How distressingly human it is that some people want to build Zion and want an inheritance in Zion, but don’t want to keep the very laws that create Zion. That’s like saying, I want to live in the Lord’s kingdom, but I want to do it my way. That’s what was happening to some people who went to build Zion in Missouri, and that is the context behind one of the sections of the Doctrine and Covenants that we will look at today.
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Maurine
How distressingly human it is that some people want to build Zion and want an inheritance in Zion, but don’t want to keep the very laws that create Zion. That’s like saying, I want to live in the Lord’s kingdom, but I want to do it my way. That’s what was happening to some people who went to build Zion in Missouri, and that is the context behind one of the sections of the Doctrine and Covenants that we will look at today.
Scot
Welcome friends to Meridian Magazine’s Come Follow Me podcast. Today we’ll study Doctrine and Covenants Sections 85-87 in a lesson called “Stand Ye in Holy Places.” We have mentioned before that we used to have a street that backed our house in Virginia, called Zion. You could say, in fact, that we lived not in Zion, but on it. Nevertheless, for having the name, it was not like the holy city that God’s people are commanded to build. You could say all day you were building Zion or lived in Zion and it wouldn’t be Zion. Why? Because we as a community, weren’t living the laws of Zion.
Zion is the place designed by God for all of his children to live in peace and joy, where they can attain the utmost of their potential and possibility, where they dwell in purity and oneness, living with a sense of abundance and love, which is far different than our earthly lives.
Maurine
Foremost to our understanding of building Zion is that there is a heavenly order and practice that the people follow who are privileged to build Zion. This involves consecration and stewardship as the highest manifestation of gospel living. When the Lord tells us that there is “no poor among them” in Zion, this is not just about economics or temporal well-being, but about a people who live the law of consecration and stewardship. This is not only because they have covenanted to do so, but because imparting to their neighbors is who they are.
President George Q. Cannon taught: “The time must come when we must obey that which has been revealed to us as the Order of Enoch, when there shall be no rich and no poor among the Latter-day Saints; when wealth will not be a temptation; when every man will love his neighbor as he does himself; when every man and woman will labor for the good of all as much as for self. That day must come, and we may as well prepare our hearts for it, brethren, for as wealth increases I see more and more a necessity for the institution of such an order. As wealth increases, luxury and extravagance have more power over us. The necessity for such an order is very great, and God, undoubtedly, in his own time and way, will inspire his servant [the prophet] to introduce it among the people.” (In Journal of Discourses, 15:207.)
Scot
Here is the context of Section 85. In November of 1832, the prophet Joseph and Emma were living in quarters above Newel K. Whitney’s store in Ohio and Joseph had received letters from Church leaders in Missouri, which was Zion, that required important answers about the practice of consecration and stewardship.
Here was the dilemma. To gather to Missouri to build Zion required an invitation and a recommend, but some moved to Missouri without a recommend and before being commanded. Some, like William McLellin, refused to keep the law of consecration, and bought two lots on Main Street in Independence in his own name. Church leaders in Missouri wondered what was to become of those members who went to Zion and refused to keep its laws.
Part of Joseph’s response, which is Section 85, is taken from a letter he wrote to W.W. Phelps concerning this matter and originally directed to John Whitmer, the Church historian, or “the Lord’s clerk” (v.1). These instructions emphasize the importance of obeying the law of the Lord governing inheritances in Zion and of documenting compliance with that law through careful and meticulous record keeping. They were to keep a history of righteousness and unrighteousness in Zion in the book of the law of God. Those who don’t keep it will be excluded from the record.
Maurine
I love the kindness Joseph expresses in his letter to William Phelps.
“Brother William, in the love of God, having the most implicit confidence in you as a man of God, having obtained this confidence by a vision of heaven, therefore I will proceed to unfold to you some of the feelings of my heart, and to answer the question.” (History of the Church, 1:297–98.)
Clear answers to our questions, even if we sometimes don’t want to hear them, are a way God shows his love for us.
The message in Section 85 is summed up well by President Joseph Fielding Smith: “We are informed that we are to be judged out of the books that are to be kept, therefore they should be accurate in every detail. …
Scot
This reminds us of the importance of records of our own lives. We seek to record our own interactions with the Lord to bless us and our family. Just recently, we left to lead a Church history tour, and when I arrived at the airport, I realized that my wallet wasn’t in its usual place in my back pocket. Oh no. I have never done that before and we had to arrive in Boston in time to greet our group and give them a first night of the trip orientation meeting. We sent our son-in-law back to our home, some 45 minutes away, to get the wallet, but it became clear that he wouldn’t make it back in time for me to clear TSA.
Maurine
I went on ahead, making my way through security, and then the 1.2 mile walk to our gate in the new Salt Lake City airport, hoping any minute you would catch up with me.
Scot
When I could see the wallet surely wouldn’t arrive in time for me to make it through security, I went to TSA, and with much checking and many phone calls, they let me through without a wallet. Our grandson who was taking a slightly later flight would bring it. It took 18 extra minutes to get through security and then I began to run to make that flight.
Maurine
Meanwhile, I was on the flight, saving you a seat, and hoping any minute I would see your face through the open door. They said, “Does anybody here know Scot Proctor?” I raised my hand, enthusiastically, and said, “He’s on his way.”
Scot
But, with a combination of running and walking, as fast I could, I saw the gate ahead, and they had just walked out from closing the door. I motioned I was here, but it was of no use. Once the door was closed, that was it. I’d missed the flight. They booked me for a flight that left three hours later, but it was clear I wouldn’t arrive until long after the orientation meeting had happened. I felt chagrinned, disappointed and a little embarrassed, but you know what lifted my spirits? All this year, I have been keeping a daily gratitude journal in the Nauvoo Diary that we sold last Christmas on Meridian, and I spent the next couple of hours reading all my entries for this year. It was a complete lift to my spirit to remember all of the things for which I was grateful and so many specific ways I’d been blessed. I would have forgotten these if I had not developed the process of remembering and writing down my daily gratitudes, those things I am thankful for. I sat there in the airport, having missed a plane and a responsibility, and found myself entry by entry becoming flooded with happiness.
Maurine
Steven C. Harper notes: “Joseph purchased his first journal on the very day this revelation was given, ‘for the purpose,’ he wrote, ‘to keep a minute account of all things that come under my observation.’ At about this same time, Joseph began writing his history and recording his letters and minutes of Church council meetings. He knew, as John the Revelator had prophesied, that mankind would be judged by records of their works kept on earth (Revelation 20:12; D&C 128:6–8), and Joseph tried to document his own ‘manner of life’ (D&C 85:2).
“Later, in 1841, Joseph began another journal, the Book of the Law of the Lord, a title he derived from section 85. Joseph appointed Willard Richards as ‘Recorder for the Temple, and the Scribe for the private office of the President.’ Willard became what section 85 calls the ‘Lord’s clerk,’ filling the duties described in the revelation (v. 1). He recorded historical entries and donations in the Book of the Law of the Lord.8 In 1842, while preparing to leave for the East, Richards gave the book to William Clayton, whom Joseph appointed as temple recorder, with a commission to fulfill the duties named in section 85.9 These recorders carefully kept track of consecrations. They recorded the deeds and donations of property by those who freely offered their whole souls to the Lord’s work. Joseph recorded a tribute to his wife Emma, to Bishop Newel Whitney, to his brother Hyrum, and to many others.
Scot
Joseph said, “’The names of the faithful are what I wish to record in this place.’ He recorded ‘the virtues and the good qualifications and characteristics of the faithful few,’ as he called them, but also noted that ‘there are a numerous host of faithful souls, whose names I could wish to record in the Book of the Law of the Lord.’ (Steven C. Harper, Making Sense of the Doctrine and Covenants, Salt Lake City: Deseret Book}
Now, the question might be asked, why is it a characteristic of Zion that all things be in common and there are no poor among them? And how is that accomplished?
Maurine
“I, the Lord, stretched out the heavens, and built the earth,” He said, “… and all things therein are mine.
“And it is my purpose to provide for my saints, for all things are mine.
“But it must needs be done in mine own way; and behold this is the way that I, the Lord, have decreed to provide for my saints, that the poor shall be exalted, in that the rich are made low.
“For the earth is full, and there is enough and to spare; yea, I prepared all things, and have given unto the children of men to be agents unto themselves.” (D&C 104:14–17.)
What an optimistic and beautiful idea. The Lord has prepared a full earth and He intends to provide for all of His children, but two points are critical here. First, it must be done in His own way, and it has to maintain the agency of His children. Anything that takes away their self-reliance and sense of responsibility His is not His way. Any other way to provide for the poor besides His way are counterfeits and often ideologies that will put His children in bondage.
Scot
President Marion G. Romney said, “We Latter-day Saints know that all men are brothers and sisters—’begotten sons and daughters unto God (D&C 76:24)—that we are responsible for the welfare of one another. These concepts are inherent in all the doctrines of the gospel.
“We know that the ills of this troubled world have come about because men have failed to do what the Lord has commanded them. This applies to economic problems as well as to all other ills. We know also that the only cure for them is to do all things whatsoever the Lord our God commands us.
“We know that the day will come when ‘every man’ shall share equally in the good things of earth, ‘according to his family, according to his circumstances and his wants and needs.’ (D&C 51:3.) We also know that attaining such equality must await the time when all men willingly work to sustain themselves and, motivated by love for their fellowmen, liberally ‘impart’ of their substance unto the poor and the needy, ‘according to the law of [the] gospel.’ (D&C 104:18.)
Maurine
President Romney continued, “It is the responsibility of every Latter-day Saint to work and so impart of his substance, regardless of the shifting standards of this world. We must uphold these principles and oppose every derogation of them. We must be careful not to adopt the commonly accepted practice of expecting the government or anyone other than ourselves to supply us with the necessities of life… This practice, if universally accepted and implemented in any society, will make slaves of its citizens.”
He tells this story: “In our friendly neighbor city of St. Augustine great flocks of sea gulls are starving amid plenty. Fishing is still good, but the gulls don’t know how to fish. For generations they have depended on the shrimp fleet to toss them scraps from the nets. Now the fleet has moved. …”
Scot
He continued: “The shrimpers had created a Welfare State for the … sea gulls. The big birds never bothered to learn how to fish for themselves and they never taught their children to fish. Instead they led their little ones to the shrimp nets.
“Now the sea gulls, the fine free birds that almost symbolize liberty itself, are starving to death because they gave in to the ‘something for nothing’ lure! They sacrificed their independence for a hand-out.
Maurine
“A lot of people are like that, too. They see nothing wrong in picking delectable scraps from the tax nets of the U.S. Government’s ‘shrimp fleet.’ But what will happen when the Government runs out of goods? What about our children of generations to come?
“Let’s not be gullible gulls. We … must preserve our talents of self-sufficiency, our genius for creating things for ourselves, our sense of thrift and our true love of independence.” (Marion G. Romney, In the Lord’s Own Way, tps://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/general-conference/1976/10/in-mine-own-way?lang=eng )
Scot
So what is the Lord’s own way so that there are no poor among us? It is consecration and stewardship, which are celestial laws freely entered by a people who want to live more abundantly in every sense. This is not just about our temporal or economic well-being but about our souls. The characteristic of a Zion society is that the people had all things common among them.” (3 Nephi 26:19)
Elder Bruce R. McConkie said: “Sacrifice and consecration are inseparably intertwined. The law of consecration is that we consecrate our time, our talents, and our money and property to the cause of the Church; such are to be available to the extent they are needed to further the Lord’s interests on earth.”
Maurine
He continued, “The law of sacrifice is that we are willing to sacrifice all that we have for the truth’s sake—our character and reputation; our honor and applause; our good name among men; our houses, lands, and families; all things, even our very lives if need be.
“Joseph Smith said, ‘A religion that does not require the sacrifice of all things never has power sufficient to produce the faith necessary [to lead] unto life and salvation.’ (Lectures on Faith, p. 58.)
“We are not always called upon to live the whole law of consecration and give all of our time, talents, and means to the building up of the Lord’s earthly kingdom. Few of us are called upon to sacrifice much of what we possess, and at the moment there is only an occasional martyr in the cause of revealed religion.
Scot
“But what the scriptural account means is that to gain celestial salvation we must be able to live these laws to the full if we are called upon to do so.” (In Conference Report, Apr. 1975, pp. 74–76; or Ensign, May 1975, pp. 50–51.)
President Marion G. Romney said: “The basic principle and the justification for the law of consecration ‘is that everything we have belongs to the Lord; therefore, the Lord may call upon us for any and all of the property which we have, because it belongs to Him. … (D&C 104:14–17, 54–57)’ (J. Reuben Clark Jr., in Conference Report, Oct. 1942, p. 55).” (“Living the Principles of the Law of Consecration,” Ensign, Feb. 1979, p. 3.)
So how does this work in practice?
Maurine
First, consecration is never coerced. It is a free will offering and Section 85 makes it clear that leaders are to keep track of those who consecrate, but not to encroach on their individual agency to obey or disobey.
When a person had consecrated all things to the Church, then he or she was ready to receive a stewardship and accept complete accountability for it. President Romney described this process: “The consecrator received from the Church a stewardship by a [deed]. This stewardship could be more or less than the original consecration, the object being to make ‘every man equal according to his family, according to his circumstances and his wants and needs.’ (D&C 51:3.)” (In Conference Report, Apr. 1977, p. 119; or Ensign, May 1977, p. 93.)
Scot
President J. Reuben Clark Jr. explained, “One of the places in which some of the brethren are going astray is this: There is continuous reference in the revelations to equality among the brethren, but I think you will find only one place where that equality is really described, though it is referred to in other revelations. That revelation (D. & C. 51:3) affirms that every man is to be ‘equal according to his family, according to his circumstances and his wants and needs.’ (See also D. & C. 82:17; 78:5–6.) Obviously, this is not a case of ‘dead level’ equality. It is ‘equality’ that will vary as much as the man’s circumstances, his family, his wants and needs may vary.” (In Conference Report, Oct. 1942, p. 55.)
Maurine
It is important to understand that the stewardship is private, not communal property.
President Marion G. Romney explained:
“This procedure [of providing deeds] preserved in every man the right of private ownership and management of his property. Indeed, the fundamental principle of the system was the private ownership of property. Each man owned his portion, or inheritance, or stewardship, with an absolute title, which, at his option, he could alienate [transfer], keep and operate, or otherwise treat as his own. The Church did not own all of the property, and life under the united order was not, and never will be, a communal life, as the Prophet Joseph himself said. (In Conference Report, Apr. 1977, p. 119; or Ensign, May 1977, p. 93.)
Scot
Occasionally we get letters on Meridian that say that the Church supports socialism. It is so important to be clear how different the United Order is from socialism. They are radically different from one another.
Elder Marion G. Romney outlined the differences between the revealed system of the united order and the socialistic programs:
“(1) The cornerstone of the United Order is belief in God and acceptance of him as Lord of the earth and the author of the United Order.
“Socialism, wholly materialistic, is founded in the wisdom of men and not of God. Although all socialists may not be atheists, none of them in theory or practice seek the Lord to establish his righteousness.
Maurine
“(2) The United Order is implemented by the voluntary free-will actions of men, evidenced by a consecration of all their property to the Church of God.
“… Socialism is implemented by external force, the power of the state.”
Isn’t it true that when you give up yourself to the power of the state, you have lost essential freedom. Beware of a program or person who asks you to give up freedom for safety.
“(3) … The United Order is operated upon the principle of private ownership and individual management.
“Thus in both implementation and ownership and management of property, the United Order preserves to men their God-given agency, while socialism deprives them of it.
Scot
“(4) The United Order is non-political.
“Socialism is political, both in theory and practice. It is thus exposed to, and riddled by, the corruption that plagues and finally destroys all political governments that undertake to abridge man’s agency.
“(5) A righteous people is a prerequisite to the United Order.
“Socialism argues that it as a system will eliminate the evils of the profit motive.
Scot
Now a couple of quick comments on individual verses in Section 85.
Verse 6 gives us a description of the Holy Ghost’s influence. It is “the still, small voice, which whispereth through and pierceth all things, and often times it maketh my bones to quake while it maketh manifest. That idea that something that is still and small can pierce through all things is an idea to be remembered. We have to pay attention to hear and notice that still, small voice. If you begin to watch for it and record it, you’ll see it.
Maurine
Yes, just recently I came in to tell you of a small miracle. I was speaking to someone who had felt deep pain over the years and talents of his life that he felt he had wasted. As we were talking, a scripture came into my computer from an article. It is not a scripture I was familiar with and knew in my soul that it was for him. It was, “I will restore to you the years that the swarming locust hath eaten.” 2 Joel 25.
Scot
I told you to write it down immediately.
Maurine
And I did, and I knew I had one of those moments when the still, small voice had whispered to me that I had just been given a gift for a friend. It landed on my heart and consciousness different than the usual every day experience. I could have so easily forgotten that if I had not written it down.
Scot
Verse 8 in Section 85 also brings up an important reference. It speaks of the man “that putteth forth his hand to steady the ark of God.” That phrase “steady the ark” refers to a story in 1 Samuel, chapters 4-6 where the Philistines had captured the ark of the covenant in battle, but returned it when they were struck with plagues. As they were bringing the ark back to Jerusalem in an ox cart, they came to a threshing floor where the oxen shook the cart, and Uzziah put forth his hand to steady the ark.
Maurine
What this steadying the ark has come to mean in modern times is that the Lord does not need our advice or counsel to bring forth his kingdom. He is able to do His own work. The ark steadiers are those who think they have better ideas about how the kingdom should be run. In our day, they may have blogs, protest loudly, resist counsel, form groups to forward their own ideas. They are the ark-steadiers, thinking they know better, while working out of relative ignorance of eternal things. President David O. McKay said, “Let us look around us and see how quickly men who attempt unauthoritatively to steady the ark die spiritually.” (David O. McKay, Gospel Ideas, p. 258).
Scot
It was during December of 1832, that the Prophet Joseph Smith, continued to work in Kirtland on his translation of the Bible, that two revelations were given to him that comprise Sections 86 and 87. Both of these concern the conditions surrounding the end of the world.
Section 86 is about the parable of the wheat and the tares given by the Savior and found in Matthew 13. The Lord tells his disciples the meaning of the parable, and Section 86 expands on that, and includes specifically references to the apostasy. An important thing to remember in scripture study–and especially when something is hard to understand—is that the best commentary on the scriptures is the scriptures themselves.
Maurine
Thus in Section 86, we are given this interpretation of the parable of the wheat and the tares. The field is the world and the apostles have been sowers of the seed. After they died, or as the scripture says, “fallen asleep”, the whore of Babylon, an image of Satan and the world planted tares among the wheat. This is an image of the apostasy where the Church was driven into the wilderness and “Satan sitteth to reign.”
Two things are noteworthy. The tares choke out the wheat, and in their early stages, tares and wheat look very similar. It is difficult to tell them apart. The tares the Lord refers to in his parable is probably the darnell weed. Not only does it choke out the wheat, but if you eat it, believing it to be the wheat that nourishes and gives life, it will be a rude surprise, because eating the darnell makes you deathly sick. Tares and wheat may look similar at one stage of their growth, but they are not.
Scot
Now, the Lord advises to let the wheat and tares grow together until they are ripe—in large part because you can’t distinguish between them, meaning that with our limited vision we may weed out what is wheat or eat what is tares. You might pluck out the wheat inadvertently while it is yet green and new. Instead, the reaper waits until the time is ripe, meaning the end of the world. Then Section 86 reverses the order from Matthew 7, where the tares are gathered out and burned, and then the wheat is harvested.
Instead, here the wheat is gathered out, and then the tares are bound in bundles and burned. In his new translation, Joseph revised Matthew 13 on this count, based on what he learned in the revelation.
Maurine
The main point of this is that the Lord’s priesthood has been returned to the earth, and the lawful heirs are now commissioned to go to all the world and harvest the wheat.
What strikes me about this parable is the apparent similarity of the wheat and the tares, that are actually so opposite. Ideas, designed by Satan to put us in bondage and turn us from the gospel, are often disguised to look like the good and virtuous thing. Evil doesn’t announce itself as evil. It says, I am good, I am compassionate, I am less demanding. This point of view is what all of the enlightened people embrace. Come follow me.
On the other hand, we may dismiss someone as a tare, who is actually wheat. Aren’t we so grateful that the Lord looketh upon the heart? The tough, hardened person who looks like he would never come unto Christ may surprise us with how interested he actually is. I had a friend whose great aunt was grouchy, mean-spirited and downright disdainful toward the Church in her life. After this aunt’s death, it occurred to her that maybe she wouldn’t do her temple work because it would be useless—but she did. During that session, she had a remarkable outpouring of the Spirit and felt her great-aunt, right beside her. She knew she had mistakenly judged a wheat as a tare.
Scot
On Christmas day of 1832, Joseph received a revelation on war that began:
“Verily, thus saith the Lord concerning the wars that will shortly come to pass, beginning at the rebellion of South Carolina, which will eventually terminate in the death and misery of many souls.”
As Joseph wrote: “”Appearances of troubles among the nations became more visible this season than they had previously been since the Church began her journey out of the wilderness. The ravages of the cholera were frightful in almost all the large cities on the globe. The plague broke out in India, while the United States, amid all her pomp and greatness, was threatened with immediate dissolution. The people of South Carolina, in convention assembled (in November), passed ordinances, declaring their state a free and independent nation; and appointed Thursday, the 31st day of January, 1833, as a day of humiliation and prayer, to implore Almighty God to vouchsafe His blessings, and restore liberty and happiness within their borders. President Jackson issued his proclamation against this rebellion, called out a force sufficient to quell it, and implored the blessings of God to assist the nation to extricate itself from the horrors of the approaching and solemn crisis.” (Joseph Smith, History of the Church, 1:301).
Maurine
Though this was the context of Joseph’s mind, he did not connect the prophesied rebellion in South Carolina with the trade and tariff issues which dominated that time. The revelation was about a war in the future. It was a prophecy which pointed to the Southern states being divided against the Northern states in the Civil War over the issue of slavery, which also began in South Carolina. Yet, it was more than that, too. In verse one we see, it was about the “wars that will shortly come to pass.” Note the plural. These wars, beginning with the Civil War, would lead to “a full end of all nations”.
H. Dean Garrett and Stephen E. Robinson say, “The only political entity that will pass from this fallen, telestial world into the glorious, terrestrial Millennium intact will be the kingdom of God. All nations, including the United States, will be consumed in the chaos and destructions that precede the coming of Jesus Christ. In the Millennium, there will be only one kingdom and one King.”
Scot
They continue, “It is possible that events preceding the Savior’s glorious appearance to the Nephites will prove to parallel events preceding his glorious coming in our own dispensation. These parallels might include the rise of gangs and conspiracies (see 3 Nephi 1:27–30; 6:27–28), the increasing wickedness of the people (see 3 Nephi 2:1–3), wars, famines, and sieges (see 3 Nephi 4:2–5), the worst battles in Nephite history (see 3 Nephi 4:11), corruption of the legal system (see 3 Nephi 6:11–12, 21–30), the collapse of government and division into smaller groups (see 3 Nephi 7:2–6), the growth of the Church (see 3 Nephi 7:24–26), and, finally, unexpected natural disasters and the destruction of the wicked (see 3 Nephi 8–10).”
Maurine
They also note that, “When the Civil War did begin, the exact and detailed correctness of Joseph’s prophecy caused it to be considered an ‘oddity’ by the national media, and Doctrine and Covenants 87 was printed and reprinted in non-LDS newspapers along with the question, ‘Have we not had a prophet among us?’” (H. Dean Garrett, Stephen E. Robinson, Commentary on the Doctrine and Covenants, Vol. 3, Salt Lake City, Deseret Book.)
In consequence of the knowledge he received in Section 87, Joseph was commanded by the Lord to write a warning letter to the nation, which was published in a Rochester newspaper. He also “later prophesied that the coming war would devastate Jackson County, Missouri, for its persecution of the Saints so that ‘[t]he fields and farms and houses will be destroyed, and only the chimneys will be left to mark the desolation.” This prophecy was fulfilled in every horrible detail.
Scot
This must have been a prophecy hard to receive. In verse 3 we read, “war shall be poured out upon all nations.” Ancient wars certainly were brutal but, because of technology, modern wars have become more deadly and terrible than we could have ever imagined and they will not let up.
So what are we to do? President Russell M. Nelson said, “Often when the Lord warns us about the perils of the last days, He counsels thus: ‘Stand ye in holy places, and be not moved.’ These ‘holy places’ certainly include the Lord’s temples and meetinghouses. But as our ability to gather in these places has been restricted in varying degrees, we have learned that one of the holiest of places on earth is the home—yes, even your home…
He said to the priesthood brethren, “’The rights of the priesthood are inseparably connected with the powers of heaven.’ You and your family have received priesthood ordinances. It is ‘in the ordinances [of the priesthood that] the power of godliness is manifest.’ That power is available to you and your family in your own home as you keep the covenants you have made.”
Maurine
He continued, “Just 185 years ago… April 3, 1836, Elijah restored the keys of the priesthood that allow our families to be sealed together forever. That is why it felt so good to administer the sacrament in your home. How do you think it affected your family members to see you—their father, grandfather, husband, son, or brother—administer this holy ordinance? What will you do to retain that sacred feeling in your family?
“You may feel that there is still more you need to do to make your home truly a sanctuary of faith. If so, please do it! If you are married, counsel with your wife as your equal partner in this crucial work. There are few pursuits more important than this. Between now and the time the Lord comes again, we all need our homes to be places of serenity and security.”
Scot
He continued, “Attitudes and actions that invite the Spirit will increase the holiness of your home. Equally certain is the fact that holiness will vanish if there is anything in your behavior or environment that offends the Holy Spirit, for then ‘the heavens withdraw themselves.’
Have you ever wondered why the Lord wants us to make our homes the center of gospel learning and gospel living? It is not just to prepare us for, and help us through, a pandemic. Present restrictions on gathering will eventually end. However, your commitment to make your home your primary sanctuary of faith should never end. As faith and holiness decrease in this fallen world, your need for holy places will increase. I urge you to continue to make your home a truly holy place ‘and be not moved’ from that essential goal.: (Russell M. Nelson, “What We are Learning and Will Never Forget.” https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/general-conference/2021/04/36nelson?lang=eng )
Maurine
That’s all for today. Thanks for being with us. We’re Scot and Maurine Proctor and this has been Meridian Magazine’s Come Follow Me podcast. Next week we’ll study Doctrine and Covenants, Section 88, called “Establish…a House of God.” Thanks to Paul Cardall for the music and to Michaela Proctor Hutchins who produces this show. See you next week.
EmilyAugust 1, 2021
Thank you for this timely lesson.