I am amazed at how many voices there are in the world today due to technology. I guess I am one of them, for which I am profoundly grateful as expressing my love for the truth is my driving force.
What concerns me is that some of the voices out there are replacing the most important voice of all, the voice of the Spirit. Let me explain. I have friends who have given up reading the scriptures because podcasts by people who study them are so much easier to ‘listen’ to. This is a grave mistake, not only because you miss out on being tutored by heaven, which I highly recommend, but also because you are at the risk of being misinformed by people’s well intentioned interpretations of the truth.
For example, let me discredit one false theory that is circulating right now concerning the 10 Lost Tribes. For some reason, even some self-proclaimed Church ‘scriptorians’ have decided that it is too hard to believe the 10 Tribes of Israel are really lost simply because ‘we don’t know where they are’. They instead believe that these tribes are merely scattered around the world amongst other people. Many members I know have started to believe this. Firstly, this is partly true because, not all of the 10 tribes were led away by the Lord into the land of the north (D&C 110:11). When Assyrians attacked the Northern Kingdom of Israel, many fled to the safety of the Southern Kingdom; some remained in the Northern Kingdom and intermarried with Assyrians and thus became the Samaritans; and some abandoned their journey north and were scattered throughout Europe and Asia.
On April 3, 1836, Moses appeared to Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery in the Kirtland Temple and committed to them the keys of the gathering of Israel, specifically from ‘the four parts of the earth, AND the leading of the ten tribes from the land of the north” (D&C 110:11). Section 133 goes one step further and explains the manner in which they will come back (vs 26,27). It says that their prophets will hear the Lord’s voice; they shall smite the rocks, and the ice shall flow down at their presence; and a ‘highway’ shall be cast up ‘in the midst of the great deep’. And what is this highway? If you look down in the footnotes, you will see a reference to Exodus 14:29 which talks about the parting of the Red Sea for the children of Israel to walk through on dry ground to escape the Egyptians. Clearly the ‘highway’ then means the Lord will perform the same miracle for the 10 Lost Tribes to come to America to receive their blessings at the hands of Ephraim. This undertaking will be so massive and so grand that Jeremiah promised that the God will no longer be called the Lord who led the children of Israel out of Egypt but the Lord who brought up the children of Israel from the land of the north (Jeremiah 16:14-15). These scriptures are discussed at length in the Doctrine and Covenants student manual which I would highly recommend.
My point is this: make the scriptures your foundation of knowledge and then when you hear other people speak, you will know what is true. My most favourite section of D&C is section 76. It promises that faithful saints will be given to know the ‘wonders of eternity’ and that their understanding will ‘reach to heaven’ (D&C 76:6-10). This can only be accomplished by the power of the Holy Ghost. All the general conference talks are backed by the scriptures. Ponder, pray, study and cherish the word of God. It is food for the soul and salve to the heart. Listen to the spirit and trust it.
Your truth pierces my soul
And binds me to Your loving heart;
Your teaching moments
Find my hungry mind
And feed me like a bird in flight
Searching for a morsel
That gladdens its hungry heart.
Your mysteries are laid at my feet
And, I come to you Father
Clutching the riches that are mine to keep.
- CATHRYNE ALLEN
(Art: Outpouring of the Spirit by Danny Hahlbohm)
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