"Lord, to whom shall we go?" Charting the Course of the Church from Here to the Second Coming: Part 21

Where's the Punchline?

A famous politician died and stood before St. Peter at the Pearly Gates.  

"Do you wish to go to heaven or hell?" asked St. Peter.

The politician thought for a moment and St. Peter said, "You know, before you choose, why don't you spend a day in hell and then you can try a day in heaven to see which you prefer."

"Okay," said the man, and he awoke in hell to the most amazing smells of fresh brewed coffee, grass, and baking bread. 

A nicely-dressed man greeted him and said, "I'm Satan.  Welcome to my home.  We only have 24 hours, so no time to lose, my friend!"  The devil handed the man a martini.

The accommodations were magnificent.  The food was ambrosia in his mouth.  Everybody was friendly.  He was in paradise.

The man played golf on a first-class course.  He was reunited with his wife who had the body of a 20-year-old.  She kissed him and he felt passion surging through his body as they dined on lobster and king crab.

Wherever they went, people smiled and cheered him on.  He had never had so much fun in all his life.

At the conclusion of his day in hell, he found himself back with St. Peter.

"Are you ready now for your day in heaven?" St. Peter asked.

"Oh, that's not necessary," said the politician.  "I think I'll be quite happy in hell, thank you very much."

"Very well," said St. Peter, and sent him away.

The man awoke in hell again. 

​This time he heard screams and smelled the most foul stench.  The walls dripped blood and his wife appeared like a zombie.  Maggots crawled on the floor.

"What happened?!" cried the man, distraught.  

Satan appeared. "Oh, yesterday we were campaigning," he shrugged.  "But today you voted."

"Who You Gonna Call?"

I hope the last post made something abundantly clear from our study of Isaiah 19:

The government will be powerless to stop the coming calamity.  

Despite all of their power, might, and money; despite their industrial-military complexes; despite all their advanced technologies and tanks and Blackhawk helicopters and Area 51's . . . .

   they fail.

So let's not pin our hopes on political saviors rescuing us from the end-time events. 

(I mean, it would be ironic if we trusted in the arm of flesh when flies start eating that arm of flesh, right? See D&C 29:18).

Isaiah explained:

   And there shall be nothing
   the Egyptians can do about it,
   neither head nor tail,
   palm top or reed.

(Isaiah 19:15, Gileadi translation)

Now, we can expect the government and military to try all kinds of things to put out the fires.  But all their machinations will be ineffectual.

   The ministers of Zoan are utter fools;
   (sounds about right, no?)
   the wisest of Pharaoh's advisers
   give absurd counsel.

   Where are your wise men indeed?
   Let them please tell you,
   if they can discern it,
   what Jehovah of Hosts
   has in mind for Egypt!

(Isaiah 19:11-12)

On a personal note, I kept waiting during the COVID pandemic (remember that one? that transformed our society?) for a Captain Moroni to appear on the scene and raise a modern Title of Liberty.

   It didn't happen.

Unless you count this . . .

. . . So should we be waiting for One Mighty and Strong to come and save the day?

Will a modern-day Lachoneus come and spare us from the Gadianton Robbers?

One Mighty and Strong

Let's talk for a minute about the One Mighty and Strong.

You're either quite familiar with the One M&S, or you haven't heard of it at all.

We find a description of this being in D&C 85, which excerpts a letter Joseph Smith wrote in 1832 to W.W. Phelps. 

In it, Joseph records:

Yea, thus saith the still small voice, which whispereth through and pierceth all things, and often times it maketh my bones to quake while it maketh manifest, saying:

And it shall come to pass that I, the Lord God, will send one mighty and strong, holding the scepter of power in his hand, clothed with light for a covering, whose mouth shall utter words, eternal words; while his bowels shall be a fountain of truth, to set in order the house of God, and to arrange by lot the inheritances of the saints whose names are found, and the names of their fathers, and of their children, enrolled in the book of the law of God.

​(D&C 85:6-7)

From this passage, we learn that the One M&S will:

   1.  Be sent by the Lord God;
  
   2.  Hold a scepter of power;

   3.  Be clothed with light;

   4.  Have bowels filled with truth;

   5.  Set in order the house of God (because, you know, it's gotten so messy: empty pizza boxes strewn on the couch and half-drunk bottles of warm beer besides the TV and Doritos littering the carpet after some heavy partying); and

   6.  Arrange the inheritances of the saints.

Hmmm.  Who could this be?

A Little History on D&C 85

In 1831 church leaders began to move to Jackson County, Missouri to lay the economic and spiritual foundations for the Holy City of the New Jerusalem (see D&C 58:7).

First among those called was Edward Partridge, the first bishop of the Church.

In answer to his call, Partridge left his business in Painseville, Ohio (where missionaries had found him just a few months earlier) and moved to Missouri to devote himself entirely to building the Kingdom of God (see D&C 41).

Specifically, the Lord commissioned Partridge to receive the consecrated properties of the gathering saints and to assign inheritances to them sufficient for their needs, and then to use the surplus to buy more property and “administer to those who have not” (D&C 42:29-34). 

Among the other early converts called to Missouri to build Zion was William W. Phelps.  Phelps was a New Jersey native who converted in June 1831.

Prior to his conversion, Phelps had edited a newspaper in Canindaigua, New York.  As with Partridge, the Lord called Phelps to redirect his abilities to holier ends, “as a printer unto the church” (D&C 57:11).

Both men, along with others, were commanded to “be planted in the land of Zion, as speedily as can be, with their families, to do those things even as I have spoken.  And now concerning the gathering—Let the bishop and the agent make preparations for those families which have been commanded to come to this land, as soon as possible, and plant them in their inheritance” (D&C 57:14-15). 

Like Partridge, Phelps heeded the call and relocated to Independence, Missouri, along with other Latter-day Saints who began to zealously gather to Independence in anticipation of the impending Millennium.

Zealously, but not always sincerely, for some came with little or no intention of keeping the law of consecration.  For example, future apostle William McLellin forsook a mission call to get to Independence early to buy two lots on Main Street (you really gotta buy when the market's low, right?).

McLellin circumvented Bishop Partridge in order to personally profit from real estate appreciation.  

So on 27 November 1832, Joseph Smith wrote from Ohio to W.W. Phelps (who was in Independence), to answer the question that troubled Phelps and, presumably, other leaders in Zion:

"What shall become of those who are essaying to come up unto Zion, in order to keep the commandments of God, and yet receive not their inheritance by consecrations, by order of deed from the Bishop, the man that God has appointed in a legal way, agreeably to the law given to organize and regulate the Church."

(Joseph Smith Papers,  JS Letterbook 1, pp. 1–4; handwriting of JS and Frederick G. Williams; https://www.josephsmithpapers.org/paper-summary/letter-to-william-w-phelps-27-november-1832/1#source-note)

Isaiah Mentions One Mighty and Strong, Too?

It's interesting that we encounter this One M&S in Isaiah, too:

   My Lord has in store
   one mighty and strong:
   as a ravaging hailstorm
   sweeping down
   or like an inundating deluge
   of mighty waters,
   he will hurl them [the Ephraimites]
   to the ground by his hand.

(Isaiah 28:2)

Anyway, it appears this "hand" of the Lord is a person who is going to come as a Davidic Servant to deliver the repentant remnant of Israel from their enemies, described as a "hailstorm" and "flood."

That'll be exciting, won't it!