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This is the second part of a special series on what God is doing in our day.
This is the Lord describing to Enoch what would happen by way of covenant, the Lord swearing as I live, even so will… and He tells him what’s going to come to pass in the last days. This is among the promises that were made to one of the Fathers—and this is one of the Fathers, and these are the covenants whose time is now upon us. This is the day in which we need to be prepared, so that those who went before and ascended up the ladder can return and fall upon your neck and kiss you, and you fall upon their neck and kiss them—a sacred embrace through the veil, evidencing fellowship between you here and them there, the Lord promising and covenanting these things are gonna happen.
But notice—there has to be a tabernacle; He has to come and take up His abode. There has to be preparation made. These things require some effort to be made here, in order to prepare for His return. If there is no one here who is willing to engage in what’s necessary to bring this to pass (because everyone looks around and expects someone else to do it), then you’re neglecting a duty that’s devolving upon you as one of those who was assigned to come down, in this day, in order to honor the fathers and honor the Lord, by allowing the covenants that have been made to be fulfilled.
Take a look at Doctrine and Covenants section 107, because in this we see that first Zion:
Three years previous to the death of Adam, he called Seth [his son], Enos [his grandson], Cainan [the son of Enos], Mahalaleel [son of Cainan], Jared [son of Mahalaleel], Enoch [son of Jared], and Methuselah [son of Enoch], who were all high priests, with the residue of his posterity who were righteous, into the valley of Adam-ondi-Ahman, and there bestowed upon them his last blessing. (D&C 107:53)
This is the original, first, patriarchal blessing being given by Adam, he having summoned them there. And as he’s giving his last blessing, three years previous to his death: the Lord appeared unto them. So the Lord comes to dwell with these seven high priests and Adam:
The Lord appeared unto them, and they rose up and blessed Adam, and called him [Mich-a-el] Michael, the prince, the archangel. And the Lord administered comfort unto Adam [Ask yourself, what comfort is it that the Lord administers?], and said unto him: I have set thee to be at the head; a multitude of nations shall come of thee, …thou art a prince over them forever. And Adam stood up in the midst of the congregation; and, notwithstanding he was bowed down with age, being full of the Holy Ghost, predicted whatsoever should befall his posterity unto the latest generation. These things were all written in the book of Enoch, and are to be testified of in due time. (ibid, vs. 54-57)
This is the original covenant. This is the first father. This is what was set in motion before the death of Adam, under the binding influence and ratification of the Holy Ghost (or the mind of God), in which Adam, under the influence of that Spirit, predicted whatsoever should befall his posterity unto the latest generation. This is the original covenant. This is the original father. Words spoken as a consequence of the influence of the Holy Spirit become the words of God. They will not fall to the ground unfulfilled. The everlasting covenant in our day is “new” only as a consequence of it having been restored to our attention recently—it is not a new thing; it is a very old thing, going back to the days of Adam. It was known to him. You were known to him. What was going to happen in your day was predicted and promised as a consequence of him.
Prophecies, as I’ve said before, revolve around two (and primarily two) events only—one being the first coming of the Lord; the other one being the coming of the Lord in judgment at the end of the world. Now, there are plenty of prophecies that reckon to other events that are intermediate. However, the primary focus is the first and the second coming of the Lord—the vindication of the promise that the Father made in the beginning that He would redeem us all from the grave, and the vindication of the promise that, at some point, the world would come to an end as to its wickedness, and there would be peace again on the earth. Everything revolves around those two prophetic events.
There will always be 10,000 voices that rise up in opposition to say, “lo here and lo there,” and “come and hearken to my precept.” I don’t ask you to hearken to anything other than what is in the scriptures. You should ask yourself the same question that Malachi posed, “Who may abide the day of his coming? Who shall stand when he appeareth? For He is like a refiner’s fire and like a fullers soap, and He shall sit as a refiner and purifier of silver.” Yes, who shall stand? “The day comes that shall burn them up so that it shall leave them neither root nor branch.” And who shall abide that day?
Well, we have an answer to that question. The Book of Mormon was designed as the scripture, as the foundation, the keystone for our day. Go to chapter 9 of third Nephi and read what is said there. This is the Lord speaking. 3 Nephi 9: 12-13: “And many great destructions have I caused to come upon this land, and upon this people, because of their wickedness and their abominations. O all ye that are spared because ye were more righteous than they, will ye not now return unto me, and repent of your sins, and be converted, that I may heal you?”
The people who survived the destruction preceding His appearance to the Nephites were more righteous. We must be likewise. The Book of Mormon is the great prophecy for our day. We should look at is as warning us, not merely as history of a fallen people. It was intended as a warning to us based on their history, and not merely as history.
The “more righteous” survived then, and will likewise survive His Second Coming. The “more righteous” were not sin free. They were more righteous because they hearkened to what the Lord told them.
This did not mean they weren’t a work-in-process with weaknesses and frailties. They were willing to hear His voice in the messengers He sent, and to respond to Him. These were the few people spared. They were “more righteous” because they received His message from an authorized messenger. They had faith in the word declared to them.
Go to chapter 10 and read verse 12: “And it was the more righteous part of the people who were saved, and it was they who received the prophets and stoned them not; and it was they who had not shed the blood of the saints, who were spared.” Please notice the criteria. This is the definition of “more righteous.” That was how they, and in turn you, get spared from destruction. This is how you become “His seed” (to use Abinadi’s description): “They who received the prophets and stoned them not.” Please understand this is Christ speaking.
Therefore, these three things you need to know. God exists. You need to study until you have a correct understanding of His character, perfections, and attributes. And then you have to live your life so that you actually know that the course you’re leading in your life conforms to what He would have. Turn to verse 23:
But it is also necessary that men should have an idea that he is no respecter of persons, for with the idea of all the other excellencies in his character, and this one wanting, men could not exercise faith in him; because if he were a respecter of persons, they could not tell what their privileges were, nor how far they were authorized to exercise faith in him, or whether they were authorized to do it at all, but all must be confusion; but no sooner are the minds of men made acquainted with the truth on this point, that he is no respecter of persons, than they see that they have authority by faith to lay hold on eternal life, the richest boon of heaven, because God is no respecter of persons, and that every man in every nation has an equal privilege. (Lectures on Faith 3:23)
That’s you, that’s you. God has done nothing for Joseph Smith He will not do for you. I understand all of the doctrinal arguments.I can make them all. I have made them all. And I’ve made them to the Lord. I’ve argued with Him on every point of doctrine that any of you— I’ve quoted to Him every scripture that any of you have advanced, and many more besides. And the Lord has always borne testimony back, consistently. This stuff is true. You’re hedging up the way of your own salvation and of the salvation of others when you say, No one has the privilege in our day, yet, to lay hold on salvation. You’re hedging up the way, you are damning yourself, and you are damning those who will listen to you when you say people in our time are not yet authorized to exercise faith in God unto salvation, because you are authorized.
I have done so. I have spoken with Him as a man speaks to another. He speaks in plain humility, reasoning as one man does with another. He will reason with you. The first night I got a testimony, I was in the middle of an argument with God—I thought with myself—until when I got down to the final question in my mind, which was, “How do I even know there is a God?” To which the response came, “Who do you think you’ve been talking to the last two hours?” I didn’t realize that that still small voice, which will talk with any and all of you, was God. When you exercise the required faith to permit Him to step out from behind the veil, like the brother of Jared, He’ll do that, too. He’s no respecter of persons. You should not question what your privileges are, nor how far you are authorized to exercise faith in Him, or whether you’re authorized to do it at all. Don’t have doubts about your privileges.
In the parable that Joseph was given in the D&C about the unjust judge and the aggrieved woman, it was a CONSTANT petitioning. Little children not only don’t know a lot of things, they know that they don’t know and they ask persistently, incessantly, because they desire to know what they don’t know. They’re like sponges and we’re like rocks. You can throw a rock into the water and pull it out again and it’s still a rock. But you throw a sponge in and you pull it out and it is GREATLY increased. Children are like the sponge, they’re porous, and we are not.
D&C 93:1 “Verily, thus saith the Lord: It shall come to pass that every soul who forsaketh his sins and cometh unto me, and calleth on my name, and obeyeth my voice, and keepeth my commandments, shall see my face and know that I am.”
Moses 6:57 “Wherefore teach it unto your children, that all men, everywhere, must repent, or they can in nowise inherit the kingdom of God, for no unclean thing can dwell there, or dwell in his presence; for, in the language of Adam, Man of Holiness is his name, and the name of his Only Begotten is the Son of Man, even Jesus Christ, a righteous Judge, who shall come in the meridian of time.”
So, in order to come into the presence of the Lord, we have to be clean. Well, in the ceremony of the temple, the way in which you become ceremonially clean is by borrowing things from the Lord through the ceremony. You are washed, though not quite as vigorously as you may have been in Nauvoo. You are anointed, though not perhaps as thoroughly as you might have been in Nauvoo. The next time you have a Word of Wisdom lesson about strong drinks and they’re talking about strong drinks and the washing of the body: they used cinnamon flavored or included mixed whiskey to wash in the Kirtland and then again in Nauvoo. And, as it turns out, for washing the body, it’s really a pretty good antiseptic. One of the things that Joseph talked about in Nauvoo era, was about how angels sometimes have a hard time visiting with men because they stink, and that we really ought to clean ourselves up because we’ll offend the sensibilities of the angels. There’s a notion for you. One of the doors to barring entry…
In the temple you borrow cleanliness through the ceremony itself, which washes you, which anoints, which dresses you in new and clean clothes, and then progressively confers upon you symbols that suggest all of creation. Symbolically the entirety of creation comes through, and is redeemed as a consequence of your own redemption. Because if you are redeemed, you are infinite and eternal and creation itself goes on. But here, no unclean thing can dwell there or dwell in His presence, which leads to the reason for the temple.
The purpose of the temple is not merely to inspire you with the conviction that it is possible to rend the veil, to pass through the veil, to see and meet with our Lord, who has promised us repeatedly that the stories in The Book of Mormon are stories designed to tell you over and over and over again about coming back into the presence of the Lord. Even wicked Lamanite converts many of them have what we, in our scholarly language would call, a throne theophany, and they did so upon conversion because their conversion was with real intent.
Therefore, The Book of Mormon is a text about The Second Comforter. But what is being talked about in this verse, Moses 6, is about dwelling in His presence. Moses 6:57, It says when it comes to dwelling there, no unclean thing can dwell there because He is the man of holiness. This presents the real message or the real meaning of what the temple is trying to convey to us in our day. And we’re just about running out of time to accomplish that in our day.
And if we don’t then, you know, He passes on and maybe starts this up with another people in another day, as he has so often done before.
To come to the veil and to meet with the Savior: He can clean you up. He, through His grace, can give you all that you lack. To dwell in the presence of God requires something more, something different. It requires that you grow from where you are now, to the place where the Lord intends to lead you. He intends to have you BE true and faithful in all things. Because in the ceremony in the temple, once you go through the veil, you don’t come back. You stay there and the purpose of going there in this day, in this setting, is to enable the return of Zion. We don’t need a profoundly new and far reaching economic system to make us have all things in common in order to bring again Zion, and we don’t need possession of the real estate in Jackson County, Missouri to bring again Zion. We don’t need any of the implements or locations or infrastructure to have Zion return. We need one thing and that’s YOU. You to be clean. You to be holy. To leave behind you, not only the door, but the house in which you dwell that you established that door to bar Him through. You need to come and live with Him. It is possible. These are not cunningly devised fables, as the apostle Paul put it. This is the gospel of Jesus Christ. Look at the definition that Lord gives of salvation in Ether 3:13. This is the definition that the Lord gives.
Ether 3:13 ”…behold, the Lord showed himself unto him, and said: Because thou knowest these things ye are redeemed from the fall; therefore ye are brought back into my presence; therefore I show myself unto you.”
This is the meaning of salvation. This is the fullness of the gospel of Jesus Christ. This is contained in The Book of Mormon, which has the fullness of Jesus Christ in it. The Lord showed himself unto Him and said, “Because thou knowest these things ye are redeemed from the fall; therefore ye are brought back into my presence; therefore I show myself unto you.
Every dispensation of the Gospel has only left a remnant behind. Christ’s work is designed to preserve a remnant. At the end, He will gather all remnants together again. The Restoration given through the Prophet Joseph Smith has also put itself into a position where it can only produce a remnant. The original Restoration begun through Joseph Smith must resume. First, we must remember. All who will remember will constitute a remnant that will be preserved and not abandoned by God.
In 3 Nephi chapter 21, the Lord talked about some things that become exceptionally relevant in light of what we have covered today. “And verily I say unto you, I give unto you a sign, that ye may know the time when these things shall be about to take place—that I shall gather in, from their long dispersion, my people, O house of Israel, and shall establish again among them my Zion.” [This is addressing all of those various remnants, wherever they may be found, so long as they are some residue of the house of Israel.] “And behold, this is the thing which I will give unto you for a sign—for verily I say unto you that when these things which I declare unto you, and which I shall declare unto you hereafter of myself, and by the power of the Holy Ghost which shall be given unto you of the Father, shall be made known unto the Gentiles [You see, the Gentiles had to first receive some things] that they [the Gentiles] may know concerning this people who are a remnant of the house of Jacob, and concerning this my people who shall be scattered by them [the Gentiles]. Verily, verily, I say unto you, when these things shall be made known unto them [some constituent group of the Gentiles] of the Father, and shall come forth of the Father, from them unto you.”
It cannot come from any source other than from the Father. The Father and Christ being one. The authority to minister and to deliver His Gospel must come from Them. The power to baptize before the end will be brought forth from some remnant of the Gentiles who will bear it.
“For it is wisdom in the Father that they [the Gentiles] should be established in this land, and be set up as a free people by the power of the Father, that these things might come forth from them [the Gentiles] unto a remnant of your seed, that the covenant of the Father may be fulfilled which he hath covenanted with his people, O house of Israel.”
“O house of Israel” is much more than one group. “O house of Israel” is inclusive of all the scattered bits and remnants, wherever they may be found anywhere on earth. I talked about fulfillment of covenants when we were in Centerville. All the covenants that apply to His people Israel, and the remnants, need to be gathered into one group.
“Therefore, when these works and the works which shall be wrought among you hereafter shall come forth from the Gentiles.” [Not their “book,” but their “works.” Not their book, which has been brought out in 1830, but the “works” to bring the Doctrine of Christ to them. Someone must establish repentance, declare Christ’s doctrine, and baptize by the authority of Christ, to have people then baptized by fire and the Holy Ghost. These are the works.]“Shall come forth from the Gentiles, unto your seed which shall dwindle in unbelief because of iniquity; For thus it behooveth the Father that it should come forth from the Gentiles, that he may show forth his power unto the Gentiles.”
That is what He now needs to do with some who will assist in the work. That is what He intends to do if you will receive it. “For this cause that the Gentiles, if they will not harden their hearts, that they may repent and come unto me and be baptized in my name and know of the true points of my doctrine, that they may be numbered among my people, O house of Israel.”
You can’t get there except through the power of the doctrine and the power of the ordinance of baptism performed with power. God has given us the way, and told us how it is to be performed with the exactness, fidelity and language given to us by Christ Himself. “And when these things come to pass that thy seed shall begin to know these things—it shall be a sign unto them, that they may know that the work of the Father hath already commenced unto the fulfilling of the covenant which he hath made unto the people who are of the house of Israel.”
All of Israel will receive this witness that His work has commenced. “And when that day shall come, it shall come to pass that kings shall shut their mouths; for that which had not been told them shall they see; and that which they had not heard shall they consider. For in that day, for my sake shall the Father work a work, which shall be a great and a marvelous work among them; and there shall be among them those who will not believe it, although a man shall declare it unto them. But behold, the life of my servant shall be in my hand; therefore they shall not hurt him, although he shall be marred because of them. Yet I will heal him, for I will show unto them that my wisdom is greater than the cunning of the devil. Therefore it shall come to pass that whosoever will not believe in my words, who am Jesus Christ, which the Father shall cause him to bring forth unto the Gentiles, and shall give unto him power that he shall bring them forth unto the Gentiles, (it shall be done even as Moses said) they shall be cut off from among my people who are of the covenant. Therefore it shall come to pass that whosoever will not believe in my words, who am Jesus Christ…”
These are Christ’s words. We touched on these words in the beginning back in Boise. It was quoted by the angel Moroni referring to Joseph Smith, Acts 3, verses 22- 23. “For Moses truly said unto the fathers, A prophet shall the Lord your God raise up unto you of your brethren, like unto me; him shall ye hear in all things whatsoever he shall say unto you. And it shall come to pass, that every soul, which will not hear that prophet, shall be destroyed from among the people.”
That prophet is Christ. It does not say Christ is going to come and deliver His words, it says “His words.” “Those who will not believe my words, who am Jesus Christ, they shall be cut off.” And the angel Moroni said to Joseph in verse 40 of the Joseph Smith History, “The day had not yet come when “they who would not hear his voice should be cut off from among the people,” but soon would come.”
That prophet is Christ. His words are what I have spoken to you today. We must all respond to His words, because if we will not we will be cut off from among the people.
Back to 3 Nephi 21:12:
” And my people who are a remnant of Jacob shall be among the Gentiles, yea, in the midst of them as a lion among the beasts of the forest, as a young lion among the flocks of sheep, who, if he go through both treadeth down and teareth in pieces, and none can deliver. Their hand shall be lifted up upon their adversaries, and all their enemies shall be cut off. Yea, wo be unto the Gentiles except they repent; for it shall come to pass in that day, saith the Father, that I will cut off thy horses out of the midst of thee, and I will destroy thy chariots; And I will cut off the cities of thy land, and throw down all thy strongholds; And I will cut off witchcrafts out of thy land, and thou shalt have no more soothsayers; Thy graven images I will also cut off…”
Graven images are people you worship. Graven images include men you allow to rule over you as objects or idols of authority. If you trust them to deliver you by some magic key they purport to hold. Whether Catholic or Mormon or Fundamentalist, graven images are going to be cut off. Our strongholds are going to fail. There is a coming day of judgment.
“Thou shalt no more worship the works of thy hands; And I will pluck up thy groves out of the midst of thee; so will I destroy thy cities. And it shall come to pass that all lyings, and deceivings, and envyings, and strifes, and priestcrafts, and whoredoms, shall be done away. For it shall come to pass, saith the Father, that at that day whosoever will not repent and come unto my Beloved Son, them will I cut off from among my people, O house of Israel; [that is all remnants gathered together] And I will execute vengeance and fury upon them, even as upon the heathen, such as they have not heard. But if they [speaking of the Gentiles] will repent and hearken unto my words, and harden not their hearts, I will establish my church among them, and they shall come in unto the covenant and be numbered among this the remnant of Jacob, unto whom I have given this land for their inheritance.”
Every time there is a covenant, there is always a land given to man as part of His covenant. This is the land God covenants He will give to the people who receive the covenant, including the Gentiles, in whose ears this first shall sound. Coming into the covenant is not possible because we are not yet proven. It requires more than has been given at present, but it will not be given until first we accept and act on the Doctrine of Christ. It is possible to come in and become part of His church, as He calls it. That is a heaven-recognized group, not something men control. It must be done in His way, according to His commandments, practiced in purity before Him. It is possible, if you follow as instructed today, to become part of the church He recognizes and will preserve. But coming fully into the covenant spoken of in this verse will require more than can been given right now. It will require a covenant. It will require adoption. It will require sealing. It is what Joseph looked forward to have happen at some point in the future during the days of his prophecy. Although Joseph qualified and bound some few with him, it was not possible in that day to fulfill this promise. In our day, we will not even learn enough about it to attempt to practice it until after we have eliminated jarrings, contentions, envyings, strifes, lusts, and covetous desires from us. Then we must become of one heart, having no poor among us. Gentiles have never accomplished that. Some few, however, are prophesied to accomplish this, and to be given the covenant spoken of here.
“And they shall assist my people, the remnant of Jacob, and also as many of the house of Israel as shall come, that they may build a city, which shall be called the New Jerusalem. And then shall they assist my people that they may be gathered in, who are scattered upon all the face of the land, in unto the New Jerusalem. And then shall the power of heaven…” [In this case it is the singular. It is not the “powers,” because when you have Him present with you, you have all the authority.] “…then shall the power of heaven come down among them; and I also will be in the midst. And then shall the work of the Father commence at that day…”
Christ will come. Once the covenant has been renewed, the city of Zion will follow. The Lord will come, and then the final stage begins. “…even when this gospel shall be preached among the remnant of this people. Verily I say unto you, at that day shall the work of the Father commence among all the dispersed of my people, yea, even the tribes which have been lost, which the Father hath led away out of Jerusalem. Yea, the work shall commence among all the dispersed of my people, with the Father to prepare the way whereby they may come unto me, that they may call on the Father in my name. Yea, and then shall the work commence, with the Father among all nations in preparing the way whereby his people may be gathered home to the land of their inheritance. And they shall go out from all nations; and they shall not go out in haste, nor go by flight, for I will go before them, saith the Father, and I will be their rearward.”
It is not going to happen in haste. The work of the Father in those nations, to allow for the possibility of gathering, will require destroying a great deal of political, social, and military obstructions now preventing such a gathering. These obstacles prevent preaching to those who would gather, if they could hear. But the work of the Father? (It is always the Father when it comes to condemnation and destruction.) The work of the Father is going to bring this to an end. All the scattered remnants will be brought back again. The original unified family of God will be restored again. The fathers will have our hearts turned to them, because in that day, once it is permitted to get that far, we will be part of their divine family again.
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.
This is really apparent when you read the revelations given to Joseph in their original transcripts. In our scriptures there are headings, footnotes, cross references and additional insertions advocating we read those revelations as ours. But when you read them as they were written in the Joseph Smith Papers, it really becomes clear that when God was talking about how the church was “living” and “alive” and “approved,” it was because He was talking to Joseph Smith. At the time the church was listening to what Joseph Smith revealed. The declaration that the work was “rolling forth” was voice of God in that day to those people. Joseph Smith was called to lead those people to go and take it to the world. They took it and they went out and preached it, and when they preached it, others were converted. People who were converted by them actually had experiences and came to know God. That was because God empowered it and set it in motion through His servant Joseph Smith. Joseph had a covenant given to him by God. Therefore, Joseph could testify to these words, and they were true, and God owned them. People who follow them received the wages of those who follow God. It worked! We cannot mimic that and have the same effect. We must do the work, seek God’s voice to us, and when we have His word to proceed.
God has to say to us, “This is what I want you to do.” If no one else will say it to you, I am saying it to you. Everything that has been said in this talk, which began in Boise and concludes here today, everything that has been said is, in fact, exactly what happened when God offered something to an earlier generation through Joseph. He, God, is offering something again, right now, in our day, to you, to any that will hear, to any that will listen. The work is beginning again.
I suppose it was necessary that what began in Joseph’s time had to run down to the condition it is in at present. It had to become a leaky ruin of a farm, that Joseph himself no longer even wanted, before it was possible for the Lord to say, “At this moment we turn a new leaf.” Can’t you see the signs of the times? Can’t you look about and see the whole world is waxing old like a garment? Can’t you see there is now a balance of things kept at bay only to preserve the possibility of a remnant being claimed by God? God promised He would do this. If this can bear fruit, the Lord may give more time and keep the angels from beginning the harvest. That will depend on what we do.
I really have not done anything more than read scriptures and bear testimony to you they are true. This was not my idea, and I can’t tell you how happy my wife and I will be when we conclude this project. There will be this transcript, and I’ll edit all the transcripts from all ten lectures and put them into a book.
To be readable the book needs to have run on sentences and grammar fixed to a degree I am not undertaking in the transcripts. That is still left to do and I will do it before a book is in print. But the real project and the labor needing to be done, will be by you.
If you don’t lay hold upon this, if you don’t move this forward, if you don’t rise up, I suppose He will find another people. But you ought to accept this invitation, and then come to the feast He offers us. You should want to be numbered among those who choose to have the Gospel live again. The Gospel should not be the words of an old book. The Gospel should be alive in you, rolling forth with new vigor. Every new day should be a new revelation to you of His involvement in your life, and in the lives of those around you.
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The foregoing excerpts are taken from:
- Denver’s 40 Years in Mormonism Series, Talk #4 entitled “Covenants” given in Centerville, UT on October 6th, 2013
- Denver’s 40 Years in Mormonism Series, Talk #7 entitled “Christ, Prototype of the Saved Man” given in Ephraim, UT on June 28, 2014
- Denver’s 40 Years in Mormonism Series, Talk #2 entitled “Faith” given in Idaho Falls, ID on September 28th, 2013
- Denver’s fireside talk on “The Temple”, given in Ogden, UT on October 28th, 2012; and
- Denver’s 40 Years in Mormonism Series, Talk #10 entitled “Preserving the Restoration” given in Mesa, AZ on September 9th, 2014