I wrote
yesterday about the priceless gift the Saviour has given to His Church, that of
the gift of the Holy Ghost.
This is why
I consider it the greatest gift to me. My favourite section of the Doctrine and
Covenants is Section 76. In it the Saviour gives us, the members of His church,
an incredible promise. It is this:
“I, the
Lord, am merciful and gracious unto those who fear me, and delight to honour
those who serve me….to them will I reveal all mysteries, yea, all the hidden
mysteries of my kingdom from days of old, and for ages to come….yea, even the
wonders of eternity shall they know….. yea, even those things which eye has not
seen, nor ear heard, nor yet entered into the heart of man…….and their wisdom
shall be great, and their understanding reach to heaven; and before them the
wisdom of the wise shall perish…. (v 5-10)
This
promise is my holy grail. I don’t know if it is a curse or a blessing to be a
deep thinker. I think deeply and I yearn to known the truths of eternity. For
this reason, the Holy Ghost is to me a priceless gift because He has enlightened
my understanding as I have searched the scriptures for many years. He is my
revealer and testifier of truth.
And this is
a wonderful thing, the promise ‘to know’ was not made to the leaders of the
Church excluding the membership. This promise is to all.
Immediately
following the receipt of this promise, Joseph Smith and Sidney Rigdon were
privileged to receive understanding of the things of God, and upon meditation
of the same, the promise was fulfilled by granting them a vision of the Father
and the Son of which Joseph and Sidney bore record to the world (v 11-21-23).
The entire
Section 76 is filled with amazing doctrinal knowledge which was revealed to
these two men. Their entire experience was given to them for the purpose of
bearing their testimony to the Church and to the world that God and His Son
live, that they are real and that the Church contains the fulness of the
gospel.
It is my
belief that the Holy Ghost will reveal to us things of eternity according to
our capacity to receive them and to the fulfilling our purpose in this life. If
it is not necessary for us to have visions, we won’t have visions but we will
receive understanding of things we did not understand before that will be of
benefit to us in some way. It will serve a purpose.
The
mysteries of the kingdom are many and varied. They are things we do not yet
understand, hence the name ‘mystery’. As members of the Church, we understand
many mysteries that people of the world do not, because of the ministry of the
Holy Ghost, and we will receive even
more if we are but worthy.
We are
privileged to study the Doctrine and Covenants this coming year. Knowing the
true doctrine of Christ in this world of confusion, false ideologies and
interpretations of men which are leading many astray, it is one of our greatest
privileges to be taught by the Holy Ghost by whom we shall know the truth of
all things (Moroni 10:5).
Joseph
Smith once admonished the sisters of Relief Society thus: “…..If you live up to
your privilege, the angels cannot be restrained from being your associates…..”
When the
Holy Ghost takes up his abode with us, he lifts us higher in truth which leads
to greater righteousness and causes us to stand on higher ground. This is where
the angels are…..
I think Joseph
spoke from experience.
- CATHRYNE ALLEN
(Art: Ascension by Danny Hahlbohm)
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