"And There Was No Contention in All the Land": Part 10

Not to be Judgmental, But You're Judging All Wrong

Question:  In church lessons and curriculum, we're taught to judge whether something is "true" or "false" based upon:

   a.  Our horoscope
   b.  What the prophets and apostles teach about it
   c.  What an angel we've shaken hands with says
   d.  All of the above
   e.  None of the above

Answer:

   (b)  What the prophets and apostles teach

But . . . this is the wrong answer!

Will the Correct Way to Judge Please Stand?

Is discerning hard?  Is it difficult to tell truth from error? 

   Not according to Mormon.

Mormon is a Rock Star.  He's my scriptural crush.  He's got some amazing physical and spiritual muscles, to be sure.  Call me a fanboy.

Here is what a true prophet of God teaches:

   It is given unto you to judge,
   that ye may know good from evil;
   and the way to judge is as plain,
   that ye may know with a perfect knowledge,
   as the daylight is from the dark night.

(Moroni 7:15)

Okay, so here we see that:

   (1) We can judge good from evil (since we're not judging people);

   (2) Discerning good from evil is "plain," so this isn't rocket science;

   (3) It's crystal clear what is good or evil; we're not guessing; we can know with "a perfect knowledge";

   (4)  If you can look out the window and can tell whether it is day or night, you can know good from evil. 

   It's that easy.

Mormon's Secret Sauce

So what's the secret?  What is the secret sauce that allows us to know all these things?  

Is it the Brethren?  Our leaders?  Our parents?  Our teachers?  Our priests?  Our Magic 8 Ball?

   Nope.  It's Christ.

   For behold, the Spirit of Christ
   is given to every man,
   that he may know
   good from evil.

(Moroni 7:16)

If you want a second witness, just remember the most-quoted verse in the Book of Mormon:

   And by the power of the Holy Ghost
   ye may know the truth
   of all things.

(Moroni 10:5)

If we want to judge truly, then we'll have to rely upon the Spirit of Christ and the Holy Ghost more than we do on the precepts of men mingled with scripture, right?

Sure, we can still listen to each other; we can listen to General Conference; we can study Freud and Nietzsche; we can read the apocrypha and pseudepigrapha; we can absorb information from any source . . . but we tell whether it is "good" or "evil" or "true" based upon:

   THE SPIRIT.  Period.  Full Stop.  

(See what the Lord says in D&C 91 about such things.  Very enlightening.)

   And now, my brethren,
   seeing that ye know
   the light by which ye may judge,
   which light is the light of Christ,
   see that ye do not judge wrongfully.

(Moroni 7:18)

Umm.  How are we "judging wrongfully?"

   By judging using some standard other than Christ.

Deny the Holy Ghost?

The "wrong way" is to gullibly swallow up anything and everything an authority figure tells us without proving (testing) it by the Spirit within us.

But what happens when the "priesthood" is used unrighteously?

Nephi told us to expect exactly what we're seeing today:

   Their priests shall contend
   one with another,
   and they shall teach
   with their learning,
   and deny the Holy Ghost,
   which giveth utterance.

(2 Nephi 28:4)​

How do we "deny the Holy Ghost which giveth utterance?" 

   Well, it's easy! 

   By making the priesthood an iron yoke, a tool of control and unrighteous dominion. 
 
   By conditioning people to obey priesthood keys over internal whisperings of the Holy Ghost and Spirit of Christ. 

   Bait and switch, Baby! 

But why would leaders be afraid of the Holy Ghost and allowing the membership to exercise their birthrights? 

Why do leaders lead us away from the light of Christ and attempt to make us dependent upon their counsel?  

   - Because the Spirit destroys their priestcraft and reveals the "evil" found in Anti-Christ doctrines, teachings and practices (which are all around us).

   - Because the fulness of the Holy Ghost cannot be controlled or patrolled by leadership since it is the gift given to all of Christ’s children.

In other words, it takes away their power and priesthoods (is this why leaders, like Satan before them, want us to follow them and to rely upon their power to save us rather than upon the mercies of Christ?).

"The Fulness of the Holy Ghost"

No worries!  We have something better than any priesthood office or priesthood key.

We've all heard about the "fulness of the priesthood," haven't we? Yup.  

But here's the surprising thing: why haven't we heard about the "fulness of the Holy Ghost" (D&C 109:15)?

Both men and women can attain to the "fulness of the Holy Ghost" (no Second Anointing required).

​Back in 1836, in connection with the Kirtland Temple, Joseph Smith said in his Dedicatory Prayer:

   And that they may grow up
   in thee, and receive
   a fulness of the Holy Ghost,
   and be organized according to thy laws,
   and be prepared to obtain
   every needful thing.

(D&C 109:15)

You see, Joseph Smith did not say the temple was for restoring the fulness of the priesthood.  No, the temple was to restore the fulness of the Holy Ghost! 

Does this remind us of what the Lord called the "oil" in the lamps of the wise virgins?

   For they that are wise
   and have received the truth
   and have taken the Holy Spirit
   for their guide,
   and have not been deceived.

(D&C 45:57)

So the scriptures plainly teach that we are to:

   (1) judge, and
   (2) be led
   (3) by . . . 

   The Holy Spirit.

*Sigh*  Why is it in 2021, almost 200 years later, that we still have not accepted the truth and power of the following words? 

Jacob said:

   My beloved brethren,
   come unto the Lord, the Holy One.

   Remember that his paths
   are righteous.

   And the keeper of the gate
   is the Holy One of Israel;

   and he employeth
   no servant there;

   and there is none other way
   save it be by the gate;

   for he cannot be deceived,
   for the Lord God is his name.

(2 Nephi 9:41)