Doctrine & Covenants 88
“The Olive Leaf”
Doctrine & Covenants 88:3-4
“Second Comforter”
Joseph Smith taught:
“After a person has faith in Christ, repents of his sins, and is
baptized for the remission for his sins and receives the Holy
Ghost (by the laying on of hands), which is the first
Comforter, then let him continue to humble himself before
God, hungering and thirsting after righteousness, and
living by every word of God, and the Lord will soon say
unto him, Son, thou shalt be exalted. When He has
thoroughly proved him, and finds that the man is
determined to serve him at all hazards, the man will find
his calling and election made sure, then it will be his
privilege to receive the other comforter.” To receive the
other Comforter is to have Christ appear to him and to
see the visions of eternity (Teachings, 149-51).
Doctrine & Covenants 88:7-13
“Light of Christ”
Light by which worlds are controlled, by which
they are made. It is the light of the Son and all
other bodies (Joseph Fielding Smith, Doctrines of
Salvation, 1:52-53).
Doctrine & Covenants 88:15
The spirit and the body are the soul of men!
Doctrine & Covenants 88:36
All Kingdoms have a law given! (see verses 18-26)
Doctrine & Covenants 88:51-60
“The twelfth world”
The numbers:
3, 4, 7, 12, 40
=
Priesthood #’s.
Sometimes the number is doubled for emphasis.
Doctrine & Covenants 88:58-61
Orson Pratt says:
“He withdraws. What for? To fulfill other purposes; for
he has other worlds or creations and other sons and
daughters, perhaps just as good as those dwelling on
this planet, and they, as well as we, will be visited, and
they will be made glad with countenance of their
Lord. Thus he will go, in the time and in the season
thereof, from Kingdom to kingdom or from world to
world, causing the pure in heart, the Zion that is taken
from these creations, to rejoice in his presence”
(Journal of Discourses, 17:332).
Doctrine & Covenants 88:62-65
“Proper Prayer!”
Prayer is the most wonderful institution in
the Kingdom of God. It is therefore, the
deepest and the most wonderful act of
which a man is capable (Smith and
Sjodahl, 551-52).
Prayer is the goal of an individual to place him or
herself in spiritual harmony with God the Father
and Creator of all. It represents “the pulsation of a
yearning, loving heart in tune with the infinite.”
Prayer is “a message of the soul sent directly to a
loving Father…” (President McKay).
Prayer, accompanied by works, “is the invisible
switch to tune us with the infinite” (President
Kimball). It is placing ourselves “in harmony with
divine forces” (Widtsoe).
To live without prayer is to live a mere animal
existence (Cannon).
Joseph Smith’s admonition regarding prayer is helpful:
“Be plain and simple and ask for what you want, just like you
would go to a neighbor and say, I want to borrow a horse
and go to the mill.”
Joseph Smith provided guidance in this area, teaching us
that we must pray three times a day (Daniel 6:10, Alma
34:21).
I know of no single practice that will have a more salutary
effect upon your lives than the practice of kneeling
together as you begin and close each day. Somehow the
little storms that seem to afflict every marriage are
dissipated when, kneeling before the Lord, you thank him
for one another, in the presence of one another, and then
together invoke his blessings upon your lives, your home,
your loved ones, and your dreams (President Hinckley).
Doctrine & Covenants 88:77-81
“Teaching one another the doctrine of the kingdom” (88:118-119).
Spencer W. Kimball gave this explanation.
Secular knowledge, important as it may be, can never save a soul
nor open the celestial kingdom nor create a world nor make a
man of God, but it can be most helpful to that man placing first
things first, has found the way to eternal life and who can now
bring into play all knowledge to be his tool and servant…
Youth, beloved youth, can you see “Do not be deceived! One
need not choose between the two but only the sequence, for
there is opportunity for one to get both simultaneously; but can
you see that the seminary courses should be given preferential
attention over the high school subjects; the institute over the
college course; the study of the scriptures ahead of the study of
the man-written texts” (“Beloved Youth, Study and Learn”).
Doctrine & Covenants 88:87-95
When the sign appears, God will make it’s meaning
known to the prophet who at the time will tell the
people and world in general. The world will say that it is a
planet or comet,. etc.
Doctrine & Covenants 88:90
What we mortals encounter as the unforeseen, God has
already seen, such as how the oil deposits of this earth
would shape the latter-day conflicts among
nations….He has anticipated the impact of continual
drifts on the frequency and intensity of latter-day
earthquakes. He….also knows where and when, in latter
days, the seas’ tidal waves will heave themselves
savagely “beyond their bounds” (Neal A. Maxwell,
Ensign, November 1987, 31).
Doctrine & Covenants 88:95
This is how we know that there will
be no women in heaven!
We do not know the time
schedule, whether 30 minutes to
us or 21 years in the Lord’s time.
At this time the resurrection of
those who are Celestial will take
place.
Doctrine & Covenants 88:118-119
How do we really know?
By study and by faith.
Seek ye out of the best books.
Doctrine & Covenants 88:121-122
Good Classroom Management!
Doctrine & Covenants 88:123-124
The Lord also told the Saints to get their proper rest.
Elder Boyd K. Packer spoke of the benefits of rising early
in the morning:
“I’ve heard President Harold B. Lee begin many a
statement about matters involving a revelation with an
expression something like this: ‘In the early hours of the
morning, while I was pondering upon that subject,’ and
so on.
He made it a practice to work on the problems that
required revelation in the fresh, alert hours of the early
morning.”
“I counsel our children to do their critical
studying in the early hours of the morning
when they’re fresh and alert, rather than
to fight the physical weariness and
mental exhaustion at night. I’ve learned
that the dictum, ‘Early to bed, early to
rise’ is powerful. When under pressure –
for instance, when I was preparing this
talk – you wouldn’t find me burning the
midnight oil. Much rather I’d be early to
bed getting up in the wee hours of the
morning, when I could be close to Him
who guides this work” (Ensign, Aug. 1975,
88-89).
Doctrine & Covenants 88:127, 133
The following is from Zebedee Coltrin’s journal:
About the time the school was first organized some wished
to see an angel, and a number joined in a circle, and
prayed when the vision came, two of the brethren shrank
and called for the vision to close or they would perish, they
were Brothers Hancock and Humphries.
At one of these meetings after the organization of the
school, on the 23rd January, 1833, when we were all
together, Joseph having given instructions, and while
engaged in silent prayer in silence prayer, kneeling, with
our hands uplifted each one praying in silence, no one
whispered above his breath, a personage walked through
the room from east to west.
Joseph asked if we saw him. I saw him and suppose
the others did, and Joseph answered that is Jesus, the
Son of God, our elder brother. Afterward Joseph told
us to resume our former position in prayer, which we
did. Another person came through; He was
surrounded as with a flame of fire. I experienced a
sensation that it might destroy the tabernacle as it was
of consuming fire of great brightness. The Prophet
Joseph said this was the Father of our Lord Jesus
Christ. I saw Him….This appearance was so grand
and overwhelming that it seemed I should melt down
in His presence, and the sensation was so powerful
that it thrilled through my whole system and I felt it in
the marrow of my bones. The Prophet Joseph said:
Brethren now you are prepared to be Apostles of
Jesus Christ, for you have seen both the Father and
the Son (Church Archives).