I hope you enjoy some insights from my Come, Follow Me for Doctrine and Covenants 76-80. Because I missed last week I combined it with this week. For insights on Doctrine and Covenants 71-75 click here for it. Please share this with your friends or use this picture to save this pin to read later:
ALL the Kingdoms of Glory are Heaven.
40 And this is the gospel, the glad tidings, which the voice out of the heavens bore record unto us—
41 That he came into the world, even Jesus, to be crucified for the world, and to bear the sins of the world, and to sanctify the world, and to cleanse it from all unrighteousness;
42 That through him all might be saved whom the Father had put into his power and made by him;
43 Who glorifies the Father, and saves all the works of his hands, except those sons of perdition who deny the Son after the Father has revealed him.
44 Wherefore, he saves all except them
Doctrine and Covenants 76:40-44 (italics, bold, and underline added for emphasis)
Doctrine and Covenants 76 is one of the most important sections ever received as it rebuttals the false sectarian notion that God will only save a few souls and the rest are thrust to hell for eternity. This notion has caused countless Christians to struggle throughout the ages, how could a loving Father eternally punish so many of His kids in hell? How is that love? How is that a plan of Salvation? or of Happiness?? Thanks be to God we have revealed truth! The restored gospel preaches that the Lord our God loves us, we are all Children of God and that Jesus Christ will save EVERYONE except those the rare and few sons of perdition.
We don’t talk about this enough! God loves ALL His children and will reward them with a Kingdom of Glory in Heaven. That is right, the Telestial Kingdom is a KINGDOM OF GLORY IN HEAVEN. The Terrestrial Kingdom? It is ALSO A KINGDOM OF GLORY IN HEAVEN. Hell, or spirit prison is only temporary and those spirits will one day bow the knee, confess the tongue, and be saved! Truly our God is a loving God.
The Savior’s sacrifice opened the door of salvation for all to return to God. His “grace is sufficient for all [who] humble themselves before [God].” His grace is the enabling power that allows access into God’s kingdoms of salvation. Because of His grace, we will all be resurrected and saved in a kingdom of glory. Even the lowest kingdom of glory, the telestial kingdom, “surpasses all understanding,” and numberless people will inherit this salvation.
Dieter F. Uchtdorf, It Works Wonderfully! Oct 2015 General Conference.
Celestial Glory the fullness of Salvation.
“And thus we saw the glory of the celestial, which excels in all things—where God, even the Father, reigns upon his throne forever and ever;” D&C 76:92
As Latter-day Saints, we don’t just seek general salvation into any kingdom of heaven, We desire a fullness of Salvation, which is to be exalted and receive eternal life in the Celestial Kingdom. To receive the fullness of Salvation we must accept the fullness of the Gospel with all the ordinances of Salvation.
Furthermore, God wants all of His children to receive the fullness of Salvation. Therefore He commands us to build temples to offer these exalting ordinances to all who have ever lived. He also sends forth His Prophets and Apostles and Missionaries to declare the fullness of the Gospel to every nation, kindred, and tongue. Everything we do in the Church is to enable everyone to partake in the fullness of Salvation and Exaltation in the Celestial Kingdom.
Satan desires we might be miserable like himself, but if he can not get us to choose the pathway of prediction, his next goal is to get us to exclude ourselves from qualifying for the fullness of Salvation that is attainable only in the Celestial Kingdom. Few areas are His efforts more evident than his attempts to paint the conceptual heaven and hell that most Christian Churches believe in. More than just heaven and hell, through his craftiness he has blinded many Christians as to what heaven is like. If you actually ask an everyday Christian to explain what heaven is like, they would not be describing Celestial Glory, rather if they explained it, they would be explaining Terrestrial Glory. To get into the Terrestrial all you need to do is Believe and be saved, and be a good person. No works required, it is the gospel that most Christian Churches teach!
One major problem that members and missionaries face is when they approach Christians who are living the Terrestrial Law and are qualifying for Terrestrial Glory, and this is the most important part: The Spirit has often testified that their lifestyle is in accordance with the heaven they seek! When we try to teach them the Celestial Law first without elevating their goals to Celestial Glory. Many Christians are still thinking of heaven as the Terrestrial Kingdom. The Celestial Law is not required for admittance into the Terrestrial Kingdom. So when we teach them these new requirements the Spirit does not bear witness, nor does it make sense to them. And they reject it. To overcome this is simple, first teach the Glory of the Kingdom, then teach the requirements. Our fellow Christians who learn that Heaven is so much more than they imagined will be more open to doing so much more than they’ve done!
“As members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, we aspire to something unimaginably greater. It is exaltation in the celestial kingdom. It is life eternal in the presence of our Father in Heaven. It is the greatest gift of God. In the celestial kingdom, we receive “of his fulness, and of his glory.” Indeed, all that the Father hath shall be given unto us. Exaltation is our goal; discipleship is our journey.”
Dieter F. Uchtdorf, It Works Wonderfully! Oct 2015 General Conference.
Explaining the 144,000 from the Book of Revelation.
11 Q. What are we to understand by sealing the one hundred and forty-four thousand, out of all the tribes of Israel—twelve thousand out of every tribe?
A. We are to understand that those who are sealed are high priests, ordained unto the holy order of God, to administer the everlasting gospel; for they are they who are ordained out of every nation, kindred, tongue, and people, by the angels to whom is given power over the nations of the earth, to bring as many as will come to the church of the Firstborn.
Doctrine and Covenants 77:11
This section of the Doctrine and Covenants is unique as it is written in question-and-answer format. But I LOVE this verse. Often has it been supposed that the 144,000 referred to by John the Revelator were all that were going to be saved. Some churches, like the Jehovah’s Witnesses, still believe that. But restored truth teaches us that there are called 144,000 High Priests to bring EVERYONE who will unto Salvation! Knowing that all mankind can be saved into the Celestial Kingdom we might reread the 3rd Article of Faith as: “We believe that through the Atonement of Christ all mankind may be saved [into the Celestial Kingdom], by obedience to the laws and ordinances of the gospel.”
Helping the poor.
“For verily I say unto you, the time has come, and is now at hand; and behold, and lo, it must needs be that there be an organization of my people, in regulating and establishing the affairs of the storehouse for the poor of my people, both in this place and in the land of Zion—”
Doctrine and Covenants 78:3
The Lord has commanded us through the bible and book of Mormon to clothe the naked, and to feed the hungry, and to liberate the captive, and administer relief to the sick and the afflicted.” Jacob 2:19 and in Doctrine and Covenants 78 the Lord is renewing His commands to take care of the poor.
When judgment day comes, the Lord will sort those who profess His name onto His left and right hands. The Lord has told us the litmus test is simple, Did you serve your fellow man? Did you take care of the poor and needy? Not did you vote for a government program to take care of the poor and needy, but did YOU do take care of them?
Satan wants us to look at the poor and needy as a problem to be fixed. In the name of helping others and ‘fixing’ this problem many members subscribe to the false doctrines of governmental welfare to abdicate their duty to serve the poor and needy to the government. Welfareism has been repeatedly denounced by the brethren, Marion G. Romney warned us about this trend to abdicate our duty among Latter-day Saints.
In this modern world plagued with counterfeits for the Lord’s plan, we must not be misled into supposing that we can discharge our obligations to the poor and the needy by shifting the responsibility to some governmental or other public agency. Only by voluntarily giving out of an abundant love for our neighbors can we develop that charity characterized by Mormon as “the pure love of Christ.” (Moro. 7:47.) This we must develop if we would obtain eternal life.
President Marion G. Romney, Caring for the Poor and Needy, Oct 1972 General Conference
When we realize that the problem to be fixed is NOT that there are poor and needy, but rather our problem is our struggle to overcome the natural man only then will we see that the solution to our problems is actually serving the poor and needy! Marion G. Romney illustrated this principle when he taught the following about serving the poor and needy:
“The Lord doesn’t really need us to take care of the poor. He could take care of them without our help if it were his purpose to do so… It would be a simple thing for the Lord to reveal to President [Nelson] where the deposits of oil and precious ores are. We could then hire someone to dig them out and we could float in wealth—and we would float in wealth right down to Hades. No, the Lord doesn’t really need us to take care of the poor, but we need this experience; for it is only through our learning how to take care of each other that we develop within us the Christlike love and disposition necessary to qualify us to return to his presence.“
President Marion G. Romney, Living Welfare Principles, Oct 1981 General Conference
For a more in-depth look into the United Order which we will be learning about over the coming weeks of studying the Doctrine and Covenants see Why so many members are falling for Satan’s counterfeits of the United Order.
Knowing Deity.
“And I will send upon him the Comforter, which shall teach him the truth and the way whither he shall go;”
Doctrine and Covenants 79:2
The Spirit is the comforter, we often forget His role is to teach us all truth and to prepare us to know Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ.
If you want to know Deity, it only makes sense to develop a relationship with Deity. The Spirit is the only witness that can stand the test of time. No amount of physical evidence will ever be more compelling than the whisper of the Holy Spirit.
The Spirit will prepare and then introduce us to Christ, Christ will prepare and introduce is to the Father.
“The Father and the Son send the Holy Ghost to comfort and strengthen disciples of the Master in their journey.”
~Henry B. Eyring
You can’t go amiss!
“Wherefore, go ye and preach my gospel, whether to the north or to the south, to the east or to the west, it mattereth not, for ye cannot go amiss.”
Doctrine and Covenants 80:3
As I’ve repeatedly mentioned before, I love that this verse highlights that often times it does not matter to the Lord what we do, as both options are acceptable to Him. But I want to highlight another lesson this verse teaches us. Often times it does not matter where we serve, rather HOW we serve. In the April 1951 General Conference President J. Reuben Clark Jr. taught that “In the service of the Lord, it is not where you serve but how. In The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, one takes the place to which one is duly called, which place one neither seeks nor declines.” So regardless of where you live, or what your calling is, magnify your calling and you can’t go amiss!