Tag: sheep

Pretensions of Public Piety

The idea of a “wolf” concealing itself in “sheep’s clothing” (Matt. 7:15) comes from the pretense of piety by men whose hearts are set on the things of this world. The more conspicuous the pretensions to piety the quicker people are misled.

John C. Bennett was a notorious adulterer, having abandoned his marriage and family before arriving in Nauvoo. But he was elected the first Mayor of Nauvoo. His election was unanimous. The citizens of Nauvoo universally admired him.

In his inaugural address on February 3, 1841, his first recommendation for improving the community was to pass an ordinance forbidding bars, dram shops and sales of alcohol by the drink in Nauvoo. He associated drinking with “evil and crime” which could be prevented by adopting his recommended ordinance. The first ordinance adopted by the Nauvoo City Council and signed into law by Mayor Bennett was “An Ordinance in relation to Temperance” passed on February 15, 1841. It prohibited “all persons and establishments” from selling whiskey by the drink in Nauvoo without a physician’s recommendation in writing.

This conspicuous act of public piety reaffirmed the man’s nobility and concealed Bennett’s real inclinations and ongoing betrayal of a wife and children. It made Bennett appear to be the right man to be trusted to lead the community.

This same black-hearted character defended enforcement of morality by compulsion. “Liberty to do good should be cheerfully and freely accorded to every man; but liberty to do evil, which is licentiousness, should be peremptorily prohibited. The public good imperiously demands it.” This was Lucifer’s plan advocated anew by Nauvoo’s first mayor. Given Bennett’s inclinations, maybe he proposed forcing morality on citizens because he knew it was the only way he could be moral.

John C. Bennett also appears to be the first Mormon to quote Francis Bacon: “Knowledge is power.” This slogan is now carved on a monument at one of the entrances to BYU. So far as I have discovered, it was John C. Bennett’s Inaugural Address in February 1841 that this quote first found its way into Mormon use.

In hindsight, it is so very easy to pick out Bennett’s pretensions to piety and to see them for what they are. Nauvoo elected the man by unanimous vote to be the first mayor of the Mormon city because they could not see what he really was. His attire was so very sheep-like they could not conceive they were upholding a wolf.

Today it is probably no different. Wolves are still trusted with the treasury, given honor, and smothered with adoration. Joseph Smith had little confidence in mankind’s ability to decide between the real and the imitation. He explained it this way: “The world always mistook false prophets for true ones, and those that were sent of God, they considered to be false prophets, and hence they killed, stoned, punished and imprisoned the true prophets, and these had to hide themselves ‘in deserts and dens, and caves of the earth, (see Hebrews 11:38), and though the most honorable men of the earth, they banished them from their society as vagabonds, whilst they cherished, honored and supported knaves, vagabonds, hypocrites, impostors, and the basest of men.” (DHC, Vol. 4, p. 574; also TPJS, p. 206.) Anything claimed to be truth should conform with the truths already given in scripture. Everyone’s motives should be questioned until it is determined by sufficient observation they are sheep. Any teaching or person who draws us to them, and does not point us to the Lord is unable to help us. If they try to supplant Christ as the object of admiration, then they are anti-Christ and a false prophet.

3 Nephi 21: 12-14

“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;”

Notice again the distinction between the gentiles and the remnant.

The “remnant” will behave in a way which will “tread down and tear in pieces” the gentiles. As they do this, “none can deliver” the gentiles.

Unlike the previous slaughter of the remnant by the gentiles, this time it is the gentiles who are slaughtered at the hands of the remnant. Those who are “enemies” to the remnant will all be “cut off.” What does “cut off” mean?

The woes of that coming time can all be avoided by the gentiles – predicated upon their willingness to “repent.” So we return again to the recurring question of what it means to “repent?” How can “repentance” be the only means by which the gentiles survive the slaughter? What is it about gentile repentance that spares them from the wrath that is to be otherwise poured out upon them?

What symbol comes to mind when you think of “horses?” What does cutting out the horses symbolize?

Does the symbol of the “horses” and the symbol of the “chariots” go together? That is, does cutting out the horses and destroying the chariots express a single thought? If it does, what do the horses and chariots symbolize? How vulnerable is the American military might to destruction? What effect would symbolically destroying the horses and chariots of the American population have?

If the United States is to be engulfed in domestic violence, will it continue to have foreign military influence? Economic influence? Social and cultural influence?

Assuming the gentile population is swept away, trodden under foot and torn in pieces, what culture and social influence will remain?

What symbol does the lion among the beasts of the forest suggest? The young lion among the sheep? What is the difference between the beasts of the forest and the sheep? If both beasts and sheep are gentiles, then are the beasts different than the sheep? What sort of person called a gentile “beast” will be swept away? What kind of person called a gentile “sheep” will be torn in pieces? Why would both gentile beasts and gentile sheep need to “repent?” Does repentance of a “beast” and repentance of “sheep” take the same form? Why would both need repentance when they are so remarkably different in symbol? Is it enough alone to be a gentile sheep?

What message is being sent by this warning?

Alma 13: 21-22

Now we see this startling continuation in Alma 13: 21-22:

“And now it came to pass that when Alma had said these words unto them, he stretched forth his hand unto them and cried with a mighty voice, saying: Now is the time to repent, for the day of salvation draweth nigh; Yea, and the voice of the Lord, by the mouth of angels, doth declare it unto all nations; yea, doth declare it, that they may have glad tidings of great joy; yea, and he doth sound these glad tidings among all his people, yea, even to them that are scattered abroad upon the face of the earth; wherefore they have come unto us.”

Now we get to some things which the record does not fully disclose, but does allow those with eyes to see behold it. Be careful how you respond to this, because some correct answers are not going up if they cross a line. But think of the answers to these questions:

Why does he “stretch forth his hand?” What does that signify?

In what way would that become significant, even a sign that he is a true messenger?

Why does he now “cry with a mighty voice” to make the call?

What is a “mighty voice?” Is it distinguished by volume or is there something more and quite different about it? Importantly, it is not “loud” but instead “mighty.” Is that significant? How? Why?

What does it mean that “the Lord, by the mouth of angels, doth declare it?” Who is really speaking? Who is He speaking through? What person is delivering the message? How is Alma identifying himself in this “mighty cry” he makes?

Who are these angels sent to all nations?

What is the difference in this statement by Alma and the others who can speak with the tongue of angels? (2 Ne. 31: 13-14 and 2 Ne. 32: 2.)

If one should possess such a right or commission, then whose words are they actually speaking?

Why do His sheep hear HIS voice? Even when spoken by another man or empowered priestly minister?

What does Alma actually say about his own authority as he delivers this warning? What can Alma lead you to inherit if you will heed his counsel and warning? How can we know he is a true messenger sent by the Lord?

If the Lord sends these messages and messengers to all His people, have they been sent to us? If so, where would we be able to find them and hear their message? How are we to know they are true ministers? Should I just trust that some institutional office and office holder is a guaranteed place in which to locate such a true minister? If it is always that convenient, why hasn’t the Lord implemented that system before, instead of letting people have their free agency and permitting them to make mistakes? Why did the Lord allow Eli, Caiphus and Annas become High Priests? Why didn’t He come up with this neat system before? [Clearly our system makes it so much easier. It throws God’s fairness into question, since He made is so much harder for earlier Israelites to figure out where the truth was being proclaimed. I think the Lord must owe them an apology.]

Well, more can be said, but I leave it to you to reach your own conclusions about this startling comment coming from a true messenger. It makes one wonder why we’ve been missing it, as it has been before us for so many years.

Isaiah 53:7

Isaiah 53: 7 states:

“He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth: he is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he openeth not his mouth.”

These three references to Him refraining from “opening his mouth” and being “dumb” (meaning silent) are referring to more than His failure to respond to Herod’s inquiries. (Luke 23: 8-9.) This is a reference to Christ’s “Word,” which if employed, could have moved mountains, held armies at defiance, and summoned “twelve legions of angels” to His defense. (Matt. 26: 52-53.) Pilate was told that he may have been the Roman Procurator, but he had no power over Christ which Christ did not permit. (John 19: 7-11.)

Christ remained silent, choosing to exercise meekness in the face of the threat aimed at Him. (“Meekness” as explained in Beloved Enos, which is really a great power.) It was in this sense the Isaiah found His silence to be prophetically remarkable. One of the great signs of the Messiah. He would be the One whose words could have exercised power to defy armies, but who refrained from speaking those words. He would, instead, voluntarily submit to the abuse and scorn of those who hated Him.

As to our Lord being shorn, Isaiah also foretells His beard being plucked by those who would smite, abuse and strike Him. (Isa. 50: 6.) Surely our Lord was indeed “shorn” as a “sheep” before His sacrifice.