DOCTRINE & COVENANTS
91-93
Doctrine & Covenants 91
Apocrypha
Fifteen books that were part of early Greek and Latin versions of the
Bible.
They were found at the end of earlier editions of the K.J.V. of the Old
Testament and are in the Catholic (Douvay) version of the Bible.
The apocryphal books are sacred to the Jewish people but are not
included in the Hebrew Bible.
Apocrypha means inspired writings, hidden things.
An Apocryphal writing is
one that had been accepted
as inspired scripture by any
Christian or Jewish group at
any time.
1. The First Book of Esdras
2. The Second Book of Esdras
3. Tobit
4. Judith
5. The Rest of the Chapters of the Book of Ester
6. The wisdom of Solomon
7. Ecclesiasticus or the Wisdom of Jesus son of Sirach
8. Baruch
9. A Letter of Jeremiah
10. The Song of the Three
11. Daniela and Susanna
12. Daniel, Bel, and the Snake
13. The Prayer of Manasseh
14. The First Book of the Meccabees
15. The Second book of the Maccabees
Five Things We Learn About the
Apocryphal Writings:
1. It is mostly translated correctly.
2. It contains many things that are simply not true.
3. New material was inserted that altered or corrupted it.
4. It did not need to be translated by Joseph.
5. If we are guided by the spirit we will be able to discern.
Doctrine & Covenants 92:2
“Ye shall be lively members!”
=
diligent and committed (Revelation 3:15-16).
Frederick G. Williams was not to hold back in
contributing because he was the newest
member.
Likewise, all new members or new at a calling
should be “lively members.”
The United Order and the United Firm were used
interchangeably by members of the firm.
The Law of Consecration is the law whereby an individual
consecrates his time, talents, and possessions to the Lord. The
United Order was the organization set up to implement the
Law of Consecration.
Elder Bruce R. McConkie explained the difference. “In order
to live the Law of Consecration, the early saints in this
dispensation set up the United Order as the legal
organization to receive consecrations, convey stewardships
back to donors, and to regulate the storehouses, containing
surplus properties” (Mormon Doctrine, 813).
Doctrine & Covenants 93:1
Doctrine & Covenants 93 is one of the greatest doctrinal revelations
given in this dispensation!
Four steps to see the Lord!
(Doctrine & Covenants 68:68 and Doctrine & Covenants 67:10)
1. Forsake sins
2. Call on his name
3. Obey his voice
4. Keep the Commandments
President Kimball said,
“I have learned that where there is a prayerful heart and
hungering after righteousness, a forsaking of sins, and
obedience to the commandments of God, the Lord pours out
more and more light until finally one has the power to pierce
the heavenly veil and to know more than man knows, such a
person has priceless promise that one day he will see the
Lord’s face and know that he is (Speeches of the Year, 1979,
163).
Francis M. Lyman said, “Every Latter-day Saint is entitled to this
witness and testimony. If we have not received this witness and
testimony … I want you all to remember that the fault is ours and
not the Lord’s (Conference Report, April 1910, 29-30).
Doctrine & Covenants 93:6-18
“John the Baptist”
Both John Taylor and Orson Pratt joined in the opinion that it
is the record of the Baptist for which we look rather than
another record written by John the Revelator as some have
supposed (Taylor, Mediation and Atonement, 55; and Journal
of Discourses, 16:58).
Doctrine & Covenants 93:10
Worlds made by Him!
John 1:3,10, Moses 1:33
Doctrine & Covenants 93:12-13
“Grace for Grace!”
(the Greenie Theory!)
Learn a little, obey that, learn more, obey that!
In short, grace refers to the gifts of God by which men can be
brought to perfection, that through obedience more and more power
is given by the Father, until they receive a fullness of His power.
Faith and obedience are one and the same spirit,
what in the heart we call faith in the will we call
obedience (George McDonald, The Curates Awaken,
1985).
(George McDonald was a man that C.S. Lewis looked
up to and idolized).
Some have said that an acronym for GRACE is: God’s
Riches At Christ’s Expense!
When Jesus was born into mortality, “over His
mind had fallen the veil of forgetfulness
common to all who are born to earth,” wrote
Elder James E. Talmage, “by which the
remembrance of primeval existence is shut off”
(Jesus the Christ, 111).
His growth was accelerated above that of his
fellow men because of the reciprocal nature of
receiving strength of the Spirit when extending
grace.
Doctrine & Covenants 93:13
“Until he received a fullness”
The point of emphasis here is that Christ came into mortality
as a helpless infant, knowing no more than any other Children
at birth.
We must advance from grace to grace, we must become as
“a smooth and polished shaft in the quiver of the Almighty”
through laboring for the gospel cause. Ours must be lives
consecrated to the blessing of the family and the building up
of the kingdom of God (Teachings of the Prophet Joseph
Smith, 304).
“Here, then, is eternal life – to know the only wise and
true God,” explained the Prophet Joseph Smith; “and
you have got to learn how to be Gods yourselves,
and to be kings and priests to God, the same as all
Gods have done before you, namely, by going from
one small degree to another, and from a small
capacity to a great one; from grace to grace, from
exaltation to exaltation… To inherit the same power,
the same glory and the same exaltation, until you
arrive at the station of God, and ascend the throne of
external power, the same as those who have gone
before. What did Jesus do? Why; I do the things I
saw my Father do when worlds came rolling into
existence. My Father worked out his kingdom with
fear and trembling, and I must do the same…
“When you climb a ladder, you must begin at the
bottom, and ascend step by step, until you arrive at
the top; and so it is with the principles of the Gospel
– you must begin with the first, and go on until you
learn all the principles of exaltation. But it will be a
great while after you have passed through the veil
before you will have learned them. It is not all to be
comprehended in this world; it will be a great work to
earn our salvation and exaltation even beyond the
grave” (Joseph Smith, Teachings, 346-48).
Doctrine & Covenants 93:24
A man who gathers knowledge and uses it in
harmony with the plan of salvation is intelligent
(John A. Widtsoe).
Being saturated with data even brings to mind a
prophecy about those who are “ever learning, and
never able to come to the knowledge of truth” (2
Timothy 3:7). Megabytes, however large and
helpful, are no substitute for partaking of the bread
of life (Neal A. Maxwell, If Thou Endure it Well, 93).
Doctrine & Covenants 93:30
What do we know about intelligences?
1. Was not created, nor can it be (Abraham 3:18).
2. Some were more intelligent than others
(Abraham 3:18-19, 22-23).
3. Had free will (93:30).
4. Can grow or increase in intelligence (93:27-28,
39).
5. Made of light and truth (93:36).
Doctrine & Covenants 93:36
“This text is often used out of context”
Some use this verse to sustain the idea that the Glory of
God is in obtaining an education or gaining knowledge.
Intelligence as used here is a synonym for “light and truth.”
Thus, what the text is really telling us is that the glory of
God is found in righteousness, purity, and goodness, which
virtues stand independent of the learning of men. It is the
light of the Spirit to which reference is made here, light that
can be had only by obedience to the order of heaven.
Doctrine & Covenants 93:39
“Enemies of light and truth”
The two greatest enemies of light and truth are disobedience
and false traditions.
Doctrine & Covenants 93:41-50
“Teach your children”
All three members of the First Presidency are chastened for their
failure to properly teach their own children (1 Timothy 3:4-5).
We do not rear children just to please
our vanity. We bring children into the
world to become Kings and Queens,
priest and priestesses for our Lord
(President Kimball, Ensign, Apr. 1987).
(Doctrine & Covenants 68:25-31)