a prophet's reward

"Before we even consider the question of whether Joseph Smith was a true prophet or not, the uniqueness of his position deserves respectful attention. Because, true or false, he was the first man since the days of the Apostles to claim the things that real prophets claim. The modern prophets who excited the laughter and contempt of the world exactly as the ancient prophets shocked and amused the friends of Justin were the first men since ancient times to talk of what they had seen and heard in the presence of God and angels. What could they expect but a prophet's reward?"  (Hugh Nibley)

How will it be when none more saith "I saw"?

I've been reading The World and the Prophets by Hugh Nibley and I'd like to mention a few points in the first chapter that stood out to me.

In describing prophets, Nibley quotes Justin Martyr (also known as just Saint Justin, an early Christian apologist) that "they do not need training speech or skill in controversy and argument but only to keep themselves pure to receive the power of the Spirit of God, so that the divine plectrum can express itself through them as on the string of a lyre, making use of righteous men and revealing to them the knowledge of sacred and heavenly things."

The music analogy there, of the lyre, is what I wanted to make a special point of. Nibley goes on to explain that "holy men can receive God's revelations because they are in tune to the proper wavelength, so to speak. God can play on them as a plectrum plucks the strings of a lyre because they are prepared to vibrate to his touch -- not by virtue of any special training, and not whenever they choose to respond, but whenever it pleases God 'from time to time' to move them from heaven."

Now of course, this analogy can apply to us. We must be in tune to the spirit and prepared to respond to the touch of God in order to receive the personal revelation that he has for us. That is how he works with us to accomplish his will, for example:

1 Nephi 18:1And it came to pass that they did worship the Lord, and did go forth with me; and we did work timbers of curious workmanship. And the Lord did show me from time to time after what manner I should work the timbers of the ship.

And, like Nephi, from time to time the Lord will enlighten our understanding and inspire us to action "precept upon precept; line upon line; here a little, and there a little" (Isaiah 28:10). This individual and intimate communication with our Heavenly Father is critical for our spiritual development, but is not the same as the revelation that comes to a prophet.

As touched upon in my first two paragraphs, a prophet is not someone trained to speak or skilled in his ability to argue. Unlike philosophers and scholars who seek to understand by their own minds and argue by their own skill "it was not their [the prophets] wont to build up a case by formal argument, but simply to report the truth as reliable witnesses, without any disputation at all" as it is only by "revelation from outside" that man can "be freed from his fearful confinement within the narrow cell of his own limited experience" (Nibley but this bit is from Ch 2).

After all, the wisdom/understanding/abilities of any man are nothing in comparison with God, and for all our efforts, quite often completely miss the mark. God himself said "For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts" (Isaiah 55:9) so how can we ever hope to know the mind of God unless He gives it unto us? We can only know through partially through personal revelation (as just discussed) AND through faith in the revelation received by the prophets.

Without the gift of prophets -- "of direct revelation from heaven such as is received only by prophets" we "would be no better than the heathen -- well-meaning but bankrupt" (Nibley). Seeking to do the will of God yet without the power to access the fullness of His will, and thereby worshipping him "in vain" and (be in purposefully or unconsciously) resorting to "teaching for doctrines the commandments of men" (Matthew 15:9, Mark 7:7).

Paul taught of the purpose and importance of the witness of prophets and apostles over and over again in Ephesians. He explained that they were given "For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ: Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ"  (Ephesians 4:11-13). There is an edification, unification, and perfection of the Saints that can only be perpetuated through a prophet -- and this is because the body of the saints is "built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone" (Ephesians 2:20) and there are revelations made known only prophets that we may hear from them and through our faith understand:

Ephesians 3
3 How that by revelation he made known unto me the mystery; (as I wrote afore in few words, 4 Whereby, when ye read, ye may understand my knowledge in the mystery of Christ) 5 Which in other ages was not made known unto the sons of men, as it is now revealed unto his holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit; 

The Jews had difficulty accepting this, as do many today. "God had visited the earth in remote times; he had spoken to Abraham and to Moses. Venerable traditions burdened with a magnificent weight of art, poetry, scholarship, and ritual attested the sincere devotion of the race to the memory of God's visits to men in times past. But to ask men to believe that that same God had spoken in their own day, and to a plain man who walked their streets—that was simply too much to take! That was the test that Christ's generation could not pass.

It was a test that few have ever passed: the humiliating test of recognizing a true prophet and taking instruction from the weak and humble things of the earth" (Nibley).

I add my witness that our age has NOT been "excused from taking the same test of authority" and that God HAS called prophets and they do speak to us words from heaven that we would do well to listen and obey (Nibley). It may be "unwelcome news to the world" that "the true church must and will always have living prophets" (Nibley) but it is nonetheless the case -- and I for one am grateful for divine precepts and direction that come from God through his appointed spokesmen, and address the needs of the saints in this day, in our complicated and increasingly wicked world.

thanksgiving

Thou gracious God, whose mercy lends

Thou gracious God, whose mercy lends
the light of home, the smile of friends,
our gathered flock thine arms enfold
as in the peaceful days of old.

Wilt thou not hear us while we raise
in sweet accord of solemn praise
the voices that have mingled long
in joyous flow of mirth and song?

For all the blessings life has brought,
for all its sorrowing hours have taught,
for all we mourn, for all we keep,
the hands we clasp, the loved that sleep.

The noontide sunshine of the past,
these brief, bright moments fading fast,
the stars that gild our darkening years,
the twilight ray from holier spheres.

We thank thee, Father; let thy grace
our loving circle still embrace,
thy mercy shed its heavenly store,
thy peace be with us evermore.

--Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr., 1869

Adam and Eve

In an article about the divine nature and destiny of women, Glenn L. Pace states "I’d like to share a perspective from John Milton’s Paradise Lost that fully resonates with my soul." As I was reading what he shared it also resonated with me, (especially after reading a comment from a friend on a different post) so I wanted to share it here with you:

 Milton describes the beauty of the Garden and the variety of animals. In his account, Adam watches the interplay between the animals and communicates with them as best he can. However, Adam concludes something is drastically amiss. Milton wrote: 


They rejoice 
Each with their kind, lion with lioness; 
So fitly them in pairs thou hast combin’d; 
Much less can bird with beast, or fish with fowl 
So well converse, nor with the ox the ape; 
Worse then can man with beast, and least of all. 


In other words, Adam is saying, “What’s wrong with this picture?” Milton goes on to suggest that God delayed the introduction of Eve until Adam could fully appreciate her. Seeing that Adam is now ready for the introduction of Eve, God describes what is going to happen next. I love Milton’s description of what Eve would mean to Adam: 

What next I bring shall please thee, be assur’d, 
Thy likeness, thy fit help, thy other self, 
Thy wish exactly to thy heart’s desire. 

“Thy fit help”? No, this doesn’t mean she would be in good shape. It means she would be a match, a complement, a counterpart, even his “other self.” Finally, Eve stood before him, and she exceeded his highest expectations. He had never seen anything like her in the garden. Milton continues: 

Under his forming hands a creature grew, 
Manlike, but different sex, so lovely fair, 
That what seem’d fair in all the world, seem’d now 
Mean, or in her summ’d up, in her contain’d, 
And in her looks, which from that time infus’d 
Sweetness into my heart, unfelt before. 


I hope Milton will forgive me for adding my opinion that the “sweetness” Adam felt, which was “unfelt before,” was much more than that which was generated by Eve’s physical appearance. Those feelings flowing into him had as their source her wellspring. His feelings were the direct result of standing in front of one of the daughters of heavenly parents who had a divine nature different from, but complementary to, his own divine nature.

 I think God also does the same for each of us, delaying our introduction to our "fit help" until we are each prepared to fully appreciate the other. I believe that in that moment we will each experience that same sweetness and complimentary power.

the signs of the coming of the Song of Man

We read this quote in institute:

"There will be wars and rumors of wars, signs in the heavens above and on the earth beneath, the sun turned into darkness and the moon to blood, earthquakes in divers places, the seas heaving themselves beyond their bounds; then will appear one grand sign of the Son of Man in heaven. But what will the world do? They will say it is a planet, a comet, etc. But the Son of Man will come as the sign of the coming of the Son of Man, which will be as the light of the morning cometh out of the east (Teachings, 286-287)."  

"When the sign is given however it will be known to and identified by the prophet of God on earth" (Teachings, 279-280) 

And we briefly discussed what the sign might be and ultimately decided that whatever it is, will be BIG and, to anyone who is looking for it, obviously IT (though it won't hurt that the Saints will also have it pointed out by the prophet!).

And of course I couldn't help but start thinking about those prophecies of the last days, and how ALL of them are happening... the signs have ALL started -- and not only started but increased!

SOURCE

Isaiah 24:20
The earth shall reel to and fro like a drunkard, and shall be removed like a cottage; and the transgression thereof shall be heavy upon it; and it shall fall, and not rise again.

how about all those recent earthquakes? (the chart to the left was published in april of this year so that number may be higher...)

Doctrine and Covenants 88:90
And also cometh the testimony of the voice of thunderings, and the voice of lightnings, and the voice of tempests, and the voice of the waves of the sea heaving themselves beyond their bounds.

SOURCE

Tsunamis having been making the news a lot lately too. the chart to the right seems to indicate consistent increase.

An article by NOAA scientists stated it the abstract that "Analysis of the database revealed that while the total number of magnitude 7.5 earthquakes per decade since 1901 has remained consistent, the last decade has experienced some of the most devastating geologic events in history." 

But back to that one grand sign of the coming of the Song of Man... It's hard not to wonder every time I read about an approaching comet or planetary intrigue if this is going to be IT... it certain puts Matthew 24 into perspective, especially versus 46-48:

46 And what I say unto one, I say unto all men; watch, therefore, for you know not at what hour your Lord doth come.
47 But know this, if the good man of the house had known in what watch the thief would come, he would have watched, and would not have suffered his house to have been broken up, but would have been ready.
48 Therefore be ye also ready, for in such an hour as ye think not, the Son of Man cometh.

My witness

I have sacrificed to be sanctified. 

D&C 101
3 Yet I will own them, and they shall be mine in that day when I shall
come to make up my jewels.
4 Therefore, they must needs be chastened and tried, even as Abraham,
who was commanded to offer up his only son.
5 For all those who will not endure chastening, but deny me, cannot be
sanctified.

a Chronicles of Narnia quote

This is one of my favorite quotes, from the mouse who is trying to get to the king's country (very applicable to us...)

"My own plans are made. While I can, I sail east in the Dawn Treader. When she fails me, I paddle east in my coracle. When she sinks, I shall swim east with my four paws. And when I can swim no longer, if I have not reached Aslan's country, or shot over the edge of the world in some vast cataract, I shall sink with my nose to the sunrise..."