No Coincidences

Tag: apostasy

  • Wheat and Tares

    Wheat and Tares

    Christ gives the parable of wheat and tares in Matthew 13:24-30:

    24 Another parable put he forth unto them, saying, The kingdom of heaven is likened unto a man which sowed good seed in his field:

    25 But while men slept, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat, and went his way.

    26 But when the blade was sprung up, and brought forth fruit, then appeared the tares also.

    27 So the servants of the householder came and said unto him, Sir, didst not thou sow good seed in thy field? from whence then hath it tares?

    28 He said unto them, An enemy hath done this. The servants said unto him, Wilt thou then that we go and gather them up?

    29 But he said, Nay; lest while ye gather up the tares, ye root up also the wheat with them.

    30 Let both grow together until the harvest: and in the time of harvest I will say to the reapers, Gather ye together first the tares, and bind them in bundles to burn them: but gather the wheat into my barn.

    In Doctrine and Covenants section 86 Christ gave an explanation of this parable. Here are His words:

    1 Verily, thus saith the Lord unto you my servants, concerning the parable of the wheat and of the tares:

    2 Behold, verily I say, the field was the world, and the apostles were the sowers of the seed;

    3 And after they have fallen asleep the great persecutor of the church, the apostate, the whore, even Babylon, that maketh all nations to drink of her cup, in whose hearts the enemy, even Satan, sitteth to reign—behold he soweth the tares; wherefore, the tares choke the wheat and drive the dchurch into the wilderness.

    4 But behold, in the last days, even now while the Lord is beginning to bring forth the word, and the blade is springing up and is yet tender—

    5 Behold, verily I say unto you, the angels are crying unto the Lord day and night, who are ready and waiting to be sent forth to reap down the fields;

    6 But the Lord saith unto them, pluck not up the tares while the blade is yet tender (for verily your faith is weak), lest you destroy the wheat also.

    7 Therefore, let the wheat and the tares grow together until the harvest is fully ripe; then ye shall first gather out the wheat from among the tares, and after the gathering of the wheat, behold and lo, the tares are bound in bundles, and the field remaineth to be burned.

    Quick rundown:

    Verses 1-3 explains the great apostasy that occurred to the church after the apostles “have fallen asleep” (aka were killed).

    Verse 4 reminds us that we’re now speaking of our day.

    Verse 5 tells us, “the angels are crying unto the Lord… to reap down the fields.” That can be interpreted different ways but basically the angels want to start with the harvest. The harvest can be considered the gathering of souls at the end of times. This leads to

    Verse 6 where the Lord tells the angels to hold off on the harvest because He doesn’t want to destroy the wheat. The wheat are the righteous, those followers of the Lord. The tares are those who oppose God.

    Verse 7 we learn that wheat will grow alongside tares until the end. Then the wheat will be separated from the tares, and the tares will be burned.

    I believe the most telling part of those verses is in verse 6 where it says, “for verily your faith is weak.”

    The Lord doesn’t want to pull up the tares because the wheat is still “tender” with weak faith.

    I’ve heard this parable many times but for the first time a thought occurred to me. What would it mean for the angels to reap the harvest and pull up the tares while the wheat is still weak? The tares being pulled up signifies the evil people of the world being taken away. The wheat would be too weak to handle this, the wheat is too intertwined with the tares. Wheat and tares, of course, represent people. What does it mean that the wheat is too tender for the tares to be taken? The thought that occurred to me was that the wheat, or faithful people, would have their faith shattered if the tares around them were taken. Could this represent the tares of some friends, family, and people we care about? What if God let loose the angels and took up the tares. How many faithful people would lose loved ones? 

    Are you a wheat or a tare?

    Is our faith weak or strong?

    In Matthew 13:38 Christ says

    “The good seed are the children of the kingdom; but the tares are the children of the wicked one”.

    Christ doesn’t detail the ok seed or the middle ground seed. We are good seeds or we are tares. We are working for Christ or working against Him. We are faithful or we lack faith.

    One day the wheat will be separated from the tares and the end will come. When that day comes, which side will we be on? The side of the wheat or the side of the tares? It’s not enough to be lukewarm as the adversary intensifies his attack. Wheat is nourishing, tares are not. There’s no middle ground. You are either a wheat or a tare.

    Which are you?

  • Sidney Rigdon Miracle

    Sidney Rigdon Miracle

    21 August, 1842. 

    Apparently, it had been thought that Sidney Rigdon meant “to renounce his faith in Mormonism” when he took the stand on 21 August 1842.  Instead, he “appeared to bear his testimony of its truth, and add another to the many miraculous evidences of the power of God.”

    I stumbled upon this story while reading a commentary on Doctrine and Covenants section 124 verses 103-110.  In these verses Sidney Rigdon is admonished to continue to stand by the Prophet Joseph Smith, along with other commandments, and “if he will hearken unto my voice, it shall be well with him” (verse 110).

    Smith and Sjodahl remark that, “Sidney Rigdon, according to a generally prevailing impression, was more or less under the influence of a spirit of apostasy.  It is related that, in Liberty jail, he declared to his fellow-prisoners that the sufferings of the Lord were nothing compared with his, and while the faithful Saints were straining every nerve to complete the Nauvoo Temple, he had no word of encouragement to them.  As a consequence of his disposition, he did not have good health.  Like the Corinthians who partook unworthily of the Sacrament (1 Cor. 11:30), he was ‘weak and sickly.’  The Lord, therefore, points out to him the cause of his ailments and promises to heal him, if he will do his duty and stand by the Prophet as a true counselor.”

    The admonition from the Lord in section 124 was given on January 19, 1841 so it was 19 months later that he took the stand to detail the miracle he had experienced to those gathered.

    As mentioned, given Sidney’s recent state of apostasy, I’m sure the gathered congregation was expecting to see some potential fireworks.  They got fireworks, but not the apostasy-themed ones they were expecting. 

    Sidney told the congregation that his daughter Eliza died.  She was pronounced dead by a physician.  I will quote the story from the Joseph Smith Papers.  “after a considerable length of time she rose up in the bed and spoke in a very powerful tone to the following effect in a supernatural manner: she said to the family that she was going to leave them (being impressed with the idea herself that she had only come back to deliver her message and then depart again,) saying the Lord had said to her the very words she should relate; and so particular was she in her relation, that she would not suffer any person to leave out a word or add one.  She called the family around her and bade them all farewell with a composure and calmness that defies all description, still impressed with the idea that she was to go back.  Up to the time of her death she expressed a great unwillingness to die, but after her return she expressed equally as strong a desire to go back.  She said to her elder Sister, Nancy, ‘it is in your heart to deny this work, and if you do, the Lord says it will be the damnation of your soul.’  In speaking to her sister Sarah she said, ‘Sarah, we have but once to die, and I would rather die now than wait for another time.’  She said to her Sisters that the Lord had great blessings in store for them if they continued in the faith, and after delivering her message she swooned, but recovered again.”

    It goes on to say that she continued in a near death fashion for 36 hours before she called her father, Sidney to her.  Continuing from the Joseph Smith Papers: “the Lord had said to her, if he (Sidney) would cease weeping for his sick daughter, and dry up his tears that he should have all the desires of his heart; and that if he would go to bed and rest, he should be comforted over his sick daughter, for in the morning she should be getting better and should get well.”  Sidney had wept and prayed for his daughter’s life.  His daughter told him the Lord had commanded her to stay for Sidney’s prayers.

    The account continues, (Sidney speaking), “It has also been rumored that I believe that Joseph Smith is a fallen prophet.  In regard to this, I unequivocally state that I never thought so, but declare that I know he is a prophet of the Lord, called and chosen in this last dispensation, to roll on the kingdom of God for the last time.  He closed by saying as it regards his religion he had no controversy with the world, having incontrovertible evidence, that through obedience to the ordinances of the religion he now believes, the Lord had actually given back his daughter from the dead.”

    There is so much to unpack here.  A few things that caught my attention –

    Sydney being weak due to taking the sacrament unworthily. 

    The statement potentially made by Sidney Rigdon to the effect that the Lord’s sufferings were nothing in comparison to his, blasphemous indeed. 

    Interesting that Eliza was commanded to give the precise words of the Lord.  Shows the importance of the Lord’s words, when He speaks, we listen and when we relay His message it must be precise.

    Also, interesting that Eliza at first didn’t want to die, but once she had met the Lord, she didn’t want to come back to life.  Why did she ultimately come back?  Because the Lord commanded her.  I believe this not to be out of duty to Him (though of course it was) but out of love.  The Lord doesn’t force. 

    My concluding thought is on the cunningness of the devil.  I haven’t studied the life of Sidney Rigdon much after he officially left the church.  After reading this story I looked a little more into Sidney Rigdon.  Apparently, after Joseph Smith’s martyrdom Sidney went on missions to the East to preach and gather followers to his new church.  Sidney called it, “the most successful mission he had ever undertaken.”  Where is this church today?

    What I thought about the cunningness of Satan is this: Sidney Rigdon appears to never have denied the faith. Maybe that source exists and I haven’t seen it.  What Sidney did instead was claim the authority as his own.  He was misguided and pride took over.  He believed the authority rested with him and so, instead of denouncing the faith, he tried to promote it in his own way.  God had chosen his prophet.  Sidney Rigdon couldn’t upheave that.

    I believe there is a lot to be learned from this story from Church history. I noted just a couple of the interesting points that could result in their own post. Ultimately I settled on this important point –

    I’m not sure where Sidney Rigdon’s church is today.  I know where the Church of Jesus Christ is today.

  • The Trinity

    The Trinity

    I’m not going to cite a bunch of scriptures supporting my point.  In my experience that does nothing because individual scriptures can be interpreted in a million different ways.  Any scripture I give that seems clear as day to me to show God the Father, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Ghost as three distinct personages is quickly explained away and followed up with another scripture that someone believes shows they are one being. 

    Instead of trying to convince anyone of this doctrine, I more want to give my thoughts on it.  I also want to briefly discuss the importance of this doctrine and why I believe it has been so adamantly fought over throughout the centuries. 

    First, the “they are one” controversy with the many scriptural references is so easy for me to understand.  They are one in intent and purpose, so they are one.  Christ, when praying to His Father said, “let them be one, Father, as you and I are one.” (John 17:21-23)  Why would Christ say this?  Given the doctrine of the trinity, was Christ praying that his apostles would morph together into one super spiritual being?  No, it doesn’t make sense.  What Christ was praying for was literal.  “Let them be one, as you and I are one” – in intent, purpose.

    Second, what sense does a unified being make?  I know we are human, and we don’t understand much of anything about the true nature of Heaven, of eternity, of what is next.  I have faith in a lot, but I understand little.  Maybe the next life is filled with multiple personality Gods and beings that I’m meant to worship.  Maybe God can split into three personages.  Maybe He did this to make us understand some deep, important principle.  Maybe?  Or maybe every person who counseled over this principle (the famous Nicene Creed) and ultimately came to a decision we follow hundreds of years later didn’t understand.  God isn’t setting out to confuse us.  He doesn’t want us to NOT comprehend Him.  He wants us to know how much He loves us.  He wants us to know He SENT His only begotten son, who also loves us.  He wants us to know the Holy Spirit can be a constant companion to us.  He doesn’t want to confuse us.  He isn’t throwing out stumbling blocks all along the way to make things more difficult.  This life isn’t intended to be a maze of confusion that we may be lucky to determine what God wants us to know.  He wants us to seek Him and to seek truth.  He WANTS us to understand.  God the Father, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit are three separate, distinct beings.  I don’t know this (yet), but I have faith and hope that it’s true.

    The Godhead: One In Purpose – ToGather Saints

    Joseph Smith saw them.  That’s why that moment was so significant.  They didn’t speak to Him from the clouds.  They appeared in their bodies.  To show him, “you are like us, and we are like you.”  They have bodies of flesh and blood.  Christ really came here, His Father’s Son, to attain a body and die for us.  That principle is pure and beautiful.

    Have you ever wondered why Christ ate fish and bread with the apostles after his resurrection?  Why was that account included in the scriptures?  The scriptures are full of important information, obviously.  Why was this seemingly unimportant detail included?  Not because Christ was trying to make His apostles comfortable.  It was included because it was important.  Christ was showing that He had a body.  Just as we, when we are resurrected, will be resurrected with our bodies. 

    This brings me to the third point, exactly why this doctrine was fought so hard against for all of history.  Satan is cunning.  Satan knows what is and isn’t important to our salvation.  With the fervor and aggression Satan has fought this doctrine with, it seems obvious to me how important it is.  This doctrine is so important because the corruption of it distances us from our Heavenly Father.  That is Satan’s great purpose.  What greater way to distance us from our Father than corrupting His image into some unknowable, un-understandable, un-comprehendible being?  It is the opposite of what God is.  He knows us, He understands us, He comprehends us, and he wants us to understand Him.  This bizarre trinity He’s been morphed into makes it so hard to communicate with Him.  How do you communicate a triple being you can’t imagine?  Not the same, personal way you can communicate with your own father.  Not the way your loving Heavenly Father wants you to communicate with Him.  A father that sent His only begotten Son to save the rest of His spirit children. 

    I wish I could be more eloquent on this topic.  Of all topics I wish I had a poet’s or philosopher’s eloquence for, this is it.  Because it’s important.  But I’m not a poet or a philosopher.  My words fall short of what I want to portray.  I wish so much that everyone could know Heavenly Father the way I feel and know Him.  He and Christ are so important to me.  Combining them in one takes away one of the most important persons in my life.

    This truth is eternal, and this truth is important. 

    To learn more about the truth of the Godhead, visit here:

    https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/comeuntochrist/article/do-members-of-the-church-of-jesus-christ-believe-in-the-trinity

  • Korean Children’s Choir

    Korean Children’s Choir

    When I was watching General Conference and the Korean children’s choir started singing “I Love to see the Temple” in a language I did not understand, something amazing hit me. 

    I don’t know why this thought was spurred by this song from these children.

    That feeling was this-

    I am a member of the Church of Jesus Christ. 

    How blessed I am to not only be on this earth at a time when His church exists, but to be a member of that Church.  Jesus Christ’s Church.  His Church! 

    As I listened to words I didn’t understand but music I could never misplace, and as the spirit filled me and tears filled my eyes, I realized something.

    If I lived during a time when the Church of Jesus Christ did not exist on the earth, I would have forever lived my mortal existence with a hole in my spirit and my experience.  It occurred to me that if I lived in any other dispensation, I would have felt a distinct emptiness within me.  Maybe this realization happened at that moment because at that particular moment, I was so filled to the brim with a spiritual feeling that I’ve come to rely upon so heavily.

    What a challenge it would have been to live in a world without the Gospel of Jesus Christ in its fullness.

    We live in a difficult and challenging world.  But amidst that challenge I am a 30-minute drive from 3 different temples. 

    How blessed I am.

    I am so grateful to live today, with the restored Gospel of Jesus Christ fully present, and His Church in full force.

    What would I have done without it?

    Maybe God knew I could not endure that emptiness.  Maybe that’s why I’m here at this moment.

    For whatever reason I am here now, today, I am grateful for it.  Grateful beyond measure.