D&C 124 (2020 repost)

[00:00:00] Speaker A: Foreign. [00:00:15] Speaker B: Welcome to the weekly Deep Dive Podcast on the Add On Education Network podcast where we explore the weekly Come Follow me discussion and try to add a little insight and unique perspective. I am your host Jason Lloyd, here in the studio with my friend and this show's producer, Nate Pifer. [00:00:32] Speaker A: Yeah, what's up? [00:00:34] Speaker B: It's great to have you back. [00:00:35] Speaker A: Thanks buddy. [00:00:36] Speaker B: Glad you got to enjoy some time there in sunny California. [00:00:41] Speaker A: Sunny, believe it or not, sunny Bay Area California. Usually this time of year it's not super sunny, but it was this time. [00:00:47] Speaker B: Awesome. Well, it is super awesome to have you back here in the studio. I am sure our audience appreciates it. A little uptick in the quality. [00:00:57] Speaker A: Maybe. Maybe. [00:01:00] Speaker B: This week we are talking about doctrine and Covenants 124. This is coming off of the church leaving Missouri and settling in Illinois. And this is the Nauvoo era. This kicks off the Nauvoo era for the Saints. Nauvoo so this Revelation, doctrine and Covenants 124 is received in January 19 and 1841. This is right after they settled Nauvoo. But leading up to this time, the summer before was the summer of sickness. And I just wanted to put a little context to this talk about that time right before this revelation is received. And Nauvoo was a swamp. And because it was super swampy, as you know, you have a lot of standing water sitting around mosquitoes. And at this time period, the mosquitoes carried malaria and a lot of sicknesses. So people were getting sick all over the place. And Joseph and Emma, to help deal with the sickness and what was going on, moved into a tent in their yard and would put as many people as they could in the house to try to take care of them. So their house was almost like a hospital. And so we've got a couple of stories from this time. I'm just going to read some quotes. John Lyman Smith said, the prophet Joseph and his brother Hyrum visited us and administered to us all, Father. Being delirious from the effects of the fever, their words comfort us greatly. As they said, in the name of the Lord, you shall be well again. Upon leaving the hovel, Joseph placed his slippers upon my mother's feet and sprang upon his horse from the doorway and rode home barefoot. The next day, Joseph removed Father to his own house and nursed him until he recovered. So that's it gives you kind of a peek into what kind of man Joseph Smith was. There's lots of stories like that where he would do anything for anyone he really did practice what he preached. Joseph, as much as he was trying to take care of everybody and help them, give them comfort and relieve them from the sickness of the swampy hot area with all the mosquitoes and the disease, he also got sick, him and Emma. And after laying there in his bed for a few days, I guess enough was enough, and he decides to spring up and change everything. And we got a couple of accounts from this. Here goes. 1. Joseph arose from his bed and commenced to administer to the sick in his own house and dooryard. And he commanded them in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ to arise and be made whole. And the sick were healed upon every side of him. Many lay sick along the bank of the river. Joseph walked along to the lower stone house occupied by Signe Rigdon, and he healed all the sick that lay in his path. He called upon Elder Kimball and some others to accompany him across the river to visit the sick at Montrose. The first house he visited was that occup by Elder Brigham Young, who lay sick. Joseph healed him. Then he arose and accompanied the prophet on his visit to others who were in the same condition. The next place they visited was the home of Elijah Fordham, who was supposed to be about breathing his last. The prophet of God walked up to the dying man, took hold of his right hand, and spoke to him. But brother Fordham was unable to speak. His eyes were set in his head like glass, and he seemed entirely unconscious of all around him. Joseph asked him if he had faith to be healed. He answered, I fear it is too late. If you had come sooner, I think I would have been healed. The prophet said, do you believe in Jesus Christ? He answered in a feeble voice, I do. Joseph then stood erect, still holding his hand in silence several moments. Then he spoke in a very loud voice, saying, brother Fordham, I command you in the name of Jesus Christ to arise from this bed and be made whole. It seemed as though the house shook to its very foundations. Brother Fordham arose from his bed and was immediately made whole. His feet were bound in poultices, which he kicked off. Then, putting on his clothes, he ate a bowl of bread and milk and followed the prophet into the street. Brigham Young wrote in his diary, July 22, 1839. Joseph arose from his bed of sickness, and the power of God rested upon him. He commanded in his own house and dooryard, commanding the sick. Excuse me. He commenced in his own house and dooryard, commanding the sick and the name of Jesus Christ to arise and be made whole. And they were healed according to his word. He then Continued to travel from house to house, from tent to tent upon the bank of the river, healing the sick as he went, until he arrived at the upper stone house, where he crossed the river in a boat accompanied by several of the quorum of the twelve, and landed in Montrose. Wilford Woodruff has a really interesting account of this day. He was with the prophet at the river, and at that point he separated. So Wilford Woodruff says a man came to Joseph and asked him if he would go about three miles and heal two of his small children who were twins, about three months old, and were sick nigh unto death. He was a man of the world. He had never heard a sermon preached by a latter day saint. Joseph said he could not go, but he would send a man. After hesitating a moment, he turned to me again. This is Wilford Woodruff, and said, you go with this man and heal his children at the same time. Giving me a red silk handkerchief and said, if you lay hands upon them, wipe their faces with it, and they shall be healed. And as long as you will keep that handkerchief, it shall ever remind you as a league between you and me. I went and did as I commanded, and the children were healed. He kept that red silk handkerchief. I believe it is encased in glass in a memorial to what happened on that day. So kind of a cool story, the healing that happened in the summer. It was a lousy summer. Lots of problems. And Joseph said, enough. We are going to use God's power here and try to comfort as many people as we can and make things better. And the winter came on. The weather got cold, the mosquitoes died off. The saints drained the swamp and turned it into really a beautiful place in Nauvoo. It rivaled, I believe, Chicago as the largest city at the time. And I think that is a huge testimony to the saints. And I can't help but think of give, said the little stream. I am small, I know, but wherever I go, the grass grows greener still, like this small band, if you will, as they congregate and they get bigger. They tended to make things a lot better when they left them than when they arrived. And Utah may be one of the best examples. When they got here, nothing but sagebrush. Just barren desert. Nothing. Wilderness. And you look at it now, and trees all over the place. As green as it is. The irrigation, the canals, the bringing the water through and making this place what it is. I. I have a hard time ever even considering leaving Utah. [00:08:29] Speaker A: Well, that's why you shouldn't move back out to Kansas City. [00:08:33] Speaker B: Yeah. It would take a lot to get me out there. Pretty happy here. [00:08:38] Speaker A: You mean like the second coming? A lot like. You mean the second coming? Because that's basically what it would take to get me out there. It would take that much an edict from God, Jesus coming back. But I mean, if that does happen, though, I'll be like, okay, I guess we can go back. [00:08:55] Speaker B: I guess we can go back. [00:08:56] Speaker A: Do you think we're gonna have to do it in handcarts, or is that kind of like a. I think that's just another kind of a fun thing from the generations two before us. [00:09:07] Speaker B: I think there's a lot of confusion around Missouri and people. I think some people are waiting around for Missouri to be destroyed. And I'm like, why? Why? Why would you be waiting for that? What did they do to what happened. Happened a long time ago. [00:09:21] Speaker A: Exactly. I have no problem with people in Missouri now. [00:09:24] Speaker B: That's why I think destroyed. You look at the Civil War. You look at what happened to that area, I think a lot of things that were going to happen have happened. [00:09:32] Speaker A: Yeah, for sure. They've been punished. [00:09:34] Speaker B: Yeah. But it is a long ways away from just about everywhere in the United States. [00:09:41] Speaker A: I mean, having been there a few times. Again, good food. [00:09:45] Speaker B: It is good food. [00:09:46] Speaker A: Not necessarily the landscape that I prefer to call home, but I'm saying, like, I like mountains, man. [00:09:52] Speaker B: Is. Is it. How far away is it from the Ozarks? [00:09:55] Speaker A: I mean, it's closer than we are. Yes. [00:10:00] Speaker B: I don't know. I suppose. I suppose. [00:10:02] Speaker A: I mean, the Ozarks are mostly through, what, Kentucky and. And Tennessee and. Right. [00:10:09] Speaker B: Yeah. I thought. I thought you had some there in Missouri. [00:10:11] Speaker A: Maybe you do. Maybe you do. [00:10:12] Speaker B: I'm terrible with my Missouri landscape. Sorry, guys. Post production note. The Ozarks are, in fact, in Missouri. Jason was right. Nate is a knucklehead. It does seem. I don't know. I don't even know how we got. [00:10:26] Speaker A: Off this, because Utah's dope, dude. That's how we got off on this is because Utah's actually awesome. [00:10:31] Speaker B: But you look at the saints, and wherever they went, there was a large improvement in the quality of the area, the quality of the land. And I see that as a testament of God, the fountain of living waters. Or you go back to the story of Aaron and the rod, when he puts his rod out, and even though it is a dead stick, all of a sudden it buds and gives life. And life is really anything attached to Christ. And that is a testament, maybe not as much to the saints. Although it is a testimony to their hard work, but to the fact that they were anchored in the source of life, the source of life everlasting, that they would be able to go into these places that nobody wanted. And now all of a sudden, after being there for not very long, everybody seemed to want it and they would be chased out or not appreciated anymore. [00:11:22] Speaker A: I mean, that even kind of gets back to the symbolism of like, Abraham's wife was barren. Right. And. And life was given to her, you know what I mean? Like inside her womb. And. And the same thing with like John the Baptist's mom, right? [00:11:41] Speaker B: Yes. [00:11:41] Speaker A: But like, I think that that's. It's kind of a cool parallel there or symbolism there with the idea that it's like it's. God uses like desert or barrenness to show his power with. Look at where I can put life where there is really no other. It's a miracle that life is basically built here. [00:12:06] Speaker B: That's such a great example. And you see that in Isaiah 53, 54 and 53, in the beginning when they talk about Christ himself. For he shall grow up before him as a tender plant and as a root out of dry ground. [00:12:21] Speaker A: Yes. [00:12:22] Speaker B: This barrenness, this history of this dearth or apostasy. And here he comes to bring life to those that are dead. And then in 54, as you are talking about the impact of the atonement seeing O barren, thou that didst not bear break forth into singing, as you were mentioning with Abraham's wife and with John the Baptist's mother, this idea that the barren that couldn't bear is not only going to bear now, but more are the children of the desolate than the married wife say at the Lord this. [00:12:51] Speaker A: Well, and I think it. All of that even points to the bigger type, which is the resurrection. Right. Where there is actual death and life is. Is brought back in death. [00:13:02] Speaker B: Physical resurrection. And then the idea that as we damage ourselves spiritually or create a dearth in not always living up to our potential or being who we are, but as we have hope and faith and we're working on that and Chang, that he can take that, that dearth and bring life into us, breathe life into us, and spiritually redeem us as well. [00:13:26] Speaker A: Yep. I love it. I love all the kind of the parallels there. It's great. [00:13:30] Speaker B: So thank you for bringing that up. [00:13:32] Speaker A: See, I don't always just completely derail the show. [00:13:35] Speaker B: No, you add a lot of value to the show. [00:13:37] Speaker A: I occasionally have some ideas and sometimes. [00:13:41] Speaker B: I occasionally derail the show. [00:13:43] Speaker A: So, yeah, that's good. [00:13:45] Speaker B: That's good. [00:13:45] Speaker A: We know our rules. [00:13:46] Speaker B: We got it. So. January 19th. Greatest. I have an affinity to this revelation just because it was the same day that I was, the same day of the year that I was born. Good old January 19th. [00:13:59] Speaker A: January 19th. [00:14:00] Speaker B: All right, that's my lucky day. [00:14:01] Speaker A: How old are you going to be next year? [00:14:03] Speaker B: 39. [00:14:05] Speaker A: I turned 40 last week. [00:14:06] Speaker B: I know. Nate has crossed over into the 40s land to adulthood. Congratulations. [00:14:13] Speaker A: Whatever. Let's keep going. [00:14:14] Speaker B: I'm hanging on to my last year. [00:14:16] Speaker A: Hang on to it, dude, because it actually does suck. All right, let's keep going. [00:14:19] Speaker B: Okay. 1841. So this proclamation talking here, verse three. Joseph Smith is commanded to write a proclamation. And I do not think this gets enough attention or credit in the church. It's something that's kind of ignored, not talked about. We've talked about it in earlier podcasts, earlier episodes, anyways, of this podcast. The idea that Joseph Smith was commanded to make a proclamation to the kings of the world. [00:14:48] Speaker A: Oh yeah, I like this. I like this. [00:14:51] Speaker B: So verse 3. This proclamation shall be made to all the kings of the world, to the four corners thereof, to the honorable president elect and the high minded governors of the nation in which you live, and to all the nations of the earth scattered abroad. And I do kind of like the use of the word scattered here as they're talking about the nations scattered abroad. And so many times we use the word scattered for Israel, and it's not so much that they're lost in a sense, but maybe just spread out across the globe. Dispersed. Dispersed is a good way of putting that. And so he's commanded to do this in verse 7. Call ye therefore, upon them with a loud proclamation and with your testimony, fearing them not, for they are as grass, and all their glory as the flower thereof which soon falleth, that they may be left also without excuse. And I love that last little line there, that they may be left also without excuse. So if the Lord asks them, hey, when I sent a prophet to bring my people back, what role did you play? Did you help establish Zion? Did you help bring about my work? You were a person in power. You had ability and means to bring about my work. A great and marvelous work. What an opportunity, right? And how would it be if the Lord didn't invite these great powers to participate? This is the greatest thing ever. This is the role of kings. This is why they're in power, to do the Lord's will. It should be way back when. In the ancient world, kingship was always associated with Divinity to the point even the Egyptians maybe took it a step too far where they said the kings were divinity. [00:16:44] Speaker A: I mean, honestly, like old, ancient, like Chinese, like civilizations did the same thing, right? [00:16:51] Speaker B: Yeah. And you follow their kingship and they say, okay, I am a king because my dad was a king, because his dad was a king, because. And you have these lineage, right? This line, and it's begats, the begetting. And inevitably the beginning of the line began with, and God called him to be king. And that's why we're ruling, is because God gave us his permission to temporarily kind of fill in for him and manage his affairs here on earth. So kingship was associated with divine authority in Babylon, in the Chinese cultures, in Egyptian. What gave a family line right to rule over people, over anyone else. And that is a little bit different from our idea today. Today, democracy, all men are created equal. But back in the day, this line, this family was not equal in the sense that God chose that line to rule. That is where they got their authority from. And the monarchy, even in England, as you look at the royal family, there is something significant about that and preserving that bloodline because it was chosen of God for a higher purpose. So if all the kings of the world are there for a higher purpose, it is by God's permission that they are ruling. They should be participating in God's work. And so this is an open invitation to them to participate in God's work. And if God asks them later, hey, I gave you the opportunity to rule. What did you do for me? Did you help when my work was called, when you needed to do that? And if they say, we didn't know, we had no idea this was going on, they have an excuse. And God says that they may be left also without excuse. Let them know. Let them know what is going on. So I don't know why this proclamation doesn't have more prominent position in our church today. When we talk about proclamations, what comes to mind is you've got the proclamation to the world on the family. We all know about that. We've read it many times. It's prominently displayed in a lot of homes. It's prominently displayed in my home. And then you have the official declaration one, which is the ending of polygamy, the official declaration two, which is the blacks and the priesthood. But where does this one sit? I don't think most people are even aware that it happened. [00:19:19] Speaker A: Just kind of lost shame. It is a good one. [00:19:22] Speaker B: It is a good one. So he says, let's see. It actually takes A while for them to come up with it. He asks him, where did I have this? Sorry, I thought I had this written down here. Okay. Verse 12. And again, verily I say unto you, let my servant Robert B. Thompson help you to write this proclamation. For I am well pleased with him that he should be with you. So he does start working on this. The problem with Robert B. Thompson, he's an amazing guy. He was a Danite and I don't think we've really talked about the Danites. When the Missouri governor said that he would not help the Saints, that they got themselves into the mess and if they want, they are going to have to fight it out themselves. Well, there is a group of people that decided that that's exactly what they were going to do. They were going to be this enforcement body, if you will, for the church to stand up for their rights and be a little bit more aggressive about doing something when no one else would help them. And this Danites kind of a little bit of controversy there. They are involved in this Mormon war, if you will. Robert Thompson was one of the Danites. He was standing next to David Patton when David Patton was shot and killed at the battle of Crooked River. So he's got a little bit of history with them, experience. But the Lord loves him. He's very interested in doing the work. He was an editor with the Times and Seasons. He penned a hymn. So he was good at writing. He was a scribe for Joseph Smith. He is asked to do this. Unfortunately, he died of pneumonia the same year. So later that year he did start working on it, but it puts things on hold. And then the problem also, you have got John C. Bennett shows up at this time period and he joins the church, is baptized, and he is called to help the First Presidency. And he's given a lot of position and we're going to read about him in this section as well. He becomes the mayor of Nauvoo. He becomes a colonel in the Nauvoo Legion. A very prominent person that the Lord is going to try to ask him to try to help put the word out and preach to the not to the people so much, but this message to the kings. He's an eloquent orator and he wants him to use his charisma to help engage the kings of the world and help their position with even the local rulers, the governors and the President of the United States to help get the governments involved to move the work forward. But Bennett is excommunicated and becomes one of the greatest enemies of the Church, which causes Joseph Smith to again be called back into court. We will probably go into a lot more detail with this next week in the next podcast, but he gives Joseph Smith a lot of legal battles and a lot of problems that he has to deal with that keeps this proclamation from coming forward. And then eventually Joseph Smith is jailed and Carthage shot and killed before the proclamation is released. So the quorum of the twelve Apostles takes it upon them to finish this proclamation. Parley P. Pratt writes it. I believe it's 16 pages long. So you compare that with the proclamation to the world on the family. This one is a little bit longer, a little bit lengthier. And the quorum of the twelve Apostles sign it and deliver it out to the world. And maybe I should just. I don't know. What do you think? Should we read a little bit from it? Obviously we can't read the whole thing. [00:23:12] Speaker A: I think our listeners can go read through it if they'd like. Probably keep moving. [00:23:16] Speaker B: Good call. If you're interested, give it a look. But it is. It's calling out to the nations and asking for their help and asking for their financial resources, as you see in verse 11. Awake, O ye kings of the earth, Come ye, O come ye with your gold and your silver to help to the help of my people, to the house of the daughters of Zion. And not too long from this time period, you also have Orson Hyde going to Jerusalem and dedicating the land to the return of Israel, the Israelites. And we do see nations rising up. If it wasn't for the United States, if it wasn't for the United Kingdom, it wasn't for Britain, the land of Israel wouldn't have been established here. And a lot of this work is laying the foundation for the return of Israel and the gathering. All right, let's move into John Bennett. Unfortunately, he's mentioned here in verse 16. Again, let my servant John C. Bennett help you in your labor in sending my word to the kings and the people of the earth, and stand by you, even my servant Joseph Smith in the hour of affliction. And his reward shall not fail if he receive counsel. And so the Lord's mentioning that there's kind of a problem here up front. His reward shall not fail if he receive counsel. And he's got to get some counseling for what we're going to talk about that. And for his love he shall be great, for he shall be mine if he do this, saith the Lord, I have seen the work which he hath done, which I accept if he continues and will crown him with the blessings and great glory. There's a lot of ifs here, and you're going to get into these other. He talks about Lyman white in verse 18. Your. [00:25:12] Speaker A: Your ancestor shout out to Lyman White, ancestor of mine. It's my mom's maiden name. That's. I am. I am from the White bloodline. [00:25:20] Speaker B: That's. That's awesome. [00:25:21] Speaker A: W I G H T. We're proud of that. [00:25:24] Speaker B: He. He was a rock back in the days. Well, probably still is a rock. But he's got good memories from. From early time in the church. And again, I say unto you that it is my will that my servant Lyman White should continue in preaching for Zion in the spirit of meekness, confessing me before the world. And it doesn't say, and if he will do this, I will bear him up. It says, and I will bear him up as on eagle's wings. And it doesn't say, and if he shall do this, he shall beget glory. It says, and he shall beget glory and honor to himself and unto my name. There are no conditional statements with Lyman White. And then we go into the same. That he shall finish his work. I may receive him unto myself, even as I did my servant David Patton, who was with me at this time, and also my servant Edward Partridge, and also my aged servant Joseph Smith Sr. So that's another note. Joseph Smith Sr. Had passed away. So Joseph Smith Jr. Around this time becomes Joseph Smith Sr. But Lyman White. You notice there is no conditional statements that when he shall finish this work, if he is faithful, I may receive. No, it says, when he shall finish his work, I may receive unto him, him unto myself. So there's a little bit going on here with John C. Bennett. And let's. You can see this in the conditional statements, but you can also see this. Joseph Smith was a little bit nervous about him. He was very charismatic. Emma never really trusted him. And there was starting to be some rumors that he had kind of a colored past. So Joseph Smith sent an investigator to go kind of dig in and find out a little bit more about John C. Bennett. Then come to find out he had been disciplined by the Masons for sexual issues and for problems that he had. He was a physician, kind of like an obgyn. Is that the right way to put those letters? [00:27:23] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:27:23] Speaker B: Okay. He was a physician, and he abused that power. And in Nauvoo, even though he was very influential as a mayor, as the colonel in the Legion, and as an assistant to the first presidency in the church, he was also A physician. But he was telling women that he was trying to use his influence and power to convince them to have relations with him. And he called it spiritual wifery. Like, you don't be my wife here on the world, but we'll be spirit wife. Like, we can still have a relationship. We can still be intimate, but we'll only be married in a spiritual sense. And he would tell him, this is God's authority. This is how it works. Joseph Smith, he does this all the time. And I am up there working with him, so I can do this as well. This is the will of God. This is the will of the prophet. And he would use this to try to influence people, women, to have affairs with him. And what's even worse, as a physician, he would tell them, if. Well, he say, you know, even if it is a sin, it'll be on my head, not yours, because I'm the one that's telling you to do this, and I'm using God to do this, so don't even worry about it. You don't have to worry about feeling guilty. This is on me. Let's do this. And then he would also tell them, and if you become pregnant, because I'm a physician, I know how to make those pregnancies go away. Ideas that he might have been using abortion to try to hide some of the sins that he's doing. And as Joseph Smith starts to kind of get word or hear rumors that this is happening, he would pull Bennett aside and talk to him pretty sternly about things and try to try to get him on the right course. And maybe this is where Joseph Smith could have done better, should have done better, and where Joseph Smith actually failed. I think the people of Nauvoo in not cutting this cancer out earlier, he was a little bit paralyzed. Joseph Smith himself later complains, saying, the only sin I ever committed was in exercising sympathy and covering up their iniquities. Speaking of John C. Bennett in particular, on their solemn promise to reform and. And of this I am ashamed and will never do so again. But you've got to understand where Joseph Smith is coming from. Joseph Smith is practicing plural marriage. Or you've got this whole plural marriage doctrine that's hitting him around the same time. And so if he's talking about taking second wives and. And now all of a sudden, John C. Bennett is doing this independent of Joseph Smith, but starting to claim Joseph Smith's authority. It gets mixed. It gets a little bit convoluted. And how can Joseph Smith call out John C. Bennett for Doing something that he's doing that's almost the same. It creates this real gray water area for the prophet and almost paralyzes him and being able to act quickly when he needed to. The same thing, by the way, happens to David and Absalom. Are you familiar with that story? David? King David, right, powerful man. He kills Goliath the giant, he becomes king. His whole escapades with Saul and his mighty warriors. And just famous for being one of the greatest kings of all Israel. After the Bathsheba incident, come to find out one of his sons is raping one of his daughters. And David does nothing to put an end to it, to control it. And you have to wonder, how can David, what moral authority does he have to talk to his son when he just did what he did to Bathsheba? He is a little bit paralyzed in this. And Absalom, another one of David's sons, sees what is going on and sees David not doing anything about it. And he takes matters into his own hands and kills David's son. He puts an end to the relationship, to what's going on. Then, not only that, but he is looking at his dad as being a weak king, as losing some of his moral authority, or being able to be what he should be as a king. Absalom is talked into rising to the occasion, usurping the throne. He takes David's throne and becomes king in Israel for a while. And maybe most of you remember this story just from the randomness of when David sends Joab in to go and take the throne back and kind of fight Absalom's army. Absalom's riding away on a donkey and he's got this long flowing hair that is caught up in the branches of a tree, right? And he's hanging by the hair of his head. And Joab kills him on the spot, which devastates David. He didn't want to see that happen. But the whole reason I bring any of this family dynamics up is I think having gone through something very similar, it made him pause. How can I call him out on this wrong thing? I want to be forgiven for doing something very similar. I want to give this guy a chance to repent. I want to give him the benefit of the doubt. I want to do what I can to try to save his soul. And he's blinded to the souls of those who are being hurt because of the similarity of what's going on. And I'm not saying Joseph is out there fornicating or committing adultery, but in his mind, this idea of plural marriage is such a hard thing to swallow. And he's being asked to do this. And in his mind, how is this different from just whatever else that's happening? And he's trying his best to control it, but maybe doesn't have the same assertion or power that he would normally have if he wasn't dealing with this at the same time. And it's interesting to see Satan and how he does this. The wheat and the tares being planted right next to each other, where one is a divine revelation from God and the other one is just, hey, I'm doing the same thing that's already being done in God's kingdom, am I not? I'm just doing what God said we could do, but it's completely wrong. I don't know. I can't think of a better example of wheat and tares than this. So Joseph Smith keeps talking to John Bennett, trying to get him to reform. Not only does he not reform, but he starts using his influence to try to get others to do what he's doing. Like, he pulls young men aside and says, let me teach you on how you can be an expert at the spiritual wifery. And he establishes a prostitution house, a house of ill repute, right there in Nauvoo next to the temple, so that as people are on their way to the temple, they pass by this prostitution house. And it's terrible. It gets to the point where enough is enough. He's excommunicated. He loses his position as mayor, he loses his position in the Nauvoo Legion, and his wife divorces him. And then the people take his prostitute, his house, put it on wheels and roll it off the cliff, down a canyon. He's kind of run out and ruined. [00:34:47] Speaker A: Run it off the cliff. [00:34:49] Speaker B: Run off a cliff. And not only, maybe I should say this, the guy also established a ton of medical universities because he was a physician and he liked teaching people and trying to be this expert. Right. His universities were kind of like Trump University. It's a terrible analogy, maybe, but he was selling degrees, he was selling certificates without selling education, and all of these institutes kind of fell and disappeared. He was kind of a con man at the time, and so he's chased out. And so the reason why this becomes such a big issue for Joseph Smith and the Saints is within months of being excommunicated, losing his position of mayor, losing his position in Nauvoo, losing everything, losing his wife, he decides that he is now going to turn against the Saints in a big sort of way. And Start creating these rumors and spreading things. A lot of the issues with polygamy as we are trying to understand the beginnings of what happened and how things were done, really get confused and muddied with John C. Bennett's testimonies. He accuses Joseph Smith of wanting to assassinate and ordering the assassination of Governor Boggs when there was an assassination attempt. Later on that we'll kind of go into details. So this becomes a huge thorn in Joseph Smith's side and delays even further this proclamation to the world going out. All right, sorry. That's a lot of time talking about a lot of garbage. Let's move forward a little bit. The commandment to build a boarding house. And I think it's cool how they phrase this. Verse 23 and it shall be a house of boarding, a house for the strangers, that they may come from afar to lodge therein. Therefore let it be a good house worthy of all exception, that the weary traveler may find health and safety while in contemplation of the Lord and the cornerstone which I have appointed for Zion. This idea of taking care of the stranger, and that's one of the things that Sodom and Gomorrah gets hit, is because of the way they abused the stranger, because the way they abused the traveler. And when they're talking about this house and the idea of comforting the stranger and the borders. Verse 26 and send ye swift messengers, yea, chosen messengers, and say unto them, come ye with all your gold and your silver and your precious stones, and with all your antiquities, and all who have knowledge of antiquities that will come may come. And bring the box tree and the fir tree and the pine tree together with all the precious trees of the earth, and with iron and copper and brass and zinc, and with all the precious things of the earth, and build a house of my name for the most High to dwell therein. And this idea, as they're talking about building the houses, they're talking about building the boarding house, they're talking about building the temple that you're bringing in diversity, that the strangers may have a place. Bring in all of these different trees, the pine, the fir, all the precious trees and people are being compared to being trees. As he talks about his vineyard. This idea that all are welcome, all need to be included, all are precious, and all need to be included, not just in the boarding house for strangers, but in the house of the Lord. And they're talking about for the baptismal font there is not verse 29 for a baptismal font there is not upon the earth that My saints may be baptized for those who are dead. For this ordinance belongeth to my house and cannot be accepted to me only in the days of your poverty, wherein ye are not able to build a house unto me, but build a house. Build a baptismal font and bring them in. And this diversity and this bringing in. As we talk about the baptismal font, there are some cool things there with the 12 oxen representing the 12 tribes, bringing them all in. But the oxen are arranged. If you go to the baptismal font in the temple, you will notice this. It is not just a ring or a circle underneath the font. There are three oxen that face the north, three that face the east, three that face the south, and three that face the west. And this idea is that from all corners of the earth shall they be gathered into the 12. And this idea that three is a heavenly number associated with the Godhead, associated with the circle, this heaven, and four is a worldly number associated with the four cardinal points, north, east, southwest, the four corners of the earth. And you see this with the rectangle or the square, the four sides. And then you see the circle on top with even the. Even the logo of the church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, the arch, this four and this three, the symmetry. But the four and the three, the earthly and the heavenly, is also in the font. That you have earthly, physical, mortal bodies doing baptismal work for the disembodied spiritual realm, that you're bringing them together. But four plus three, this merge is seven, which is a number, a symbol for perfection, that neither are we perfect without the dead, neither the dead perfect without us. That by bringing us together, we are having perfection. That the body is not alive without the spirit, but the spirit is also looking at it as a prison, not being without the body, that together, that is how perfection happens. So there is a lot of symbols, symbolism, and imagery and this idea of let's bring resources from all over, let's bring all the precious things from all over, let's bring everybody in together, both here on the earth, here, that are dead, everything together in this perfection work of redeeming the dead and bringing Israel together. So kind of some cool things with building this house. And maybe this should be the last thing. I don't know how we're on time. We're probably getting pretty close. I know. I'm. We're good. We're good. What do we got? I know I'm in a hurry. I'm running off to a funeral here in a bit, unfortunately. But as we go into this work. The Lord talks about the importance of them doing it. And he says, if you don't do it by the time, then you're going to be rejected, it says. But behold, he says, verse 31. But I command you, all ye my saints, to build a house unto me. And I grant unto you sufficient time to build a house unto me, and during this time your baptism shall be acceptable unto me. But behold, at the end of this appointment, your baptisms for your dead shall not be accepted unto me. And if you do not do these things at the end of the appointment, ye shall be rejected as a church with your dead, saith the Lord. That's kind of harsh. For verily I say unto you that after you have had sufficient time to build a house to me, wherein the ordinance of baptizing for the dead belongeth, and for which the same was instituted from before the foundation of the world, your baptisms for your dead cannot be acceptable unto me. For therein are the keys of the holy priesthood ordained. And this idea that he's going to accept that they do it, but give them tolerances to be able to build the house, that they can do it appropriately. And he's going to hold them to that, and he's going to be kind of strict about that. And fast forward a little bit. Verse 44. If you labor with all your might, I will consecrate that spot, and it shall be made holy. But on the other side. Verse 46. But if they will not hearken to my voice, nor unto the voice, these men whom I have appointed, they shall not be blessed because they pollute mine holy grounds and mine holy ordinances and charters, and my holy words which I give unto them. And it shall come to pass that if you build a house unto my name and do not do the things which I say, I will not perform the oath oath which I make unto you, neither fulfil the promises which ye expect at my hands, saith the Lord. For instead of blessings, ye by your own works bring cursings, wrath, indignation, and judgment upon your own heads, by your follies and by all your abominations which you practice before me, saith the Lord. And that's what I want to focus on. The last point, maybe verse 48. As you look at the beginning. For. For instead of blessings, yea, by your own works, bring cursings, wrath, indignation, and judgments by your own works. So this was a thought. I was at a funeral yesterday for a friend I worked with, and the guy was 36 years old, and he was single and didn't have anyone that he was living with or kind of watching out for him that way in that sense. Right. And I couldn't help but think, I was his friend. I worked with him. I liked him. But I've got six kids and I've got my job and I've got things that I'm doing and I'm getting busy and I'm taking care of all this. And life seemed to move on for me, but maybe not so much for him. And it made me start to feel a little bit guilty. Like, what could I have done for him? Did he get left? What is it like for him to see all of his friends get married and have families and get busy and being worried about doing all of their things, running their kids around to soccer or taking care of school or whatever the case may be, and yet they're left behind. And I thought, man, what more could I have done? Or maybe I should have been texting him or hanging out or checking on him, or maybe I could have been there to help him when he got sick, or maybe I could have done something more. As we're talking about the stranger, we're talking about this. What opportunities are we missing? And as I was thinking about this, it got me thinking. The Lord saying that these things right here, the wrath that he's going to pour out upon us by your own works bring cursings and wrath. So I thought, well, what about. This is going to be a little bit tricky for me to walk through. Maybe you can help me see this, Nate, as I look at coronavirus, and it seems like a wrath or a cursing being poured out upon the world at this time? I think that is a fair statement, right? [00:45:10] Speaker A: Generally, yeah. [00:45:11] Speaker B: Could this wrath have been brought by our own works, as it says right here? For instead of blessings, ye by your own works bring cursings and wrath. What if people were doing things that they shouldn't have been doing? Experimenting with the. With these viruses or creating or whatever the case may be. And however it started, I don't want to go down any. Any hard set road on facts that may or may not exist. But what if the virus itself was a result of people by their own doings, simply by not doing what they were supposed to be doing at that time? Or what if, as we suffer and all of these people. So. So right now I'm headed to another funeral for someone who died from coronavirus. I know six people so far, and I see it ravishing, and I see all these good people dying what if a good person, and we look at today's day and age, how many good people aren't reaching their potential simply because it's easier to turn on the remote at the end of the day, or not want to live up to their potential or get carried away chasing something that's of no worth, and by their own inaction, they're not contributing to society in a way that could better or help influence the outcomes of what we're dealing with. And I guess what I'm trying to. [00:46:36] Speaker A: Say, I'm not suggesting, though, that the people that passed away are that, though. [00:46:39] Speaker B: No, absolutely sure. [00:46:40] Speaker A: Because I just want to make sure there's no confusion with what you're suggesting. [00:46:43] Speaker B: Right. And this is a hard thing for me to try to express and hopefully I'm not doing it the wrong way, but. But what if we have a vaccine for the virus, but it's not exactly the silver bullet we were hoping it would be. It helps, but now we're talking about maybe needing a booster or we're talking about it not helping with these variants. What if somebody else would have had a solution had they continued studying or had they dedicated themselves that maybe we would have a cure for, or maybe we would have something that would help deliver us, but instead we didn't reach what we were doing. So this wrath of God is a punishment, not because God is pouring out injustices upon the world, but because we ourselves are not in a place receiving the inspiration or revelation that we need to contribute to the world in a meaningful way that would protect us from these disasters. What if an asteroid hit the Earth and wiped out a third of the population of the world? And yet somebody, had they stayed focused and engaged, could have come up with a way that would have saved the world. I don't know. Am I, am I way out? [00:47:56] Speaker A: And I don't think you're way out. But I also just think that, that that's. It's dangerous territory sometimes to try to be, too. [00:48:07] Speaker B: I don't. Yeah. And I don't want anyone beating themselves up. But. [00:48:11] Speaker A: I know. And that's the thing is like, I think to your point, it's just like. [00:48:16] Speaker B: The. [00:48:17] Speaker A: This virus, specifically. Yes. Was being tested and a lot of evidence leads to believe it was created in a lab and how it was released. Who. Hopefully we'll know someday, but sometimes dumb people or evil people do dumb and evil things and other people suffer the consequences. And I, and I, I think I understand your point that it's like, well, maybe we can, you know, maybe we can Be more engaged to shut it down sooner. And it's like. Yeah, and, and at the same time, sometimes bad people do bad things and sometimes random bad things happen to people. I guess I'm just saying, like, I, I don't, I, personally, I don't know if I would go too far down the. Hey, it's, it's, it's our fault that it's not ending sooner because we're not engaged enough. It's like. Well, I know a lot of people are working really hard to try to, to end this as soon as possible and to serve people and be helpful. So I, I, I, I'm just saying, I, I don't know how much I would necessarily walk that line personally, but I don't know. [00:49:14] Speaker B: No, and I, and I guess where I get to this, I mean, I look at my own example. What if, what if I could have, you know, maybe if I would have reached out? Yes. [00:49:23] Speaker A: I love that part of it. And, and that's the thing. And then I, I want to make sure we highlight that, because I, I don't, I, that might have got lost a little bit. [00:49:31] Speaker B: And I don't want to beat people up. I mean, we, there's always more we can do. I don't want anyone to feel like you're not doing enough when you're out there saving the world and not realizing that you're doing as much as you are. [00:49:42] Speaker A: But we do have that power in our own lives, in our own spheres. And I think that if I understand that's what, that's the point you're trying to make. And if that's it, then I 100% agree. Which is what, what, Even things that might seem little to us, should we be doing to be engaged and open to, to trying to make somebody else's situation better or to try to help save somebody else? [00:50:06] Speaker B: And maybe this makes it even worse. Okay. Oh, dear, here we go. But I take the same idea. And dare I even say this? If we apply this to the case of George Floyd, for example, the guys out shopping with coronavirus to pick up stuff at the store for whatever it is, would he be out in public getting stuff at the store if he had neighbors that were cared about him, worried about him, that were out there? Hey, can I go pick this up for you? Or what do you need? Can I grab this for you? [00:50:46] Speaker A: Sure. [00:50:47] Speaker B: Right. If, if there was maybe a system or a place where people. And I say, I say in these last days, we're going through some hard times. We're going through some Difficult situations. And I feel like it's God's call to the people to repent. But you just say that as a blanket statement. How are we supposed to repent? But what if there were people that were being neighborly, that were being as Christ, that saw his need and were taking care of him, Would he have been in the position where he did what he did that day? And if he was a Christ like man, would he be holding somebody up at gunpoint or would he be robbing a store? Or would he been put in a position that would have put the police officer in a position that he was in? Right. Had he repented and been truly a Christlike person, how would things have gone? And if the officer was a truly Christlike person, would he have been kneeling on his neck or treating him in a rough manner that he was or. I mean, you start looking at it and what are the results that have stemmed from this single action and the violence that has ravaged our community or the distress that we've had over equality and some of the issues that. And I don't want to diminish any of these issues and I don't want to say they're not important. What I do want to say is we talk about the importance of repenting and the disasters that are upon us and it's easy to blame God and say God is smiting us, but here in this verse, God is saying, you by your actions are bringing this about. What could you have done that maybe if you were doing the right thing at the right time, you can see how fast something like that spins out of control? I don't know. [00:52:28] Speaker A: Was that a no, I don't think that that's. I don't think that's out of line at all. [00:52:31] Speaker B: And I definitely don't want this to get all political and I don't want to. [00:52:36] Speaker A: I think serving people because you just never know is a really fantastic thing to take away from this. That yes, we do bring our own. We do bring a lot of our own crisis situations on ourselves at times. So yeah. [00:52:51] Speaker B: And I think one of the biggest things we as a people struggle with is. And maybe this is where I was headed with this as I wandered through the fore forest a little bit is apathy. And the idea that maybe it's so easy to be entertained, to get caught up in social media for a couple hours or stare at our phones or just kind of get lost in the television, that maybe some of the things are happening just because we don't have people stepping up in a Key part, doing something that would help. And I certainly don't mean this to beat people up, because I know there are people that day in, day out, just self sacrifice to the point where there's nothing left for themselves, even for themselves. And they'll hear this podcast and beat themselves up even further. I don't want that. I don't want you to feel like you're not being enough. But I also want us to. As we're looking at the things that are upon us and God's punishments or whatever the case may be, as we're in these interesting times, maybe, maybe we stop just putting everything on God and wonder what, as a people can we do to repent and what kind of impact can we have to change the world today? [00:54:04] Speaker A: I totally agree with that. It's a great point. [00:54:07] Speaker B: I just don't think I got there in the most. [00:54:09] Speaker A: No, it's okay. I just wanted to make sure that. I just wanted to make sure that you had the opportunity to fully explain where you were going with that. Again, it can be kind of a touchy thing because again, like I said, you and I didn't do anything wrong for me to get coronavirus six months ago. You know what I mean? [00:54:28] Speaker B: Right, right. It's. [00:54:29] Speaker A: I'm just saying like, that there's a, you know, there, there is a certain level of like, control what you can control and, and be good in your sphere and do, do try to be as engaged always right in, in doing good, because you just never know. You never know how quickly things can. Can change just by the smallest of little moments. Right. [00:54:53] Speaker B: And when the apostles ask Christ who sinned this man or his parents for him being blind, neither. You don't need to assume that just because somebody got sick or something bad happened that it's God's justice saying, take that. [00:55:09] Speaker A: Awesome. All right, what are we talking about next week? [00:55:11] Speaker B: Next week we're going into doctrine and covenants 125 through. Oh, I want to say what? 127. All right, going a little bit more. 125 to 128. A voice of gladness for the living and the dead. We might even talk a little bit about old Porter Rockwell. Yeah. Yes. [00:55:31] Speaker A: You always know the things to say to just make my heart get all aflutter. All right, well, until next week. [00:55:37] Speaker B: See ya. [00:55:41] Speaker A: Sam.