strong, or weak, in proportion to the faithfulness with which they have attended to their sanctuaries. As I look over my life can I see that correlation between my strength because I have attended the temple on a regular basis and those times when I have not? Lynn and I have always tried to be, at least, monthly temple attenders. I have come to notice when it has been a while since attending that I yearn for that. Some months we go at the beginning of the month and then the next month it is at the end ~ that time span is hard. I need the consistency if nothing more than to keep me grounded and keep my perspective in check. President Simpson (our Stake President and friend in Blackfoot) always taught us that THE BEST MARRIAGE THERAPY IS A MONTHLY TRIP TO THE TEMPLE WITH YOUR SPOUSE! More than once in my marriage I have been grateful for that counsel J
My heart aches for my friends who should be "endowed with power from on high" through the temple but are not. I wish for them the peace that comes in daily life through that blessing! And I pray that my children are using that blessing in their lives regularly. They each are within 30 minutes of a temple! They are days when my heart yearns to be within 30 minutes of the temple again! We travel 4 hours and I'm proud to say that we go every month! I'm grateful for my testimony of the temple.
Okay back to Section 97…The second part of that section "Doctrine and Covenants 97:18-26. The righteous will escape the Lord's vengeance if they keep the commandments."
Elder Neal A. Maxwell said this…
"Now we are entering times wherein there will be for all of us as Church members, in my judgment, some special challenges which will require of us that we follow the Brethren. All the easy things that the Church has had to do have been done. From now on, it's high adventure, and followership is going to be tested in some interesting ways" ("The Old Testament: Relevancy within Antiquity," in A Symposium on the Old Testament [1979], 12)
Wow, all the easy things that the Church has to do have been done. Now we are in times of "special challenges". I'm so grateful that Heavenly Father gave us a Prophet and Apostles to lead the way. All we have to do is follow! I do believe that they know the special challenges ~ and I do believe that they know the way THROUGH those challenges. President Monson is a pretty big guy physically. I don't have a problem standing behind him (figuratively speaking). I think he would protect me J
This quote was in the Institute Manual…
These same principles were taught in the October 1940 General Conference by Elder Joseph Fielding Smith:
"We have the means of escape through obedience to the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Will we escape? When I see, even among the Latter-day Saints the violation of the laws of the Lord, I fear and I tremble. I have been crying repentance among the Stakes of Zion for thirty years, calling upon the people to turn to the Lord, keep His commandments, observe the Sabbath Day, pay their honest tithing, do everything the Lord has commanded them to do, to live by every word that proceedeth forth from the mouth of God.
"By doing this we shall escape the calamities.
"I am going to repeat what I have said before, for which I have been severely criticized from certain quarters, that even in [the United States] we have no grounds by which we may escape, no sure foundation upon which we can stand, and by which we may escape from the calamities and destruction and the plagues and the pestilences, and even the devouring fire by sword and by war, unless we repent and keep the commandments of the Lord, for it is written here in these revelations.
"So I cry repentance to the Latter-day Saints, and I cry repentance to the people of the United States, as well as to the people of all the earth. May we turn to live in accordance with divine law, and keep the commandments the Lord has given." (In Conference Report, Oct. 1940, p. 117)
President Wilford Woodruff said that those who honor the priesthood would be the only ones to have the right to the Lord's protection:
"Can you tell me where the people are who will be shielded and protected from these great calamities and judgments which are even now at our doors? I'll tell you. The priesthood of God who honor their priesthood, and who are worthy of their blessings are the only ones who shall have this safety and protection. They are the only mortal beings. No other people have a right to be shielded from these judgments. They are at our very doors; not even this people will escape them entirely. They will come down like the judgments of Sodom and Gomorrah. And none but the priesthood will be safe from their fury." (Young Women's Journal, Aug. 1894, p. 512)
I know that through my temple covenants I have the right to that Priesthood. I have a righteous Priesthood holder in my home. Through his priesthood and the right that I receive to it through the temple I can be shielded and protected from these great calamities and judgments. Will they touch my life? Probably. Will they bring me down? NO ~ unless I choose to be disobedient and turn from the commandments and follow a different path.
The plan is laid out so perfectly! It is there in black and white in the scriptures and in the Prophet. We don't have to come up with the plan ~ we simply have to follow the one that Heavenly Father devised. It is better than any I could come up with J Each day our goal is to REMEMBER TO BE OBEDIENT! Life is still gonna be hard, things worth having are always hard to obtain. But with obedience and remembering even the weakest of us can succeed. Oh and thank heaven for repentance so when we fall short we can start anew the next day! Life is just so much better when I obey the commandments.
So this was my "PACKET of SPIRITUAL SUNLIGHT" today!
