"Behold, hearken ye unto my precept; if they shall say there is a miracle wrought by the hand of the Lord, believe it not; for this day he is not a God of miracles; he hath done his work."
The root of this is jealousy and envy. But it is completely unfounded. Revelation received by another person has no limiting effect on what personal revelation you can receive. The Lord is willing to share with all. However, it is predicated on the same principle. If the leader were willing to humble himself and seek in the prescribed manner, he would receive the same result. Everyone is invited. No one is excluded.
Nicodemus came to Christ in the dark, and Christ taught him the same way He taught others. There are some sources which suggest Nicodemus was ultimately converted. If he was, there is little doubt that after his conversion, the spiritual life he had as one of the Lord's disciples was greater than that of a member of the Sanhedrin. The Lord was not unwilling to share with the Sanhedrin, but they were unwilling to receive Him. When one (Nicodemus) changed his heart, the Lord came to him.
This seething distrust and accusation of any who claim to experience the miraculous leads in turn to denouncing the gifts of God. When denounced, such gifts depart from us. We no longer hear about miracles, healings, visions, tongues, visitations, or other gifts experienced by those we read of in scripture. Therefore, when the presence of the gifts end, the record of scriptures ends. There is nothing to add, and so nothing is added.
Eventually the end of this spiritual journey into the dark is to denounce all things coming from the "hand of God." No "miracle wrought by the hand of God" will be acknowledged, but will be denounced instead. The position becomes unalterable: "God is not a God of miracles anymore." You must trust leaders and leadership. You will be deceived if you profess revelation or the miraculous. And so the approach into hell is carefully laid by argument, emotion and fear.
Nephi foresaw this. He is warning us against it. We should not be seduced into thinking God has finished His work. He hasn't. He is in the middle of fulfilling promises made generations ago to the "fathers." We inherit from the Lord the promises He made to them. Now is a great day of miracles, visits, visitations, dreams, and healings. The heavens are open, if you will ask with a sincere heart having real intent, He will manifest the truth unto you. God remains the same. His blessings remain predicated upon the same conditions.
Seek. Ask. Knock. It will all be unfolded to you. He is no respecter of persons.
This lack of faith in receiving answers to prayer from God leads to skepticism about any other manifestation by God. If the leader isn't having any experience with God, then they distrust claims by anyone else. Everyone is a fraud, if the leader can't receive an answer to prayer.
Nicodemus came to Christ in the dark, and Christ taught him the same way He taught others. There are some sources which suggest Nicodemus was ultimately converted. If he was, there is little doubt that after his conversion, the spiritual life he had as one of the Lord's disciples was greater than that of a member of the Sanhedrin. The Lord was not unwilling to share with the Sanhedrin, but they were unwilling to receive Him. When one (Nicodemus) changed his heart, the Lord came to him.
This seething distrust and accusation of any who claim to experience the miraculous leads in turn to denouncing the gifts of God. When denounced, such gifts depart from us. We no longer hear about miracles, healings, visions, tongues, visitations, or other gifts experienced by those we read of in scripture. Therefore, when the presence of the gifts end, the record of scriptures ends. There is nothing to add, and so nothing is added.
Eventually the end of this spiritual journey into the dark is to denounce all things coming from the "hand of God." No "miracle wrought by the hand of God" will be acknowledged, but will be denounced instead. The position becomes unalterable: "God is not a God of miracles anymore." You must trust leaders and leadership. You will be deceived if you profess revelation or the miraculous. And so the approach into hell is carefully laid by argument, emotion and fear.
Nephi foresaw this. He is warning us against it. We should not be seduced into thinking God has finished His work. He hasn't. He is in the middle of fulfilling promises made generations ago to the "fathers." We inherit from the Lord the promises He made to them. Now is a great day of miracles, visits, visitations, dreams, and healings. The heavens are open, if you will ask with a sincere heart having real intent, He will manifest the truth unto you. God remains the same. His blessings remain predicated upon the same conditions.
Seek. Ask. Knock. It will all be unfolded to you. He is no respecter of persons.
Are the words "seek, ask, and knock" more than just poetic repetition? Is there specific doctine being taught in these simple words?
ReplyDeleteAnonymous...just read "The Second Comforter". You will get the doctrine that is being taught in those simple words.
ReplyDeleteKathy
ReplyDeleteDo you have the page,chapter, etc., that these words are found in? The index in that volume is lousy. I remember reading about -it's a big book!
BB
BB...I lent my copy to someone, so I can't help you right now. I am missing it so much that I just barely ordered another one:)
ReplyDeleteAgain spot on. When gifts are exercised in the Church today (as they were in spades in the early church), there is a complete railing accusation brought against you as though you are some kind of apostate freak. No one aspires to the Second Comforter - I taught that is is the next logical step after receiving the first Comforter at my nieces baptism and you would have thought I was giving out a recipe for deep fried dog turds and whipped cream....
ReplyDeleteI am exasperated to say the least...
This man (who shares some details of his CAES in his family history - look for it), truly exercised all the powers in the Priesthood of the ancients in his life - yet was shut down by his Stake President and called into Church HQ for a bust-down because stories of his faith and gifts were circulating. Finally Elder Oakes confirmed/affirmed his faith in a talk on miracles in the 2001 Ensign:
http://woodyoubelieveit.blogspot.com/2009/07/miracles-among-believers-today.html
There is such a sub-culture against true miracles and faith in the Church, I am truly freaked out!! It really does come down to envy and jealousy and spiritual laziness and ineptitude. SAD!!
Here is a link from my blog to the book in the BYU archives. With all due deference, Denver, this is the BEST book I have EVER read about a person's personal history and life experience. I commend its reading even to you with your excellent interaction and understanding of how the Lord works:
http://woodyoubelieveit.blogspot.com/2009/03/iohani-wolfgramm-family-history.html
Enjoy!! You can order a hard copy for the cost of printing, as well from this man's daughter who was 'killed' by the US Army Jeep that Elder Oakes talks about.
Thanks, Iraq! I've been wanting to find this for YEARS.
ReplyDeleteSo here is the link to the Family History Archives complete family history of Iohanni Wolfgramm:
http://contentdm.lib.byu.edu/cdm4/document.php?CISOROOT=%2FFH27&CISOPTR=31717&REC=12&CISOBOX=Iohann+Wolfgramm