3/31/2017 - Section 10:6-34

March 31, 2017

Section 10:6-34

God All Knowing All Seeing, 116 Pages, Crafty Men, Opposition, Anger, Satan’s Ways, Doubt What To Watch Out For, Spiritual Verifications,

Starting with v 6, this revelation shows that God does know all and sees all. He made arrangements in Nephi’s time that would disrupt the evil plot in Joseph Smith’s time—the plot that is described in v’s 11-27, a plot that would have caused the world to dismiss the Book of Mormon as the work of a crafty and lying man—when in reality, those who stole the 116 pages, and altered them were the lying and crafty men—men were wicked and corrupt, men wanting glory for themselves at any price, men who listened to and followed Satan in Satan’s effort to thwart the Lord’s plan and give himself (Satan) greater power over mankind. V 24-27 “Yea, he stirreth up their hearts to anger against this work.  Yea, he saith unto them: Deceive and lie in wait to catch, that he may destroy; behold, this is no harm. And thus he flattereth them, and telleth them that it is no sin to lie that they may catch a man in a lie, that they may destroy him….And thus he [Satan] goeth up and down, to and fro in the earth, seeking to destroy the souls of men.” Satan is no different in our day: he stirs up the wicked to fight against the righteous (v20), he inspires the wicked to anger against God’s work (v24). He uses deceptions, lies, and flattery (v25-36). He encourages contention over doctrine (v63). These are just some of his tactics-- and he has many more. The important truth in this is that we have our agency to reject… or to follow. The Lord is speaking of these men of Joseph’s time in v 21: “…they will not ask of me.” The crucial part for each one us—individually—is to stay in close touch with Heavenly Father and protect our ability to have the Holy Ghost with us always.

In terms of the world’s progress, the Lord makes sure that His plan will not be stopped, for it is important for every soul who has come to this earth to have the plan carried out as it was originally set out. There must be a restoration of the gospel. God’s priesthood must be returned to men on the earth. There must be a people who will prepare for the second coming of Christ. And this is where I want to be doing. This is where I feel peace, and rightness, and a sweet comfort from the Lord.

P 23 President Joseph F. Smith explains how Lucifer functions: “By every possible means he seeks to darken the minds of men and then offers them falsehood and deception in the guise of truth. Satan is a skillful imitator, and as genuine gospel truth is given the world in ever-increasing abundance, so he spreads the counterfeit coin of false doctrine Beware of his spurious currency…. The ‘father of lies’ he has been called, and such an adept has he become through the ages of practice in his nefarious work, that were it possible he would deceive the very elect.”  And Elder Spencer W Kimball said that Satan “will use his logic to confuse and his rationalizations to destroy. He will shade meanings, open doors an inch at a time, and lead from purest white thorough all the shades of gray to the darkest black.” (Faith Precedes the Miracle, p 152)

The Lord sums it up in v’s 33-34: “Thus Satan thinketh to overpower your testimony in this generation, that the work may not come forth in this generation.    But behold, here is wisdom, and because I show unto you wisdom, and give you commandments concerning these things, what you shall do….” And that’s my life plan: staying close to the Lord through prayer, following His commandments, and going forward in faith. It has brought me much joy and comfort and growth this far, and as I look ahead I see only reasons to stay my course. How could I turn away from the many spiritual verifications which I have had and which I hold so dear?

2/1/2021 – D&C 10:1-33

It is now the summer of 1828, and Joseph & Oliver are progressing with the translation of the Gold Plates. 

Joseph understands how the translation occurs and is quite tuned into it now. Joseph and Oliver begin to wonder if Joseph should go back to the Plates of Lehi and translate that a second time. It is at this time that the Lord explains, and exposes, the entire details of the lost 116 pages. Joseph and Martin had refused to take the first few answer from the Lord that forbade Martin from taking those pages to his wife to prove to her that the plates did exist, and that the scriptures on those plates were of great worth. Someone at the Martin Harris home took the translation. Those are the facts that Joseph knew at this point. But the Lord tells them much more. He tells them that because of their action the translation had now been placed “into the hands of a wicked man, you have lost them.” (v1) He goes on to remind Joseph that the results were not only the loss of the translation, but “you also lost your gift at the same time, and you mind became darkened.” (v 2) 

Then in v’s 6-26 the Lord tells Joseph—explaining and warning him about the actions and powers of Satan. “Behold, they have sought to destroy you”. In these attempts they used Martin Harris, who realized there was important truth in what Joseph was doing, and made sure that Martin felt much pressure from his wife and from their friends to disbelieve what he had at first believed so powerfully. And then the Lord explained that these pages were note lost, but they were in the hands of wicked men who have now “altered the words, they read contrary from that which you translated and caused to be written” (v11). And then the Lord revealed the deeper facts: “…the devil has sought to lay a cunning plan, that he may destroy this work; for he hath put into their hearts to do this, they by lying they may say they have caught you in the words which you which you have pretended to translate.” (v’s 12-13) In v’s 14-19 the Lord walks Joseph through the scenario that will occur if Joseph translates the Book of Lehi again. And the end effects of that would be that they would succeed in destroying the restoration at this time, and of destroying Joseph also.

The Lord next teaches Joseph about the reality of Satan, and of some of the ways Satan works to destroy us, and thus destroy the Lord’s plans for us on this earth. “…he flattereth them, and telleth them that it is no sin to lie…he draggeth their souls down…he goeth up and down , to and from in the earth, seeking to destroy the souls of men…” (v’s 25-27)

Then making sure that Joseph understands completely, the Lord states: “Now, behold, they have altered these words…I say unto you, that you shall not translate again those words….For, behold, if you should bring forth the same words they will say that you have lied and that you have pretended to translate, but that you have contradicted yourself…they will publish this, and Stan will harden the hearts of the people to stir them up to anger against you, that they will not believe my words…Thus Satan thinketh to over-power your testimony in this generation that the work may not come forth in this generation.”(v’s 30-33)