Category: Alma

Alma 36:22 — LeGrand Baker — Alma and Lehi saw God

Yea, methought I saw, even as our father Lehi saw, God sitting upon his throne, surrounded with numberless concourses of angels, in the attitude of singing and praising their God; yea, and my soul did long to be there.

Moroni concluded his introduction to the Book of Mormon with these words:

And now, if there are faults they are the mistakes of men; wherefore, condemn not the things of God, that ye may be found spotless at the judgment-seat of Christ.

Our quick and easy way of reading that is: OK, so sometimes the authors of the Book of Mormon made some mistakes! But that may not be anything like what Moroni had in mind. He did not separate the content of the Book of Mormon into “the mistakes” of the authors and “the things of God.” It is not the authors, but it is the readers who are apt to make the mistakes. And it is the readers who ought to be very careful about judging their opinion to be more accurate than the words in the book. Today’s verse, which is about the testimonies of Alma and Lehi is an excellent example of how easy it is to read the scriptures to say the very opposite of what they really say.

The following is from an upcoming commentary on First Nephi that Stephen Ricks and I are preparing together:

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1 Nephi 1:8, Lehi “Thought” He Saw God

8. And being thus overcome with the Spirit, he was carried away in a vision, even that he saw the heavens open, and he thought he saw God sitting upon his throne, surrounded with numberless concourses of angels in the attitude of singing and praising their God.

To people in our modern culture it seems strange that Nephi would report that his father only “thought he saw God sitting upon his throne.” When we use that phrase, it means that we were not sure what we saw. However, Nephi came from a different culture, one that reflected the Greek influence that was being felt all through the Mediterranean world. The Greeks had established city-states along the southern coast of Italy and the island of Sicily. Archaeologists also fine evidence of Greek influence on the east coast of the Mediterranean Sea, near Palestine.

In the ancient world, most apparently in Greece, the highest human activity was to think. Our own western culture is based largely upon that same belief. The Deists of George Washington’s time picked up on that and asserted that the surest evidence that there is a God is that man can think and feel emotion. The Deists’ reasoning went this way: Man exists, therefore, we must have been created. If we were created, then there must have been a creator. If man can think and feel emotions, then his creator must have been able to think and feel even better than his creation. If that creator could think and feel as well as create, then he must be God. If those things are true, then it follows that God’s most important desire is to bring about good for the people he has created. That was their rationale for believing God had helped them in the American Revolution and had been instrumental in creating the Constitution.

The ancient Israelites believed that same sort of thing. To the ancients, the seat of both human thought and emotion was the heart. So they understood that the place where one thinks and the place where one feels emotion was the same. For example, in the Psalms, one can not “ascend to the hill of the Lord” or “stand in his holy place” unless he has “clean hands and a pure heart” (Psalm 24).

In that ancient world, to think was the most significant of all human activities. In Nephi’s culture, to think was the supreme act of the human “heart.” The past tense of “to think” is “thought.” Thus, Nephi’s use of the word “thought” is simply the past tense of “to think.” That is the way he explains his father’s reaction to his vision. Nephi was not expressing his father’s uncertainty about what he saw, but he was saying—in the strongest language he could use—that Lehi not only saw God but that he understood what he saw.

There is another example of a similar vision’s being introduced the same way. Enoch begins the Book of Enoch by saying,

Enoch a righteous man, whose eyes were opened by God, saw the vision of the Holy One in the heavens, that the angels showed me, and from them I heard everything, and from them I understood as I saw. *

So when Nephi says his father “thought” he saw God, he asserts that he not only saw with his eyes, but understood with his heart. That is a far stronger testimony than his only saying that Lehi “saw” God.

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In our verse, Alma seeks to add additional credence to his own testimony by saying that he saw the same things and in the same way that Lehi saw: He saw “God sitting upon his throne, surrounded with numberless concourses of angels, in the attitude of singing and praising their God; yea, and my soul did long to be there.” And he understood as he saw.

Neither does he say that he saw God in a distant vision and wished he could get over to where God was. Of the four parts of a classic sode experience ** he mentions only two. The four are that the prophet returns to the Council in Heaven to reaffirm the covenants he made there. He mentions the other members of the Council. He sees Elohim sitting on the throne and presiding at the Council. Jehovah conducts the affairs of the Council and makes the assignments.

Nephi, whose purpose was to show that his father was a true prophet, mentions all four. Alma, whose purpose is to teach his son the reality of his experience, mentions only “God sitting upon his throne, surrounded with numberless concourses of angels.” The next part of the vision (had he explained that to his son) was for Jehovah to teach Alma about his premortal covenants. That, no doubt happened, but it was beyond the scope of what Alma wished to emphasize to Helaman just then.

Alma’s statement, “my soul did long to be there. But behold, my limbs did receive their strength again, and I stood upon my feet” (Alma 36:22-23), is typical of many who have been beyond the veil and are reluctant to leave and come back to this dreary world again.

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*Enoch 1:1, R. H. Charles, The Apocrypha and Pseudepigrapha of the Old Testament, Oxford, 1964, 1:188.

** For a discussion of a sode experience see Who Shall Ascend into the Hill of the Lord, 95-107.

Alma 36:6-20 – LeGrand Baker — the source and nature of Alma’s pain and joy

16 And now, for three days and for three nights was I racked, even with the pains of a damned soul.
17 And it came to pass that as I was thus racked with torment, while I was harrowed up by the memory of my many sins, behold, I remembered also to have heard my father prophesy unto the people concerning the coming of one Jesus Christ, a Son of God, to atone for the sins of the world.
18 Now, as my mind caught hold upon this thought, I cried within my heart: O Jesus, thou Son of God, have mercy on me, who am in the gall of bitterness, and am encircled about by the everlasting chains of death.
19 And now, behold, when I thought this, I could remember my pains no more; yea, I was harrowed up by the memory of my sins no more.
20 And oh, what joy, and what marvelous light I did behold; yea, my soul was filled with joy as exceeding as was my pain! (Alma 36:16-20)

To understand something about the horror of the darkness that enveloped Alma, we must begin by examining the nature of the light that later filled him with such joy.

The Gospel of John and Doctrine and Covenants sections 88 and 93 each begin by introducing the Savior as the source of light. He introduced himself to the Nephites that same way by saying:

18 I am the light and the life of the world. I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end (3 Nephi 9:18).

John the Baptist testified that Jesus “was the true Light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world” (John 1:9). John’s words are expanded in Doctrine and Covenants 93.

9 The light and the Redeemer of the world; the Spirit of truth, who came into the world, because the world was made by him, and in him was the life of men and the light of men. 10 The worlds were made by him; men were made by him; all things were made by him, and through him, and of him (D&C 93:9-10). (That is, “made…of” his light.)

The scriptures are replete with the fact that our physical selves are literally made of the great aura of light that surrounds the person of the Savior. Science confirms that. Whether one uses Einstein’s famous E=MC2or the more recent string theory, the conclusions are the same. All matter is energy. Energy is light—but we are talking about a much greater range of lights than just photons we can see with our eyes. The Savior said of himself:

6 He that ascended up on high, as also he descended below all things, in that he comprehended all things, that he might be in all and through all things, the light of truth;
7 Which truth shineth. This is the light of Christ. As also he is in the sun, and the light of the sun, and the power thereof by which it was made …
11 And the light which shineth, which giveth you light, is through him who enlighteneth your eyes, which is the same light that quickeneth your understandings;
12 Which light proceedeth forth from the presence of God to fill the immensity of space— 13 The light which is in all things, which giveth life to all things, which is the law by which all things are governed, even the power of God who sitteth upon his throne, who is in the bosom of eternity, who is in the midst of all things (D&C 88:6-7, 11-13).

That is explained in section 93: “And truth is knowledge of things as they are, and as they were, and as they are to come. . . . The Spirit of truth is of God. I am the Spirit of truth, and John bore record of me, saying: He received a fulness of truth, yea, even of all truth” (D&C 93:24, 26).

The ultimate source of light is truth—truth shines. The Savior is the Spirit of Truth and has all truth, therefore his truth/light gives light and life to all things.

However, truth is information. It is the knowledge of reality in sacred time. Raw information cannot of itself produce light. But when intelligent beings assimilate truth, that truth shines within them and causes them to shine. The more truth they assimilate, the more they shine. Therefore, Christ above all, but all other intelligent beings also, radiate the light of truth. This ability to assimilate truth and emit light is the very definition of our earliest state of being as intelligences. The Lord explained:

29 Man was also in the beginning with God. Intelligence, or the light of truth, was not created or made, neither indeed can be (D&C 93:29).

In comparison:

36 The glory [shechinah] of God is intelligence, or, in other words, [the fullness of] light and truth (D&C 93:36).

Man is also intelligence, but not its fullness. Intelligences (the very core of our personalities and cognizance) are not “light and truth” but “ the light of truth.”

Christ is the source of the light and salvation to all the inhabitants of this universe. The Prophet

Joseph testified:

He’s the Saviour and only begotten of God;
By him, of him, and through him, the worlds were all made,
Even all that careen in the heavens so broad.
Whose inhabitants, too, from the first to the last,
Are sav’d by the very same Saviour of ours;
And, of course, are begotten God’s daughters and sons
By the very same truths and the very same powers
(Joseph Smith, A Vision published in Times and Seasons, February 1, 1843).

God’s truth is infinite. It fills all space. Therefore his light is infinite also, and “fills the immensity of space.” Christ (that is, the great aura of the light of his truth radiates from his person) is “in all and through all things.”

His love is also in and through all things. Therefore truth, light, and love either occupy the same space at the same time or they are the same thing. If they are the same thing then love has the same physical qualities as light—not just photons, but also “that light which enlighteneth your eyes, which is the same light that quickeneth your understandings.” To a much smaller degree, this also is true with man. Therefore, even though we can rarely see another person’s light, we can feel it, and we often use those feelings to communicate our love.

With God, light/truth/love are the defining qualities of his person and personality. To a much lesser degree, that is also true of man. Christ is also the source of life. John the Baptist testified that “in him was the life of men and the light of men.” The Savior explained,

50 Then shall ye know that ye have seen me, that I am, and that I am the true light that is in you, and that you are in me; otherwise ye could not abound.[live, exist] (D&C 88:50).

The Savior further explained:

66 Behold, that which you hear is as the voice of one crying in the wilderness—in the wilderness, because you cannot see him—my voice, because my voice is Spirit; my Spirit is truth; truth abideth and hath no end; and if it be in you it shall abound (D&C 88:66).

Human beings exude light: if light, then also truth and love. That truth/light/love become the eternal definition of each individual Self. The object of this life is to define one’s Self in those terms, and that definition persists into the eternities. The Savior explained;

22 For he who is not able to abide the law of a celestial kingdom cannot abide a celestial glory.
23 And he who cannot abide the law of a terrestrial kingdom cannot abide a terrestrial glory.
24 And he who cannot abide the law of a telestial kingdom cannot abide a telestial glory; therefore he is not meet for a kingdom of glory. Therefore he must abide a kingdom which is not a kingdom of glory.
25 And again, verily I say unto you, the earth abideth the law of a celestial kingdom, for it filleth the measure of its creation, and transgresseth not the law—
26 Wherefore, it shall be sanctified; yea, notwithstanding it shall die, it shall be quickened again, and shall abide the power by which it is quickened, and the righteous shall inherit it. 27 For notwithstanding they die, they also shall rise again, a spiritual body.
28 They who are of a celestial spirit shall receive the same body which was a natural body; even ye shall receive your bodies, and your glory shall be that glory by which your bodies are quickened.
29 Ye who are quickened by a portion of the celestial glory shall then receive of the same, even a fulness.
30 And they who are quickened by a portion of the terrestrial glory shall then receive of the same, even a fulness.
31 And also they who are quickened by a portion of the telestial glory shall then receive of the same, even a fulness (D&C 88:22-31).

If persons are pure truth/light/love, then the resurrected body that is compatible with that personality will be celestial. If it is less then pure, then their resurrected body will be compatible with their quality of light, and will be something different from celestial. What is less than pure celestial light must be the quality of light of “lower” kingdoms.

The product of truth/light/love/life is joy—eternal life is equivalent to eternal love, is equivalent to eternal joy. True joy can only be felt in tandem with other people who share the same quality of truth/light/love/life. For that reason, ultimate and eternal joy is a characteristic of only those in the Celestial Kingdom.

Joy in this life is the comradery that Peter called “brotherly kindness” (2 Peter 1:7) (the Greek philadelphia). That is equally true in the next world. The Prophet Joseph explained:

1 When the Savior shall appear we shall see him as he is. We shall see that he is a man like ourselves.
2 And that same sociality which exists among us here will exist among us there, only it will be coupled with eternal glory, which glory we do not now enjoy (D&C 130:1-2).

Charity, which is the ultimate togetherness, is also the ultimate joy. Charity is the crowning qualification of those who are in the celestial kingdom. That is probably why only those in the celestial kingdom can be sealed together to experience perfect togetherness and why those in the lesser kingdoms experience only that quality of togetherness that they are willing to give and receive.

That helps us define the differences between the three degrees of glory. It is the differences in the quality of the truth/light/love/life/joy that exude from within the individual. For that reason, even though the priesthood sealing ordinances are necessary because there must be order in all things, adhering to those ordinances alone are not sufficient for us to be sealed to our families in the eternities. This is because ultimately, the sealing power is the quality of our own love as we share it with each other, and with the Savior, and his Father.

Summary: Our physical bodies are made of light, and the resurrection is the restoration of our physical bodies, then it follows that the quality of our resurrected bodies will be determined by the quality of the light of which that body is made. The quality of the light of the body is determined by the quality of truth/light/love/life/joy of the spirit that inhabits it.

22 For he who is not able to abide the law of a celestial kingdom cannot abide a celestial glory.
23 And he who cannot abide the law of a terrestrial kingdom cannot abide a terrestrial glory.
24 And he who cannot abide the law of a telestial kingdom cannot abide a telestial glory; therefore he is not meet for a kingdom of glory. Therefore he must abide a kingdom which is not a kingdom of glory (D&C 88:22-24).

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The severest contrast to charity is the self-imposed separation from others that is the product of an insatiable desire for self-aggrandizement.

Loneliness and aloneness are not the same things even though they may feel somewhat the same. Loneliness is a longing to be with others. Aloneness is self-imposed austerity and contempt, even hatred, toward others. There is neither love nor joy in a world of aloneness.

To understand the darkness that engulfed Alma, it helps to realize that if our truth/light/love diminishes, then so does our power to be alive and experience joy, so life itself becomes less as love becomes less.

Some persons exude little or no light. Alma’s life, to that point, had been more defined by his desire to “become a law unto itself”—that is, defined by his contempt and hatred for others rather than by love. The Lord explained,

35 That which breaketh a law, and abideth not by law, but seeketh to become a law unto itself, and willeth to abide in sin, and altogether abideth in sin, cannot be sanctified by law, neither by mercy, justice, nor judgment. Therefore, they must remain filthy still (D&C 88:35).

If our truth/light/love are the definition of our life, and if the quality of our life is the definition the quality of our joy, then the absence of truth/light/love must be hell.

A total lack of love is a total lack of light—a black hole where there is absolute aloneness but no quality of life. If one refuses the Savior’s light, and emits none of his own, and if he remains cognizant, then his existence must be only contempt for others and vanity for himself. The saddest of all scriptures reads:

32 And they who remain shall also be quickened; nevertheless, they shall return again to their own place, to enjoy that which they are willing to receive, because they were not willing to enjoy that which they might have received (D&C 88:32).

Alma 36:5, LeGrand Baker, ‘Born of God’

After a long time doing other things in the Book of Mormon Project, we are now returned to Alma 36.

The attachment is an attempt to expand Alma’s statement in 36: 5 that says, “if I had not been born of God I should not have known these things.” We Latter-day Saints tend to overlook the importance of the concept of being “born of God,” or “born again.” The words have been taken over by the Protestants, so we don’t use them. Yet, the concept is one of the most important in the plan of salvation. The attachment is mostly a series of scriptures with very little commentary from me. The sequence of the scriptures tells a most extraordinary story. If you have time to read it carefully, I think it will be of some value to you.
Lots of love
LeGrand

Alma 36:5, LeGrand Baker, ‘Born of God’

5 Now, behold, I say unto you, if I had not been born of God I should not have known these things; but God has, by the mouth of his holy angel, made these things known unto me, not of any worthiness of myself;

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To be “born of God” is about ordinances and covenants—some performed by humans in this world, some not. In both cases its meaning is very different from the Protestant use of the phrase “born again.”

The phrase, “born again” Is found in only two places in the New Testament. the first is in the Nicodemus story (John 3:3-7) which is usually understood to be talking about baptism and the gift of the Holy Ghost. The other is 1 Peter 1:21-23, which is in the context of faith, hope, and charity. Peter wrote:

21 Who by him do believe in God, that raised him up from the dead, and gave him glory; that your faith and hope might be in God.
22 Seeing ye have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit unto unfeigned love of the brethren, see that ye love one another with a pure heart fervently:
23 Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever.

This concept seems to be more in line with what Alma said than the usual interpretation of John 3.

For Paul, the idea of sonship had a legal connotation. That is, we are adopted and are therefore legal heirs. He wrote:

14 For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God.
15 For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father.
16 The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God:
17 And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together (Romans 8:14-17).

To the Ephesians, Paul wrote that the adoption he spoke of was part of our foreordination “before the foundation of the world.” Therefore it was a part of the covenant we made that would enable us to return to our Father after we have completed what we came to this world to do. He wrote:

3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ:
4 According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love:
5 [the Father] Having predestinated [foreordained] us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will,
6 To the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved (Ephesians 1:3-6).

The Savior explained that principle to the brother of Jared:

11 And the Lord said unto him: Believest thou the words which I shall speak?
12 And he answered: Yea, Lord, I know that thou speakest the truth, for thou art a God of truth, and canst not lie.
13 And when he had said these words, behold, the Lord showed himself unto him, and said: Because thou knowest these things ye are redeemed from the fall; therefore ye are brought back into my presence; therefore I show myself unto you.
14 Behold, I am he who was prepared from the foundation of the world to redeem my people. Behold, I am Jesus Christ. I am the Father and the Son. In me shall all mankind have life, and that eternally, even they who shall believe on my name; and they shall become my sons and my daughters (Ether 3:11-14).

That adoption, to be a child of Jehovah, was the crowning ceremony of the ancient Israelite temple service. At the king was anointed, he spoke these words:

7 I will declare the decree: the Lord hath said unto me, Thou art my Son; this day have I begotten thee (Psalms 2:7).

The king’s anointing was a two-part ceremony. He was anointed king and adopted as son. In this case “son” of God is the royal new name (For a discussion of Psalm 2 and the new name see Who Shall Ascend into the Hill of the Lord, 499-516.)

The Savior explained this principle even further. In the Beatitudes he said:

9 And blessed are all the peacemakers, for they shall be called [new covenant name] the children of God (3 Nephi 12:9).

John, the Beloved Apostle, taught the early Saints that same principle. He wrote:

1 Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God: therefore the world knoweth us not, because it knew him not.
2 Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is (1 John 3:1-2).

In that same letter John tied adopted sonship to charity, as they are each necessary to the other:

7 Beloved, let us love one another: for love is of God; and every one that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God.
8 He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love.
9 In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him.(1 John 4:7-9)

That same doctrine was taught by Mormon in his great sermon. While most of the Beatitudes are short synopsis of sections of Isaiah or the Psalms, verse 9, which concludes with “they shall be called the children of God” seems not to be. However, we can find a complete discussion of its meaning in Moroni 7.

25 Wherefore, by the ministering of angels, and by every word which proceeded forth out of the mouth of God, men began to exercise faith in Christ; and thus by faith, they did lay hold upon every good thing; and thus it was until the coming of Christ.
26 And after that he came men also were saved by faith in his name; and by faith, they become the sons of God. And as surely as Christ liveth he spake these words unto our fathers, saying: Whatsoever thing ye shall ask the Father in my name, which is good, in faith believing that ye shall receive, behold, it shall be done unto you. …
46 Wherefore, my beloved brethren, if ye have not charity, ye are nothing, for charity never faileth. Wherefore, cleave unto charity, which is the greatest of all, for all things must fail—
47 But charity is the pure love of Christ, and it endureth forever; and whoso is found possessed of it at the last day, it shall be well with him.
48 Wherefore, my beloved brethren, pray unto the Father with all the energy of heart, that ye may be filled with this love, which he hath bestowed upon all who are true followers of his Son, Jesus Christ; that ye may become the sons of God; that when he shall appear we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is; that we may have this hope; that we may be purified even as he is pure. Amen.(Moroni 7:25-26, 46-48.)

The conclusion of all this is that becoming—actually becoming—a child of God is a gift from the Father through his Only Begotten Son. But like all gifts, it is one for which we must be fully worthy. The Savior explained:

8 I came unto mine own, and mine own received me not; but unto as many as received me gave I power to do many miracles, and to become the sons of God; and even unto them that believed on my name gave I power to obtain eternal life (D&C 45:8).

The Lord himself put the capstone on this principle when he described those who will inherit the Celestial Kingdom. I have italicized some of the words that are very important.

50 And again we bear record—for we saw and heard, and this is the testimony of the gospel of Christ concerning them who shall come forth in the resurrection of the just—
51 They are they who received the testimony of Jesus, and believed on his name and were baptized after the manner of his burial, being buried in the water in his name, and this according to the commandment which he has given—
52 That by keeping the commandments they might be washed and cleansed from all their sins, and receive the Holy Spirit by the laying on of the hands of him who is ordained and sealed unto this power;
53 And who overcome by faith [pistis], and are sealed by the Holy Spirit of promise, which the Father sheds forth upon all those who are just and true.
54 They are they who are the church of the Firstborn.
55 They are they into whose hands the Father has given all things—
56 They are they who are priests and kings, who have received of his fulness, and of his glory;
57 And are priests of the Most High, after the order of Melchizedek, which was after the order of Enoch, which was after the order of the Only Begotten Son.
58 Wherefore, as it is written, they are gods, even the sons of God—
59 Wherefore, all things are theirs, whether life or death, or things present, or things to come, all are theirs and they are Christ’s, and Christ is God’s.
60 And they shall overcome all things.
61 Wherefore, let no man glory in man, but rather let him glory in God, who shall subdue all enemies under his feet.
62 These shall dwell in the presence of God and his Christ forever and ever.
63 These are they whom he shall bring with him, when he shall come in the clouds of heaven to reign on the earth over his people.
64 These are they who shall have part in the first resurrection.
65 These are they who shall come forth in the resurrection of the just.
66 These are they who are come unto Mount Zion, and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly place, the holiest of all.
67 These are they who have come to an innumerable company of angels, to the general assembly and church of Enoch, and of the Firstborn.
68 These are they whose names are written in heaven, where God and Christ are the judge of all.
69 These are they who are just men made perfect through Jesus the mediator of the new covenant, who wrought out this perfect atonement through the shedding of his own blood.
70 These are they whose bodies are celestial, whose glory is that of the sun, even the glory of God, the highest of all, whose glory the sun of the firmament is written of as being typical (D&C 76:50-70).

So, when Alma declared, “ if I had not been born of God I should not have known these things,” he was telling us more than he used words to say.

Alma 36:3-4 – LeGrand Baker – Alma teaches about invulnerability

3 And now, O my son Helaman, behold, thou art in thy youth, and therefore, I beseech of thee that thou wilt hear my words and learn of me; for I do know that whosoever shall put their trust in God shall be supported in their trials, and their troubles, and their afflictions, and shall be lifted up at the last day.
4 And I would not that ye think that I know of myself—not of the temporal but of the spiritual, not of the carnal mind but of God (Alma 36:3-4).

Perhaps the most overreaching covenant we make, or have ever made, with God has no name in LDS literature. That necessitated that Stephen and I finding a name for it when we wrote Who Shall Ascend into the Hill of the Lord. The name we chose was “the covenant of invulnerability.” These verses describe it perfectly. It is not that we will not experience troubles and afflictions, it is that neither those trials, nor the people who cause them, will have the power to prevent us from

Many of the psalms that contain versions of that blessing conclude with a promises of military invulnerability.{1} There were two kinds of enemies in their world. One challenged the earthly concerns of kingship’s responsibility for personal and national peace and security. The other (a holdover from the previous world) challenges the powers of one’s righteousness and priesthood. The contexts of the seeming military blessings in this and other psalms suggest that the intent of the blessing was to give the assurance that the Lord guaranteed that no power on earth or in hell could prevent one from keeping one’s premortal covenants, and from enjoying the blessings derived therefrom. It was a promise that even though the king (who was dressed in sacred clothing; empowered by truth, meekness and righteousness) might find himself surrounded by enemies whose intent was to destroy him, he would remain invincible to their ultimate power until his covenants were fulfilled and his mission accomplished.

These promises of invulnerability are usually found in those psalms that speak of the king’s approaching God.{2} It is not a promise that one will not have difficulties, even great difficulties, but rather it is a reminder of the covenant made in the Council that God is the guarantor that one will have the power to fulfill one’s eternal covenants. An excellent description of the power of this covenant is Alma’s testimony:

3 …I do know that whosoever shall put their trust in God shall be supported in their trials, and their troubles, and their afflictions, and shall be lifted up at the last day.
4 And I would not that ye think that I know of myself—not of the temporal but of the spiritual, not of the carnal mind but of God (Alma 36:3-4).

That covenant of ultimate invulnerability is the golden thread that runs through the entire ancient Israelite temple drama, as it is also fundamental to the apostate and apocryphal versions in the cosmic myth: the assignment is impossible and only the intercession of the heavens can make a path through the obstacles that would otherwise prevent its fulfillment. The obstacles and the impossibility of the task are ever-present but then so is the guarantee that the Father will fulfill his part of the covenant. It is embodied in the Abrahamic covenant.{3}

11 And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse them that curse thee; and in thee (that is, in thy Priesthood) and in thy seed (that is, thy Priesthood), for I give unto thee a promise that this right shall continue in thee, and in thy seed after thee (that is to say, the literal seed, or the seed of the body) shall all the families of the earth be blessed, even with the blessings of the Gospel, which are the blessings of salvation, even of life eternal (Abraham 2:11).

It is the same guarantee as the prayer that concludes the first chapter of Ephesians, after Paul reminded his readers of their premortal relationship with their Father in Heaven, and of the covenants and instructions they received before they left home.{4}

Nephi’s testimony is that if God gives instructions they are in accordance with eternal covenants, and God’s part of that covenant is that he will override the obstacles that would prevent him from keeping his part of the covenant.

8 And it came to pass that when my father had heard these words he was exceedingly glad, for he knew that I had been blessed of the Lord (1 Nephi 8).

Lehi also understood the truth and power of God’s promise of ultimate invulnerability. He recognized that Nephi’s assurance was not just the expression of a boy’s unschooled trust, but that Nephi had in fact “been blessed of the Lord.”

FOOTNOTES

{1}Some important examples are Psalms 2, 21, 45, 110. Psalm 21 is the king standing before the veil of the temple. It concludes with a promise of invulnerability. Not all “war psalms” are that kind of concluding blessing. Eaton identifies several psalms “that reflect warfare: 7; 11; 17; 27; 3 1; 35; 40; 42-3; 44; 54; 55; 56; 59; 60; 62; 63; 66; 69; 70; 108; 109; 140; 141; in several others the military aspect is not brought out but can reasonably be assumed: 5; 16; 2.8; 142; 143.” (Eaton, Kingship and the Psalms,130.)

{2}A splendid example of the covenant of invulnerability is found in the code that describes the animals in the veil ceremony of Job 40:1–42:5.

{3}The covenant of Abraham is first given in what appears to be a kind of veil ceremony in Abraham 1:16-19. The promises made to Abraham and his descendants include: 1) the promise of land (Abraham 2:6; Genesis 12:7; 13:15; 15:9-14); 2) the promise of posterity (Abraham 2:9; Genesis 12:2; 13:16; 15:5; 17:2; 18:18; 22:17; 3) the promise of priesthood blessings ( Abraham 1:3-4; 1:18; 2:11); and 4) the promise of salvation (Abraham 2:10). The covenant of invulnerability is found in the words, “I will bless them that bless thee, and curse them that curse thee; (Abraham 2:11, see Genesis 12:11-3). See Stephen D. Ricks, “The Early Ministry of Abraham (Abraham 1 and 2),” in Robert L. Millet and Kent P. Jackson, eds., The Pearl of Great Price (Salt Lake City: Randall Book, 1985), 219-20.

{4}At the conclusion of Paul’s discussion of the covenants we made with God in the premortal world (Ephesians 1:1-14), Paul prays that his readers may know three things:

First, “what is the hope of his calling.” Calling is a verb, thus it is God’s calling—his premortal assignment—to the Saints.

Second, “and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints.” That is, what great blessings await those who keep their covenants.

Third, “And what is the exceeding greatness of his power to us-ward who believe, according to the working of his mighty power, Which he wrought in Christ, when he raised him from the dead.” (v. 18-20 and on to v. 23)

In other words, Paul’s prayer concludes with the hope that we will know that the Father has also promised us that he will enable us to fulfill our covenants if we are faithful to the instructions of the Holy Ghost.

– – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – –

Alma 36:2 – LeGrand Baker – “always remember”

2Alma 36:2
I would that ye should do as I have done, in remembering the captivity of our fathers; for they were in bondage, and none could deliver them except it was the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob; and he surely did deliver them in their afflictions (Alma 36:2)

One of the most frequent admonitions by the Book of Mormon prophets is that we “remember.” As it is spelled here, it means to recall to mind, but if it is spelled this way: “re-member ; ”then it means to reinstate something as a part of what it once was. That may be a stronger and more accurate way of looking at the words of the prophets: to reinstate one’s covenants as a part of one’s Self—to always re-member!

“Remember,” or some form of the word, is used in the Book of Mormon almost 200 times. A good many of those are promises that the Lord will remember his covenants, and others remind us that we must remember ours. Still others assert that it is not enough to simply call to mind that we made covenants, but the admonitions are to re-commit ourselves to the covenants we once made, that they may be a vital part of our present attitudes and actions. In the sacrament prayers, the one for the bread is a weekly new covenant that we will “always remember him.” The one for the water is an assertion that we keep that covenant and “do always remember him.”

Among the most important covenants we make in our odyssey through linear time are the ones we made in the Council in Heaven. In one of the most beautiful of the Psalms the author defines the “meek” as those who keep those eternal covenants. It reads: (Psalms 25:9.)

9 The meek will he guide in judgment: and the meek will he teach his way. …
12 What man is he that feareth the LORD? him shall he teach in the way that he shall choose.
13 His soul shall dwell at ease; and his seed shall inherit the earth.
14 The secret [the Hebrew word here is sode, meaning the decisions of the Council in Heaven] of the LORD is with them that fear him; and he will shew them his covenant (Psalms 25:12-14. There is a full discussion of Psalm 25 in Who Shall Ascend into the Hill of the Lord, 525-42.).

Most of the covenants we make here are a remembering of the ones we made before. Those covenants included not only the generic ones that applied to everyone, but some had to do with only ourselves: personal, specific assignments to be fulfilled while we are here. The problem is that even though we accepted those responsibilities then, when we were fully cognizant, now we do not remember them. One of the major functions of the Holy Ghost— and one of the promises that make it most valuable to us— is that it teaches us those covenants, and teaches us how to fulfill them, just as the time comes that we should fulfill them (but usually not before). The Saviour said to his apostles,

26 But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you.
27 Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid (John 14:26-27).

It is significant that when Jacob spoke at the newly constructed Nephite temple, some of his most memorable words began with the charge to remember the event he was about to describe:

41 O then, my beloved brethren, come unto the Lord, the Holy One. Remember that his paths are righteous. Behold, the way for man is narrow, but it lieth in a straight course before him, and the keeper of the gate is the Holy One of Israel; and he employeth no servant there; and there is none other way save it be by the gate; for he cannot be deceived, for the Lord God is his name.
42 And whoso knocketh, to him will he open; and the wise, and the learned, and they that are rich, who are puffed up because of their learning, and their wisdom, and their riches—yea, they are they whom he despiseth; and save they shall cast these things away, and consider themselves fools before God, and come down in the depths of humility, he will not open unto them (2 Nephi 9:41-42).

It is equally significant that in somewhat the same context King Benjamin made a very similar admonition to the saints that were gathered at the temple:

12 I say unto you, I would that ye should remember to retain the name written always in your hearts, that ye are not found on the left hand of God, but that ye hear and know the voice by which ye shall be called, and also, the name by which he shall call you (Mosiah 5:12).

Alma 34: 32, LeGrand Baker, “to prepare to meet God”

Alma 34: 32
32 For behold, this life is the time for men to prepare to meet God; yea, behold the day of this life is the day for men to perform their labors.

The operative word here is “prepare.” For some this life is the time to meet God, but even for such, the are necessary preparations to be made. For the rest of us, that meeting will come later, and this life truly is the time to prepare.

Speaking of our time, Nephi wrote,

14 ….wherefore, they shall come to the knowledge of their Redeemer and the very points of his doctrine, that they may know how to come unto him and be saved (1 Nephi 15:14).

One must know how to come. As we approach the great mountain, those familiar with it’s heights can tell us that there is only one way to get to the top. We must walk that path, and that path only, or we will never reach the Holy of Holies at the summit.

What follows this is a whole bunch of scriptures that make a pattern. I arranged it into the pattern, then decided it was too good. But they are all there, so if you wish, you can recreate the pattern yourselves. It’s a bit long, so I have put it in an attachment. [Attachment follows:]

The path is described in brief this way:

1 Verily, thus saith the Lord: It shall come to pass that every soul who forsaketh his sins and cometh unto me, and calleth on my name, and obeyeth my voice, and keepeth my commandments, shall see my face and know that I am (D&C 93:1).

The way is described in much greater detail elsewhere. The following are examples:

26 And now, my beloved brethren, I would that ye should come unto Christ, who is the Holy One of Israel, and partake of his salvation, and the power of his redemption. Yea, come unto him, and offer your whole souls as an offering unto him, and continue in fasting and praying, and endure to the end; and as the Lord liveth ye will be saved (Omni 1:26).

The “power of his redemption” is the power to bring us back to him. In the Book of Mormon, “redeem” often means to be brought into the presence of the Saviour. (See the chapter about “redeem” from Who Shall Ascend into the Hill of the Lord.)

There is a drama that contains the signposts that marks the way. The story is told in brief in 2 Nephi 10:1

10 …. after they have received so great blessings from the hand of the Lord—having a knowledge of the creation of the earth, and all men, knowing the great and marvelous works of the Lord from the creation of the world; having power given them to do all things by faith; having all the commandments from the beginning, and having been brought by his infinite goodness into this precious land of promise (2 Nephi 1:10).

The drama is described in greater detail in Alma 12:28-35, Moroni 10:28-31, Job 38-42, Isaiah 61, and in the context of 3 Nephi 20:30-40. It is deeply encoded in 1 Nephi 1:1-6.

Congregations also prayed in mighty prayer, as these three scriptures teach us:

6 Nevertheless the children of God were commanded that they should gather themselves together oft, and join in fasting and mighty prayer in behalf of the welfare of the souls of those who knew not God (Alma 6:6).

1 And it came to pass that as the disciples of Jesus were journeying and were preaching the things which they had both heard and seen, and were baptizing in the name of Jesus, it came to pass that the disciples were gathered together and were united in mighty prayer and fasting.
2 And Jesus again showed himself unto them, for they were praying unto the Father in his name; and Jesus came and stood in the midst of them, and said unto them: What will ye that I shall give unto you? (3 Nephi 27:1-2)

13 And when they were come in, they went up into an upper room, where abode both Peter, and James, and John, and Andrew, Philip, and Thomas, Bartholomew, and Matthew, James the son of Alphaeus, and Simon Zelotes, and Judas the brother of James.
14 These all continued with one accord in prayer and supplication, with the women, and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with his brethren (Acts 1:13–14. See also: Moroni 2:1-3).

There is an often repeated command in the scriptures. Here is only one example:

28 And now I go unto the Father. And verily I say unto you, whatsoever things ye shall ask the Father in my name shall be given unto you.
29 Therefore, ask, and ye shall receive; knock, and it shall be opened unto you; for he that asketh, receiveth; and unto him that knocketh, it shall be opened (3 Nephi 27:28-29).

Jacob describes the same concept:

41 O then, my beloved brethren, come unto the Lord, the Holy One. Remember that his paths are righteous. Behold, the way for man is narrow, but it lieth in a straight course before him, and the keeper of the gate is the Holy One of Israel; and he employeth no servant there; and there is none other way save it be by the gate; for he cannot be deceived, for the Lord God is his name.
42 And whoso knocketh, to him will he open; and the wise, and the learned, and they that are rich, who are puffed up because of their learning, and their wisdom, and their riches—yea, they are they whom he despiseth; and save they shall cast these things away, and consider themselves fools before God, and come down in the depths of humility, he will not open unto them (2 Nephi 9:41-42).

To be redeemed in the Book of Mormon usually means to be brought into God’s presence. It is likely that Alma had Psalm 21 in mind when he asked:

9 And again I ask, were the bands of death broken, and the chains of hell which encircled them about, were they loosed? I say unto you, Yea, they were loosed, and their souls did expand, and they did sing redeeming love. And I say unto you that they are saved.
………
26 And now behold, I say unto you, my brethren, if ye have experienced a change of heart, and if ye have felt to sing the song of redeeming love, I would ask, can ye feel so now? (Alma 5:9, 26)

In his sermon reported in Moroni 7, Mormon creates a chiasmus whose high point is:

19 Wherefore, I beseech of you, brethren, that ye should search diligently in the light of Christ that ye may know good from evil; and if ye will lay hold upon every good thing, and condemn it not, ye certainly will be a child of Christ (Moroni 7:19. See Psalm 2).

Nephi suggested this in not unique, but has an eternal continuity:

17 And it came to pass after I, Nephi, having heard all the words of my father, concerning the things which he saw in a vision, and also the things which he spake by the power of the Holy Ghost, which power he received by faith on the Son of God—and the Son of God was the Messiah who should come—I, Nephi, was desirous also that I might see, and hear, and know of these things, by the power of the Holy Ghost, which is the gift of God unto all those who diligently seek him, as well in times of old as in the time that he should manifest himself unto the children of men.
18 For he is the same yesterday, to-day, and forever; and the way is prepared for all men from the foundation of the world, if it so be that they repent and come unto him.
19 For he that diligently seeketh shall find; and the mysteries of God shall be unfolded unto them, by the power of the Holy Ghost, as well in these times as in times of old, and as well in times of old as in times to come; wherefore, the course of the Lord is one eternal round (1 Nephi 10:17-19).

One must also communicate with God, or one cannot know the path. Thus we learn from Nephi:

5 Wherefore it came to pass that my father, Lehi, as he went forth prayed unto the Lord, yea, even with all his heart, in behalf of his people.
6 And it came to pass as he prayed unto the Lord, there came a pillar of fire and dwelt upon a rock before him; and he saw and heard much; and because of the things which he saw and heard he did quake and tremble exceedingly (1 Nephi 1:5-6).

Later, in Nephi’s psalm, he reminds himself:

23 Behold, he hath heard my cry by day, and he hath given me knowledge by visions in the nighttime.
24 And by day have I waxed bold in mighty prayer before him; yea, my voice have I sent up on high; and angels came down and ministered unto me (2 Nephi 4:23-24. Other examples are: Enos 1:1-7, Alma 8:10).

The mountain becomes a reality in the story of the brother of Jared. Three times he and the Lord spoke together, but each time the Lord remained behind a cloud (Ether 2:4-5,14). Then the fourth time this is what happened:

6 And it came to pass that when the brother of Jared had said these words, behold, the Lord stretched forth his hand and touched the stones one by one with his finger. And the veil was taken from off the eyes of the brother of Jared, and he saw the finger of the Lord; and it was as the finger of a man, like unto flesh and blood; and the brother of Jared fell down before the Lord, for he was struck with fear.
………….
13 And when he had said these words, behold, the Lord showed himself unto him, and said: Because thou knowest these things ye are redeemed from the fall; therefore ye are brought back into my presence; therefore I show myself unto you.
14 Behold, I am he who was prepared from the foundation of the world to redeem my people. Behold, I am Jesus Christ. I am the Father and the Son. In me shall all mankind have life, and that eternally, even they who shall believe on my name; and they shall become my sons and my daughters (Ether 3:6, 13-14).

In this scene in the Psalms, the members of the congregation (who are symbolically participants in the events) describe what is happening as the king approaches the veil of Solomon’s temple:

1 The king shall joy in thy strength, O LORD; and in thy salvation how greatly shall he rejoice!
2 Thou hast given him his heart’s desire, and hast not withholden the request of his lips. 3 For thou preventest [Bible footnote says: “thou will meet him”] him with the blessings of goodness: thou settest a crown of pure gold on his head.
4 He asked life of thee, and thou gavest it him, even length of days for ever and ever.
5 His glory is great in thy salvation: honour and majesty hast thou laid upon him.
6 For thou hast made him most blessed for ever: thou hast made him exceeding glad with thy countenance.
7 For the king trusteth in the LORD, and through the mercy of the most High he shall not be moved (Psalms 21:2-13).

The next verses of the psalm is the words spoken by God and is a promise of invulnerability that the king can keep the covenants he made at the Council. It is the same promise the Lord explained to Moroni:

27 And if men come unto me I will show unto them their weakness. I give unto men weakness that they may be humble; and my grace is sufficient for all men that humble themselves before me; for if they humble themselves before me, and have faith in me, then will I make weak things become strong unto them (Ether 12:27. See also v. 37-39 1-41).

The Lord explained to the Prophet Joseph:

23 Behold, Jesus Christ is the name which is given of the Father, and there is none other name given whereby man can be saved;
24 Wherefore, all men must take upon them the name which is given of the Father, for in that name shall they be called at the last day;
25 Wherefore, if they know not the name by which they are called, they cannot have place in the kingdom of my Father (D&C 18:23-25).

Moroni’s last words were these:

28 I declare these things unto the fulfilling of the prophecies. And behold, they shall proceed forth out of the mouth of the everlasting God; and his word shall hiss forth from generation to generation.
29 And God shall show unto you, that that which I have written is true.
30 And again I would exhort you that ye would come unto Christ, and lay hold upon every good gift, and touch not the evil gift, nor the unclean thing.
31 And awake, and arise from the dust, O Jerusalem; yea, and put on thy beautiful garments, O daughter of Zion; and strengthen thy stakes and enlarge thy borders forever, that thou mayest no more be confounded, that the covenants of the Eternal Father which he hath made unto thee, O house of Israel, may be fulfilled.
32 Yea, come unto Christ, and be perfected in him, and deny yourselves of all ungodliness; and if ye shall deny yourselves of all ungodliness, and love God with all your might, mind and strength, then is his grace sufficient for you, that by his grace ye may be perfect in Christ; and if by the grace of God ye are perfect in Christ, ye can in nowise deny the power of God.
33 And again, if ye by the grace of God are perfect in Christ, and deny not his power, then are ye sanctified in Christ by the grace of God, through the shedding of the blood of Christ, which is in the covenant of the Father unto the remission of your sins, that ye become holy, without spot.
34 And now I bid unto all, farewell. I soon go to rest in the paradise of God, until my spirit and body shall again reunite, and I am brought forth triumphant through the air, to meet you before the pleasing bar of the great Jehovah, the Eternal Judge of both quick and dead. Amen.(Moroni 10:28-34)

Alma 34:28-29. LeGrand Baker, the law of consecration

28 And now behold, my beloved brethren, I say unto you, do not suppose that this is all; for after ye have done all these things, if ye turn away the needy, and the naked, and visit not the sick and afflicted, and impart of your substance, if ye have, to those who stand in need—I say unto you, if ye do not any of these things, behold, your prayer is vain, and availeth you nothing, and ye are as hypocrites who do deny the faith.
29 Therefore, if ye do not remember to be charitable, ye are as dross, which the refiners do cast out, (it being of no worth) and is trodden under foot of men.

In these two verses we have the short version of the ultimate prerequisites necessary for one to become a celestial person. The law of consecration is described in verse 28, and charity in verse 29. In the Doctrine and Covenants, the most important commandment is that we live the law of consecration. In the Book of Mormon, the most important commandment is that we be charity. They are two sides of the same coin. The law of consecration is what we do when charity is what we are.

The law of consecration was first introduced into the Church in Missouri as a way to help the poor saints. The problems were two. First, the law was structured as a system much like the united order. However, whereas in the united order, property was held in common, in the Missouri law of consecration small farms held as private property, but the farm came from a large piece of property that was first owned in trust by the church leaders. Individual jealousies and frustrations got in the way of its success. The second problem was expressed by the covetousness. The law of consecration was introduced into a non-consecrated people, rather than the other way around.

The law of consecration is still a covenant based commandment, but now Zion is a subset of the Church, or perhaps the Church is a subset of Zion. Zion is the society of those who ARE charity, and who LIVE the law of consecration. The difference between ourselves and the Saints in Missouri is that now we are expected to live the law of consecration as individuals and families rather than as an organized community. The law of consecration is, as Amulek said, “[to] impart of your substance, if ye have, to those who stand in need.”

My favorite example is this: A single mother needs a car— a member of the ward who has the means buys her one (nothing too fancy, because that would be more than she needs) and he may, or may not, give it to her through the bishop, that is, he may or may not let her know who bought it for her. The mother has a son who mows the lawn of an old widow who lives near by. The old lady frequently sits in the park where she watches the children play. When one is hurt, picked on, or sad, she makes a point of bring him to her park bench, giving him a cookie and a hug until he feels better. The point is this: there is no difference. The car, the lawn mowing, and the hug are all perfect examples of one’s living the law of consecration. One gives according to one’s ability, and according to the needs of the recipient. It is just as Amulek said:

. . . for after ye have done all these things, if ye turn away the needy, and the naked, and visit not the sick and afflicted, and impart of your substance, if ye have, to those who stand in need—I say unto you, if ye do not any of these things, behold, your prayer is vain, and availeth you nothing, and ye are as hypocrites who do deny the faith.

In the ancient Israelite temple drama, the members of the Council in Heaven— while they still in the presence of their Father in Heaven— make a covenant that they will live the law of consecration when they come to this world to this world. (The following is a review of Psalm 82 taken from Who Shall Ascend into the Hill of the Lord, p. 233-42. I have left the footnotes out of the quote.)

Psalm 82: Instruction and Covenant

A narrator introduces the scene

1. God standeth in the congregation of the mighty;
he judgeth among the gods.

These words are clearly spoken by a narrator, or a chorus as in a Greek play, explaining what is happening on the stage.

Here, and in the next verses, to “judge” means the same thing in Hebrew as it does in English. When pronouncing judgment, a judge may condemn or exonerate; or a judge is also one who selects, chooses, or assigns. In an ancient court of law, a judge would sit as an evidence of his superior status. In this psalm he was standing, as one did when making a covenant. Thus, a more explicit translation might be: “God standeth in the congregation of the mighty; he chooses among the gods.” During ceremonies like the one depicted in Psalm 82, the congregation also stood to make covenants, and in doing so they spoke in unison, as with one voice.

The gods among whom Elohim was choosing were the members of the Council in Heaven. That situation immediately calls one’s attention to Abraham 3:22-23, where “God saw these souls [the noble and great ones] that they were good, and he stood in the midst of them, and he said: These I will make my rulers.” There he was standing and judging or choosing. These appear to be two versions of the same story:

ELOHIM SPEAKS TO THE MEMBERS OF THE COUNCIL.

2. How long will ye judge unjustly,
and accept the persons of the wicked?

The Hebrew reads simply “the wicked.” The Tanakh, which is the official Jewish translation of the Old Testament, renders this verse as “How long will you judge perversely, showing favor to the wicked?” That is the pivotal question upon which everyone’s salvation ultimately turns. It is about prejudice, bigotry, and intolerance. As soon as we arrive in this world, no matter what human culture we arrive in, that culture teaches us that some people are better than others, so favor should be shown to those with political prestige, money, education, expensive toys, “correct” cultural preferences, and “appropriate” lifestyle. It does not matter whether they are better because they have ten cows rather than just two, or whether they have a huge house rather than a simple one. The principle is the same—and that idea that some people are better than others—says God in these instructions to his children, is the misconception they must first correct in themselves, and then reject altogether. One does not judge people by their appearances or by their prestige. In the festival temple drama, that message was relevant far beyond its presentation on the stage. Its purpose was to remind the people in the audience about the covenants they had made before they came to this world, and to give them the opportunity to re-make those same covenants in this world, and to receive instructions about how those covenants should be fulfilled. There could have been no question about the implications of that command. The Law was explicit:

5 And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might (Deuteronomy 6:5).

18 Thou shalt not avenge, nor bear any grudge against the children of thy people, but thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself: I am the Lord (Leviticus 19:18).

At the Council, the Father’s first instructions to his children was that when they come to this earth, they must obey what James called the “royal law:”

8 If ye fulfil the royal law according to the scripture, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself, ye do well:
9 But if ye have respect to persons, ye commit sin, and are convinced of the law as transgressors (James 2:8-9).

THE FATHER GIVES INSTRUCTIONS ABOUT WHAT ONE MUST DO WHILE IN THIS TEMPORAL WORLD:

3. Defend the poor and fatherless:
do justice to the afflicted and needy.

“Defend” and “do justice” suggest the power, authority, and responsibilities of kingship to defend those who have no political or military power, or who are impoverished:

4. Deliver the poor and needy:
rid them out of the hand of the wicked.

“Deliver” from “the wicked” seems to represent the power, authority, and responsibilities of priesthood. The denotation of the word translated “poor” is weak or feeble, but the connotation seems to have spiritual rather than physical overtones. The wicked are those who are morally wrong, who neither know nor wish to know the truth. Thus, these instructions pertain to the way every man in the congregation must execute the duties of priesthood and sacral kingship.

In relation to one’s kingship duties, the poor and the needy are impoverished as to things of this world. With regard to priesthood duties, they are, as in the Beatitudes those who make he sacrifice of a broken heart and contrite spirit, as also in Psalm 86.

1 Bow down thine ear, O Lord, hear me:
for I am poor and needy.
2 Preserve my soul; for I am holy:
O thou my God, save thy servant that trusteth in thee.
3 Be merciful unto me,
O Lord: for I cry unto thee daily.
4 Rejoice the soul of thy servant: for unto thee,
O Lord, do I lift up my soul.
5 For thou, Lord, art good, and ready to forgive;
and plenteous in mercy unto all them that call upon thee.
(Psalm 86:1-5)

In that psalm, being poor and needy has nothing to do with worldly impoverishment; rather, it has to do with being holy and completely dependent upon the Lord. That same interpretation is probably equally valid in Psalm 82, in regard to these instructions received by the members of the Council about how they were to perform their earthly priesthood duties. In noting that, one also identifies an almost invisible line dividing the responsibilities of those to whom God was speaking. They were reasonable to protect, defend, and support the physically impoverished as well as the spiritually pure:

5. They know not, neither will they understand;
they walk on in darkness:
all the foundations of the earth are out of course.

“They” of verse 5 appear to be those who are called “wicked,” yet, their wickedness seems to be a consequence of a widespread chaos, rather than of their individual rebelliousness. If that is correct, then “they,” as well as the poor and needy, are those whom the members of the Council were sent to the earth to serve. These verses describe a situation in which chaos reigns supreme—lack of knowledge, walking in darkness, the earth out of course. It is the same imagery we find in the “valley of the shadow of death” in Psalm 23, and in the dark and dreary waste at the beginning of Lehi’s tree of life vision. It represents the condition of mortality where all persons must experience disorder, and choose from among its myriads of possibilities. The instructions were imperatives in which the members of the Council were commanded to work to overcome the darkness. The assignment that the Father gave to the members of the Council was that they go to the earth and help others walk in the light of truth—to help them transcend and overcome the chaos. However, the Father warned, it would not be all that easy. “They”—the people who most need the help—will not understand, and many, perhaps most, will reject the message. The Father further warns:

6 I have said, Ye are gods;
and all of you are children of the Most High.
7 But ye shall die like men,
and fall like one of the princes.

With those words, God outlined the consequences of mortality for the members of the Council. An equally valid meaning of the word translated “but” is “surely,” which would simply be the assurance that death was a natural part of the assignment they were undertaking. In that case the verse would read, “and all of you are children of the Most High, surely you will die like men, and fall [as a hero in battle] like one of the princes.”

The warning was that when the members of the Council come to the earth they would no longer be identifiable as “the gods.” They would simply be ordinary humans like everybody else. They would feel sorrow and pain, until death would eventually consume their earthly bodies. Some would use up their lives in God’s service, while others would fall like princes in battle, sealing their testimonies with their own blood—like Abinadi and Joseph Smith, or like the “ordinary” men and women who would be killed during the Roman persecutions, or at the hands of a Missouri mob, or who would expire while trudging in the mountainous snow pulling a handcart toward Zion.

HAVING GIVEN THOSE INSTRUCTIONS, THE FATHER INVITES THE CONGREGATION TO RISE AND MAKE A COVENANT THAT THEY WILL OBEY HIS WORDS:

8 Arise, O God [or, “O gods”], judge the earth:
for thou shalt inherit all the Nations. (Psalm 82:1-8).

Verse 8 is commonly understood to be an adoration of Elohim offered by the members of the Council who invite him to rise. The problem with that interpretation is that in verse one, God was already standing, and it doesn’t make a great deal of sense to have the members of the Council ask God to stand up. The word ‘God’ is translated from the Hebrew word “Elohim.” Elohim is the plural for “gods”—“the gods” in the ordinary sense. It is also the name of the Father of the gods. This is clearly shown in verse one that is translated, “God standeth in the congregation of the mighty; he judgeth among the gods.” Both the first and the last words in that verse are “elohim.” So we have, “Elohim standeth in the congregation of the mighty; he judgeth among the elohim.” Similarly, verse 8 begins, “Arise, O elohim.” The translators of the King James Version chose to have it read, “Arise, O God.” However, an equally valid translation would be “Arise, O gods,” making that last verse read as the conclusion of the Father’s instructions, and his invitation to them to stand and make a covenant. While this translation seems more internally consistent to the psalm, there is a grammatical problem. The verb is singular so elohim must also be singular. Therefore, if the verse is the conclusion of God’s instructions to the Council, it must be understood that he was addressing each of them individually, and inviting each one to stand and covenant with him. With that covenant comes God’s guarantee of their success: “for thou shalt inherit all the nations”—a promise of eternal life and of their ultimate restoration to their former status.

During the performance of this psalm, the members of the Israelite audience probably understand themselves to represent the members of the Council in Heaven. If that were so, then it was they who stood to the covenant. Their watching the play was an opportunity for them to review the covenants they had made in the premortal world, and their participation in the drama became a new covenant-making reality. As they spoke the words in unison, each individual covenanted to fulfill his own assignment in order that the Father’s purposes might be accomplished. If those assumptions are correct, then, as in the story of King Benjamin, even though the words were spoken in unison, making of the covenant was the personal act of each individual in the congregation.

Because the congregation’s participation in the drama was, for each of them, a present and personal act, the words of the psalm and the enactment of the story were, as Mowinckel and Nibley suggested, not just a remembering of the myth and a re-enactment of the ritual, but a new actualization of the event and a new covenant. For each member of the congregation who participated in the drama, their making the covenant anew was a reaffirmation of an everlasting covenant, but it was also a new covenant, affirming one’s present relationship with God.

Alma 34:26-27, LeGrand Baker, Constant Prayer

Alma 34:17-27
26 But this is not all; ye must pour out your souls in your closets, and your secret places, and in your wilderness.
27 Yea, and when you do not cry unto the Lord, let your hearts be full, drawn out in prayer unto him continually for your welfare, and also for the welfare of those who are around you.

The command to pray continually is repeated so frequently in the scriptures that we aught to take it very seriously.

15 Verily, verily, I say unto you, ye must watch and pray always, lest ye be tempted by the devil, and ye be led away captive by him.
16 And as I have prayed among you even so shall ye pray in my church, among my people who do repent and are baptized in my name. Behold I am the light; I have set an example for you.
17 And it came to pass that when Jesus had spoken these words unto his disciples, he turned again unto the multitude and said unto them:
18 Behold, verily, verily, I say unto you, ye must watch and pray always lest ye enter into temptation; for Satan desireth to have you, that he may sift you as wheat.
19 Therefore ye must always pray unto the Father in my name;
20 And whatsoever ye shall ask the Father in my name, which is right, believing that ye shall receive, behold it shall be given unto you (3 Nephi 18:15-20).

This is what I wrote about constant prayer in Who Shall Ascend into the Hill of the Lord.

Prayer is like walking in the mountain with a friend. There are times when you see a sunrise so expansive and glorious that it must be shared with your friend to be fully appreciated. There are times you walk with the other in silence, then you stop and your eyes look—alone—as you ponder the perfect beauty of a columbine. Sometimes you talk together—your friend and you—but only briefly – because a smile can say so much more. Sometimes the words flow like the confluence of two great rivers and the ideas reach out to embrace a world as big as the open sea. Sometimes you walk together quietly and say nothing, and the unspoken words are more profound than speech. There is no aloneness in the quiet, just as there was no aloneness when all your conscious world was only the beauty of a single columbine. Friendship is like that. So is prayer.

Prayer in the name of Christ is requisite to show one’s reliance on the Father’s covenant that is personified in the Savior (see Moroni 10:32-33). One’s faith in Christ increases as one begins to rely more heavily on the feelings that can be identified as the testimony of the Holy Ghost. Those feelings are the evidence—the assurance—the pistis—of the divinity of Christ, of the validity of the Atonement, and of the absolute integrity of the Father who first made the covenant. When we exercise “faith in Christ,” we evoke the powers promised by the Father’s covenants, but we also give evidences of our own faithfulness to the conditions of the covenants (page 1026).

If prayer is a conversation between friends, then it requires listening as well as talking. A constant repetition of a “shopping list” is not the same thing as a conversation. It is true that we must ask, and it is true that we should ask about things that are important to us, just as Abinadi says in the verses that precede the one I quoted. However, the command is: to ask for “which is right. The only way we can know what is right is to ask and to listen. The Lord explained:

63 Draw near unto me and I will draw near unto you; seek me diligently and ye shall find me; ask, and ye shall receive; knock, and it shall be opened unto you.
64 Whatsoever ye ask the Father in my name it shall be given unto you, that is expedient for you;

Alma 34:14-16, LeGrand Baker, Mercy and Justice

14 And behold, this is the whole meaning of the law, every whit pointing to that great and last sacrifice; and that great and last sacrifice will be the Son of God, yea, infinite and eternal.
15 And thus he shall bring salvation to all those who shall believe on his name; this being the intent of this last sacrifice, to bring about the bowels of mercy, which overpowereth justice, and bringeth about means unto men that they may have faith unto repentance.
16 And thus mercy can satisfy the demands of justice, and encircles them in the arms of safety, while he that exercises no faith unto repentance is exposed to the whole law of the demands of justice; therefore only unto him that has faith unto repentance is brought about the great and eternal plan of redemption (Alma 34:14-16).

Compared with:

22 But there is a law given, and a punishment affixed, and a repentance granted; which repentance, mercy claimeth; otherwise, justice claimeth the creature and executeth the law, and the law inflicteth the punishment; if not so, the works of justice would be destroyed, and God would cease to be God.
23 But God ceaseth not to be God, and mercy claimeth the penitent, and mercy cometh because of the atonement; and the atonement bringeth to pass the resurrection of the dead; and the resurrection of the dead bringeth back men into the presence of God; and thus they are restored into his presence, to be judged according to their works, according to the law and justice.
24 For behold, justice exerciseth all his demands, and also mercy claimeth all which is her own; and thus, none but the truly penitent are saved.
25 What, do ye suppose that mercy can rob justice? I say unto you, Nay; not one whit. If so, God would cease to be God (Alma 42:22-25).

In the above, the first by Amulek and the second by Alma, a quick reading seems to discover a conflict in the words, but a careful reading makes both more clear because each reinforces the power of the other. The apparent conflicts read:

…mercy, which overpowereth justice, and bringeth about means unto men that they may have faith unto repentance.

What, do ye suppose that mercy can rob justice? I say unto you, Nay; not one whit.

It is a common belief among Christians that Christ’s mercy overpowers justice and will give them salvation without repentance. For Catholics, the words of the priest enables the mercy that brings one to heaven. For Protestants it is saying “I believe,” then “just doing one’s best,” and believing that God will “make up the difference.” In either case, the doctrine is that God will take one as he is, and do a miraculous change on him to make him good enough to get into heaven. The fallacy in the doctrine is that it teaches that it is God who imposes the change in our natures, and in doing so, it reduces heaven to the level of whomever God puts into it.

The scriptures do promise that there CAN be such a change in our natures, BUT they insist that it must come about by faith, repentance, baptism, receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost, and then making and keeping covenants that come in conjunction with the ordinances of salvation. There is no shortcut. It is a mater of continual repentance and refining of one’s Self. This refining process is enabled as a gift of the Saviour’s mercy. Exactly as Abinadi said:

15 And thus he shall bring salvation to all those who shall believe on his name; this being the intent of this last sacrifice, to bring about the bowels of MERCY, which overpowereth justice, and BRINGETH ABOUT MEANS unto men that they may have faith unto repentance.

The origin of the idea that God can use mercy to overcome our individual agency is easy to come by. It is based on false premises. False premises cannot bring one to a true conclusion, so the conclusion is false as well. The false premises are these:

1. When one does not believe in a pre-mortal existence.

A religion that does not understand that we have a pre-mortal existence, cannot understand that much of what we are now is a product of what we have chosen to become. We come into this world innocent, but we bring two things with us: our personality and our integrity. Our personality stays in tact, it is our integrity that is tested here. But if one believes our cognizant Self was first created at birth then it must follow that whatever circumstances we are in, in this life is a product of chance, or of the workings of a capricious and incomprehendible God. By eliminating a premortal life in their teachings, they pretty much eliminate or severely curtail the importance of free agency. That leaves us as only a product of our environment and our genes. If our being here, and the circumstances in which we come is entirely happenstancial— something over which we had no control— then so are the circumstances that dictate the events of our lives. If agency is not an issue, then we are not wholly responsible for our actions. If we are not wholly responsible then God is responsible for our situation, and if he is responsible for putting us here, then he must also be responsible for getting us out of here and into heaven. That is the rationale, and with that logic there can be no way we can get to heaven except it be through God’s grace.

However, we did have a premortal life, and during that life we made some very important decisions about this life. President McKay said:

How the law of spiritual attraction works between the spirit and the expectant parents, has not been revealed, neither can finite mind fully understand. …. Of this we may be sure, each was satisfied and happy to come through the lineage to which he was attracted and for which, and only which, he or she was prepared. (Llewelyn R. McKay, Home Memories of President David O. McKay [Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Co., 1956], 229 – 230.)

2. The other false premise is that after this life we go directly to heaven or to hell. A religion that teaches that one goes directly to heaven or hell when one dies allows no time or place for learning or repentance except in this earth life. Thus, they see this life as the only time given to us in which we can determine whether we wish to be saved or not saved.

The rationale is that since it is apparent that heaven is not available in this life, it follows that people cannot be saved on their own merit. As those religions have no place for priesthood and temple ordinances, they have to conclude that since God puts people on the earth as he chooses, he must also be totally responsible for saving them. Therefore (again) the conclusion that if we are to be saved at all, it must be only by God’s grace.

However, for God to simply “make up the difference” would negate the power of our own free agency, violate the purposes of the plan of salvation, and make ordinances and covenants (for the living as well as for the dead) of no use whatever. If one believed that everything that we will be throughout the eternities is determined by only what happens to us in this short, unpredictable earth life, there can be no promise of salvation except the one that is taught by the Protestants. That is, that in order for us to be saved, God simply must “make up the difference.”

The scriptures insist that is not true. Because we obeyed in the spirit world before we came here, we qualified (through the blessings of the atonement) to come into this physical world, and we became innocent from whatever sins we committed before we came here. A veil was dropped over our memory when we come into this world, so we could begin this life from the condition of innocence. The Lord explained that we have been made innocent twice. Once when we were born as spirit children of our Father in Heaven, and a second time when we were born into this world:

38 Every spirit of man was innocent in the beginning; and God having redeemed man from the fall, men became again, in their infant state, innocent before God (D&C 93:38).

Between the first and the second we had an opportunity to learn, repent, and obey. (That we could sin then, can be no question. A third committed irreparable sins and did not keep their first estate.) Our obedience gave us an opportunity to come to this world and answer the all-important question: Why did we obey. If the answer is that we love God and his children, then love will lead us to the quality of obedience that will enable us to accept the full blessings of the atonement.

That situation continues into the post mortal spirit world, thus enabling every individual (whether they lived in this world 5 minutes or a hundred years) to continue the experience of this existence until they have a full opportunity to accept or reject truth and repent. Thus, through the cleansing power of the atonement all persons have an absolute opportunity to become precisely what they choose to be.

Mercy (the blessings of the atonement) is the enabling power that permits one to repent and become his true Self. Amulek also testified:

8 And now, behold, I will testify unto you of myself that these things are true. Behold, I say unto you, that I do know that Christ shall come among the children of men, to take upon him the transgressions of his people, and that he shall atone for the sins of the world; for the Lord God hath spoken it (Alma 34:8).

In this life, the atonement (mercy) suspends us above the powers of justice, giving us the opportunity to repent until we have completely defined who and what we wish to be. That takes a long time in this life, and may take much longer in the spirit world that follows. But when we are what we choose to be, and repentance has run the full course that we wish it to run, then mercy has also done all it can do, as Alma explains:

22 But there is a law given, and a punishment affixed, and a repentance granted; which repentance, mercy claimeth; otherwise, justice claimeth the creature and executeth the law, and the law inflicteth the punishment; if not so, the works of justice would be destroyed, and God would cease to be God.
23 But God ceaseth not to be God, and mercy claimeth the penitent, and mercy cometh because of the atonement; and the atonement bringeth to pass the resurrection of the dead; and the resurrection of the dead bringeth back men into the presence of God; and thus they are restored into his presence, to be judged according to their works, according to the law and justice.
24 For behold, justice exerciseth all his demands, and also mercy claimeth all which is her own; and thus, none but the truly penitent are saved.
25 What, do ye suppose that mercy can rob justice? I say unto you, Nay; not one whit. If so, God would cease to be God (Alma 42:22-25).

So in the end, it is mercy that ENABLES us to repent so we can QUALIFY to go to the Celestial Kingdom, but it is justice that ENABLES us TO GO here— Just as Amulek said:

16 And thus mercy can satisfy the demands of justice, and encircles them in the arms of safety, while he that exercises no faith unto repentance is exposed to the whole law of the demands of justice; therefore only unto him that has faith [pistis] UNTO repentance is brought about the great and eternal plan of redemption (Alma 34:16).