Doctrine and Covenants Lesson 24

Introduction

Write the following phrases on the chalkboard:

·         A pint of cream

·         A misspelled name

·         No available seating at the Kirtland Temple dedication

These phrases all have something in common. They are all reasons given by early Church members for their apostasy from the Church.  Looking at these reasons today, we think they’re pretty “silly” reasons to leave the Church.  Put in the proper perspective, are any of the reasons we might give today any less silly?

Today’s lesson focuses on how we can avoid personal apostasy.

Recognizing Satan’s deceptions

Read D&C 50:2–3 and 2 Nephi 2:18, 27.  Satan tries to deceive us because he is miserable!  He will try any trick to get us to leave the truth and be like he is.  What are some ways he tries to deceive us?

Not recognizing the prophet as the source of revelation for the Church

In 1830, Hiram Page, one of the Eight Witnesses to the Book of Mormon, possessed a stone through which he claimed to receive revelations about the building of Zion and the order of the Church. Oliver Cowdery, the Whitmers, and others believed these claims. However, the Prophet Joseph Smith said the claims “were entirely at variance with the order of God’s house, as laid down in the New Testament, as well as in our late revelations” (History of the Church, 1:110).

The Prophet prayed about the matter and received a revelation in which the Lord made clear that only the President of the Church has the right to receive revelations for the Church (D&C 28). The Lord instructed Oliver Cowdery to tell Hiram Page that the revelations that came through the stone were from Satan (D&C 28:11).

What happened in this instance?  Read D&C 28:11.  Hiram was reproved gently and privately, and he chose to humble himself and renounce his false teachings.  After hearing the Lord’s instructions, “Brother Page, as well as the whole Church who were present, renounced the said stone, and all things connected therewith” (History of the Church, 1:115).

Later, Hiram became disaffected with Joseph’s leadership and left the Church.  This illustrates our need to continually guard against personal apostasy.  Overcoming it once is not enough.

Pride

Some members are deceived because of their pride. The following story illustrates how pride led Thomas B. Marsh, who was President of the Quorum of the Twelve, and his wife, Elizabeth, into apostasy.

While living in Far West, Missouri, Sister Marsh and Sister Harris decided to exchange milk so they could each make a larger cheese than they otherwise could. They agreed to send each other both the milk and the cream from their cows. But Sister Marsh saved a pint of cream from each cow and sent Sister Harris the milk without the cream.

A quarrel arose, and the matter was referred to the bishop. When he determined that Sister Marsh had violated her agreement, she and her husband were upset and appealed the matter to the high council and then to the First Presidency. Each council approved the original decision that Sister Marsh had been in error.

Thomas B. Marsh declared that he would sustain the character of his wife. Soon afterward, he turned against the Church and went before a government official to declare that the Latter-day Saints were hostile toward the state of Missouri. (See George A. Smith, in Journal of Discourses, 3:283–84.)

President Gordon B. Hinckley said of this incident: “What a very small and trivial thing—a little cream over which two women quarreled. But it led to, or at least was a factor in, Governor Boggs’ cruel exterminating order which drove the Saints from the state of Missouri, with all of the terrible suffering and consequent death that followed. The man who should have settled this little quarrel, but who, rather, pursued it, … lost his standing in the Church. He lost his testimony of the gospel” (in Conference Report, Apr. 1984, 111; or Ensign, May 1984, 83).

After 19 years of darkness and bitterness, Thomas B. Marsh painfully made his way to the Salt Lake Valley and asked Brigham Young to forgive him and permit his rebaptism into the Church. He wrote to Heber C. Kimball, First Counselor in the First Presidency: “I began to awake to a sense of my situation; … I know that I have sinned against Heaven and in thy sight.” He then described the lesson he had learned: “The Lord could get along very well without me and He has lost nothing by my falling out of the ranks; But O what have I lost?! Riches, greater riches than all this world or many planets like this could afford” (quoted by James E. Faust, in Conference Report, Apr. 1996, 6; or Ensign, May 1996, 7).

The Lord will bless us as we seek to be humble and lay aside all pride.  Read D&C 112:10.  Note that this well-known verse was given to Thomas B. Marsh in 1837.  How can we overcome prideful tendencies and choose to be humble, even when we feel like we may be justified in our pride?

Being critical of our leaders’ imperfections

Briefly reference the story of Simonds Ryder.  I once heard a talk (possibly by President Faust?) in which he told of a meeting he attended.  (Details are not exact, but the general idea is below.)  The general message of President Faust’s message is that the speaker in the meeting spent his time sharing stories about the Prophet that showed his imperfections.  President Faust concluded, “The speaker spent his time convincing his listeners that Prophet was an imperfect mortal.  We already knew that!  He should have spent his time instead convincing his listeners that this imperfect mortal was in fact a prophet of God.”

In our ward, I hope we all recognize that we are all imperfect mortals trying our best.  Each of us will occasionally make a mistake.  We should be humble and look with patience on the mistakes of others, rather than using these events as an excuse to become less faithful.

Being offended

Some Church members become offended by the actions of other members and allow an offense to fester until they are led into apostasy. An example of this is illustrated in the following incident.

When the Kirtland Temple was completed, many Saints gathered for the dedication. The seats in the temple filled quickly, and many people were allowed to stand, but still not everyone could be accommodated inside the building. Elder Frazier Eaton, who had given $700 for the building of the temple, arrived after it had been filled, so he was not allowed inside for the dedication. The dedication was repeated the next day for those who could not be accommodated the first day, but this did not satisfy Frazier Eaton, and he apostatized. (See George A. Smith, in Journal of Discourses, 11:9.)

Seven hundred dollars was a lot of money in 1833!  What should we do when we feel that we have been wronged?  Read D&C 64:8–11.  How can we forgive, even when it is hard?  How can we avoid being offended in the first place?

Other paths that lead to apostasy

Other ways we may be led into apostasy include rationalizing disobedience, embracing the false teachings of the world, or simply neglecting our testimonies.

Remaining valiant in our testimonies

What can we do to remain valiant in our testimonies of the gospel?

Recognize and sustain the prophet

Read D&C 43:1–3.  How do we come to “know assuredly”?

Read D&C 26:2.  What does it mean to do things by “common consent”?  Partly, it means that we have agreed to sustain those who are called to lead.  Part of this includes raising our arm in sacrament meeting to indicate our willingness to do so.  Then it  continues with our actual actions to sustain, support, and uphold those we have so sustained.

For the most part, I think we recognize that the Prophet is the only person who can receive revelation for the entire Church.  It’s easy to know how to respond to a person who claims that he’s received a revelation, but the Prophet just “doesn’t get it.”  But what about those who want to meet with the Prophet to lay out and pursue their own agenda?  Do we sympathize with them and worry that the Prophet may be just a bit out of touch?

Study the scriptures and General Conference

Read D&C 33:16.  The Spirit “quickeneth” us as we regularly and faithfully read the scriptures.  How can these help us avoid being deceived?

We can better discern the truthfulness of ideas by comparing them with the truths we learn from the scriptures and our current leaders.

President Harold B. Lee taught: “If [someone] writes something or speaks something that goes beyond anything that you can find in the standard Church works, unless that one be the prophet, seer, and revelator—please note that one exception—you may immediately say, ‘Well, that is his own idea.’ And if he says something that contradicts what is found in the standard Church works, you may know by that same token that it is false” (The Teachings of Harold B. Lee, ed. Clyde J. Williams [1996], 540–41).

Scripture study strengthens our testimonies so we are less likely to become complacent in righteousness or to be influenced by false doctrine.

President Lee taught, “If we’re not reading the scriptures daily, our testimonies are growing thinner, our spirituality isn’t increasing in depth” (The Teachings of Harold B. Lee, 152).

The things of God always edify

The Prophet Joseph Smith explained that soon after the Saints were settled in Kirtland, “many false spirits were introduced, many strange visions were seen, and wild, enthusiastic notions were entertained; men ran out of doors under the influence of this spirit, and some of them got upon the stumps of trees and shouted, and all kinds of extravagances were entered into by them; … many ridiculous things were entered into, calculated to bring disgrace upon the Church of God, to cause the Spirit of God to be withdrawn” (History of the Church, 4:580). Concerned by these excessive spiritual displays, the Prophet inquired of the Lord. The revelation in D&C 50 is the Lord’s response.

Read D&C 50:17–24.  I think the keys to this idea are in verses 22-23.  All our preaching should edify – strengthen, lift, and build.  If it does not, the teaching is not of God.

This important principle does not just apply in the realm of religion.

President Joseph Fielding Smith taught: “There is no saying of greater truth than ‘that which doth not edify is not of God.’ And that which is not of God is darkness, it matters not whether it comes in the guise of religion, ethics, philosophy or revelation. No revelation from God will fail to edify” (Church History and Modern Revelation, 2 vols. [1953], 1:201–2).

Additional counsel about how to strengthen ourselves against apostasy

Elder Carlos E. Asay of the Seventy specified the following things we can do to strengthen ourselves against apostasy:

1.       Avoid those who would tear down your faith. …

2.       Keep the commandments. …

3.       Follow the living prophets. …

4.       Do not contend or debate over points of doctrine. [See 3 Nephi 11:29.]

5.       Search the scriptures. …

6.       Do not be swayed or diverted from the mission of the Church. …

7.       Pray for your enemies. …

8.       Practice ‘pure religion.’ [See James 1:27 and Alma 1:30.] …

9.       Remember that there may be many questions for which we have no answers and that some things have to be accepted simply on faith” (in Conference Report, Oct. 1981, 93–94; or Ensign, Nov. 1981, 67–68).

Conclusion

By our consistent, daily actions, we can protect ourselves from personal apostasy.  As we search the scriptures and follow the living Prophet and other Church leaders, we will be edified together and strengthened to recognize and resist temptation.