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This is the first part of a special series on “Hope”, in which Denver addresses the questions: What is hope? How can hope be an anchor for the soul in times of tribulation?

Transcript:

If you go to Doctrine and Covenants section 1 there is this interesting set of verses beginning with verse eight: “And verily I say unto you, that they who go forth, bearing these tidings unto the inhabitants of the earth, to them is power given to seal both on earth and in heaven, the unbelieving and rebellious; Yea, verily, to seal them up unto the day when the wrath of God shall be poured out upon the wicked without measure—Unto the day when the Lord shall come to recompense unto every man according to his work, and measure to every man according to the measure which he has measured to his fellow man.” [These are all negative. These are all sealing up unto destruction. These are all condemnations. These are all in a word, Aaronic. But remember the Aaronic priesthood is not without hope, because within it is the power to baptize, which is an ordinance of hope. 

I want to go to Doctrine and Covenants section 128 and look at verse 21. This is Joseph’s letter to the church that got canonized. He talks about all the stuff that has gone on in the process of getting the restoration fully established through him back upon the earth. He mentions in this letter these things had happened: “And again, the voice of God in the chamber of old Father Whitmer, in Fayette, Seneca county, and at sundry times, and in divers places through all the travels and tribulations of this Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints!” [So the voice of God has been there throughout all of this. As Joseph presided and as the Church rolled forth.] “And the voice of Michael, the archangel; the voice of Gabriel,”[“El” being the name of God] “and of Raphael, and of divers angels, from Michael or Adam down to the present time, all declaring their dispensation, their rights, their keys, their honors, their majesty and glory, and the power of their priesthood; giving line upon line, precept upon precept; here a little, and there a little; giving us consolation by holding forth that which is to come, confirming our hope!”

I want to remind you that Michael, Gabriel, and Raphael are known to us by other names and roles while they were mortal. As those who have come, though they were part of the El, or in the plural form, the Eloheim, they came into mortality and they served here among us. They came and they ministered here. Michael descended, and he came to the earth and he was known as the man Adam in mortality. Gabriel came to the earth and he was known in mortality as the man Noah. There is a big debate over the identical to the Raphael. I will tell you what I think and you can take it or leave it. Raphael is the name that was given to the man who in mortality we know as Enoch.

Now there are four angels who preside over the four corners of the earth. Joseph surely knew that. Joseph’s letter mentions the names of three of the four. But he leaves the fourth one out. And I find the absence of the fourth one rather extraordinary. Now the fourth one’s name is Uriel, also one of the Eloheim. There are certainly some who believe the reason for omitting his name from the letter was because Joseph Smith was Uriel. I do not subscribe to that belief.

Although there are those who will absolutely cry heresy, and throw dirt on their hair, and tear their clothes because they are scholars, and they are bona fide, and they know I’m talking out of my hat—but I’d remind you that Joseph talked out of his hat too. That fourth and missing, unmentioned angel, Uriel, in mortality was known to us as John, the one who was beloved of the Lord.

These are the four great angels at the four corners of the earth. Adam is the one in the East, the angel who is considered the one who presides over and has control of the air. Which is apt because onto Adam was given the breath of life in the beginning. Raphael is in the South, and he is associated with the power of fire, which is apt because of his fiery ascent with his people into heaven. Gabriel is the angel in the West who has the power over water, which is apt because in mortality, he survived through the Flood. And Uriel, though not mentioned, is the one who in the North has the power over the earth, which is apt because he remains upon the earth and he is the guardian at one gate with Elijah at the other end. But you can take and leave all that as you will. I find the mention here in this letter by Joseph, of these individuals and these powers, and these four, three of whom are named, the fourth of whom, potentially is unnamed, to be interesting. Though he does mention “divers angels for Michael or Adam down to the present time.”

What did Joseph say about all the prophets of the Old Testament? He said they all held Melchizedek priesthood, and were all ordained by God Himself. They ministered in a society that was deficient, limited, excluded from the presence of God. But those who received and entertained angels were brought up to where they needed to be for redemption. God Himself ordained them. Should you not likewise have this same hope? Should you not rise up above the level of those who are content to have less? Should you not be willing to mount up on that fiery mountain? Despite the thunderings and lightnings, despite the earthquake; despite the fact you may not believe yourself to be worthy, you’re still capable of coming aboard.

Look at Moroni chapter 7 beginning at verse 29: “And because he hath done this, my beloved brethren, have miracles ceased? Behold I say unto you, Nay; neither have angels ceased to minister unto the children of men. For behold, they [the angels] are subject unto him, to minister according to the word of his command, showing themselves unto them of strong faith and a firm mind in every form of godliness. And the office of their ministry is to call men unto repentance, and to fulfil and to do the work of the covenants of the Father…” [Because when you move from repentance you grow into covenants. This is why we spoke about that subject in Centerville. These subjects flow into one another. This is why these talks are given during the last year, unfolding how you get back into the presence of God. Because it surely is necessary for there to be a rescue mission, and the rescue mission is designed to raise you, to elevate you, to redeem you.]

“…to fulfil and to do the work of the covenants of the Father, which he hath made unto the children of men, to prepare the way among the children of men, by declaring the word of Christ unto the chosen vessels of the Lord, that they may bear testimony of him. And by so doing, the Lord God prepareth the way that the residue of men may have faith in Christ, that the Holy Ghost may have place in their hearts, according to the power thereof; and after this manner bringeth to pass the Father, the covenants which he hath made unto the children of men.” [In a word, those who receive and entertain angels have an obligation then, to declare the words so that others might likewise have faith in Him. That word having been declared unto you, gives you the hope, the faith and confidence, that you likewise can do so. This is so that the covenants made by the Father will be brought to pass. Fortunately, Aaronic priesthood is exceptionally durable. Fortunately, unlike Melchizedek priesthood (which can only be exercised with extraordinary care and delicacy), Aaronic priesthood endures weaknesses and abuse. The purpose of Melchizedek priesthood, as I talked about in Orem, is to bless. The purpose of Aaronic priesthood is to condemn and to judge, and to set a law by which men can condemn themselves. Having the authority to do that to yourself is remarkably durable, and unfortunately used with great regularity to do just that. Those that have it generally abide by so lesser a law, that they wind up judging and condemning one another, and parading before God as a march of fools, yelling and yammering, pointing and blaming, complaining and bitching, about what everyone else’s inadequacies are. The purpose of Melchizedek priesthood is to sound the signal: “Know ye the Lord.” And eventually, that sermon will be heard by enough, that there will be none left who need to be told, “Know ye the Lord,” for they shall all know Him. Then everyone will take up with Him their concerns, and not with one another.]

In Romans chapter 4, Paul writes about father Abraham. In verse 3 he explains Abraham believed God and it was accounted to him for righteousness. Verse 13 talks about God’s promise that Abraham would be an heir of the world not to him or to his seed through the law, but through the righteousness of faith. Because Abraham believed in God, he trusted in Him, therefore he inherited it all, all of the world, he is the father of the righteous!

Beginning with verse 17: “(As it is written, I have made thee a father of many nations,) before him whom he believed, even God, who quickeneth the dead, and calleth those things which be not as though they were. Who against hope believed in hope, that he might become the father of many nations, according to that which was spoken, So shall thy seed be. And being not weak in faith, he considered not his own body now dead, when he was about an hundred years old, neither yet the deadness of Sara’s womb: He staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief; but was strong in faith, giving glory to God; And being fully persuaded that, what he had promised, he was able also to perform.”

There was no proof an aged, “dead,” that is, now impotent old man, could sire a child with a barren, post-menopausal, Sarah. But Abraham doubted not, and you have before you, promises spoken by the voice of an angel concerning the things God has in store for your day, and you doubt? And you question, and you think God not able to bring about what He intends to do?

The very day all the prophets have look forward to, from the beginning of the days of Adam down till now, (as we looked at in Centerville) are upon us. You doubt God can bring this to pass? You doubt what I have been talking about since we began in Boise, and have now arrived here? If God can send someone to declare these things to you, in the confidence and the faith and the knowledge that I’m speaking to you on His errand, and I can do it in this room, in this building housing a casino, in this city built on gambling and desperation, salvation comes to you today by the word of God. You doubt God cannot make a holy place somewhere that has not been trodden under the foot of the Gentiles? You doubt that God cannot bring to pass His work in culminating the ages? Have the faith of a grain of mustard seed, because it is coming, it is going to happen, and if you lack the faith, you will not be invited.

If we are required to develop the attributes of Christ, how is it possible for us to do so, unless God patiently tries to persuade us to voluntarily be like Him? How can you hope to be like Him, if you refuse to be persuaded?

God came as one of the weak things of this world. The only way He is ever going to invite you is through one of the weak things of this world, speaking in weakness, asking you to be persuaded. It doesn’t matter how earnest I am, I know my standing before God. What matters is your willingness to be persuaded. Over that I have no control, and want no control. I simply put the case as the Lord has put it to me, in the hopes that what He has to offer, and what He says need to be said will get through to you. Your relationship and your accountability is not to me, it’s to Him. Therefore, be persuaded. Please, for your own sake, be persuaded.

The notion that you are going to succeed in acquiring the glory likened to God, as a separate and single individual, is nowhere found as a promise in scripture. It is not a reasonable expectation. It is a non-scriptural expectation. It is a foolish hope. Because it does not reckon according to the things God created as He created them. Understand, those verses that we read in Genesis? Those verses were before the Fall, and the condition in which Adam and Eve found themselves at the time those incidences took place included immortality, because they had not yet fallen from grace. The marriage and the union of the two of them was intended to last forever, because death has not entered yet into the world. As God put it, it was “good” for them to be together. Consider the requirements: 

-Marry a wife,

-“sealed,”

-“Holy Spirit of Promise,”

-then “pass by the angels,”

-“enter into exaltation,”

-obtain “glory, fullness,”

All these words are applicable only to the man and the woman together as one. It is only applicable to the exalted state of a marriage worthy of preservation into eternity.

Instead of focusing on this as something you may receive in the great hereafter as a reward, change your view. Instead of some distant glory to be given in the afterlife, why not think about whether the conditions described in these verses are themselves a reward in this life. Think about this as something to be had now, not something to be postponed and hoped for in the afterlife. Not in eternity, but today.

The subject someone asks about when they go to the Lord does not necessarily then control the content of what the Lord will reveal. Likewise, when Joseph made the inquiry about the plurality of wives, the Lord took it as an opportunity to talk about something more important. The Lord wanted to talk about eternal marriage. The Lord’s priority is what you read first in section 132.

He talks about the eternal duration of the marriage covenant. He answers the question about plural wives very late, in the original revelation, almost as an afterthought. But it is first and foremost a revelation about the eternity of the marriage covenant. You do not read an answer about Joseph’s inquiry concerning plural marriage until verse 34. Beginning at verse 1 and going through verse 33, all of that is about the eternity of the marriage covenant. All of that is about marriage of a man and a woman, like the marriage of Adam to Eve, and like the children of Adam and Eve who went off two by two to create their families.

The blessings of exaltation you hope to inherit in eternity are tied to the first 33 verses of section 132 dealing with the marriage of a man and a woman. Therefore, when you read section 132, don’t leap to verse 34 and then read retrospectively back the statements beginning there into the earlier text. Nothing in the earlier text addresses anything other than the marriage of a man and a woman. The subject matter changes, and the question that was asked is answered beginning with verse 34.

What was on the Lord’s mind, and what the Lord inspired Joseph’s inquiry to allow Him to reveal, is in the beginning of section 132. Look at verse 7. “The conditions of this law are these: All covenants, contracts, bonds, obligations, oaths, vows, performances, connections, associations, or expectations, that are not made and entered into and sealed by the Holy Spirit of promise, of him who is anointed, both as well for time and for all eternity, and that too most holy, by revelation and commandment…(and I have appointed unto my servant Joseph to hold this power in the last days, and there is never but one on the earth at a time on whom this power and the keys of this priesthood are conferred), are of no efficacy, virtue, or force in and after the resurrection from the dead; for all contracts that are not made unto this end have an end when men are dead.”

So everything that you hope to receive into the next life, even your “expectations,” all of that has to be obtained from God by covenant. I mentioned in an answer to a question in Ephraim, that the role of the woman was significant, even in the life of Christ. I mentioned that she anointed Him preliminary to His death and burial. One of the things that gave Him the expectation of coming forth out of the grave, was the anointing that promised Him. Why do you think in the temple the rites of washing and anointing include preserving some of the functions of the body through the resurrection?

The temple anointings are not to make you healthy here and now. They are given so that you can lay claim upon this as an “expectation” in the eternities. Because if you do not have the expectation conferred upon you by the Holy Spirit of Promise, you will be left to obtain it in some other cycle. The only things you will be able to take with you into eternity must be obtained in this manner. Everything has to be obtained by covenant.

This is the day in which, at long last, what God promised would happen before His return is now actually beginning. The Gospel does not consist merely of a record of how God dealt with another people at another time. Joseph Smith talked about how we must have our own covenant: “Search the Scriptures, search the Prophets and learn what portion of them belongs to you and the people of the nineteenth century. You, no doubt, will agree with us, and say, that you have no right to claim the promises of the inhabitants before the flood; that you cannot found your hopes of salvation upon the obedience of the children of Israel when journeying in the wilderness, nor can you expect that the blessings which the apostles pronounced upon the churches of Christ eighteen hundred years ago, were intended for you. Again, if others’ blessings are not your blessings, others’ curses are not your curses; you stand then in these last days, as all have stood before you, agents unto yourselves, to be judged according to your works.” The Gospel must live with us, or we have no hope. Joseph also said: “[W]e cannot claim these promises which were made to the ancients for they are not our property, merely because they were made to the ancient Saints, yet if we are the children of the Most High, and are called with the same calling with which they were called, and embrace the same covenant that they embraced, and are faithful to the testimony of our Lord as they were, we can approach the Father in the name of Christ as they approached Him, and for ourselves obtain the same promises. These promises, when obtained, if ever by us, will not be because Peter, John and the other Apostles, with the churches as Sardis, Pergamos, Philadelphia, and elsewhere walked in the fear of God, and had power and faith to reveal and obtain them; but it will be because we, ourselves, have faith and approach God in the name of His Son Jesus Christ; even as they did; and when these promises are obtained, they will be promises directly to us, or they will do us no good.” This is as true of words and promises given through Joseph as the words and promises made in the New Testament. We cannot rely on the sacrifices of Joseph and Hyrum to save us, nor claim a covenant long since changed and broken by all of the sects arising from Joseph’s covenant as ours. We must, like them, have the faith to renew and then keep a covenant given to us by God.

We get to the point in the history of the world in which, after the days of Shem, who was renamed “Melchizedek”, people fell into iniquity. They fell into iniquity and they lost the birthright. There was no continuation of this. It was broken by an apostasy and it had to be restored again, which ought to give all of us great hope because Abraham sought for this. He sought for a restoration of the kingdom of God. He sought for a restoration of this, which only one man on the earth can hold at a time. Abraham 1:2:

And, finding there was greater happiness and peace and rest for me, I sought for the blessings of the fathers, and the right whereunto I should be ordained to administer the same; having been myself a follower of righteousness, desiring also to be one who possessed great knowledge, and to be a greater follower of righteousness, and to possess a greater knowledge, and to be a father of many nations, a prince of peace, and desiring to receive instructions, and to keep the commandments of God, I became a rightful heir, a High Priest, holding the right belonging to the fathers.

When you are in possession of that you have no problem asking God and getting an answer. It is the right belonging to the fathers. After a period of apostasy, and the break of this line, Abraham received it by adoption. Therefore, this power has the ability to cure the break. This covenant making through God has the ability to restore the family of God, even when wicked men kill in order to destroy it, even when a substitute needs to be made, even when the fathers turn from their righteousness, yet God is able to cause it to persist.

Remember that in Nauvoo the Lord offered to connect the saints. A clearly defined condition for that to happen was necessarily an acceptable temple where he could come and restore the connection. The reconnection is ordinance based and will require an acceptable temple before it goes beyond the single representative.

First, ideas need to be advanced and accepted. Second, we need to act on the ideas. Primarily by repenting and opening ourselves to the influence of God. Third, we have to be humble and patient and willing to practice the religion before we can have any hope of God deciding to gather us. Practical experience is absolutely necessary. Theories and pretensions are not going to get us anywhere. Everyone can theorize the virtues that are necessary to gather people together and live in harmony. Everyone can envision themselves as one of the residents of the city of peace. But the practical experience required to iron out our selfishness and competitiveness so we can actually live in peace is another order of magnitude harder.

Individual salvation and promises of eternal life are just that, they are individual. A restoration of the family of Israel requires more – including cooperation and interrelationships that will be formed by God himself. Promises made to individuals give the individual hope.

If you take the vision of the redemption of the dead – that we find in D&C 138 – he saw a vision where they were gathered together in one place an innumerable company of the spirits of the just who had been faithful in the testimony of Jesus while they lived in mortality. And who had offered sacrifice in the similitude of the great sacrifice of the Son of God, and had suffered tribulation in the redeemer’s name. All these had departed the mortal life firm in the hope of a glorious resurrection through the grace of God the Father and his Only Begotten Son, Jesus Christ. All of them. These were the righteous. They were in paradise and all of them were worthy, they had hope, and not only did the Savior give them hope before death, he visited with them in the spirit world during the time between his death and his resurrection. But that did not get them reconnected to the fathers in heaven. Nor did it even get them resurrected because it goes on to say in the same vision, ‘from among the righteous he organized his forces and appointed messengers clothed with power and authority and commissioned them to go forth and carry the light of the gospel to them that were in darkness. Even to all the spirits of men, and thus was the gospel preached to the dead.’ So the righteous who departed this life firm in the hope of a glorious resurrection, who had offered sacrifice in the similitude – many of whom had seen him in the flesh, who witnessed him and were ministered to by him, and given authority by him in the spirit world, remained in the world of the dead to preach to the dead.

Only the organization through a temple and associated rites results in finishing the family of God in the house of order, following the results achieved – or allowing the results achieved – by Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob. Which are described in D&C 132:37.

Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob they did none other things than that which they were commanded, they have entered into their exaltation according to the promises. And they sit upon thrones and are not angels, but are Gods.

In D&C 138:41, Abraham, the father of the faithful, Isaac, and Jacob were also there. In verses 41 and 42 of D&C 138 Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob were there, but in the revelation given in 1843 they’re sitting on thrones. They’re not in the spirit world proselytizing. They’re sitting on thrones. The difference between these two categories are the differences between individual salvation, which can come, and reorganizing the family of God, which ​must occur by an ordinance in a temple, to be acceptable to God.

This is why the command was given to build the temple in Nauvoo. And why God offered to restore to them the fullness that they did not achieve. We need to let God take the lead and we need to patiently await each step along the way. This is the stuff of which the prophecies speak. And it is the stuff that will be fulfilled. But the rites and the ordinances necessary to accomplish that – people in this generation don’t even have a clue how that necessarily has to roll forth. But rest assured, it will. It will.

There is a parable. It’s just one verse. It’s a very short parable. It moves along, but it’s a response that Christ gave to the question that was put to Him by his disciples asking Him: Tell us what the signs of your return is going to be. He goes through a list of things but he ends with a little parable at the end. Our translation makes it seem kind of morbid so I’m going to substitute “body” for “carcass” because it sounds like what you’re dealing with in the current King James version is morbid, not a living body. He says one of the signs that are going to be of His return is: “Where the body is, that’s where the eagles will gather.” The “body” is the New Jerusalem. The “eagles” are going to be angelic ministrants who are going to come.

There has to be an opening that occurs in order to prepare the way. The opening at this end is going to be handled by someone who has remained behind, and the opening at the far end is going to be the one to whom the assignment was given to open the way for His return; Elijah, the one who was promised.

Now, I want to be really clear. I don’t expect either of those individuals to have any public ministry again. They have a role in Zion, and those who dwell in Zion are going to have some contact with them. The three Nephites are a great example. They, like John, were given a similar ministry to remain around and to administer until the end of the earth. And they did minister. Two of the people to whom they ministered were Mormon and Moroni. They, like ministering angels, ministered to Mormon who in turn ministered to the public. They ministered to Moroni and kept his hope up in the waning days of that dispensation. But they did not minister publicly. John will have a role, but the work of Zion is the work of flesh and blood.

Men have to extend the invitation for God to return so that men who extend that invitation are worthy of His return and the Lord can safely come without utterly destroying all who are upon the earth. Therefore you need Zion, among other reasons, in order for there to be a place and a people to whom the Lord can safely return without utterly destroying the earth at His coming. However small, however diminutive it may be, there needs to be a Zion that extends the invitation for the Lord to return.

The Lord does everything according to His higher way of teaching. By beginning with a vision of His return, He set out the foundation for understanding His course, which is one eternal round. Since His first appearance He has sent divers angels from Adam or Michael to Hyrum and Joseph Smith, giving line upon line, to confirm my hope in Christ.

In a letter written August 16, 1834, Joseph Smith expected Zion could be established very soon. He wrote, “we have a great work to do, and but little time to do it in and if we don’t exert ourselves to the utmost in gathering up the strength of the Lords house …there remaineth a sco[u]rge” (JS Papers, Documents Vol. 4, p. 106.) In the same letter he reminded people in his day that, “so long as unrighteousness acts are suffered in the church it cannot [be] sanctified neither Zion be redeemed.” (Id., p. 107.) At the time, he considered the church to be “in a languid cold disconsolate state.” (Id.) It was the opposite of the lively, confident and happy state accompanying righteousness, even when worldly circumstances are direful and the wicked seem to triumph. When doing what the Lord asks, we can be lively because He will accompany our efforts and add His strength to our labor. If we have a hope in Christ, we can be confident. If our sins have been forgiven, we have every reason to be happy.

In your language you use the name Lucifer for an angel who was in authority before God, who rebelled, fought against the work of the Father and was cast down to the earth. His name means holder of light, or light bearer, for he had gathered light by his heed and diligence before he rebelled. He has become a vessel containing only wrath and seeks to destroy all who will hearken to him. He is now enslaved to his own hatred.

Satan is a title, and means accuser, opponent and adversary; hence once he fell, Lucifer became, or in other words was called, Satan, because he accuses others and opposes the Father. I rebuked Peter and called him Satan because he was wrong in opposing the Father’s will for me, and Peter understood and repented.

In the work you have performed there are those who have been Satan, accusing one another, wounding hearts and causing jarring, contention, and strife by their accusations. Rather than loving one another, even among you who desire a good thing, some have dealt unkindly as if they were the opponents, accusers and adversaries. In this they were wrong.

You have sought to recover the scriptures because you hope to obtain the covenant for my protective hand to be over you, but you cannot be Satan and be mine. If you take upon you my covenant, you must abide it as a people to gain what I promise. You think Satan will be bound a thousand years, and it will be so, but do not understand your own duty to bind that spirit within you so that you give no heed to accuse others. It is not enough to say you love God; you must also love your fellow man. Nor is it enough to say you love your fellow man while you, as Satan, divide, contend and dispute against any person who labors on an errand seeking to do my will. How you proceed must be as noble as the cause you seek. You have become your own adversaries, and you cannot be Satan and also be mine. Repent, therefore, like Peter and end your unkind and untrue accusations against one another, and make peace. How shall there ever come a thousand years of peace if the people who are mine do not love one another? How shall Satan be bound if there are no people of one heart and one mind?

On the third day of April 1836 Joseph and Oliver were in the temple in Kirtland, Ohio, The veil was taken from their minds, and the eyes of their understanding were opened. They saw the Lord in his glory standing above them and the breastwork of the pulpit; and under his feet appeared as it were a paved work of pure gold, in color like amber. His eyes were as a flame of fire; the hair of his head was white like the pure snow; his countenance shone above the brightness of the sun; and his voice was as the sound of the rushing of great waters, even the voice of Jehovah, saying: I am the Alpha and the Omega; I am he who was slain, I am he who lives; I am your advocate with the Father. Behold, your sins are forgiven you; you are clean before me; therefore, lift up your heads and rejoice. Let the hearts of your brethren also rejoice, and let the hearts of all my people rejoice, who have, with their might, built this house to my name. For behold, I have accepted this house, and my name shall be here; and I will manifest myself to my people in mercy in this house. Yea, I will appear unto my servants, and speak unto them with mine own voice, if my people will keep my commandments, and do not pollute this holy house. Behold and see: the hearts of thousands and tens of thousands shall greatly rejoice in consequence of the blessings that shall be poured out, and the endowment with which my servants will be endowed in this house. Behold: the fame of this house shall spread to foreign lands; and this is the beginning of the blessings I shall pour out upon my people. Even so. Amen. 

As this vision closed, the heavens were again opened to their view, and they saw and beheld, and were endowed with knowledge from the beginning of this creation to the ends thereof. And they were shown unspeakable things from the sealed record of Heaven which man is not capable of making known but must be revealed by the Powers of Heaven. They beheld Michael, the archangel; Gabriel and Raphael, and divers angels, from Michael or Adam down to the end of time, showing in turns their dispensations, their rights, their keys, their honors, their majesty and glory, and the Powers of their Priesthood; giving line upon line, precept upon precept; endowing them with knowledge, even here a little, and there a little; holding forth hope for the work God was yet to perform, even the revelation of all things which are to come upon the earth until the return of the Lord in glory with His holy angels—to pour out judgment upon the world, and to reward the righteous. And they were unable to take it in; therefore they were commanded to pray and ask to comprehend by the power of the Spirit, to bring all things to their remembrance, even the Record of Heaven which would abide in them. Amen and Amen.

If there was anything more I could do or say that I thought would convince or persuade you to believe in Him, I would do it or I would say it. But despite it all, I realize some of you are going to walk out of here thinking that I’m just another one of these latter-day blowhards. That is all good and well. Please however, give heed to the scriptures I’ve read, the words of Joseph I quoted, and the fact I do have a witness that Christ is approachable. He is every bit as much alive today as when He was when He walked on the road to Emmaus. He is every bit as willing to come and redeemed you from the Fall as He was willing to redeem others before. His work and His glory culminates with your redemption. His success is redeeming you. You think the scriptures give you hope of eternal life. That is true. I have used them today to show you how great things the Lord has done. The scriptures testify what I am saying is true.

If you think, “Well, He is aloof and He is distant, and this is an impossible high thing to achieve.” The fact of the matter is, it is a greater achievement on His end to redeem you, than your end to be redeemed. There is more anxiety, more desire, and more rejoicing in heaven when He redeems someone from the Fall than there is here.

He came, He suffered, He lived, He died, He did what He did in order to lift all of Creation, and you are inextricably connected to Him. Therefore, trust that. Receive Him. It may start very slow, very small, very distant. Act on that, hearken to that, it gets louder. You will never wind up in the company of Gods and angels, if you are not willing to have faith in those preliminary things you first receive. Ask. Then go and do what He asks.

______

The foregoing are excerpts taken from:

• Denver’s 40 Years in Mormonism Series, Talk #5 entitled “Priesthood” given in Orem, UT on November 2nd, 2013
• Denver’s 40 Years in Mormonism Series, Talk #8 entitled “A Broken Heart and Contrite Spirit” given in Las Vegas, NV on July 25th, 2014;
• Denver’s 40 Years in Mormonism Series, Talk #9 entitled “Marriage and Family” given in St. George, UT on July 26th, 2014
• Denver’s 40 Years in Mormonism Series, Talk #10 entitled “Preserving the Restoration” given in Mesa, AZ on September 9th, 2014
• A fireside talk on “Plural Marriage”, given in Sandy, UT on March 22, 2015
• A Q&A session entitled “A Visit with Denver Snuffer” held on May 13, 2015
• Denver’s talk entitled “Zion Will Come” given near Moab, UT on April 10th, 2016
• Denver’s conference talk entitled “The Doctrine of Christ”, given in Boise, ID on September 11th, 2016
• The presentation of “Answer and Covenant”, given at the Covenant of Christ Conference in Boise, ID on September 3rd, 2017
• Denver’s 40 Years in Mormonism Series, Talk #7 entitled “Christ, Prototype of the Saved Man” given in Ephraim, UT on June 28, 2014

• Podcast