[Music] Hey everybody, welcome to Talking Scripture, a podcast where we illustrate relevance and application of the scriptures in Come Follow Me. We also dive into the history and cultures of the text. Thanks for taking the time to share and subscribe to this podcast. For show notes, head over to our website talkingscripture.org. [Music] Welcome to Talking Scripture. I'm Mike. And I'm Bryce. And today we're going to be in section 41-44. There is some excellent material in here and I'm going to talk a little bit about the human interest side of it. Who are the people that
are involved in these revelations in this time period in church history? And Bryce is going to lay out what is the Lord saying in these sections. Yeah. I'm going to take you all the way back to section 28 where the Lord calls Oliver Cry on a mission to the Lammonites. Now, clearly to go west to the Lammonites, he's going to go around the big lakes which is going to put him in the Ohio area. And then with the conversion of Sydney Rigdon, we've got this massive group of people in Kirtland, Ohio. Now in section 37,
the Lord says, "Go to the Ohio." He intended that to be a church headquarter because some things were happening in New York. But then in section 38, the Lord said, "Go to the Ohio and there I will give you my law." He's been holding off until they had an established group and they're in a place. So now we get to this week's first section which is 41. And again it's back on that idea. Assemble yourselves together verse two. That you may receive my law. So the Lord is making a big deal of this. And I
worry that section 42 gets lost among all the other sections of the Doctrine of Covenants. Sometimes we think it's just another section. But this is a big deal. You can hear the Lord making it a big deal by saying go to the Ohio. I'm going to give you my law. Section 41 verse4 he says, "And I will be your ruler and I will come and I'll come quickly and he shall see that my law is kept." So again, a reference to the law. So then we get to section 42. In the section heading, the last
sentence, the prophet specifies this revelation as embracing The law of the church. And so I would just shout from the rooftops, the church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has been given a modern-day law. It's as if Joseph Smith went up to Sinai and comes down with our own tablets for today, unique for our day, our circumstances. So this section 42 is a big one. I don't want to suggest that there are unimportant sections, but there are sections that are more important than others. And this is one Of those. This is the law of the
church. Now, it begins with a lot of before I give you the law, let me talk to the missionaries. I command you to go forth. I command you to preach my gospel. So, notice he says in verse six, go forth in the power of my spirit preaching my gospel two by two. Baptize them in water. Um then specifically speaking to the teachers of the church, he says in verse 12, "Teach the principles of the gospel which are found in the Bible and The Book of Mormon." Verse 13, live the gospel if you're going to teach
it. Observe the covenants and church articles to do them. And then verse 14, you have to teach by the spirit. The spirit shall be given unto you by the prayer of faith. And if you receive not the spirit, ye shall not teach. Now, there's a whole lot of thou shalt not in this. Now, we haven't begun the churchwide here is the law. These are kind of the law to the missionaries. And So, I think that's a great summary for those of us who teach in the church. Then in verse 18, everything shifts. Now, I speak
unto the church. Now the Lord speaks to his people in the latter days. Starting in verse 18, I speak unto the church. Now I you could probably number this differently. Forgive me, but I really like finding the pattern of the Old Testament ten commandments. I have found 10 thou shalts. Some of them are thou shalt not And some of them are thou shalt do. And so let me present what I would like to call the ten modern-day commandments. Now the first three are almost word for word right out of the old ten commandments. Kind of
continuing that same idea. The first one is in verse 18. Thou shalt not kill. Two members of the church. And I think that's an important clarification. Thou shalt not kill. And if you kill, you shall not have forgiveness in this World or in the world to come. There's a lot about murder that we don't fully understand. When is it forgivable? When is it not forgivable? I think that's a question for other people to answer. I take it that murder is a big deal. Notice how we come into the world and how we go out of
the world really draws a lot of attention from the Lord. And we need to partner with him in both of those. So don't kill. I really like that, Bryce, that you acknowledge that You're in the space of, you know, I'm not really sure. I don't know how we look at this. I'm in that space as well because right after Moses gets that command, if you read Exodus, there's all these narratives where there's these rebellions and sometimes Moses kills him and then you have this guy named Elijah who's kind of a big deal in the Old
Testament and he has the contest with the prophets of Baal and there's some killing going on there. So I look at This as obviously I'm not advocating killing. I'm not a fan of killing. So but I look at verse 18 and I just say it's not for me Mike day to judge. I'm not going to cast that judgment. I'm going to leave that to the Lord and I'm with you. I'm going to be in that space of there's probably a lot more the Lord could say. Yeah. So we don't know who gets to repent of
murder. But let's be clear. Commandment number one to the church is thou shalt not kill. Now Commandment number two is verse 20. Another repeat from the ten commandments. Thou shalt not steal. Commandment number three is verse 21. Thou shalt not lie. Now, I like that a whole lot better than thou shalt not bear false witness. This one just comes out and speaks in our vernacular, our time period. Don't lie. Not only in the things you say, but the things that you don't say. Thou shalt not lie. Don't kill. Don't steal. And don't lie. And Now
I love how the Lord shifts this. In the Ten Commandments in the Old Testament, he would have said, 'D don't commit adultery. And I think the negative is fine. It is a very serious act. But I love that in the modern day commandments, in the law of our day, it is written very positively in he does say in verse 24, don't commit adultery. But I love our modern law. Verse 22, commandment number four, thou Shalt love thy wife with all thy heart, and shalt cleave unto her and to none else. President Kimell said, "The same
thing could be said of the other spouse. Thou shalt love thy husband with all thy heart, and shalt cleave unto him and unto none else." I love that language. And Latter-day Saints need to be known by these commandments. They are they need to be our identity. One of the things that must represent us to the world is how Deeply we love our spouses, how much we are committed to them, how we cleave unto them and unto none else. I love the positive language here because you remember when Jesus summarized the two great commandments, he distinguished
the type of love we have for the two different groups. He says, "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart." But everyone else, he doesn't Elevate to that level of love. Everyone else we love as we love ourselves. Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. But God I love with all my heart except for one human being. And here in our modern-day law, the the Lord elevates one human being up to that upper level in that we are to love with all of our heart. The two people I am commanded to love
with all my heart. No sharing of my heart, no dividing are heavenly father And the savior. Let's put them together. God and my spouse. That is the modern- day law. Thou shalt love thy wife or thy husband with all thy heart. Commandment number four. It does talk about repenting of sexual transgressions. We'll leave that for another day. Now, we start a new list. These ones are not on Moses's list in Sinai. These are the ones that we have been commanded because of the circumstances of our day and the Challenges that we face. The Lord is
handpicking these particular commandments that we need to obey. Commandment number 5 27. Thou shalt not speak evil of thy neighbor nor do him any harm. I think we need to repeat that one. We need to talk about that. Thou shalt not speak evil of thy neighbor nor do him any harm. And I think the emphasis here is on that last part. Don't do any any harm. Some of us have Interpreted this that you can't say something about someone else that's negative. But in the spirit of the Book of Mormon where Moroni says, "Condemn me not
for mine imperfections, neither my father for his imperfections." And then he says, "Rather give thanks unto God that he hath made manifest unto you our imperfections, that ye may learn to be more wise than we have been." I think we can have conversations about other people's mistakes and what we've learned That we can be more wise. Joseph didn't hide the loss of the 116 pages or the manuscript from the church. It's out there. Talk about him. The Lord Joseph is saying talk about my mistake so that you can learn from. I think that's very different
than thou shalt not speak evil of thy neighbor and do him any harm. Not in conversations behind his or her back, not in person. Thou shalt not speak evil of thy neighbor, nor do him any Harm. Okay. Commandment number six is kind of a positive. And I love that we bring in this from the last supper. Commandment number six, I have in verse 29. If thou lovest me, thou shalt serve me and keep all my commandments. Now we shift. Now we get to a major commandment for Latter-day Saints. And this is going to ring in
the ears of everyone who's been to the temple. Now we focus on the command to take care of the Poor. And that will dominate the Doctrine Covenants. This is where the Lord puts the church under command to obey consecration. So allow a little side note. Don't get distracted. We'll come back to the 10 the modern day commandments. I refer to them the modern day 10, but you may read section 42 and come up with 20. You may list them different. This is just Bryce Dunford's listing of them. So we'll get back to those. We're going
to do a Little side note on consecration. So, for the next 10 or so verses, we're going to focus on the law of consecration. But let's hear the commandment. Commandment number seven on my list is verse 30. Thou wilt remember the poor and consecrate of thy properties for their support. So even if we don't live the fullness of the law of consecration or the United Order or whatever system the Lord is going to give us Someday, I am still under command to remember the poor and consecrate what I have to their benefit. So not only
do I pay my tithing, not only do I pay my fast offerings, but I serve in the church. uh we do what we can do to bless the people who are in need whether that's spiritual need or physical need or whatever. I am still supposed to consecrate and give to the poor. And I think sometimes we think about money but what if it's time or what if it's just Your talent? There's so much and so many things that people need and I think organized religion and organized love and the Lord puts us in families because
as a father that's my job to consecrate everything for my children for my family and so it's in families but then on a bigger scale it's the church and then if we get even bigger it's it's the world I love this quotation from Russell Ballard speaking of consecration in a or normal everyday Life he said members ers today have been blessed greatly to have some of our financial burdens lifted. Faithful payment of tithes that are administered carefully now provides funds for constructing our buildings, paying for utilities, and meeting many obligations that formerly necessitated additional contributions.
We must realize that decreasing these needs for financial contributions gives birth to enlarged opportunities for us to live a higher Law. By this I mean that on our own initiative we can find ways to extend oursel in helping others and contributing to the building of the Lord's kingdom. The Lord has instructed us that we should be anxiously engaged in a good cause and do many things of our own free will and bring to pass much righteousness. For the power is in us wherein we may be agents to ourselves. So find a way to bless other
people. It doesn't necessarily have to be Officially done through the church, but we are to consecrate. We are to remember the poor and consecrate our possessions, our time, our talents, our abilities to bless other people. Now, speaking specifically of how consecration is going to work, I want to take a minute because I think there is a major misunderstanding of what's ahead. Consecration comes in three steps. At least the fullness of living it will come in three steps. Now notice verse 31 Is step number one is that is where I lay before the bishop of the
church all that I offer the Lord. So yes, I do offer the Lord everything that I have. I'm going to give the Lord my house. I'm going to give the Lord my cars, my possessions. Everything that I possess, I give to the Lord. But that's only step number one. Once the bishop certifies my consecration, look at verse 32. Step number two, every man shall be made accountable unto me, a steward over his Own property or that which he has received by consecration. So people don't realize that step two under the law of consecration is that
I receive back a stewardship. So I gave the Lord a house. So where am I going to live? Where is the Dunford family and my children going to live? Well, the church is going to give me back a house as a stewardship. I will probably receive a business to run or something to do. So, It's not all give to the church and we're done. It's give what we have to the church and then receive back from the church what we need. Some may give more than they receive, but others will give less and receive more.
Everyone will receive what they need. So, I've consecrated. I've received a stewardship. Now, how do I live for the rest of my life? Do I continually consecrate again and again and again? That would be a mess if I'm Constantly giving my house to the church and then receiving a house from the church. So, step three of consecration is verse 33. If there shall be properties in the hands of the church or in any individual of it more than is necessary for their support after this first consecration. So I keep everything that I need. But if
I happen to have more, that is what I now give to the Church. I give my surplus which is a residue to be consecrated unto the bishop. It shall be kept to administer to those who have not from time to time that every man who has need may be amply supplied and received according to his wants. In 55 it says, "If thou obtainest more than that which be for thy support, thou shalt give it unto my storehouse." So that's how life under consecration works and it is a blessing to everyone. Suppose the Dunford family doesn't
fit in our house. Suppose our house is smaller than it really needs to be. And so I consecrate my house to the Lord and I give it to the church and the church says, "Oh, bless your hearts, but you need a bigger house." And so as a stewardship, they give me back a house that fits my needs. And they'll probably give me a business to run and to take care of. And my job is I'm going to run that business to the very best of my Ability. and I will take the profits from that business
and I will supply for my needs. I will buy the food that we need and the things that we need for our lives. But if I ever get more than I need, that goes back to the church. So if it's more than 10%, I give it all to the church. If it's 1%, I give it to the church. But like we said in our previous podcast, it requires that all of us live that inner law regarding how I feel about other people and how I feel about My possessions. I might add there's another driving force
and that's we all have to do our part. We all have to contribute. I really like that. In verse 42 it says, "Thou shalt not be idol for he that is idol shall not eat the bread nor wear the garment of the laborer." And to me, the way I read that is this whole system works because we have a a body of energetic saints that love the Lord. They they love each other. They're bound together in love and they all Contribute. And I think the adversary seeing this system has devised a contrary one that's opposed
to this. It's built on force and coercion. And there are some countries that work through this. And it was really a struggle because some people had this like learned hopelessness where they thought, well, what's the point of even working hard? And and then they didn't. And then the it kind of the whole boat sinks. Everybody in the boat sinks cuz We're all poor together. And this system to me, I see the Lord saying, "No, let's all be wealthy." Look what he says in the middle of verse 39. I'll consecrate the riches of those who embrace
my gospel. The Lord wants his people to be purposeful, mindful, and to have substance. And what Mike just said is going to be one of the ten commandments. Dang it. Let's get to that because number seven won't work without number nine. We all have to work. We all have To give. We're all in. Yeah. And if we're all in, then no one goes to bed hungry tonight. Look at verse at the end of verse 33. It's not just needs. Notice it says, "It shall be kept to administer to those who have not from time to
time that every man who has need may be amply supplied and receive according to his wants." Consecration doesn't give us a bare minimum level. But back to section 38, it takes an Attitude in order for it to work. So commandment number seven is all of that from verse 30 through verse 39 about consecration. Now commandment 8, I think this is also related to consecration and why some of us would be unwilling to consecrate. But man is this an applicable law for the church today. Verse 40 again, thou shalt not be proud in thy heart. modern
day commandment. I love how straightforward The Lord is here. I think it fits after he teaches consecration. I need to not see myself as better than other people. Do you remember back in Jacob chapter 2, one of the most beautiful verses that defines pride? Pride begins when I have more of something than someone else. And that comparison begins. And then Jacob says, "Because you have more, you suppose that you are better than they and you persecute Them." And here is the commandment. Don't thou shalt not be proud in thy heart. Do not think you're better
because you have something that someone else does. It's the comparison that makes us proud. It's also that comparison and that pride that keeps us from taking care of the poor. So, commandment number eight. Now, we get to the number nine that Mike was referring to. The only way this whole system works, verse 42, thou shalt not Be idol. For he that is idol shall not eat the bread nor wear the garments of the laborer. Everyone has to contribute. Everyone has to work. The way this system works is we all give to the Lord all that
we have and we all work as hard as we can, but our heart is set on blessing the poor, blessing those who are who are in need. So, thou shalt not be idol. Now, the last one I want to point out, I love commandment number 10 Because to me, this commandment should embody who we are as a people and what the world sees when they see us. Verse 45, thou shalt live together in love. In so much that thou shalt weep for the loss of them that die. Absolutely beautifully stated. One thing that should embody
the Latter-day Saints. One thing that should simply be our mark to the world, our identity to the world is that we live together in Love. And that we weep for the loss of them that die. And especially, more especially for those who have not the hope of a glorious resurrection. Rather than hating them, rather than persecuting them, rather than fighting against them, we should love them to the point that we weep when they die. That's the kind of people we need to be. Let us love our spouses with all of our heart and not be
proud and not speak evil of our neighbor and work and Remember the poor. These are the commandments that should represent these. They should speak volumes to the world of who the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is. They live together in love. All right, that's the law. Now, there's a whole lot more and the whole latter part of this really is church discipline and how church officials need to make sure that the church is kept pure. I love some of the principles that The Lord's going to point out. For example, if you verse 90,
if you offend publicly, you need to be chasened publicly. If you offend in secret, that's 90 through92. If you offend in secret, you should be rebuked in secret. There's a great principle there. 88. If if your brother offend thee, before you go running to the church for church discipline to be taken, go talk to them. See if you can resolve it between the two of you. do what you can to fix it Before you involve the church. But you'll notice this whole latter half is just kind of summary and tweaking. 74 and 75 he talks
about adultery. 79 he talks about killing. There's a little bit of foreshadowing there in 75 and 76. Um to me I see John C. Bennett. Yes. Like if somebody shows up and they actually left their spouse and you find out that they're seeking to commit adultery, I love the end of verse 75. Cast them out. It's almost like the Lord's preparing him for John C. Bennett there. Yes. Yeah. Look at verse 48. There seems to be a hint here that we are appointed a time to die. Notice he talks about getting healings and having the
elders come in and uh having the ordinance performed. And then in se in verse 48, he says, "It shall come to pass that he that hath faith in me to be healed." So I'm sick and I have faith to be healed but I am not appointed unto Death shall be healed. But the implication in that is if I have faith to be healed but I am appointed to die, I'm not going to be healed because the Lord has appointed this is my time. And that seems to suggest there is a time to die. Now, President
Kimell gave a marvelous talk called tragedy or destiny. We'll link it and he talked about he quotes that verse and he says, "Yes, there is a time to die, but we can hasten our early death Through our carelessness." Um, but I like that idea and it's kind of confirmed in the scriptures. If you'll turn to section 122, when Joseph Smith is was in Liberty Jail, I suspect he thought they were going to kill him. They poisoned him one time. They starved him and poisoned him and he knew he was eating the poison and he threw
up so violently that his jaw gets thrown out of socket. I think Joseph thought he was going to die. And Then the Lord says to him in a beautiful reminder, verse 7, all these things shall be for thy good. And then in verse 9, notice what he says, hold on thy way. The priesthood shall remain with thee. Their bounds are set. They cannot pass. Joseph, this isn't your time. You're not appointed to die. Therefore, their bounds are set and they cannot pass. So that's an interesting thought that sometimes I Give a blessing to someone and
even though I have all the faith in the world and they have all the faith in the world, if they are appointed to die, they need to go because Heavenly Father knows what is best. Um, now I'll just let you wrestle with that thought, but I'd recommend again you read President Kimell's comments about tragedy or destiny and and how he kind of wrestles with that concept. But I love the thought that the Lord is in charge and he knows how long I need to spend on this earth and that there is a time where I
have fulfilled that time and that when that time comes I will be appointed to die and if I get a blessing and I have faith to be healed I probably won't be healed because it is my time to pass away. Um that's kind of section 42. Just some other interesting thoughts. Verse 64 has to be a reference to the civil war. I just see the wisdom of the Lord. He says, "Hey, start preaching. Go ahead and preach. Preach to everyone. Preach to the west and preach to the east." And then he says in verse 64,
"If you go to the east and you preach, send them out west. Let them flee out west. And this in consequence of that which is coming on the earth." Tell me he's not referring to the civil war. Even calls it out. He calls it secret combinations and says, "Yeah, if you go to the east, send people to the west because the Lord's going to keep his people safe in the west while the rest of the United States has turned on each other and trying to destroy each other." So, the Lord clearly sees the end from
the beginning and is trying to keep us safe. I love these commandments. Section 42 is more than just an ordinary section that let's go on to section 43. Section 43 can be pushed to an extreme and used to offend. So let's be careful. Let's Hear what the Lord is trying to say and keep it balanced. Joseph gives this introduction to section 43 in the history of the church. Soon after the foregoing revelation was received, a woman came making great pretensions of receiving commandments, laws, and other curious matters. And as almost every person has advocates for
both theory and practice in the various notions and projects of the age, it became necessary to inquire Of the Lord when I received the following. And the following was section 43. In other words, there are always advocates in theory and practice for the age. Boy, human beings kind of get into a cause and they are advocates for that cause and they scream and they yell and they shout and sometimes we jump onto the bandwagon and join the cause. Sometimes it's happening and we don't even know it's happening. Right? Sometimes we wonder, well, where are the
Where's the prophet? Where are the leaders of the church? Why aren't they tooting this same horn? This is an important cause. There are so many advocates for the age that come and go. That's the setting here of section 43. I'm going to take what you just said, that advocates for the age. I'm going to put that in my scriptures because if you put that in there in the context of 43, it pops. Yeah. Okay. So with that setting, let's Go into section 43. And the Lord is saying, now remember people, I'm not saying that these
causes are evil and that we should avoid them. But we need to do is we need to understand the voices that shout out for the causes and the voices that speak for the Lord. So in verse one he says there is none other appointed unto you to receive commandments and revelations until he be taken if he abide in me. That was verse three. Verse Four. None else shall be appointed unto this gift except it be through him. Verse 5. This is the law unto you that you receive not the teachings of any that shall come
before you as revelations or commandments because verse six, they are not of me. They may espouse a good cause and they may not be evil. But if you really want to draw a line and say, "Where would the Lord have me put my time and My effort and my energy?" I for one want to take the my marching orders from his authorized servant. And there is none other than the president of the church, the one who holds the keys, who has that mouthpiece that is allowed to say, "This is the cause the Lord wants you
to be involved in." He speaks for the Lord. And I need to be very careful not to receive anyone else's Teachings as revelation or commandment. Doesn't mean I can't get involved in a cause, especially one I think is worthy. But I need to distinguish between the cause and the call of God. And so verse seven, verily I say unto you that he that is ordained of me shall come in at the gate and be ordained as I have told you before to teach those revelations which you have received and shall receive through him whom I
have appointed. In other words, God comes Through the front door. He doesn't sneak up behind you and say, "Hey, I have authority. You should follow me." His servants come in the front door. doesn't mean the others aren't. You know, he he unless the prophet says avoid them, he's saying you can choose to be part of them, but understand the difference between an advocate for an age and a prophet. Verse 12, if ye desire the glories of the kingdom, appoint ye my Servant Joseph Smith Jr., and uphold him before me by the prayer of your faith.
If you want to join a cause that you think is worthy, join a cause. But know the difference between causes and profits. And then sometimes the advocates will scream at the prophet and say, "If you don't sign up for our cause, then you must not be inspired." And I think what the Lord is trying to say is he's setting this in order. And it's interesting that this isn't the Only place this comes up. I we have this on Hyram Page over and over again. Even in section 20 and 21, the Lord is saying there's order
to the church. I love that when we have a state conference, when you have a shift in leadership, everybody knows and there's not some kind of a secret agenda or this secret thing going on. It's all like you said coming through the front door. Coming through the front door. I like that brace older. I get the I mean obviously I'm not going to refer to them specifically but the more I'm thinking about as you're talking about these advocates for the age and you kind of get older you start looking and saying you know every few
years there's this new thing that we've got to be doing and they're printing this new t-shirt and this new bumper sticker and you look at it and you kind of look in the past and you see some of these causes and they're just not always what you think. I'll Just say that. Yeah. And it's even in the church. I I've received emails numerous times from people saying, "Hey, I heard the prophet told his daughter to you better have food storage this year cuz something's coming." Or, you know, hints that the the the the prophets and
the apostles are secretly telling their family this and they're not telling the church. Wrong. The Lord comes in the front door. Now, speaking of which, we need to Go back to the idea that the earth is going to change. Going back to section 29, the earth is going to change and everything that is not changing with it. Everything that remains celestial has to be destroyed. And the Lord is trying to wave the arms and say, "Are you listening? Are you listening to the prophets and their messages? Are you listening to the scriptures?" Because verse 17,
the great day of the Lord is nigh at hand. Verse 18, the Lord Shall utter his voice out of heaven. He's going to scream. He's going to yell. He's going to get loud. He's trying to save those who are going to be destroyed if they don't change. So verse 20, you need to help him. Lift up your voices and spare not. Call upon the nations to repent, both old and young, both bond and free, saying, "Prepare yourselves for the great day of the Lord." Now listen to what he's about to say. God is not the
only one speaking and trying to prepare us for the great day of the Lord. I love 21 and 22. For if I who am a man do lift up my voice and call upon you to repent and ye hate me, what will you say when the day cometh when the thunder shall utter their voices from the ends of the earth, speaking to the ears of all that live, saying, What does thunder say? And it sounds like thunder will say it louder and louder as we get closer. Thunder Will say, "Repent and prepare for the great
day of the Lord." And again, when the lightning shall streak forth from the east to the west, and shall utter forth their voices unto all that live, and make the ears of all tingle that hear, saying these words, "Repent, for the great day of the Lord has come." The thunder and the lightning are trying to help Heavenly Father's children know That destruction is coming if they don't change. And then what are some of the other voices? He says in verse 24, "Oh you nations of the earth, how often I would have gathered you as a
hen gatherth her chicks under her wings, but you would not. How often you by the mouth of my servants?" That's where he starts. voice number one by the ministering of angels. Voice number two by my own voice. And then What are some of the other voices he utters that are trying to get us to listen? The voice of thunderings, the voice of lightnings, the voice of tempests, the voice of earthquakes, the voice of hail storms, the voice of famines and pestilence of every kind. and by the great sound of a trump and by the voice
of judgment and the voice of mercy all the day long and by the voice of glory and honor. He has been speaking and speaking loudly to try and save Those who cannot dwell on a terrestrial earth during the millennium. And yet there are many for which he's going to say at the end of verse 25, I would have saved you with an everlasting salvation, but ye would not. So he commands us to preach and prepare and to live righteously. And then verse 34, treasure these things in your hearts and let the somnities of eternity rest
upon your Minds. Prepare for what's coming. Now before we end 43, I really want to take you back to 8 and 9. We have this great nugget in verses eight and nine as to why we go to church. And I've heard it a thousand times. I've heard it from my own children. I've heard it from my students. I've heard it from friends. I get nothing out of church. People will say, "Ah, I don't want to go to young women's or I don't want to go to young men's or I hate Sunday school. I get nothing
out of it." And I love to read them. Section 43 8 and 9. This is why we go to church. Starting in verse eight, when you are assembled together, you shall instruct and edify each other that you may know how to act and direct my church, how to act upon the points of my law and commandments which I have given. Thus you shall be in become instructed in the law of my church and be sanctified by that which you have Received. Now what's your job? I go to be taught how to act. I go to
church to be instructed and edified and shown how to act in his church, how to act upon the points of his law. And then before I go home, end of verse 9, I bind myself to act. I go to church to be reminded what I'm supposed to do better. So I promise my children, I promise everyone, if you go to church, you will hear something That you need to work on. So then bind yourself to work on it. Promise the Lord that you're going to get better at that. And the Lord's going to grant you
some time to do that, but bind yourself to do it better. That's what church is about. That kind of brings us to the end of section 43. Now 44 again it's assemble and some of the reasons why we assemble verse one he says the elders should assemble and then verse two that so why do we Assemble verse two so the lord can pour out his part spirit upon us and then I love verse five we get together so that our enemies may not have power over us that we may be preserved in all things and
enabled to keep the laws. I love that. Enabled. We get together to give us power to keep the law. And every bond may be broken wherewith the enemy seeketh to destroy my people. We need to assemble. We need to get together, be instructed, and bind oursel to act in Holiness so that we can be preserved in all things. I really love the Whitneys and the Partridges. I love how much they cared for the prophet Joseph Smith. My heart just goes out to all that the Partridges and the Whitneys go through. And so Mike is going
to talk about their history, their contribution, the beauty of their example as people who lived their to the best of their ability the religion I'm Trying to live. I love hearing their stories. So if you go to section 41, we read that in February of 1831, Joseph Smith is given this revelation and he's in Ohio. So Joseph Smith arrives with Emma in the latter part of January 1831 and he's in company with Sydney Rigdon and Edward Partridge. We talked about this last podcast where they went out east to talk to Joseph. Well, they're coming back
to Ohio. And Joseph Says, "I started with my wife for Kirtland where we arrived about the 1st of February." And then he says, "We were kindly received and welcomed into the house of brother New K. Whitney. My wife and I lived in the family of Brother Whitney for several weeks and received every kindness and attention which could be expected, especially from Sister Whitney." So, the Whitneys and the Partridges, they're going to be big players in church history. And so I want To talk a little bit just about who they are. Elizabeth Anne Whitney was born
in 1800 on the day after Christmas. When she's 19 years old, so before she ever meets New K. Whitney, her aunt Sarah, she comes to her and Sarah is pretty wealthy and she comes to her and says, "I want to take you out west." And so they leave the eastern states and they go to Ohio. Sister Whitney writes in her journal, she says it may it may as well have been going to Like China or Japan. But she's so daring and she does she goes out west and when she's uh in her 20s, she says,
"In my 21st year, I became acquainted with a young man from Vermont and his name is New K. Whitney." And she says, "Who like myself had left home and relatives and was determined to carve out a fortune for himself." And so he does. He becomes a trader of furs and they build a marriage. They build a life. She says, "We prospered in all of our efforts to Accumulate wealth. So much so that even among our friends, it came to be remarked that nothing that new ever touched got lost on the lake and no product of
his exportation was ever low in the market." She is 30 when she's introduced to the gospel. and um they became associated with the Campbellites in Ohio and they were religious and they they're kind of this group of people that are like seeking they're waiting for something more and as seekers they Don't deny the spirit but according to historical sources uh the group that they were in denied that it had the power to give the gift of the Holy Ghost. They they were seeking this but they didn't necessarily think that they had the power to give
it. And so they had some questions about religion. And during this time period before they meet Joseph, they pray to know the will of the Lord. And this is a really cool story in church history where we read That new K. Whitney and his wife are praying to receive the voice of the Lord or to receive his will as it were. And they literally hear a response in their prayer. And it's told them, "Prepare to receive the word of the Lord for it is coming." And it does. They meet Joseph and when he comes, the
spirit bears witness to them that that is the message that that the restoration and the gospel and the Book of Mormon and Joseph Smith coming to them is the answer to their Prayer. So when Joseph Smith arrives in Ohio, he comes back with Sydney Rigdon, he comes back with uh Edward Partridge, he walks into New K. Whitney's store and it's right around February 1st, 1831 when he arrives and he walks right in and he says, "N Whitney, thou art the man." And New K Whitney says, "You have the advantage of me. You know my name,
but well, I don't know your name." And Joseph says, "I'm Joseph Smith, a prophet, and you've prayed me Here. Now, what do you want of me?" And that's a that's a great story. And Elizabeth wrote in her journal, she said,"I remarked to my husband that this was the fulfillment of the vision that we had had." And then she says that we had seen a cloud as of glory resting upon our house. And so I really like that story to kind of give context as to who the Whitneys are, that they're prayerful, that they're mindful, that
they listen to the spirit. So who was New K. Whitney? New K. Whitney, he was born in 1795. when he was 19, he was involved in merchandising in this place called Platsburg. And there was a big battle there that happened in September of 1814. And he was involved in this battle and the British were defeated. We've cited it in the show notes if you want to read more about this. And a lot of historians say that this battle contributed to the end of the War of 1812. But when that happened, he's 19, He he loses
a lot of his property. And so he eventually goes and settles in Ohio and he accumulates wealth as we've talked about. He's going to be called as a bishop in the church after he's converted to the church. And when the Saints move to Illinois in 1839, he's appointed as bishop of the middle ward. And when they leave Nauvoo and go to winter quarters, he's sustained as the presiding bishop of the church in 1847. When he gets to Salt Lake, he's Called as a bishop of the Salt Lake 18th ward. and he dies September 23rd, 1850
at his home in Salt Lake. And the Desireette Weekly News summed up his life as a man of faith and service. He has gone down to the grave, leaving a spotless name behind him and thousands to mourn the loss of such a valuable man. And just two years after arriving in the Salt Lake Valley, Elizabeth Anne became a widow with nine children. She dies much later, 32 years after Newell Died, and she was buried across the city from her companion. I love the fact that church history is filled with so many of these people that
left a legacy for all of us. Yeah. I want to talk a little bit about Edward Partridge. He was a hatter in in Ohio and he and his wife had a comfortable home. They had five children and they were followers of Alexander Campbell. And when they get to Ohio, Edward is is very well off and successful. Uh he has a brother named Samuel that basically says Edward had a net worth of about 20 to $30,000. And is that an exaggeration? I don't know. But he, you know, that's what he says. And so his estimation of
that his brother Edward had lost a lot by joining the church. I I don't think that's too far off. He gives so much to the church and in less than a decade from joining the church um he has given everything he has to the kingdom after he meets Joseph he is called as a bishop In fact if you go to section 41 of the doctrine of covenants verse 9 it says that he's to be a bishop in the church and ordained as a bishop and the first bishop indeed of the church of Jesus Christ and
then after his call as a bishop he actually is given a call to go to Missouri. And so you can read that in section 52 verse 24 and verse 42. And once he gets to Missouri, he writes Lydia and says, "I've got to stay. I've got to stay in Missouri." And so because Of this, Lydia and her children leave Kirtland in 1831. They cross the icy Missouri River because it's it's uh the winter to get to Edward. and they go with the Isaac Mley family and they build this settlement and it's in Jackson County. And
I really see this as the beginning of them thinking, okay, we're going to build Zion and it's going to go really well. Section 57 is where it's designated to them that that's going to be the center stake of Zion. And we'll talk more about that when we get there. But that's going to be an important date in church history, the day of July 20th. Because two years after that revelation in section 57 to the day on July 20th, 1833, Edward is mobbed. And enemies to the church go into the printing press and they disassemble it
in Jackson County. And he's tarred and feathered. And when they're taring and feathering him, he says, "I told them, his Persecutors, that the saints had suffered persecution in all the ages of the world, and that I had done nothing which ought to offend anyone, that if they abused me, they would abuse an innocent person, and that I was willing to suffer that for the sake of Christ, but to leave the country, I was not then willing to consent." You see, the mobers wanted to force them to leave and to sign a document that they would.
By this time, the multitude made so much noise That I could not be heard. Some were cursing and swearing, saying as they're taring him, "Call upon your Jesus." Others were equally noisy and trying to steal the rest, that they might be enabled to hear what I was saying. Until after I had spoken, I knew not what they intended to do with me, whether they were going to kill me or whip me or what else, I knew not. I think about that sometimes from a historical perspective. We read history, we know that he Survived the beating.
He survived the the taring and feathering. But he didn't know that. And think about what that would have been like for him. He says, "I bore my abuse with so much resignation and meekness that appeared to astound the multitude who permitted me to retire in silence, many looking very solemn, their sympathies having been touched as I thought. And as to myself, I was so filled with the spirit and love of God that I had no hatred Towards any of my persecutors or anyone else. I don't know how you could go through that and not have
that anger inside of you, but he doesn't. And I think part of it is because it's a gift of the spirit. This puts Edward Partridge up on par with the great martyrs of all the dispensations of all time. And I think there's a bond between them. And the savior just must love them. You know, Steven and all of the great martyrs of the past and Edward Partridge belongs on that list. A faithful man who was willing to suffer for the sake of the savior. Now, he wasn't the only one. After Edward gets tred and feathered,
Charles Allen, another member of the church, as well as another one that I can't find who it is. In sources, they say there is another member in the public square, tred and feathered. This all is happening on July 20th, 1833. And the goal of the mobers is to Push the saints out of the county. Now, we're going to see this over time, but I want to just put in your mind, you got to look at a picture to see what I'm talking about. So, in the show notes, we've linked an article from a historian, and
I just took the map from his do from his document, but if you want to read it, you can go there. And it's by Steven Laser. He's done a lot of work on the Missouri period. And on the map, what you see is A river going right between two counties, Jackson and Klay County. The Saints are going to be kicked out of Jackson County, and they're going to be pushed north into Klay County. And then later, we're going to see that the people are going to want to kick them out of Klay County and push
them even further north into a place called Caldwell County. And we think part of this is happening because they're trying to push the Saints in a direction where They can kind of be hemmed in on either side. And we'll get into this as we get into the Missouri period more, but they're eventually going to be pushed all the way out of Caldwell and into Davies and then eventually out of the state. But this is the beginning of the Jackson County residents saying, "Hey, we don't want you here." And they're going to have to cross the
river. And they do eventually sign a document saying, "Hey, we're going to leave." But This is the position that Edward is in at this time period, July 20th, 1833. And he's kind of on his own. He's he's got to work through this with the few members that are there. Joseph's back in Kirtland. So Edward can't call upon Joseph. He's really alone here. He's the leading officer here. This is so tough. And like I said, the the Book of Commandments has been taken out of the printing press. They've thrown the press out. They've scattered the type.
Now, in This story with Edward, there's another side story. So, I just want to reference it. And it's a story of these two girls, these two young women. One of them, her name is Mary Elizabeth Rollins, and then she has a sister named Caroline. Mary is 15, Caroline is 13. And if you've ever seen that picture of the girls running into the cornfield, and they have in their hands uh scriptural text, they have the Book of Commandments. We've linked their their words in the show Notes because Mary writes down what happens and she writes down
how scared she is that they're searching for her as she takes off with these signatures. She can hear the mobers coming calling for them to stop and she just takes off and goes into the cornfield and hides. And like I said, we'll talk more about this when we get to that time period, but those two girls and their bravery is just a story worth referencing here. And so back to Edward after this experience, he's called to go on a mission and he goes east. He travels over 2,000 miles. He visits 25 branches of the church
and he eventually makes his way back to Kirtland. While he's in Kirtland, his wife is still in Missouri. For a brief period of time in Kirtland, he attends the School of the Prophets. But by the time he finally gets back home after 2,000 miles of traveling and visiting all these people, he finds that His family is being kicked out of Clay County. And so they have to settle north in a place called Far West. And that's in Caldwell County. So if you look at the map, and you can see it in the show notes, they're
going to be further north and a little bit east in this place called Caldwell County. And they would eventually have to leave the state in 1838. And so in late November of 1838, Edward along with 52 other members of the Church are not going to get to leave. They're going to be imprisoned. And so his wife has to leave in the winter Missouri. So th this story may sound familiar because we see the same thing with Joseph and Emma. Emma has to leave and Joseph's in prison. And in this case, it's Edward. And I guess
part of my emphasis on talking about these is to really make these people come alive. Imagine you're a woman and you have to walk to Nauvoo in the snow without your Husband. Edward writes, "We were confined in a large room where the cold northern blast penetrated freely, our fires were small, and our allowance for wood and for food scanny, and they didn't even give us a blanket to lay upon." So that's Edward's condition, and I can't imagine that Lydia's was much better. And so when they get to Illinois, Lydia and Edward do, this wealthy man
who was a hatter, who was very successful, who Had property, is living in a tent in Nauvoo. When Lydia and the children arrived in Illinois, the banks of the Mississippi were lined with curious people who, according to Emily, now Emily is their daughter, she writes, they were a fourlorn looking set of beings, and they remained there for a while under an elm tree and a tent. And then after nearly a year, Edward moves his family to a the upper portion of a stone house near a Steamboat landing in Nauvoo. and he's trying to build a
home for his family. And in the midst of all this, while he's in the tent and he's trying to build a home for his family, his 19-year-old daughter, Harriet, has malaria. It's May of 1840. There's a ton of people sick. You've probably, you know, seen this in some of the videos with the church or you've read some of the history. Well, Harriet at 19 dies from complications of malaria on May 16th, 1840. And so imagine you're Edward. Your family's in this tight, cramped upper room of this of this storehouse as it were. And it's really
stifling in there to breathe. And so what he does is he really works even harder to build the house for his family. He's got to get this shelter built. And then according to historical sources, the exertion of doing that causes him to collapse. He languishes in bed for several days and then finally dies just a week and a Half after Harriet's death. So that's the end of Edward Partridge. He leaves this world working for Zion, giving what he can. And his daughter Emily is just griefstricken. She's like, "What do I do?" And she writes, she
writes a lot about the experiences that happen in Nauvoo. and we've cited a bunch of this stuff that you can read further, but she realizes a as a young woman, okay, I've got to step up. I've got to help out now. And so Emily gets her courage up And she says, "We've got to do something to take care of our family." And so Emily and her other sister, she's 19, her name's Eliza. They get to work to help pay for uh the necessities of life. Now, those two Partridge sisters, they play an important role in
church history, and they have an important role in Joseph's life, and we'll get to that when we get to the Nauvoo period of church history. But for for Lydia, the mom, life continues. So, Edward dies in May, and in August, this of the same year, she remarries to a man by the name of William Huntington. And he's a widowerower whose wife had died the previous year. And so through that marriage, she's able to leave Nauvoo and after the martyrdom of Joseph, they leave and they cross the icy river. It's like seems to be a theme
with their teams in February of 1846. And when they leave, they take Edward Jr. and two of their daughters And they go to a place called Mount Pisga. And that's the place where William, William Huntington, who is Lydia's second husband, is called to preside over the settlement. And it's at Mount Pisga on August 19th, 1846 that William Huntington dies. And so now in 1846, if you're Lydia, you've now lost two husbands. And now she's got to make it to Salt Lake. And she doesn't have her husband with her. And she does. She proceeds to go
to Salt Lake City and then she later lives with her children in Filillmore. One biographer wrote, "She was exemplary in her daily life and was never known to be anything other than a true and faithful Latter-day Saint, and it was known she never had a personal enemy. In disposition, she was quiet and unassuming, and her good works were performed without boasting, but from an innate love of the right and the natural kindness of her heart. She lived until She was 85 years of age and up to within a few days of her death was busy
constantly making quilt blocks, sewing carpet rags, braiding straw, and making hats. She was especially skilled in making buckskin gloves. And when they were taking up donations for the Manti Temple, she donated seven pairs of homemade gloves, equivalent to about $14. So big picture, what do we see here? A couple things. I think one of the things We see is this constant theme of sacrifice. Both of these couples had amassed wealth. They were successful. They were older than Joseph. They're both born in about the middle of the 1790s. Joseph Smith's born in 1805. So they're 10
years his senior. And yet they look to him as a prophet. Now, just think about the social dynamics of the 1800s. You're wealthy. You're established in the West. And someone 10 Years younger than you who doesn't have wealth comes to you and says, "I have been called as a prophet." To me, wouldn't you say, Bryce, that takes a bit of humility? Not only humility, but a great tremendous amount of faith. I I keep thinking of that verse at the end of Matthew 19. Everyone that hath forsaken houses or brethren or sister or father or mother
or wife or children or lands for my name's sake shall receive an hundfold and shall inherit eternal Life. I to me it is a testimony that Joseph Smith was genuine. He was in he he he doesn't have this control over people. He invites them and they because they have faith, they trust, they've connected him to God, they follow. I think it's a tremendous tribute not only to them and their faith, but the connection Joseph Smith had with these people. No one was forced, but they were willing to walk away from tremendous histories and tradition to
go where Joseph went. How could they have not seen in him a genuine prophet, a good man, someone worth following? I think it not only did a lot of humility, but a whole lot of faith. Yeah. Yeah. And I think what they both have in common as well is they give their substance, but it's not just that. They go where they're supposed to go. And there seems to be this theme. They're always having to leave. They never get to leave when it's sunny. It's always when it's cold. And a lot of times they're separated from
their spouses and not just by geography but by time. Both Anne Whitney and Lydia Partridge spend many years without their husband in mortal life. But one of the things I want to emphasize is being a Christian. Just because you follow Jesus, just because you're trying to do what's right, doesn't mean that we're going to be buffered from some of these things, from some of these struggles. In a big Picture setting, if we if we were to back up the camera way back, the saints as a body do come to Salt Lake. They are preserved. They
are building the kingdom. If you look at this story as a mosaic and you back up, it's so beautiful. Like the mosaic of the gospel of Jesus Christ is beautiful. But sometimes I think it's worth our time to go in and focus on one of those tiles, whether the tiles new K. Whitney or Lydia Partridge, and Especially the tiles that are stained in tears. Yes, that's part of the mosaic. God will say to the saints in section 136, "My people must be tried in all things that they may be prepared to receive the glory that
I have for them, even the glory of Zion, and he that will not bear chastisement is not worthy of the kingdom." You can focus on the chastisement, you can focus on the suffering, or you can see the glory that comes to us after much tribulation. It's The big mosaic that is beautiful. Even though there might be a few tiles that are tear stained. And by the way, I love the messy tiles, but I know it's not for everybody. Like I love talking about Thomas B. Marsh. And I'm totally okay with his journey because I see
the Lord saying, "Thomas, you made it." But the tiles, they're all every one of them is messy. Every tile has its pain or its struggle. And I like how Bryce says, "Some of them have tears on them." And I Think it's worthy to look at those. Clearly in this podcast, this just gives you a taste, but hopefully it also helps you to think, well, how can I share my tile with my children? And maybe this is an invitation to have those conversations. It wasn't until my mom died, I learned stuff about her that I never
knew. And it's because I never had the conversation. So maybe that's another way to look at this is to show your tile to those that you love and to Have those conversations. And so in some way I hope that we did the Whitneys and the Partridges justice in the brief time that we've been together. I'm grateful for their testimonies. I'm grateful for how um these sections relate. I'm grateful that there's a positive almost like we flipped some of the thou shalt nots in section 42. I like how Bryce said, "Hey, look at it like you
love your spouse." That to me, it just harmonizes with my heart. Now, next week Is one section and one section only. It's section 45, which is the precursor to Joseph Smith Matthew. So many times people have wanted to know about the second coming. Joseph Smith asked Jesus, "Tell me about the second coming." And so many people have not been allowed to hear an answer. But the one time we know of where Jesus sat down and said, "Let me tell you about my second coming, what concerns me, what help they're going to need, what you need
to know." It was the Final week of his life where he takes his disciples out to the Mount of Olives. And that's Joseph Smith, Matthew. That's Matthew 24. And section 45 was given as a precursor for that coming out. It is a marvelous opportunity to talk about the beauty and the grand grandeur of living in the latter days and what are the challenges that we face and how some of the elect are being deceived just like Jesus foretold. So join us. Don't miss that One. Section 45. And so with that, we'll see you next week.
Thanks guys. Talking Scripture is not an official production of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The opinions expressed in this podcast are Mike and Bryce's opinions only. We refer you to official church sources and the church website to clarify any doctrinal questions.
