Earth to Dr. Spock: My Kids Are Out of Control

I have 5 children.

When you have several children, you discover you have to adjust your parenting style to fit each child's unique personality and needs.

(There is no "one-size-fits-all" when it comes to raising kids.)

It reminds me of one of my favorite bits from comedian Jim Gaffigan:

   Bedtime makes you realize how completely incapable you are of being in charge of another human being.

   My children act like they’ve never been to sleep before. ‘Bed? What’s that? No, I’m not doing that.’

   They never want to go to bed. This is another thing that I will never have in common with my children. Every morning when I wake up, my first thought is, ‘When can I come back here?’ It’s the carrot that keeps me motivated. Sometimes going to bed feels like the highlight of my day.

   Ironically, to my children, bedtime is a punishment that violates their basic rights as human beings.

   Once the lights are out, you can expect at least an hour of inmates clanging their tin cups on the cell bars.

Now imagine you're Christ.  How will you raise such a diverse group of children?

Well, that's where the Doctrine of Christ comes in (or, as I like to call it, The Parenting of Christ: Common Sense Baby and Child Care.)​

Who's In Charge at Your House?

​Pop Quiz:

1.  Rank the authority of the following individuals, from greatest to least, in the life of a child:

   a.  Nanny
   b.  Mother
   c.  School Teacher
   d.  Sister
   e.  Grandfather
   f.  Aunt Freida
   g.  The Mailman
   h.  Father
   i.  Pediatrician
   j.  Barney the Dinosaur

2.  Rank the authority of the following, from greatest to least, in the life of a Latter-day Saint:

   a.  Mark E. Petersen
   b.  Joseph Smith
   c.  Current bishop
   d.  Living Prophet
   e.  Dead Prophet
   f.  Church Handbook
   g.  Holy Ghost
   h.  Standard Works
   i.  Ministering Sister/Home Teacher
   j.  Sister Workman, Relief Society Service Coordinator

3.  True or False.  Whenever the babysitter contradicts an essential and foundational rule of the home that has been taught by the parents (in this case, the rule against playing with matches and toilet paper to set the family dog's tail on fire), you should follow the babysitter since she/he is in charge while the parents are away.

4.  True of False.  Whenever the Church Handbook contradicts a clear and unambiguous teaching from the scriptures, you should follow the Handbook because anonymous and uncanonized textbooks are always superior to the word of the Lord.

Three Times the Fun
 
There are three types of preemption:

   1.  Express preemption is when the Federal government states explicitly  that they intend to preempt everything else. 

Scriptural Example:  

   Will ye not receive instruction
   to hearken to my words?
   saith the Lord.

   [F]or unto this day
   they . . . obey their father’s
   commandment: notwithstanding
   I have spoken unto you.

(Jeremiah 35:13-14)

Here we see the Lord saying that His word preempts what our "fathers" say.  His word is Supreme.

   2.  Field Preemption is when the federal government has so thoroughly regulated an area that they leave no room for lesser authorities to do anything. 

Scriptural Example:

   For it is expedient
   that there should be
   a great and last sacrifice;
   yea, not a sacrifice of man,
   neither of beast,
   neither of any manner of fowl;
   for it shall not be a human sacrifice;
   but it must be an infinite
   and eternal sacrifice.

(Alma 34:10)

Here we see that Christ has "occupied the whole field" when it comes to our redemption.  

Let me repeat:

Christ has "occupied the whole field" when it comes to our redemption.  

   I say unto you,
   that there shall be
   no other name given
   nor any other way nor means
   whereby salvation can come
   unto the children of men,
   only in and through the name
   of Christ, the Lord Omnipotent.

​(Mosiah 3:17)

Salvation cannot be accomplished by man, or a Church, or a religion, or effort. 

It can only be accomplished through Christ Jesus.

   3.  Implied conflict preemption exists when lower laws stand as an obstacle to the accomplishment of Congress's objectives.  

Scriptural Example:

   The works, and the designs,
   and the purposes of God
   cannot be frustrated,
   neither can they come to naught.

(D&C 3:1)

Here we see that man cannot interfere with God's designs (as Joseph Smith and Martin Harris famously learned when they lost the 116 pages of the Book of Mormon).

So What "Occupies the Whole Field" for Christians?

What is the Constitution (the highest authority) for Christians?

There are always competing and/or conflicting rules, laws, policies, procedures, cultures, traditions, and practices.  

Since Christ is everlasting, and his gospel is eternal, we need to find a Constitutional Authority that is:

   - The same for Adam and Eve as for you and me;
   
   - The same in 2000 B.C. as 2000 A.D.; and

   - The same for Victorian, British lower-class living in London circa 1820 as for the Mayans in 500 A.D.

   What? 

What can Christians cleave to that is the same for everyone, everywhere, everywhen?

   Is it the Doctrine of Christ?

Finale

​Welcome to the Season Finale of The Bachelorette: Prophet Edition.

What an incredible season it has been, watching our beautiful bride-to-be, Babylon "Babs" McConkie, narrow down her list of hunky prophets to the Final Four Suitors.

Tonight Babs will be crowned queen and choose between the remaining prophet contestants. 

Who will be her king?

   1.  Will she choose Court Prophet Zedekiah, the big-hearted frat brother from Arizona State University?

   2.  Or will she fall for bad-boy Hananiah who loves sesame bread and latkes?

   3.  After their disastrous date last week, is there any hope for Balaam?

   4.  And finally, will the Man of God himself, who needs no introduction, receive Babs' final rose?

Stay tuned for our most explosive episode yet . . . on . . . The Bachelorette: Prophet Edition.

Zedekiah and Babs' Date

[In the backseat of a princess carriage drawn by a team of four horses through Times Square]
​
​Babs: [Feeling Zedekiah's biceps] I've really enjoyed getting to know you. 

Zedekiah:  Me too.

Babs:  I never thought I would be dating one of the Minor Prophets!

Zedekiah: [Awkwardly]  Umm, that's Zechariah, Babe.  I'm Zedekiah, the son of Chenaanah.  The only place you'll find me (other than rocking the night club scene) is in 1 Kings 22.

Babs:  Oh, that's okay.  You're still famous, right?

Zedekiah:  [Shrugging]  Sure, I guess.  I was King Ahab's favorite prophet.  That is, until he followed my advice and died.  Yeah, it was pretty ugly, the way the dogs licked his blood.

Babs: [Swatting Zedekiah's shoulder flirtatiously] That's awful!  How could you do that?

Zedekiah:  [Laughing]  Well, I guess the king should have listened to the other prophet, Micaiah.

Babs: Who's that?

Zedekiah:  A nobody.  Just some lame doom-and-gloom fellow who gave Ahab a hard time.

Babs:  [Running her hand along the small of Zedekiah's back] I bet Micaiah wasn't half the prophet you are.

A Word From Our Sponsor

And now a brief public service announcement from our Sponsor:

​​   Son of man, prophesy
   against the prophets
   of Israel that prophesy. . .
   out of their own hearts,
   Hear ye the word of the Lord;

   Thus saith the Lord God;
   Woe unto the foolish prophets,
   that follow their own spirit,
   and have seen nothing!

   O Israel, thy prophets
   are like the foxes
   in the deserts.

(Ezekiel 13:2-4)

Suitable For All Ages

My very patient wife does not like the tone I take in this blog when I'm talking about priestcraft.  

Apparently, I have all the reverence of Whoopi Goldberg in the movie Sister Act.  

So I promised her that in this post, Behold, This is My Doctrine: Part 5, I would not be snarky or critical in any way.

So, my dear Strengthening Church Members Committee peeps, you can put away your sharpened pencils and relax.

** Starting now **

Refresher

As discussed in the Series, Teach us Thy Statutes, Thy Law, Parts 1 thru 13, there is a continuum of laws.  Take any law, and we'll be able to find a higher or a lesser one.

From this perspective we see that all law is relative.  A law does not live in a vacuum: it resides in relation to other laws.

Perhaps this is why at the last day, judgment itself will be relative: not based on what we've done, but based on what we've done in relation to the laws we had.

   They that knew no law
   shall have part
   in the first resurrection;
   and it shall be tolerable
   for them.

(D&C 45:54)

When we debate "the letter" of the law vs. "the spirit" of the law, we're usually pitting two laws against each other as if they're in conflict, when they're really just out of chronology (think of the two conflicting commandments the Lord gave Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden).

The problem of thinking of laws as linear, though, is that Jesus takes all truths, or laws, and circumscribes them into one whole.

So there is really just one law: the Law of Christ.

The Law of Love

​The question we need to ask is, "What is the law of Christ?  Which law is greatest of all?"

And is the law of Christ the same thing as the Doctrine of Christ?

   1.  We could start by quoting Jesus's answer to the lawyer, who asked him:

   Master, which is the great
   commandment in the law?

   Jesus said unto him,
   Thou shalt love
​   the Lord thy God
   with all thy heart,
   and with all thy soul,
   and with all thy mind.

   This is the first and great commandment.

   And the second is like unto it,
   Thou shalt love
   thy neighbour
   as thyself.

(Matt. 22:36-39)

Well, this seems promising.  Is the law of Christ, then, to love?

   2.  We read during the Last Supper, Jesus said:

   A new commandment
   I give unto you,
   That ye love
   one another;
   as I have loved you,
   that ye also love
   one another.

(John 13:34)

​That's two-for-two.

   3.  Jesus's brother, James, wrote that there's a "royal law" (that is, the King of Commandments, or Praeceptum Rex):

   Fulfil the royal law
   according to the scripture,
   Thou shalt love
   thy neighbour as thyself.

(James 2:8)

Hmmm.  I think we're seeing a pattern here.  Didn't Paul say that charity is the "greatest of all?" 

So, is the Law of Christ . . . love?

   No.  No it is not.

The Perfect Law of Liberty

Hold it.  I thought love was(!) the highest law.  I thought love is(!) the greatest of all.

​What else is there?  What's better than love?

Well, James taught there is a "perfect law of liberty" (James 1:25). 

What law is he talking about?  Isn't love the perfect law of liberty?

   Well, sorta.

This must be important because James says we "shall be judged by the law liberty" (James 2:12).

Love vs. Liberty

Is there some relationship between love and liberty?  Are there times when the two are in conflict?

Let's consider what these verses mean:

   1.  Paul:  "Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty" (2 Corinthians 3:17).

[Here we see that the expression, or fruit, of the Spirit is liberty.]

   2.  Paul:  "Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ has made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage" (Galatians 5:1).

[Paul is saying that when we stand with Christ, we will not be entangled with any other masters, which is spiritual bondage.]

   3.  Lehi:  "And they are free to choose liberty and eternal life, through the great Mediator of all men, or to choose captivity and death, according to the captivity and power of the devil" (2 Nephi 2:27).

[This is interesting: Lehi is equating liberty with eternal life.  The essence of eternal life is to be free; in other words, Christ came to rescue us from captivity to any other systems or persons, which results in death.]

   4.  Benjamin:  "And under this head ye are made free, and there is no other head whereby ye can be made free" (Mosiah 5:8).

[Ah, this is really important.  The only genuine freedom comes from Christ: all other masters can only offer temporary, or illusory, freedom, and will invariably shackle us.]

   5.  Pahoran:  "[A]ccording to the Spirit of God, which is also the spirit of freedom which is in them" (Alma 61:15).

[The Spirit of God is in us, and it is enticing us towards liberty, which is only found in following Christ alone.]

   6.  Jesus:  "Wherefore, hear my voice and follow me, and you shall be a free people, and ye shall have no laws but my laws when I come, for I am your lawgiver" (D&C 38:22).

[That's an interesting definition: To be free means to have no laws but Christ's laws.  That means freedom is only achieved when we divorce ourselves from every law that does not come from Christ.]

What Does This Mean?

The most loving thing Jesus could do is to set us free.  To deliver us from bondage.  To rescue us from death and hell.  To "fulfill the law" so we would no longer be its captives.

   So . . . why do we pressure people to live any law other than Christ's? 

Maybe we can measure the Spirit in a practice, or in a person, by these words:

   [Whenever we try] to exercise control
   or dominion or compulsion
   upon the souls of the children of men,
   in any degree of unrighteousness,
   behold, the heavens withdraw
   themselves; the Spirit of the Lord
   is grieved; and when it is withdrawn,
   Amen to the priesthood or the authority
   of that man.

(D&C 121:37)

I think sometimes we read the words "in any degree of unrighteousness" to mean there's a loophole.  That, in fact, there is a "righteous degree" of control and compulsion we can exercise.

But is that consistent with what Joseph Smith wrote next, when he said the only power or influence that we can have by virtue of the priesthood is by:

   a.  Persuasion
   b.  Long-suffering
   c.  Gentleness
   d.  Meekness
   e.  Love unfeigned
   f.  Kindness
   g.  Pure knowledge?

See?  None of those things on the list is "control" or "compulsion." 

   Not even to the least degree.

How Did I Do?

Okay, now we're at the end of this post.  How did I do?

Did I keep my promise? 

Planes, Trains and Automobiles

There's a very simple principle I am going to describe using three examples:

   1.  Planes.  Our favorite pilot, then-President Dieter F. Uchtdorf, said in his talk, "A Matter of a Few Degrees":

"Suppose you were to take off from an airport at the equator, intending to circumnavigate the globe, but your course was off by just one degree. By the time you returned to the same longitude, how far off course would you be? A few miles? A hundred miles? The answer might surprise you. An error of only one degree would put you almost 500 miles (800 km) off course, or one hour of flight for a jet."

(Dieter F. Uchtdorf, "A Matter of a Few Degrees," April 2008 General Conference.)

   2.  Trains.  Now I turn to President Gordon B. Hinckley, who gave a talk called "Watch the Switches in Your Life" in 1972:

"Many years ago I worked in the head office of one of our railroads. One day I received a telephone call from my counterpart in Newark, New Jersey, who said that a passenger train had arrived without its baggage car. The patrons were angry.

"We discovered that the train had been properly made up in Oakland, California, and properly delivered to St. Louis, from which station it was to be carried to its destination on the east coast. But in the St. Louis yards, a thoughtless switchman had moved a piece of steel just three inches.

"That piece of steel was a switch point, and the car that should have been in Newark, New Jersey, was in New Orleans, Louisiana, thirteen hundred miles away."

(Gordon B. Hinckley, "Watch the Switches in Your Life," October 1972 General Conference.)

   3.  Automobiles.  Actually, this one is about gates.  President Hinckley taught the same idea in his talk "Keep the Faith" in 1985:

"I approached a large farm gate one day. I lifted the latch and opened the gate. The movement at the hinges was so slight as to be scarcely discernible. But the other end of the gate cut a great arc sixteen feet in radius. Looking at the movement of the hinges alone, one would never dream of the magnified action that came as a result of that tiny movement."

(Gordon B. Hinckley, "Keep the Faith," Ensign, September 1985.)

   - What's the point of these illustrations?  What are we supposed to learn from them?

​The Butterfly Effect

​If you've studied Chaos Theory, you've heard the saying, "Something as small as the flutter of a butterfly's wing can ultimately cause a typhoon halfway around the world."

To put it another way, a small localized change can cause large effects to ripple throughout a complex system.

Spiritual Butterflies

According to Alma, the Lord leverages small and simple things to produce momentous and miraculous outcomes.

​   I say unto you,
   that by small
   and simple things
   are great things
   brought to pass;
   and small means
   in many instances
   doth confound the wise.

   And . . . by very small means
   the Lord doth confound the wise
   and bringeth about the salvation
   of many souls.

(Alma 36:6-7)

By the way, what is the context for this verse?  Alma is talking to his son Helaman about . . . preserving the word of God.  

So, if we want to be technical, the small and simple things the Lord uses to bring about our salvation are . . . his words. 

How small is a spiritual seed?  How simple is a word like "love."

The Lord doesn't just use small and simple things.  He also works through small and simple people.

   I call upon the weak
   things of the world,
   those who are unlearned
   and despised,
   to thresh the nations
   by the power
   of my Spirit.

(D&C 35:13)

Now the big question: how does Satan leverage the butterfly effect?

Satan's Butterfly Effect​

Satan's not messing around.  He came to play.  For keeps.​

Joseph Smith warned us in the King Follett Discourse:

"If we start right, it is easy to go right all the time; but if we start wrong we may go wrong, and it will be a hard matter to get right."

(Joseph Smith, Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, p. 343.)

   1.  Planes.  What teachings of the Church remove our eye from being single to God's glory and away from the "only and true doctrine of the Father," sort of like the one-degree that leads us off course by 500 miles, as President Uchtdorf mentioned?

   2.  Trains.  What teachings of the Church draw us away from Christ into carnal security, acting like switch points that take us someplace we weren't intending to go, as President Hinckley said?

   3.  Gates.  What teachings of the Church act like small hinges that, when taken to their logical conclusion, swing us wide toward the great and spacious building?

   For wide is the gate,
   and broad is the way,
   that leadeth to destruction,
   and many there be
   which go in thereat.

(Matt. 7:13)

We Are All Gone Astray

​Perhaps the most alarming verse in the Book of Mormon is this:

​   They have all gone astray
   save it be a few,
   who are the humble followers of Christ;
   nevertheless, they are led,
   that in many instances they do err
   because they are taught
   by the precepts of men.

(2 Nephi 28:14)

Did we catch that?

We err because . . . why?  What is the reason we have gone astray?

** Drum Roll, please **

Even the sincere, humble followers of Christ do err because "they are led" . . . by "men."  

   That's it.  That's the point.  That's the problem.

What's wrong with that, you ask?  Well, we're supposed to be led by God.

   Cursed is he that putteth his trust in man,
   or maketh flesh his arm, or shall hearken
   unto the precepts of men,
   save their precepts shall be given
   by the power of the Holy Ghost.

(2 Nephi 28:31)

Textbook Example: Switch Point/Hinge

At some point in our past, someone, somewhere, flipped a switch point for the Church, turned a hinge, altered our course by one degree, which has resulted in the Church finding itself in New Rome instead of in the New Jerusalem, bowing to a Pope instead of walking with a Prince of Peace.

I think the most devastating doctrine that has ever been taught to God's children, which has replaced with "only and true doctrine of the Father" (2 Nephi 31:21) is this:

   Follow the Prophet

vs. 

   Follow Jesus Christ

Sure, God can speak through prophets.  Just as Nephi said, anyone can speak by the power of the Holy Ghost.  

   God, who at sundry times
   and in divers manners spake
   in time past unto the fathers
   by the prophets,

   Hath in these last days
   spoken unto us by his Son.

(Hebrews 1:1-2)

But some people think those two things are the same, quoting the verse that says, "whether by mine own voice or by the voice of my servants, it is the same" (D&C 1:38). 

They view the prophet and Christ as interchangeable.  And thus they fail to actually come unto Christ because they're busy following their prophet.

But remember what happens when we turn the airplane by just one degree?  What actually happens when we transform "following Jesus Christ" into "following the Prophet?" 

   - One requires discernment, one does not. 
   
   - One requires connection to God, one does not. 

   - One requires obedience to God, one does not.

   - One requires faith in God, one does not.

How To Tell a Wolf in Sheep's Clothing

   1.  Do they tell you to trust them, instead of trusting God?

   2.  Do they tell you to do as they say, rather than as they do?

   3.  Do they ask you for money?

   4.  Do they make promises that they don't keep?

   5.  Do they hide their councils, finances, and meeting minutes from you?

   6.  Do they punish you for having a different viewpoint?  Do they suppress dissent?

Elder Rasband said recently at a fireside broadcast on November 16, 2021:

"And as I have met with youth and young single adults all over the world, if they cause me to narrow down to one thing of my soul that they would like me to comment, my one thing, kind of first and foremost in my mind, is follow God’s living prophet."

Result:  We become a Church of idolaters who practice the forms of godliness without the power thereof (see JS-H 1:19).  In other words, we have become part of the "abomination" God described when he appeared to Joseph Smith.

And we end up with things like:

   1.   "The Lord loves effort, because effort brings rewards."

   [One Degree.  "All our righteousnesses are as filthy rags" (Isaiah 64:6).  "For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast" (Eph. 2:8-9).]

   2. "We can win this war if everyone will follow the wise and thoughtful recommendations of medical experts and government leaders."

    [One Degree.  "What time I am afraid, I will trust in thee.  In God I will praise his word, in God I have put my trust; I will not fear what flesh can do unto me" (Psalm 56:3-4).]

   3.  "Attendance and activity in a church help us become better people."

   [One Degree. "But take heed to yourselves: for they shall deliver you up to councils; and in the synagogues ye shall be beaten: and ye shall be brought before rulers and kings for my sake, for a testimony against them" (Mark 13:9).  "Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye compass sea and land to make one proselyte, and when he is made, ye make him twofold more the child of hell than yourselves. Woe unto you, ye blind guides . . . . But woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye shut up the kingdom of heaven against men: for ye neither go in yourselves, neither suffer ye them that are entering to go in" (Matt. 23:15-16, 13).]

   4.  "The name of the Church is not negotiable. . . . For years we had hoped to purchase the internet domain sites for ChurchofJesusChrist.org and ChurchofJesusChrist.com.  Neither was for sale.  About the time of President Nelson's announcement, both were suddenly available.  It was a miracle."

    [One Degree.  If the name of the Church is not negotiable, then why is the URL not the name of the Church?]

. . . Drifting away from God one flutter of the butterfly wing at a time.   ​

Whatever Happened to Christ's Doctrine?

Recall the "only and true doctrine of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost" (2 Nephi 31:21)?

Well, it must be pretty darn important if it is the Only. True. Doctrine, right?

In fact, this doctrine deserves an upper case "D."  I'd expect that we'd find this Doctrine everywhere in our meetings, our preaching, and in our lessons, since it is so primary to what we believe.

After all, Nephi said that this Doctrine "is the way; and there is none other way nor name given under heaven whereby man can be saved in the kingdom of God" (2 Nephi 31:21).

Wow!  It's almost like our eternal soul rests on this Doctrine.

Now that I've put this Doctrine on a pedestal, can anyone tell me what it is?

Come on.  If it is the central, core, essential Doctrine of our faith . . . then what is it?

   It's tithing.

   It has to be.

Because tithing is the only thing that we are required to meet with and report annually to the Bishop (during tithing settlement). 

No other commandment, law, doctrine, or practice in the Church receives that kind of attention.  It gets top billing.

Among all of the commandments, tithing is the one that has a way of always rising to the top. 

Tithing is required to enter the temple.  Without tithing, we fall off the Covenant Path. 

An army marches on its stomach, and I guess a royal army marches on its tithing (if only we'd been around during the Crusades, we could have financed King Richard so the Sheriff of Nottingham wouldn't have had to extort taxes from the poor).

And what is ironic is that the practice of tithing settlement is antiquated ― having started during a time when people paid their tithing in kind: chicken eggs and hay.

Yet today, when we all pay in cash, the practice remains.

   Why?  What's there to "settle" anymore?

Mammon: The Fruit of our Faith?

​Ask yourself: surly we'd give preeminence to the greatest, highest, holiest Doctrine, right?

So we just have to see what the Church cares most about.  What are the fruits of our religion?

​Jesus told us in the Sermon on the Mount (or, in other words, Christianity 101):

   For where your treasure is,
   there will your heart be also.

(Matthew 6:21)

I think we sometimes read this backwards.  Jesus didn't say that where our hearts are, there will be our treasure also.  No, our hearts invariably follow our treasure.

If our heart is where our treasure is, then we have certainly created a religion based on what's truly important to us, even the fundamental of our faith . . .

   Money.

But, you know, money for a good cause.

Second Opinion: Satan

Am I exaggerating?  Let's get a second opinion.  

If you remember the temple drama pre-1990, you'll recall the vignette where a Sectarian Preacher converses with Satan.  (I first went through the temple in 1998, and learned about this scene from my mission president who quoted it in a Zone Conference while I was serving in Paris.)

Deleted Scene

[A preacher enters.]

LUCIFER: Good morning, sir!

PREACHER: Good morning! [Looking out over the initiates.] A fine congregation!

LUCIFER: Yes, they are a very good people. They are concerned about religion. Are you a preacher?

PREACHER: I am.

LUCIFER: Have you been to college and received training for the ministry?

PREACHER: Certainly! A man cannot preach unless he has been trained for the ministry.

LUCIFER: Do you preach the orthodox religion?

PREACHER: Yes, that is what I preach.

LUCIFER: If you will preach your orthodox religion to these people and convert them, I will pay you well.

   *****

Well, who wants Satan for a boss?  

I suppose religion likes working for Satan because, you know, he pays well.

Why Does Satan Love "Orthodox Religion?"

Well, here's a mystery.

There are two important things we learn from this exchange:

   1.  Satan loves religion; and

   2.  Satan is partial to Orthodox Religion.

Isn't that topsy-turvy?  We would expect Satan to be anti-religious, right?  But in fact, Satan is the Ultimate Religionist.  

Christ, on the other hand (surprise!) is the one who is anti-religion. 

   Yes, really. 

Christ is the one that condemns the religious hypocrisy and pride of all of the religious systems out there ― you know, all the churches that oppress the poor and promote inequality.

Case in point:  Christ told Joseph Smith that all religions were corrupt.  Think about that!  Why were they "all" corrupt? Because: 

   1.  "All their creeds were an abomination"; and

   2.  The professors of religion "were all corrupt" because

   3.  "They teach for doctrines [here it is!] the commandments of men" (JS-H 1:19).

Ah, now we see it: the eternal contest between Christ's singular Doctrine and all of the doctrines of men which stink up religion.

The gospel, on the other hand (we're talking about the "only and true doctrine of the Father"), has nothing to do with men seeking to control and profit from one another.

Lesson Learned:  The "only and true doctrine of the Father" is not something we find in religion. 

   It exists, and lives, elsewhere.

Messengers From My Father

Well this is interesting.  Notice that Adam doesn't want religion?  

Instead, all Adam wants is to commune with messengers from his Father.

This all begs the question: has The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints become the very thing it was set up to oppose?  Has the Church joined the throngs of Creedal Christianity?  Do we preach for doctrine the commandments of men?

Have we listened to General Conference lately?

In 1839, while a prisoner in Liberty Jail, Joseph Smith wrote that we owe a duty to "God, to angels, with whom we shall be brought to stand" to oppose the evils of orthodoxy, of tyranny and oppression, which are generated and upheld

   by the influence of that spirit
   which hath so strongly riveted
   the creeds of the fathers,
   who have inherited lies,
   upon the hearts of the children,
   and filled the world with confusion,
   and has been growing stronger
   and stronger, and is now
   the very mainspring of all corruption,
   and the whole earth groans
   under the weight of its iniquity.

   It is an iron yoke, 
   it is a strong band;
   they are handcuffs, and chains
   and shackles, and fetters
   of hell.

[Let me point out: this is what the devil wants religion to be.  This bondage or "captivity" is what religion is all about.  This is the very snare the Church has fallen into.]

   And also it is an imperative duty
   that we owe to all the rising generation,
   and to all the pure in heart―

   For there are many yet on earth
   among all sects, parties, and denominations,
   who are blinded by the subtle craftiness
   of men, whereby they lie in wait to deceive,
   and who are kept from the truth 
   because they do not know where
   to find it―

   Therefore, that we should waste
   and wear out our lives
   in bringing to light
   all the hidden things
   of darkness.

(D&C 123:7-8, 11-13)

You ask, why do I write this blog?  Why do I bother?  Because it is within my power to do so, and the Lord has asked us all to bring to light the hidden things of darkness, wherein we know them.​

Good Advice

The best advice any of us could receive is this:  "I would advise you to get out of his employ."

I read in Hugh Nibley's Approaching Zion:

"Students ask me in despair, “If we leave his employ, what will become of us?”  The answer is simple.  Don’t you trust the Lord?  Satan wants to get us in the position where we desire wealth (which is the root of all evil).  If you are resigned or dedicated to a regime that you do not really like, or that wastes your talents, then you are a prisoner indeed—in Satan’s power.  In short, when you say, “I have to live in the world and play by his rules,” then he has won and you have lost."

Is it time we get out of Satan's employ?

Is it time the Church stops using the tools of the devil to build the kingdom of God?  It cannot work.

   Mammon cannot serve God.

Or, you know, we could go on building a hierarchy that mocks God, preaching a religion that brings bondage, and substituting the "only and true doctrine of the Father" with the doctrines of men mingled with scripture.

   Never fear, the philosophies of men are here!