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Church History Matters
156 - D&C 106-108 CFM - Priesthood Offices And Duties - E39 September 22-28
01:35:18
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- [00:00]
A
Ooh. So much important stuff in here that still on a day to day basis affects us as Latter day Saints.
- [00:06]
B
A 70 can do anything that an apostle can do, so long as an apostle asks them to do it.
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A
Investing that much power in one person is a lot and it can be really challenging.
- [00:16]
B
We're all called to be witnesses of Christ. Seek it by being faithful to your covenants. Right.
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A
Hopefully you and I and every person out there that has a witness of the living Christ can be witnesses too. I think the Lord just wanted you to know that you were the kind of person that he would entrust with this sort of responsibility. Hello, Scott.
- [00:35]
B
Hello, Casey.
- [00:36]
A
We have got a full meal laid out for us today.
- [00:39]
B
We have an appetizer in section 106, the main course in section 107, and a dessert in section 108. How about that?
- [00:46]
A
Section 106 is a. Is an eight verse revelation on behalf of a sort of obscure figure, Warren Cowdery. It's kind of like the jalapeno poppers before you start your full meal at Chili's or Applebee's or whatever establishment you choose to frequent. But then Section 107, which is one of the sections of the Dr. Doctrine and Covenants that you just have to know, it affects so much in how we do things as Latter Day Saints. And then you got a little another eight verse revelation that's like your low calorie cake that you get after you've eaten your burger and fries and everything else.
- [01:19]
B
Maybe even a little chocolate fountain, if you will. High calories. Because there's a couple dense little verses in section108 that maybe be higher in calories than your average verse. I'm just saying. I'm trying to go with the analogy here, Casey, just work with me.
- [01:32]
A
And we are pressing these analogies so far that they're begging for mercy because we just want to let you know we're probably going to hustle through section 106 and then spend most of our time on section 107. That's the main course. And then top it off with a little section 108, which introduces us to one of the. One of the interesting figures in the early history of the church. So with a big meal in front of us, let's get cooking.
- [02:00]
B
Context. Casey, drop us in. What's happening with section 106?
- [02:03]
A
Section 106 is a revelation given to Warren Cowdery, who was Oliver Cowdry brother. And it came about because in the spring of 1834, Joseph Smith traveled to Freedom New York to recruit people to go on Zion's camp. And at that time, Joseph stayed in the home of Warren Cowdery, who was Oliver's older brother and who at that time was not a member of the church. So Joseph wrote in his journal that during his stay with Warren, he wrote he had received, quote, full enjoyment of all the blessings, both temporal and spiritual. And this visit also seems to have a big effect on Warren too, because sometime between May and September of 1834, a small branch of the church is organized in the town. Warren's living in freedom. And Warren gets baptized. And after he gets baptized, he writes to Oliver requesting a preacher of our order to do us good by strengthening and building us up in the most holy faith. Then in October 1834, he writes to Oliver again sharing his hope, saying he wants to, in his words, be useful in the vineyard of the Lord, and told his brother that he had thoughts of requesting you to inquire what is the will of the Lord concerning me? And it seems like Oliver took this request to Joseph Smith. And Joseph Smith receives this. Now, Joseph Smith receives it in the midst of a lot of stuff going on. When Joseph Smith introduces this revelation in his history, he writes, no month ever found me more busily engaged than November. But as my life consisted of activity and unyielding exertion, and I see you, brother Joseph. I see how busy you are. I made this my rule. When the Lord commands do it. I continued my labors daily preparing for the school and received the following. So, Joseph Smith, I'm super busy. It seems like there's all this stuff going on. But the Lord told me to do this for Warren. I'm going to do it. And that's where we get section 106, this little gem.
- [03:56]
B
Okay, so what does this revelation say? Let's dive in. Verse 1. It is my will that my servant Warren a Cowdery should be appointed and ordained a presiding high priest over my church in the land of freedom and the regions roundabout. Okay, so when Warren was writing to Oliver Cowdery and said, we need someone to like a preacher to come out and do us good and strengthen us and build up our faith, the Lord says, how about you? You are the 1. Verse 2. And you should preach my everlasting gospel and lift up his voice and warn the people not only in his own place freedom, but also in the adjoining counties and devote his whole time to, to this high and holy calling which I now give unto him, seeking diligently the kingdom of heaven and its righteousness and all things necessary shall be added thereunto, for the laborer is worthy of his hire. And then he says, it kind of switches gears here. Verse 4. And again, verily, I say unto you, the coming of the Lord draweth nigh and it overtaketh the world as a thief in the night. Therefore gird up your loins that you may be the children of light, and that day shall not overtake you as a thief. My favorite verse in this whole section, Casey, verse 6. And again, verily, I say unto you there was joy in heaven when my servant Warren bowed to my scepter and separated himself from the crafts of men. That is so cool. That's. I mean, think about how often that story is repeated. How when people choose Jesus and when they choose to separate themselves from the crafts of men, from the things in the world that have been distracting them from coming unto the Lord. Like there is joy in heaven. It's beautiful, man. Like, I don't know about you, Casey. I was. I was probably about 15 when I bowed to the scepter of the Lord. I was like, all right, I'm all in. I'm. I'm yours. Like I even remember writing this out in my journal. Like I wrote out a prayer to him where I just like committed that I'm all in. I like this verse. It makes me think of 15 year old little Scott Woodward trying to separate himself from the crafts of men. I haven't done it perfectly successfully, Casey. That was when it began for me. I don't know. How about you?
- [06:01]
A
You've made me wonder when was I. And I think at 15, I was still sort of like wandering around the room, paying attention to all the girls and not looking to notice that there was a scepter for me. I probably got serious about it. And I can't say I had a moment when I knelt down and wrote out a prayer saying I was committed. But my freshman year, yeah, when I had to start making big decisions about my future life and a mission more gradually than you came into the and acknowledged God and said, I want to help with all this.
- [06:32]
B
It also reminds me of that moment when Gordon B. Hinckley, he tells when he was on his mission, he was like discouraged. He wanted to come home. His dad writes him a letter, says, gordon, I have just one bit of advice for you. Forget yourself and go to work. And he said that morning I had been studying Jesus's teachings where Jesus had said that if you lose your life for my sake, you'll find it. He said, my father's letter combined with my scripture study that morning led me to go up upstairs and to quietly kneel down before the lor and just pray to him and dedicate my life to him, to tell him I wanted to lose my life for his cause. And he says, I can trace every good thing in my life from that day forward. And this is Warren Cowdery's moment right here. So cool.
- [07:16]
A
That guy turned out okay. Speaking of Gordon B. Hinckley, Warren Cowdery, different story. But he does say here, Blessed is my servant Warren. I will have mercy upon him, and notwithstanding the vanity of his heart, I will lift him up inasmuch as he will humble himself before me. And I will give him grace and assurance wherewith he may stand. And if he continue to be a faithful witness and a light unto the Church, I've prepared a crown for him in the mansions of my Father. Even so. Amen. Beautiful short little blessing on this new convert. And again, one of the useful things to do with the Doctrine and Covenants is sometimes replace your name for the person who was receiving this. And you can see here how the Lord feels about new converts or returning members or somebody that just maybe has been coasting through their service in the church and has decided to recommit themselves themselves. There's just joy when a person bows before the scepter and separates themselves from the crafts of men, which we all need to do again and again and again.
- [08:11]
B
I love that he uses the word scepter like the sovereignty of God. Not my will, but thy will be done. It's just. It's just so good. You are the king, I am your servant. Beautiful man.
- [08:21]
A
Well, let's keep going. Any controversies in this section that you can think of?
- [08:31]
B
I can't think of any controversies with section 106. How about you?
- [08:34]
A
I stretched to try and find it. I did find out that Warren Cowdery assisted in writing the dedicatory prayer for the Kirtland Temple, which is section 109. And I thought, is it controversial that temple dedicatory prayers aren't, you know, can be the product of collaboration and not an entire revelation? I thought about it for about 10 seconds and thought, no, not really.
- [08:57]
B
It's fine.
- [08:59]
A
It's fine if a section like section 109, which is a dedicatory prayer, was written with the assistance and even a section that's more pure revelation. I love the fact that Joseph Smith and the early leaders of the church felt free to. Sir, take a look at this. You know, help me make this better. Help me Find the voice of the Lord a little bit more. So it was kind of a nothing burger, and I don't think we need to spend any more time than we just did on it.
- [09:27]
B
That's great. Well, we get to cover section 109 next week, so bookmark that and we'll talk about that next week. Okay, let's go to the consequences.
- [09:36]
A
Warren Cowdery is appointed as a high priest, which is talked about in verse. One commentary later published in the December 1834 issue of the Latter Day Saints, messenger and Advocate actually lists Warren as the presiding elder of the church in the branch at Freedom, New York. So he does fulfill his calling here. On a further level, Warren is not particularly well known today, not nearly as well known as Oliver Cowdery, and that's okay. But he does make some big contributions to the church. He serves as a writer and a scribe to Joseph. He eventually moves to Kirtland, where he becomes a clerk for Joseph Smith and edits the messenger and Advocate and is a bookbinder in the printing office in Kirtland. So he literally helps get the Doctrine and Covenants into people's hands. And then, as I mentioned, he assists in writing the dedicatory prayer for the Kirtland Temple, which becomes a section of the Doctrine and Covenants, and he serves as a member of the Kirtland High Council. So all good things on Warren Cowdery's eternal scorecard, I guess you'd say.
- [10:38]
B
However, as you alluded to earlier, Warren Cowdery will actually not stay in the church. He unfortunately was swept up in the tumult that overthrew the church. Many members of the church in Kirtland in 1837 during what we call the Kirtland apostasy. And he'll become a disaffected member of the church. He's out of church leadership by 1838. His brother was excommunicated that same year, Oliver Cowdery, in April of 1838. And that undoubtedly affected Warren's feelings toward church leadership. He, Warren will stay behind in Kirtland after most of the church leaves Kirtland. According to an 1850 census, Warren was living with his wife and six children in Kirtland in 1850, and he passes away the next year in 1851. And unlike his brother Oliver, Warren will not return to the church in his lifetime. So kind of a sadder ending to this story, not an eternal ending. We don't know what happens later. And I'm sure you know, he's in Jesus hands. We'll Let Jesus draw a final judgment. But kind of a sad ending to the war in cowdery story. So there you go. That's section 106.
- [11:51]
A
Let's keep moving and head on to the main course today, which is section 107. And how do we introduce section 107, one of the most significant sections in the entire Doctrine and Covenants. It first appears in the 1835 Doctrine and Covenants, which is the first collection to be called the Doctrine and Covenants. The earlier one is called the Book of Commandments. And in the 1835 Doctrine and Covenants, the sections aren't arranged chronologically the way they are now. They're arranged sort of in order of importance. So, like, hey, let's get to the vital stuff that everybody needs to know to make it easier for missionaries to find, you know, the sacrament prayer. Section 20 was right at the first. Obviously section one is section one because it was intended to be, but section 107 is third. So it goes section one, section 20, which is known as the constitution of the church, and then section 107. That's how big a deal it is because it has a whole bunch of stuff that establishes the ecclesiastical structure of the church as we know it today.
- [12:55]
B
Yeah. If you are a missionary or an early church leader, section 107 would have come as a great boon to you. It has a lot of answers, kind of like a church handbook of instruction. Today, when people have questions, especially church leaders, they will go there. And section 107, like, like you said, section 20. Those two together are very much like a early church handbook of instructions on how the church should be organized, especially officers in the church. Like you said, the ecclesiology, ecclesiastical structure of the church is going to start to come into greater clarity with this section. And it would have been just so helpful if you were out in the boonies trying to establish the church. Like, what would that look like? How do you set it up? What are the officers in the church? How should it run? A lot in section 107 is going to be helpful for those kinds of questions.
- [13:38]
A
Yeah, absolutely. There's the setup. Let's dive into the context. February 14, 1835, Valentine's Day. Joseph Smith calls a meeting in Kirtland, Ohio, of all those who marched with Zion's camp the previous summer. We talked a little bit about this in our last episode, and at this gathering, he paid tribute to those who were willing to give their lives, those who gave their lives, if necessary, for the redemption of Zion. Then the meeting minutes, which you can find on the Joseph Smith Papers site says President Joseph Smith Jr. Said that the first business of the meeting was for the three witnesses of the Book of Mormon to pray each one and then to proceed to choose 12 men from the church as apostles to go to all nations, kindreds, tongues and people. Big news. It's time for 12 apostles to be called this.
- [14:32]
B
Having the three witnesses do it, this helps fulfill section 18, doesn't it? Section 18 said that the witnesses would help choose the apostles. So here we are executing on what was revealed. What was that, like six years ago?
- [14:43]
A
Yeah. And so, I mean, at this point, Joseph Smith is. I don't know if his near death experience with Zion's camp made him realize, I got to start getting this stuff done. 12 men were selected by the three witnesses and they were selected to be ordained apostle in the church. A couple nuances, by the way. We did a whole other series on succession and there's a lot of fun, little wrinkles in how they were chosen and everything. But let me introduce a couple of things. The average age of the original quorum of the 12 was about 28 years old. So this is a young church and the leaders are relatively young. But I mean, this is 1835. So Joseph Smith himself still hasn't had his 30th birthday. So he's right in the middle of this. And then 43 men are selected to be ordained to the office of 70 in the church for the first time in this dispensation. So at the time of their ordinations, both the 12 apostles and the 70s were commissioned and set apart to go into all nations, kindred tongues and people, and to preach the gospel. So again, it's different than the way it is now where the 12 administer and lead. These people were primarily being thought of as missionaries going out to do the job. But then they kind of grow into this role.
- [16:00]
B
Yeah. During that same February and March, Joseph Smith holds several meetings with these new leaders which with the 12 apostles, particularly. In one meeting on the 27th of February, for example, he's teaching them regarding their duties. And he explains this. They are the twelve apostles who are called to be a traveling high council to preside over all the churches of the saints among the Gentiles, when there is no presidency established. He then told them that they are to hold the keys of this ministry, to unlock the door of the kingdom of heaven unto all nations and preach the gospel unto every creature. This, he said, is the virtue, power and authority of their apostleship in the first place. He continued God manifested himself to me, he said, and gave me authority to establish his church. One of these rare biographical moments of Joseph Smith talking about God interacting with him. This is really cool. God manifested himself to me, gave me authority to establish his church. And then he says, and now you have received your authority from God through me, and now it is your duty to go and unlock the kingdom of heaven to foreign nations, for no man can do that thing but yourselves. Neither has any man, authority or a right to go to other nations before you. And you 12 stand in the same relation to those nations that I stand in to you, that is, as a minister. That's an awesome quote.
- [17:24]
A
Yeah, awesome. So that's the first meeting. Another meeting is held March 12th where Joseph proposed that because of pressing requests from church branches in the eastern United States, the 12 should go on their first mission together and traveling to and holding a series of conferences among the Eastern saints, in his words, for the purpose of regulating all things necessary for their welfare. While it's unclear from the historical records exactly when section 107 was written, it appears that Joseph presented the 12 with this instruction sometime before the 4th of May, 1835, when they left on that mission. So it seems like section 107 was intended to aid the 12 in regulating all the Eastern branches of the Church. Its detailed information on the responsibilities of priesthood officers still really impacts the church and benefits us for years to come. But to be honest, it's a composite of several revelations. One part, the part that talks about the patriarch in the church, is actually taken from the patriarchal blessing of the original patriarch, Joseph Smith Sr. Which was received several years earlier. So they're assembling together kind of a composite revelation that's going to be really, really helpful in just helping people know this is how the church is structured. And the 12 are the first people to go out and preach idea to use it to regulate the church.
- [18:45]
B
Yeah, that's important to point out that this wasn't a brand new revelation that came all at once at this time. So think about section 107. It's, it's 100 verses long. So the first 58 verses are new material, new explanatory material on priesthood. And then verses 59 to the end are actually a revised and redacted revelation on priesthood that was received way back in November of 1831. So it is, it's this, it's a composite. It's an amalgamation of various revelations. In fact, the first 58 verses, all right, are not written in the first person voice of the Lord, I don't know how much to make of this, but once you go to verse 59 to 100, now it's in the first person voice of the Lord, but the first 58 verses are this kind of descriptive third person voice, which some think that this suggests that this is Joseph Smith's own synthesis and explanation of previously unrecorded revelations and visions that he had received, rather than the revelations and visions themselves. But then we get to verses 59 to 100 and it's in that revelatory first person voice of God language again. So little nuances to kind of watch for as we go through the text.
- [19:54]
A
Yeah, it's kind of been put down in its most useful form sort of as a priesthood handbook. And it's not unprecedented. We mentioned a couple weeks ago that Section 102, which is the minutes, but when you look at the broader minutes, Joseph Smith says, I saw how the Church functioned in vision. And then he uses that meeting lay down the instructions on how to do it. Probably the same thing with the new parts of section 107. So let's just outline, because this is a big revelation and a lot to cover, and then we'll dive in. So verses 1 through 6 are an introduction that describes two priesthoods in the church. Then verses 7 through 20 describe the rights, powers and authority of the Melchizedek and Aaronic priesthoods and those who hold offices with the within them. Verses 21 to 39 describe the responsibilities of the presiding quorums of the Church and their relationships to each other. And then verses 40 through 57 is kind of this excursion to explain the patriarchal priesthood from the time of Adam as recorded in the Book of Enoch. Then in verses 58, 75, we describe the order in which all other officers of the Church are set in relation to each other. Verses 76, 84 explain the role of chapter church bishops and how the most difficult cases of the Church are adjudicated. And then verses 85 to 100 outline the duty of those who are called to preside at different levels of Church government. So that's the hundred thousand mile overview of the section. But let's get into the particulars because, ooh, so much important stuff in here that still on a day to day basis affects us as Latter Day Saints.
- [21:30]
B
Yeah, so pull out your steak knives and forks and tuck in that napkin because here, here we go. Verse one starts like this. There are in the Church two priesthoods, namely the Melchizedek and Aaronic, including the Levitical priesthood. So this Verse is actually building on the teachings of Section 84, which was given back in 1832 and September, where the Lord explained that there were two priesthoods. He doesn't name them. He just says there's two priesthoods, a greater one and a lesser one. Now he's giving these clearly a name for the first time, which is cool. Now, why the first or the higher priesthood is called the melchizedek priesthood, verse 2 goes on to explain is because Melchizedek was such a great high priest. We know who Melchizedek is, right? He's. He's contemporary with Abraham. He's in early Genesis, what, like chapter 13, 14 in there, we know he was a righteous priest king. We know he's extolled highly in Joseph Smith's translation of Genesis 14. He's called a prince of peace there. We even get a shout out in Alma chapter 13. And it says in the Book of Mormon that there were none greater than Melchizedek, which is. I mean, that's the highest of praise before his day. Verse 3 continues here. The Melchizedek priesthood was called the holy priesthood after the order of the Son of God. Now it's using that word order again, which we talked about a little bit back with section 84. And remember that an order is something akin to like a sacred fraternity or a brotherhood. So which in this case, that would mean that the high priesthood is the holy brotherhood of the Son of God, something like that, which is super cool. Also. Maybe we should pause here for a second. It might be helpful to note that to properly interpret key portions of section 107, we've got to understand how the word priesthood is used throughout it, which is in contrast significantly to how we often talk about priesthood today and how later church leaders came to speak of it. So. So, for example, whereas in the church today, the term priesthood is commonly understood to be the power and authority of God itself, which he's entrusted to worthy men to hold in section 107 here, such as in verse three, it's understood to be a holy order of priests to which worthy men belonged. That might be a subtle difference, but it's really important in the reading of this section. In the understanding of section 107, men don't hold the Aaronic priesthood, for instance. Rather, they are ordained to the Aaronic priesthood. Men aren't holders of the Melchizedek priesthood. They are members or officers within the Melchizedek priesthood, as we'll see as he describes it here. So keep that paradigm as you read this is really important. Also, the power of a priesthood was understood not as the power of God itself, but rather as, like, the rights or the privileges which officers within that priesthood were divinely authorized to claim or to exercise. Now, that's a. That's a bigger mouthful than just saying that's the power and authority of God. It's the authorization that those within in a priesthood order have to do God's work. So as we seek to properly interpret section 107, these later more modern understandings of priesthood, while perfectly acceptable, by the way, on one level, ought to be just temporarily suspended and just replaced in our minds by this more original scriptural understanding of priesthood for best results, for best understanding of this revelation. Is that fair to say, Casey?
- [24:51]
A
It's fair to say, and it really is useful sometimes to think of it as an order in that sense. You defined order as like, brotherhood. And one of the things that hit me in section 84 when we talked about it a couple weeks ago was that he says all. And so brotherhood is exclusionary. But, yeah, this priesthood, this sanctified group, I guess you'd say this holy group can be expanded to include men and women. That's going to be a big part of the work of the restoration.
- [25:22]
B
And let's bookmark that for, I think, 1842, when we need to start talking about the Relief Society. That's where things, I think, get really interesting. I think it's safe to say that in 1835 this was thought of only as an order of men, but in Nauvoo, things are going to get super interesting.
- [25:37]
A
Yeah, we really start to cook when the ordinances in the Nauvoo Temple are introduced. And you pointed out this idea of priestly order to me, and that paradigm listening in the temple really caused a lot of light bulbs to go off in my head for the first time. So it can be a really useful way of looking at it to just realize, oh, in this sense, priesthood wasn't referring to just the authority, it's referring to this group that you're being inducted into, like knighthood, you know, or anything like that. So going back to verse three, prior to Melchizedek's time, the priesthood order that a person like Melchizedek would belong to was called the Holy Priesthood after the Order of the Son of God. But it continues out of respect or reverence to the name of the Supreme Being, and to avoid too frequent repetition of his name, they. The church in ancient days called that priesthood after Melchizedek or the Melchizedek priesthood. People that belong to this priesthood are understood to be the highest authorities in the Church. And then it goes on to say, while all other authorities or offices of the priesthood are understood to be appendages to this priesthood, it can be confusing because sometimes we confuse the offices with the actual order of the Melchizedek priesthood. When really Joseph Smith makes this statement later on where he says, all priesthood is Melchizedek, there's just different orders or degrees of it. Within each priesthood order, there's various offices held by its members. The office of elder, just to cite one example, comes under the priesthood of Melchizedek. But we're going to get to that later on in the Revelation. So in verse eight, he says the Melchizedek priesthood holds the right of presidency, that is the right to lead and preside, and has, the Revelation continues, the power and authority over all the offices of the Church in all ages of the world to administer in spiritual things kings. And he adds the presidency of the high priesthood after the order of Melchizedek, which is referring to the first presidency of the Church, have the right to officiate in all the offices of the Church. And he goes on to say, high priests after the order of the Melchizedek priesthood have a right to officiate in their own standing under the direction of the first Presidency in administering spiritual things, and also to officiate in the office of an elder or, or priest of the Levitical order, teacher, deacon and member. And an elder has the right to officiate in his stead when the high priest is not present, since they're both of the order of Melchizedek, the high priest and the elder are to administer in spiritual things agreeable to the covenants and commandments of the Church, which is referring Back to Section 20, the articles and Covenants of the Church, as well as other relevant sections of the Doctrine and Covenants. And, and it adds they, meaning both the high priests and elders have a right to officiate in all the offices of the Church when there are no higher authorities present.
- [28:21]
B
So there's two priesthoods, and within those priesthoods there are officers, and there's a presidency over all the priesthood called the first presidency. And then the primary like right or authority or role of those within the Melchizedek priesthood order is to preside and to administer in spiritual, spiritual things. The first presidency of the Church is like the presidency over that whole group, that whole priesthood. They preside over all church officers and they can officiate in any office at any time. Basically, they have the right of every officer in the church. High priests and elders who are both officers in the Melchizedek priesthood can likewise officiate in all offices that are lower than their own. Let's continue in verse 13. Now, the second priesthood is called the priesthood of Aaron. Aaron because it was conferred upon Aaron and his seed throughout all their generations. Now this is a close paraphrase of D&C8418. And in light of this idea we just introduced here again of talking about priesthood as a holy order of priests, this could be confusing. This language of conferring a priesthood can be kind of confusing, right? But let's, let's understand it in this sense of the conferral of title or status upon them within the priesthood. It's kind of like how you mentioned in medieval times when knighthood was conferred upon a man the moment he was dubbed a knight. So we can understand priesthood is conferred upon a man as like a title, as like a status, the moment he is ordained a priest or the office of priesthood. And just to check that again back up, in verse 10, it talks about priests of the Levitical order, right? So even the Aaronic is called. Called. It's an order. The order of the Levites used to be. Right? And since only Aaron and his seed had this lesser or second priesthood conferred upon them in early times, it's called Aaronic priesthood, he said. Now he goes on verse 14:15. Why it's called the lesser priesthood is because it is an appendage to the greater or the Melchizedek priesthood and has power in administering outward ordinances. Also the bishopric is the presidency of this priesthood. Priesthood and holds the keys or authority of the same. And no man has a legal right to this office of bishop to hold the keys of this priesthood, except he be a literal descendant of Aaron. But since, as explained earlier, a high priest of the Melchizedek priesthood has authority to officiate in all the lesser offices, follow what he's doing here. A high priest can officiate in the office of bishop when no literal descendant of Aaron can be found. This is verse 17. Provided he is called and set apart and ordained unto this passage. Power by the hands of the presidency of the Melchizedek priesthood, meaning the first presidency. Hopefully this is making sense here. There is a group that would have a right to the Aaronic priesthood and to preside over, that's called the descendants of Aaron. But since none have been found, the Lord is explaining here that high priests, since they can Officiate any office whatsoever. They can be called to be bishops, and they can officiate in that presidency of the lesser priesthood.
- [31:22]
A
A lot of people don't realize that the bishop in your ward is the bishop, which is an office in the Aaronic priesthood, and the presiding high priest of the ward, meaning the person asked to oversee spiritual and temporal welfare of everybody in a ward. When he's overseeing temporal welfare, he's acting as the bishop. When he's overseeing spiritual welfare, he's acting as the presiding high priest. And again, I think we already addressed this, but some people misunderstand that if you're a literal descendant of Aaron, it means you automatically get to be the bishop. It never says that in the Doctrine and Covenant. It says you have a right. You can go in and request it, but it still would have to be set up and carried out. And the office had to be given to you under the direction of the first presidency of the Church, who are officers of the Melchizedek priesthood, which isn't tied to any kind of lineage. It's just a blessing associated with Aaron and a nod to that idea that it was the Levites and the sons of Aaron Baron that held this particular authority in the Old Testament. So let's keep rolling. Let's compare these two priesthoods side by side. So go to verse 18. It says this power and authority of the higher or Melchizedek priesthood is to hold the keys of all the spiritual blessings of the Church, meaning they have the privilege of receiving the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, to have the heavens opened unto them, to commune with the general assembly and Church of the Firstborn, and to enjoy the communion and presence of God the Father and Jesus the Mediator of the new Covenant, which is, he's paraphrasing Hebrews 12:23, 24. So that's the summary of what the Melchizedek priesthood does. The power and authority of the lesser of Aaronic priesthood is to hold the keys of the ministering of angels and to administer in outward ordinances the letter of the Gospel, the baptism of repentance for the remission of sins agreeable to the covenants and commandments. Again, he's referring back to section 20, and there's a little bit of section 13, which is the statement John makes when he restores this to them. Then verses 21:39 describe the nature and responsibilities of the presiding quorums of the Church and their relationships to each other. With verse 21, beginning of necessity, there are presidents or presiding officers growing out of or appointed of or from among those who are ordained to the several offices of the two priesthood of the Melchizedek priesthood. Friends, instance, three presiding High priests chosen by the body, appointed and ordained to that office, and upheld by the confidence, faith and prayer of the Church, form a Quorum of the Presidency of the Church, which is known commonly to us today as the First Presidency.
- [34:01]
B
That's like the highest Quorum of the Church. And by the way, I don't know why I missed this most of my life, but I came to this way too late. But a quorum, I came to learn, was any group that is sufficient to make binding decisions. Decisions, right? So the group that can make the most binding decisions in the Church, the highest is the First Presidency. It just takes the three of them. That's it. The next quorum. Let's go to verse 23. He says, Next in the Melchizedek priesthood are the 12 traveling counselors who are called to be the 12 apostles or special witnesses of the name of Christ in all the world, thus differing from other officers in the Church in the duties of their calling. And they form a quorum, he's says, equal in authority and power to the three presidents previously mentioned. In other words, the Quorum of the twelve Apostles is equal in authority and power to the Quorum of the First Presidency. Now that's going to become relevant when Joseph Smith dies. They're going to wonder, like who has the right to preside in this church now that the prophet's dead. Some are going to appeal to some avenues of succession. We've covered this in great length cases. We of lot did a whole series on succession in the Presidency. But Brigham Young and the quorum of the 12 are going to point to these verses right here. Verse 23 particularly, and 24 are going to be huge when it comes to who has the right to succeed the President of the Church when he dies. And it comes to the quorum of the 12. Right, which is super, super important. I think it's important to note that even though these verses don't clarify, it's a little ambiguous. This only has validity, this idea that the quorum of the 12 is equal in authority to the first president presidency when there's no first presidency, when the first presidency is dissolved, that's when the quorum of the 12 now rises up to the level of binding decisions for the whole Church, independent of the First Presidency, because there is no First Presidency during such times. Furthermore, he goes on to say, in the melchizedek priesthood, the 70 are also called to preach the Gospel and to be especial witnesses unto the Gentiles in all the world, thus differing from other officers in the church church in the duties of their calling. Now, the word especial here, by the way, has an identical meaning to the word special. I'm not sure why, if he's just getting fancy with especial, but it really just means the exact same thing. Some people have, like, tried to parse it out, like, well, especially versus special. I remember President Packer saying the difference between special and especial is the letter E. That's it, you know, which is funny. Then it goes on to say, this is really insightful too. And these 770 form a quorum equal in authority to that of the 12 special witnesses or apostles just named. This fact of equality with the 12 would become relevant in church government, I think, only if for some reason the quorum of the 12 was dissolved, right? I don't know if it was some. Some freak accident or something if there was no quorum of the 12, right? And such a moment has never happened in our church's history to where the 70 would be the presiding Quorum, Quorum of the Church. So that's interesting.
- [36:58]
A
It's kind of an interesting hypothetical that's never really come to pass, and it's hard to see a situation where it would, to be honest with you. But it's nice to know it's there in case anything ever happens to the entire quorum of the 12. So let's pick it up. In verse 27, it says, Every decision made by either of these quorums, that means the quorum of the 12 and the quorum of the 70 must be by the unanimous voice of the same. That is, every member in each quorum must be agreed to its decisions in order to make their decisions of the same power or validity with the other. Also, in either quorum, a majority may form a quorum when circumstances render it impossible to be otherwise. And unless this is the case, their decisions are not entitled to the same blessings as those of the United Quorum of the First Presidency. It goes on to say, the decision of these quorums, or either of them, meanings 12 and the 70 are to be made in all righteousness, in holiness and lowliness of heart, meekness and longsuffering, and in faith and virtue, virtue and knowledge, temperance, patience, godliness, brotherly kindness and charity. Because the promises, if these things abound in them, they shall not be unfruitful in the knowledge of the Lord. Then in verse 32, and in the case of the decision of these quorums is made in unrighteousness, it may be brought before a general assembly of several quorums, which constitute the spiritual authorities of the Church. Otherwise, there can be no appeal to their decision. So this idea of unanimity is built in, and it's complicated. It's really complicated because unanimity among a group of dynamic people like the 12 and the 70 can be hard to achieve. And there have been examples of them not being united in decisions. But maybe a sterling example of that that comes to mind is President Kimball and the 1978 revelation. But even that has naysayers who sometimes say, oh, there were people that weren't there. That's how he got a unanimous decision. I think it's still following the rules. Schools. Elder Stapley was in the hospital, and Markey Peterson was in South America. But before they made the announcement that the revelation official declaration 2 had been received, they went to the hospital, they talked to Elder Stapley, and then they called Elder Peterson and said, we've received this Revelation. How do you feel about it? And both gave their consent, and then they announced it moving forward. So it's difficult, but it's important that the Lord says we work for consensus in our quorums. And sometimes. Sometimes it's that whole. Better to be united in a bad plan than be divided in a good plan. That's how we do things in the church. And a big part of what we do in the church is just working to achieve unity and consensus.
- [39:32]
B
And I Remember before the 1978 revelation was announced to the world, President Kimball also convened a solemn assembly with the 70s, and he wanted the 70s to weigh in on it as well. And so, yeah, that's. I hadn't thought about that as a perfect example of these verses in action. And it wasn't until there was this unanimity of feeling that he felt good about announcing that to the world, which was awesome.
- [39:54]
A
I think President Kimball was an astute student of the Scriptures, and he followed procedures to the letter there. And that's a great example of unanimity being a blessing to the Church because we didn't have a big fracture over this radical change in our teaching, because President Kimball. Campbell just did the work. And it wasn't just those meetings you described. It was over several years where he got the job done.
- [40:16]
B
Cool example. Okay, let's. Let's move to verse 33. Speaking of the 12, he says they are a traveling presiding high council. I keep saying that. Think of your stake High council, right. Everyone's got a high council in every stake. The 12 are meant to be a high council, but not a local high council, one that travels throughout the world. Just. Let's just follow what he's saying here to do what he goes on. To officiate in the name of the Lord under the direction of the first presidency of the Church, agreeable to the institution of heaven. Now, in the context of 1835, this idea of the Twelve Apostles as a traveling presiding high council meant that they were to travel throughout those branches of the church that were not part of an organized stake. That was the key. Not part of an organized stake, and therefore had no high council or stake presidency to preside over them. And so they were in those areas, those jurisdictions, they were to build up the church and regulate all the affairs of the same. Right? This they were eventually to do in all the nations, first to the Gentiles, he says, and then secondly to the Jews. But over time, as the number of stakes increased dramatically and were organized the world over, the role of the 12 increased in significance. This is kind of a cool shift in church history. The cormorants, the 12 increases in significance and comes to include within their jurisdiction stakes of Zion as well. I think that's an interesting bit of church history right there that maybe deserves a deeper dive someday, but so cool. And then finally, verse 34, it says the 70 are to act in the name of the Lord under the direction of the 12 or this traveling high council, in their work of building up the church and regulating all the affairs of the same in all nations, first unto the Gentiles and then to the Jews. The 70 are to work under the 12's direction, the Lord explains, because the 12 were the ones who were sent out holding the keys to open the door by the proclamation of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
- [42:14]
A
Interesting, this appointment that they're going to travel the world, that they have broad jurisdiction, that they're not necessarily tied to a specific area, that the 12 and the 70 become known as general authorities, which is one of those words we use so much it's lost all meaning. That's what it means. They're not linked to an area or specific region. They're general authorities. They can go anywhere and do anything they travel, which is still primarily what the 12 and 70 do. So meanwhile, there's going to be local or standing high councils in the stakes of zion. That's verse 36, which, remember in 1835 only includes one, one stake that's in Kirtland. And it says they form a quorum equal in authority in the affairs of the Church, in all their decisions to the Quorum of the Presidency or to the Traveling High Council. There's also a High Council in Zion which was organized in Missouri the previous year during the whole Zion's Camp thing. They form a quorum equal in authority to the affairs of the Church and all their decisions to the councils of the 12 at the stakes of Zion. So this does raise the possibility that there's another quorum, which is the standing High Council, councils and the local stakes that form a quorum equal to the 70 and the 12. And if we're taking it to mean if the First Presidency isn't functioning, the 12 take over. If anything happens to the 12, the 70 take over. And if anything happens to all of them, the High Councils take over. Could be one possible way that this comes out. Like sometimes in my classes, I'll say, let's play worst case scenario. Like we lose the entire first presidency, which actually sort of happens. Happens in 1844. And let's do we lost the entire 12. Let's do we lost the entire 70. There is another avenue presented here. However, don't get too hyper over this, because what they're describing was true in 1835 when there's only two standing high councils, but it's not really applicable today. And another wrinkle to this, the presidency of the High Council and the Kirtland Stake at the time was the first First Presidency. That's another wrinkle that affects it. So decisions reached by the First Presidency with their Stake High Council that they're serving with, were just as authoritative as those decisions reached by the First Presidency alone, or those decisions reached by the 12. And the decisions of the Missouri High Council also had as much authority in Zion as Those of the 12 abroad in areas where no stakes were organized. So today it's different. The first President presidency is not a stake presidency. They don't preside over any stake High Council. And since the quorum of the 12 now also have jurisdiction over all the stakes in the world, this is sort of obsolete. Like, it only really would apply in that worst case scenario where we lose the first presidency, the 12 and the 70. And if that happens, we're like in a general apostasy. Right. Peter, James and John are going to have to come back down to Earth and be like, we just clean this up. Can you keep it stable for 5 minutes? Or anything like that. It only applies in those extreme circumstances.
- [45:14]
B
Yeah. And it only seems to apply Back in like that 1835 structuring of the church, right? When there's only two high councils and the first presidency presides over one, that actually makes really good sense and kind of takes the angst out of verses 36 and 37. So those verses are basically obsolete today because of the structuring of the church.
- [45:33]
A
It's an interesting little bit of unfolding. So verse 38 goes on and says, it is the duty of the traveling High Council, which is the 12, remember to call upon the 70 when they need assistance to fill the several calls for preaching and administering the Gospel instead of any others. Also, it is the duty of the 12 in all the large branches of the church to ordain evangelical ministers as they shall be designated unto them by revelation. And from historical sources, it appears that evangelical ministers is a reference to the office of patriarch. So just to sum up, the 12 can call upon the 70 for assistance, which happens numerous times throughout the history of the church. But the big one really happens in the 1970s when President Spencer W. Kimball basically makes 70s start to serve as general and area authorities. Because by the 1970s, the workload had just grown too great, great for the 12 to accomplish on their own. And so today we see someone in, say, the first quorum of the 70 essentially doing what an apostle would have done prior to this particular change. So that's another way that this verse was fulfilled. And having the 70s quorums act as people that can carry out the duties of the 12 does allow us to sort of grow the church from a couple thousand members to a couple million members to. Elder Holland once said a couple billion members could be governed over by this system because it allows infinite expansion. Basically, yeah.
- [47:02]
B
I remember when I was in Elder David A. Bednar's class at BYU Idaho, just before he became an apostle, he was a 70. It was an area 70. He was in the fifth quorum of the 70, for what it's worth. And I remember he told us a couple stories. He said, let me tell you about the Lord's secret weapon. Seventy are apostles without keys. I want you to understand this. In other words, a 70 can do anything that an apostle can do so long as an apostle asks them to do it. He said. So at 9 11, he mentioned this. 9 11, all aircraft are grounded, right? Nobody can fly anywhere. And yet there were general authorities and apostles who were meant to go to stakes throughout the world to choose stake presidents and to regulate the church. And. And he said, do you know how many of those stake conferences were canceled do you know how many stake presidents were not called? Do you know how many assignments of the 12 were not accomplished because their planes were grounded? And he goes like this. He goes, zero. Do you know why? Because there were 70s already around the world. And so all it took was president Packer calling Japan and saying, elder Kikuchi, member of the 12, can't be there this Sunday. Would you preside and would you find the Lord's will for the new stake president, or would you divide the stake? Would you just do the thing that the apostle would do do if he was there? And he said, you know why you could do it? Because an apostle asked him to. And the 70 are there to support the apostles, and they can do anything that the apostles can do so long as an apostle asks them to do it. And I didn't know that, Casey, but here was a 70 teaching me the role of a 70. And then the next year he becomes a member of the 12. And you guys know the rest of his story. But super cool.
- [48:40]
A
He's a good teacher. He's good at explaining stuff.
- [48:43]
B
Here's one more story he told us. He said, president Packer would call me. President Packer at the time was the president president of the quorum of the 12th. He said President Packer would call me and say, david, I would like you to go to New York and I would like you to split a stake there and call the new stake president. And he said sometimes I would ask him when he would send me on assignments like that. He said, president Packer, I am a member of the fifth quorum of the 70. I'm also the president of BYU Idaho. I don't really have an area. I'm an area authority without an area. What should I say if people in New York ask, why are you coming all the way out out here when this isn't your area? What should I tell him? And he said, president Packer said, tell him I sent you, David. Tell him I sent you. The president of the quorum of the 12 sent you. That should be enough. I love that.
- [49:28]
A
Anyway, that's a great system that works well for us in a much larger church today where there's not two stakes, there's a couple thousand stakes.
- [49:35]
B
You can have as many 70s quorums as you need. And so the 70s, as Elder Bednar said, are like the Lord's secret words weapon, because you can have 70s presiding all over Earth. They could preside over a billion people, like you said, and just have one first presidency, one core, 12, infinite numbers of 70s and everything will work smoothly.
- [49:54]
A
And we're seeing that more and more. And it'll only expand within our lifetimes, I'd imagine.
- [49:58]
B
Let's come back to this idea about evangelical ministers. The Lord's talking here about evangelical ministers. Evangelists. When I think of an evangelical category, Casey, I'm thinking of, like, this great, like, preacher, someone who loves Jesus and is trying to invite everyone to come to Jesus and be born again. And, you know, that's not what's being talked about here. Joseph said, that's a reference to those in the office of patriarch. He later taught this. He said, let me quote him directly. Quote, an evangelist is a patriarch, and wherever the church of Christ is established in the earth, there should be a patriarch for the benefit of the posterity of the saints, as it was with Jacob, meaning, like 12 tribes of Israel, Jacob, in giving his patriarchal blessings unto his sons. So now we're starting to talk about the office of patriarch. And verses 40 to 57 now briefly trace the history and nature of what Joseph will later call the Nauvoo, who call it the patriarchal priesthood. It's not just an office in the priesthood, although it is that. There's also kind of this another order. Joseph will call it another order of priesthood called patriarchal priesthood. And this one's really ancient. It's eternal, actually. But it was first given to Adam, as these verses go on to say. Here's what he says. Verse 40, quote, the order of this priesthood, meaning this patriarchal order of priesthood, was confirmed to be handed down from father to son and rightly belongs to the literal descendants of the chosen seed to whom the promises were made. Wow. Okay, that's a loaded verse. This chosen seed to whom the promises were made. Okay. This is a reference to that chosen family who plays center stage throughout most of the Bible. We know who they are. Sometimes they're called the seed of Abraham, sometimes they're called the house of Israel. Right. These are the descendants of those to whom the promises were made. That's Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, etc. Right. And it's to these patriarchs and to Israel as a whole at Mount Sinai that promises were famously made. Okay. Concerning how the Lord would work through that family and their posterity in order to bless all the families of the earth. Right. The Lord's vehicle of salvation to all mankind is this family of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob. That's how he starts this really dense verse, verse 40, about talking about this order of priesthood called patriarchal, that has immense implications for the future of humanity and their Salvation.
- [52:16]
A
It sounds like a royal family. And maybe this is just the American in me revolting against that idea. But we need to emphasize two things. One, I remember James E. Faust, he was a member of the First Presidency, gave a talk where he said, pretty much everybody on earth today is a descendant of Abraham. And the second thing I would emphasize is there's no way to trace that. But you can be adopted into this family. Like, we don't care. You get to choose if you're part of the chosen seed. We don't reject anybody that is willing to make the covenants, essentially. So it walks the line between this beautiful idea that God, God gave blessings to people saying he would bless their posterity, which I love. But we also have to be cautious that we don't get so hyper about it that we're saying, well, only the good people receive the blessings of the Gospel.
- [53:00]
B
There was a group like that in Jesus's day, right? There were some pretty arrogant leaders in Israel that were like, well, we're Abraham's seed, therefore, blah, blah, blah. And Jesus said, God can make Abraham's seed out of these rocks. Like, stop thinking you're better than other people because, because you come from this lineage. And then he does the radical thing in what we call the New covenant. After his resurrection, he sends his apostles to all the nations, to the Gentiles, those who are not even related to Abraham, Isaac or Jacob. And he says, baptize them in my name in the name of the Father, Son and the Holy Ghost. And when you do, guess what? They'll become the House of Israel. It's this radical little shift where it's like everyone's invited into this family, all right? This isn't like this elitist family thing. God just had to choose one family to begin with to start the domino effect, right? And then it eventually encompasses the whole world.
- [53:48]
A
So it's a royal family anybody can join. Let's pick it up in verse 40 and the verses that follow just add to this well known biblical narrative. There were key promises made to those who were within the patriarchal order of priesthood. That means this family based priesthood order, which is, don't get too hyper here, part of the Melchizedek priesthood itself. Remember, the Melchizedek priesthood is the priesthood of Jesus Christ. So patriarchal priesthood is part of the Melchizedek priesthood. All priesthood is Melchizedek. And what's maybe even more insightful is that this priesthood order didn't begin with Father Abraham, as you kind of get the impression of when you're reading the Bible instead, it says this order was instituted in the days of Adam, Adam and came down by lineage. That's a really good way to include everybody is to say it doesn't come from Abraham, it comes from Adam, because, yeah, everybody can get on board with being part of Adam's family. Right? Came from father Adam to several of Abraham's ancestral line. Namely, it says from Adam to Seth, who was ordained by Adam at the age of 69 years. And then it lists off Seth's sons, Enos, Enos son Canaan, Canaan's son Mahalalel, and Jared and Enoch. This is the same Enoch who was translated with the city, who we've already learned a lot about. And Adam lastly ordained Enoch's son Methuselah. Then Methuselah's son Lamech was ordained by Seth. And finally, according to this passage, Lamech's son Noah was ordained to this patriarchal priesthood order by Methuselah. So there's a little tension between this order and this family, which, again, these two things are Venn diagrams that overlap to a large degree. Being part of the family means being part of the order. Being part of the order means being part of the family. You can join the order. You can join the family based on your own choices. But then we get a little history here. I got to admit, this is my favorite part of section 107. Three years previous to the death of Adam. It says he called Seth, Enos, Canaan, Mahalalel, Jared, Enoch, and Methuselah, all whom Adam had ordained and all who were high priests, together with the residue of his posterity, who were righteous into the valley of Adam on diamond. And there he bestowed upon them his last blessed blessing. And on this unforgettable occasion, the Lord appeared unto them, and they rose up and blessed Adam and called him Michael the Prince, the archangel. And the Lord administered comfort unto Adam and said unto him, I have set thee to be at the head. Presumably meaning the head of the human family and the patriarchal order of the priesthood. A multitude of nations shall come of thee, and thou art a prince over them forever. And after this blessing from the Lord, Adam stood up in the midst of the congregation. And notwithstanding he was bowed down with age, being full of the Holy Ghost predicted whatsoever should befall his posterity unto the latest generation. These things are all written in the Book of Enoch, verse 57 concludes, and are to be testified of in due time. Now, real quick, this is before they actually have located the spot that we now call Adam on Naaman the other reason why I really love this is I'm like any other person. I get invested in story. And two of the scriptural people, people that I identify with, are Adam and Eve. And they have such a sad end in the biblical text. Like the last thing you hear about them is Cain and Abel and nothing further. And this adds a much more satisfying conclusion to Adam's life. Knowing that at the end of his life, he's surrounded by his posterity, the Savior appears and blesses him again. It just does so much good to reverse that narrative that Adam, and therefore all men and women, women, are evil to say, no. Adam was a high priest, Adam was a prince, and every descendant of Adam is part of the royal family of God. That is every single person.
- [57:38]
B
And something that's so cool to me is that verses 53 to 55 that you just read all this stuff about Adam and Ammon. And the last blessing that Adam gave is included here as an almost word for word in the final written version of a blessing that Joseph Smith Jr. Gave to his dad, Joseph Smith Sr. Wherein he stated that as one ordained to the patriarchal priesthood, Joseph Smith Sr. Who we know is the church's first patriarch, right, he was to gather together his posterity, just as Adam had done. And this blessing was recorded by Oliver Cowdery in September 1835, several months after Section 107 was written. So I've heard people say it both ways. That's verses 53 to 55 were excerpts from Joseph Smith Sr's patriarchal blessing put into section 107. And I've also heard it that this one seems more likely that in Joseph Smith blessing his dad, he actually quotes from section 107 into his dad's blessing, as his dad was now taking. Taking up this office of patriarch and was supposed to, and which I think think he executed very well, he was supposed to follow in the footsteps of Adam in blessing, blessing your posterity, blessing members of the church, just like Father Adam did to his posterity in Adam on Diamond. Okay, so to summarize verses 39 to 57, it sounds like it's saying something like this, that it is the duty of the twelve apostles to ordain men to this patriarchal order of priesthood with its tremendously rich history, as it shall be designated unto them by revelation. And we know that today patriarchs are authorized by the First Presidency. Historically, they've been set apart by members of the 12. But Casey, when the church got so big, the First Presidency now authorizes stake presidents to set apart patriarchs as well. So again, anything that the quorum of the 12 or the First Presidency authorized an officer in the Church can do that. Now, continuing in verse 58, it is the duty of the 12 also to ordain and set in order all the other officers of the Church agreeable to the revelation which says, this is where there's a subtle shift right here in this revelation section 107. Now it's going to start going. Verse 59 to a hundred is former Revelation. You see what he just said there? Agreeable to the revelation which says, what we didn't know is that there was such a revelation. Joseph is putting it here in the Doctrine and Covenants for the first time now, hearkening back to revelations that Joseph had received since November of 1831. What is now quoted in verses 59 and 200 is an edited, revised, updated version of that 1831 revelation on priesthood where the Lord outlines the various gradations of church officers and their duties. Again, it's a revelation we didn't know about until this time. And it's these officers that are to be set in order, or in other words, organized by the 12 according to this updated revelation to the Church of.
- [60:31]
A
Christ in the land of Zion, in addition to church laws respecting church business. Verily I say unto you, saith the Lord, the of port of hosts, there must needs be presiding elders to preside over those who are of the office of an elder, and also priests to preside over those who are the office of the priest, and teachers to preside over those who are in the office of a teacher like manner. Also deacons. Now we've kind of left the higher parts of the church government and we're doing like local offices. Okay, verse 64. Then comes the high priesthood, which is the greatest of all. Wherefore it must needs be that one be appointed of the high priest priesthood to preside over the priesthood, and he shall be called the President of the high priesthood of the church, or in other words, the presiding high priests over the high priesthood of the Church. And this had already happened In January of 1832 when Joseph Smith was appointed as President of the high priesthood. So at every level, from deacons to high priests, there's going to be Presidents appointed. Verse 68 clarifies the office of a bishop is not equal unto that of a presiding high priest of the church, since the office of a bishop is administering an office, all temporal things. Nevertheless, a bishop must be chosen from the high priesthood, unless he's a literal descendant of Aaron. That's according to what he said earlier in verses 16 and back in section 68, 15, 21, which again are briefly reviewed here in verses 70 to 76. So in addition to being set apart unto the ministering of temporal things, a bishop's duty is to also be a judge in Israel, to sit a judgment upon transgressors, upon testimony, as it shall be laid before him according to, to the laws, by the assistance of his counselors. Thus shall it be a common judge among the inhabitants of Zion, or in a stake of Zion, or in any branch of the Church, where he be set apart unto that ministry. So bishops wear two hats, presiding high priest and bishop. And I don't know why we've taken to calling them bishops. It's probably because it's easier to say and it doesn't sound quite as grand as presiding high priest. But he is saying that their role as presiding high priest, which has to, to do with spiritual things, does take priority over their role as bishop, which is to take care of temporal things. Though those two things are so linked to each other that, I mean, they barely get a separation in mind. And most bishops are just concerned with getting the job done. You know, priorities first, take care of spiritual things, take care of temporal things. Investing that much power in one person is a lot, and it can be really challenging. But, boy, do our bishops do a good job.
- [63:01]
B
And I think most of us are familiar with this idea that, that bishops are to be a judge in Israel. Right? Like, that's a phrase that we use typically to talk about what the Lord's saying here, to sit in judgment upon transgressors. We talk about people going to see their bishop as part of their repentance process. Right. And he's not sitting in judgment, like judging them, like eternal judgment, like you're going to hell. It's judging to what degree. There may need to be some sort of official or unofficial action taken to help with the repentance process. Right. And to assess the depth and sincerity of that repentance in order to allow people enable them to continue to participate in the Church, to be a full fledged, fully repentant member of the Church. And we're talking about serious transgressions, which we talked about a little bit when we were talking with High about high councils back in section 102. And the Lord goes on to talk about that actually here he's. Bishops aren't meant to take the full brunt of the most complicated cases. They're to do the stuff that's more Manageable on the local level. But he goes on to say this. For the most important business of the church and the most difficult cases of the church, inasmuch as there is not satisfaction upon the decision of the bishop or these local judges, the protocol, the Lord says, is that it shall be handed over and carried up unto the council of the Church before the presidency of the high priesthood, that is the first presidency, who may call other high priests to. To assist them. Right. And again, this is back in 1835, when the first presidency was the presidency of the High council in Kirtland. Today, we would say this goes up to the stake presidency. Let's just say there are complex enough issues today that would go all the way to the first presidency, but those are pretty rare. Not so rare in Joseph Smith's day. But it goes on to say, and this is the highest council of the Church of God and a final decision upon controversies and spiritual matters. Matters. There is not any person belonging to the Church who's exempt from this council of the Church, from the council of the first presidency. And in the event that a member of the first presidency shall transgress. That's. That's a question. I mean, it's come up from time to time, as I've taught youth, what happens if the first presidency were to transgress? That's actually accounted for right here. It says, he shall be had in remembrance before the common council of the Church. Now, the common council of the church at that time was presided over by the presiding common judge, that is the bishop of the Church, who shall be assisted by 12 counselors of the high priesthood, and their decision upon his head shall be an end of controversy concerning him. Thus none, not even the first presidency, shall be exempted from the justice and the laws of God, that all things may be done in order and in solemnity before him according to truth and righteousness. So that's interesting. There's never going to be somebody who's not subject. Subject to the councils of the Church, should they transgress. There's nobody above the law. Right. Even Joseph Smith himself was called up before councils based on difficulties that arose in the church. And he showed that he submitted to the same process.
- [65:59]
A
I think he insisted on it, didn't he? Like, he was like, I want to clear my name. And so there was a common council held to try Joseph Smith, I think more than once, if I remember correctly.
- [66:10]
B
Pretty awesome. Like, the checks and balances go all right all the way up from top to bottom.
- [66:14]
A
Yeah, it's nice to know all right, so verses 85 to 100, we're coming in for a landing here. This kind of concludes by outlining the duty of those who are called to preside at various levels of government. So whether presiding, it says, over the office of a deacon, or the office of teachers or priests, referred to here as the priest of Aaron, the president of each of these various groups is to, using the words in Revelation, sit in council with them to teach them the duties of their office as given in the covenants, that is in section 20. So that's something that should happen on a regular basis. Presidents council together, and they should be based in the Scriptures. Now it's also true that the president over the office of elders, which it is noted, is a distinct presidency from that of the 70, because 70s can be referred to as elders, and is designed for those who do not travel into all the world. That is, the office of elders is primarily concerned with local officials affairs, in contrast with the 70, who are supposed to travel all the world under the direction of the 12. And as for the duty of the president of the office of the high priesthood, or the president of the church, he is to preside over the whole church, and to be like unto Moses, yea, to be a seer, a revelator, a translator, and a prophet, having all the gifts of God, which he bestows upon the head of the church. Then he mentions the presidency of the 70, which says, it is according to the vision showing the order of the 70, referencing an unrecorded vision, just like section 102, that they should have seven presidents to preside over them, chosen out of the number of the 70. And the seventh president of these presidents is to preside over the six. And these seven presidents are to choose other 70, besides the first 70 to whom they belong, and to preside over them. And Additional quorums of 70 can continue to be called and organized until 7 times 70. The Lord says, if the labored of the vineyard of necessity requires it and these 70 are to be traveling minutes, ministers unto the Gentiles first, and also unto the Jews. Then it concludes, as for other officers of the church who do not belong unto the 12, neither the 70, they are not under the responsibility to travel among all nations, but are to travel as their circumstances shall allow, notwithstanding they may hold as high and responsible offices in the church. Wherefore the Lord concludes, let every man learn his duty and act in the office in which he has been appointed in all diligence, diligence. He ends with this warning, he that is Slothful shall not be counted worthy to stand. And he that learns not his duty and shows himself not approved shall not be counted worthy to stand. Even so.
- [68:46]
B
Amen.
- [68:47]
A
That is a big gallop through the offices of the church. And yet, I mean it works pretty well actually. I would say the government of the church is much more functional than most governments of which I'm of Aware. Aware and seems to function very well. And there's a high degree of fidelity to this revelation. Now of course there's been add ons like this, like the particulars of the succession process, which is only kind of roughly sketched out here. But it's amazing how much fidelity we show to this revelation from the office of a deacon all the way up to the presidency of the high priesthood.
- [69:21]
B
Yeah, incredible that this revelation received back in 1835 still is the primary governing force for like how we do quorums in the church.
- [69:29]
A
All right, so let's move on to the controversies. It's oft quoted in this section that the. The members of the 12 are special witnesses of Christ in all the world. So what does that mean exactly? And how do we explain that to other people? Especially people from other religions?
- [69:52]
B
Yeah, great question. First of all, I am not an apostle. I am not qualified completely to answer this, but I am a. I am a student of apostles words about this verse, actually it's interesting you quoted it the way that a lot of people will quote it. I think you did that on purpose to shine the light. But it doesn't actually say they are special witnesses of Christ. It says, let's read the verse again. Verse 23. The twelve traveling counselors are called to be the twelve apostles or special witnesses of the name of Christ. Christ in all the world. I remember Elder Oaks when he was first called to be an apostle, he said, that phrase struck me. Witnesses of the name of Christ in all the world. What does that mean? He said, I didn't know. And so I studied all the scriptures about it and wrote a book about it. It's a great book. It's called his holy name. It's an apostle, a newly called apostle trying to understand what it means to be a witness of the name of Christ in all the world. It's that name that kind of caught his attention. Elder Bednar back in 2011 did an interview for a religious educator. It's a little publication that BYU does. It's actually called Special Witnesses of the name of Christ. That's the name of the article. And here's what he said in there. I thought it was so helpful. He said, the role of an apostle today is the same as it was anciently. Our commission is to go into all the world and proclaim Jesus Christ and him crucified. He says an apostle is a mission missionary and a special witness of the name of Christ. He clarifies. The name of Christ refers to the totality of the Savior's mission, death and resurrection, his authority, his doctrine, and his unique qualifications as the Son of God to be our redeemer and Savior. Okay. That's what apostles are to witness of. He says, as special witnesses of the name of Christ, we bear testimony of the reality, divinity and resurrection of Jesus Christ, his infinite and eternal atonement and his gospel. Close quote. I thought that was really, really good. The name of Christ, it's the totality of the Savior's mission. That said, Casey, I know that people ask and continue to ask, like, have the apostles actually seen Jesus, though? Right? That's kind of the question. Underneath the question. I feel like, have they? Have they seen him? I remember President Packer, he said, sometimes people have asked him, him that as an apostle, have you seen Jesus? And he said that. That question strikes me as an inappropriate question to ask. He says, I've never asked it of any of my brethren. What's interesting about that is historically, and maybe we can talk about this right now, Casey, is that we know Oliver Cowdery. When the quorum of the 12 was called this original group in 1835, Oliver Cowdery stood up and gave them what he called the apostolic charge. It was the charge to the apostles. And in that charge, he tells them that they need to aspire to see God actually. So it's not unfounded that church members wonder if the apostles have seen Christ or seen God's face, because Oliver Cowdery actually told them they need to aspire to that. Let me read a little bit from Oliver Cowdery. He said to this original 12, never cease striving until you have seen God face to face. Strengthen your faith, cast off your doubts, your sins, and all your unbelief, and nothing can prevent you from coming to God. Your ordination is not full and complete. He said, till God has laid his hand upon you, we require as much to qualify us as did those who have gone before us. For God is the same. He says a little bit later, you have our best wishes. You have our most fervent prayers that you may be able to bear this testimony that you have seen the face of. Of God. Therefore call upon him in faith. In mighty prayer till you prevail. For it is your duty and your privilege to bear such a testimony for yourselves. That's a heavy charge. It's something they are to aspire to. Casey, I don't know that it's fair to say. Every apostle has seen Jesus. That's not their calling in verse 23, there to be a witness of his name into all the world. But it is part of the original charge that they should aspire to it. Anything you want to say about that kind of tension?
- [73:50]
A
Well, I mean, it's not just a question that members of the church have. At least a couple occasions there's been attacks on the church by saying, you guys claim you have apostles, but aren't apostles supposed to be witnesses of the Lord's resurrection? They're using, what is it, Acts, chapter one and two to kind of levy that against us where Judas has died. And so they're calling a new apostle. And they go through in Acts, chapter one and basically say, we need to call a new apostle. They should be a witness of Christ, Christ's resurrection. I'm paraphrasing here, but Harold B. Lee shared an experience where two missionaries came to him and said, hey, we had a minister say, we can't actually have apostles unless they're living witnesses of Christ. And I remember President Lee, in a super classy way, basically said, okay, what about Paul? He was not an apostle that witnessed the resurrection. He did have a vision of Christ, but Paul's not the only one one referred to as an apostle in the Scriptures. And President Lee basically said, you can have a witness through the Holy Ghost of the resurrection of Christ without actually seeing him. But then, and this is maybe the most tantalizing part of the story, apparently President Lee leaned over and said, and are you sure there aren't people today on earth that haven't seen the resurrected Christ? So I feel most comfortable saying, is it a requirement to be an apostle that you have have seen the Savior? No, it's not. Have there been apostles and prophets in our time that have seen the Savior? Yeah, definitely. We're about to get to section 110, where Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery saw the Savior and witnessed his resurrection. And there have been a number of other apostles that have seen in vision or witnessed in person the presence of the Savior. Lorenzo Snow directly said that he did. So did Melvin J. Ballard and several others. But it's not a requirement. And I appreciate President Packer saying, I don't think that's an appropriate question. That feels like Going up to somebody and saying, hey, tell me all about everything that happens in the temple while you're sitting in a bowling alley. In a world where nothing is sacred, I appreciate that the apostles still hold something sacred and basically don't go around saying, yeah, I was talking to the Savior in person last night because. Because that immediately causes those of bad faith to mock sacred things. So a little reticence, a little hesitance, a little reverence, I think is something that I've always respected the leaders of the church have when it comes to talking about those sacred things.
- [76:20]
B
I just want to be careful both ways. I feel like sometimes we assume that they've all seen them. I think sometimes that can be as problematic too. We were talking before we started recording that during the Kirtland apostasy, there's going to be a couple apostles who fall away. Like Luke Johnson and Lyman Johnson, members of this original 12. John F. Boynton the way they act, Casey. Like the things they say. William E. McClellan later on, they don't talk like people who had seen Jesus yet, you know, so they don't act like people who had seen Jesus. I appreciate Oliver Cowdery saying that this is something that you are to strive for. That's his word, never striving. Or another quote from Joseph F. Smith, by the way, he said, your brethren who are called to the apostleship and to minister in the midst of the house of Israel are supposed to be eye and ear witnesses of the divine mission of Jesus Christ. Supposed to be something they should strive for. And I think if you asked any apostle living today, they would say that's something either they had already achieved or that they are striving for. But it might be an inappropriate question to ask every apostle. Apostle is meant to strive for that, whether they had achieved it or not. Like, I'm not convinced, right? As we read the history of the church and some bad eggs who fell out of the 12 and rebelled against the prophet, I'm not convinced that they had seen Jesus. If, you know, if I'm being completely honest, they don't act like people who had. And so I'm not going to ask a member of the 12 that question. To be totally honest, Casey, like, section 93, verse one invites all of us into that, doesn't it? If you will do this little formula in section 93 1, if you'll do this, you can see the face of God. It was not talking only to members of the 12. There were no members of the 12 when section 93 was given, right that's.
- [77:55]
A
What I was going to say. You know, the person that springs to mind is John Murdoch who we talked about a couple weeks ago. And he never becomes an apostle, but has a striking, moving, life changing vision of the Savior that completely sends him off in a different direction. Direction. Part of the obnoxiousness of the question too is basically implying that seeing the Savior is only a privilege given to apostles. And it's not. Section 93, like you pointed out, makes it so that everybody can be a witness of Jesus Christ. These are just special witnesses. It's their job to testify of Christ. But hopefully you and I and every person out there that has a witness of the living Christ can be witnessed witnesses too. It's just not our full time job.
- [78:39]
B
Now you got me thinking of Mosiah 18, that when we're baptized, we're baptized to be witnesses of God in all times and in all things and in all places. Like we're all called to be witnesses of Christ. We take upon ourselves the name of Christ and we're to bear witness of Christ. Does that mean we've had some eye or ear witness? For some people probably yes. And for many of us probably no. But it is something that we are all in invited to strive to achieve. And I think that's beautiful. Section 93 and Section 67 explicitly invite church members to seek that blessing. Don't get weird about it, but seek it by being faithful to your covenants. Right. There's something beautiful in there for all of us. Any other controversies?
- [79:20]
A
I know in a couple months we'll talk about succession and that's really where Section 107 becomes important. But I also will say we did like a 15 episode episode series on succession. We went through a lot of that there too. So I'll. I'll leave it for now.
- [79:35]
B
If you want to do a deep dive on succession, go enjoy our previous series, a whole series before we started, come follow me. This year we did that whole series. I think that was our last series, wasn't it? That we did.
- [79:44]
A
We did violence last.
- [79:46]
B
Second to last. Yeah, that's right. So there you go. Those are the controversies. Consequences of Section 107. How do you, how do you boil down the consequences of this amazing section? Foreign.
- [80:01]
A
Not only is this a huge help to the 12 when they're sent out to organize and put an order branches, there's just so much here that I'm sure was helping them regulate, that this has really stood the test of time. Like I said, it's not the end of the Conversation. There have been additions to the concepts and ideas here. There's been further revelations. But this is the foundation really of the highest hierarchy of the church. And I use the word hierarchy because I can't think of a better word. But I remember President Oaks giving a talk where he said there's really no hierarchy in the church, meaning it's not a hierarchy of who's more righteous. If a person gets made a 70 doesn't mean they're the most righteous person ever. It's just a direction in which information flows within the church. The ecclesiastical structure that's set up in section 107 we're still using almost two centuries later, which is a testament, testaments to how thought out it was and how well structured. It's just a nice thing. There is a real beauty in attending a general conference and see the system firing on all cylinders. I mean, it's just great. And again, further revelations, a general Relief Society president, a general primary president, all came along the way. 2. It essentially updates Doctrine Covenants 20, which. Doctrine Covenants 20 is still used in the Church today, too, to the fullest degree. But Section 20 was restored, received when the church had about 60 members, and Section 107 is received when the Church has several thousand more. And we expect and have the promise to receive further revelation as the church continues to grow. And then finally, it just gives us a lot of insight into the history and doctrine of the Melchizedek, the Aaronic and the patriarchal priesthood that lays the foundation for a lot of things that are going to come along. I mean, this is among the greatest revelations ever given to Joseph Smith because it says so much about how God organizes his followers and why organization matters, too. And it just helps us know what we're expected to do, how we carry out this work that we've been given.
- [81:56]
B
Well said. All right, Casey, section 108. We've now covered our main course. Time for a little dessert. Eight more verses in section 108. Tell us what's going on with section 108. It's to this guy named Lyman Sherman.
- [82:09]
A
Yeah, Lyman Sherman's one of the more colorful characters in church history, but he. He's not well known, I think it's fair to say. So. On December 26th, day after Christmas, 1835, Joseph Smith recorded in his journal, brother Lyman Sherman came in and requested to have the word of the Lord through me. And Lyman Sherman apparently told Joseph Smith, I have been wrought upon to make known to you my feelings and desires and was promised that I should Have a revelation which should make known my duty. Lyman had been baptized into the church in January 1832 and was a veteran of Zion's Camp. After Zion's camp, in February 1835, he's appointed as a member of the Presidency of the Seventy. And when he's called to the 70, he was given a blessing that specifically said, you, ministry shall be great, and you shall proclaim to various nations your faith shall be unshaken and you shall be delivered from great afflictions. So according to his journal, Joseph Smith was studying Hebrew with Warren Parish and Frederick Gwynne Williams on the day after Christmas when Lyman stopped in. So this is a blessing given to a faithful guy, Lyman Sherman, who interrupted their post Christmas Hebrew studies, which is a little slice of life in the early church.
- [83:19]
B
Oh, for the day when you could just walk up and knock on the prophet's door and ask for a revelation.
- [83:23]
A
Yeah. And the prophet is, oh, I'm just reading Hebrew. Yeah. Okay, come on in, buddy.
- [83:27]
B
All right, let's look at the second C here. The content of the revelation itself. Again, just eight little verses. And by the way, this section is super easy to kind of apply. There's some stuff that applies only to Lyman Sherman, but there's a couple verses here that are just really juicy that all of us can sink our teeth into. So could be a fun little study for you and your family to look at this section and just find a couple nuggets to think about and talk about application of. For instance, verse one, Verily, thus saith the Lord unto you, my servant Lyman, your sins are forgiven given you because you've obeyed my voice and coming up hither this morning to receive counsel of him whom I have appointed. Very cool. Your sins are forgiven because you obeyed a prompting to come here. Therefore let your soul be at rest concerning your spiritual standing and resist no more my voice. One sentence, a compliment and a warning. Really helpful. And arise up and be more careful, the Lord said, henceforth, in observing your voice, vows which you have made and do make, and you shall be blessed with exceeding great blessings. Wait patiently until the solemn assembly shall be called of my servants. Then you shall be remembered with the first of mine elders and receive right by ordination with the rest of mine elders whom I have chosen. Okay. Verse 4 is hyper specific to Lamb and Sherman. Remember, the solemn assembly is that which section 88 said should be called. Part of the purpose of building the Kirtland temple was to hold the solemn assembly. It's going to be a very big deal. And so that Is hyper located in history there for Lyman Sherman. But then he goes on. Do you want to pick it up in verse five?
- [85:01]
A
Yeah. Behold, this is the promise of the Father unto you if you continue faithful, and it shall be fulfilled upon you in that day that you shall have right to preach my gospel wheresoever I shall send you from henceforth, from that time. Therefore, strengthen your brethren in all your conversation, in all your prayers, in all your exhortations and all your doings. And behold, and lo, I am with you to bless you and deliver you forever. Amen. This section is kind of a nice little add on to section 107. In that now we see an individual who was directly affected by section 107. He's called us one of the presidents of the 70. And there's a lot of instruction in section 107 about what he's supposed to do, but he's still wondering, what about me? And the Lord gives. Give some good general counsel. Don't worry so much. Verse two, be at rest concerning your spiritual standing. And verse seven, strengthen your brethren in all your conversations, prayers and exhortations, and in all your doings where the Lord is saying, yeah, I appreciate you coming and asking me. Here's some general things that you can do. Let your soul be at rest concerning your spiritual standing, which. That's hard. I don't know if I ever feel a rest concerning my spiritual standing. But it must have been nice for Lyman Sherman to have heard those words.
- [86:14]
B
I think verse seven could be applied to anybody in any calling in the church, don't you think? Like, if someone came into a bishop or stake president, just said, I just got called to this new calling, like, what should I do? Like, how could I do my best? I think you could open up section 108 and read verse 7. Well, in this calling, sister brother, you've been called to strengthen people. That's so universally applicable.
- [86:35]
A
Well, let's move on and talk controversy. Controversies.
- [86:43]
B
I got a controversy in this one, surprisingly. Casey, I've got one for you. Lyman Sherman himself later becomes, I think, the subject of a controversy. He himself is not controversial. But let's fast forward five years from now. Okay, just go with me on this. Joseph Smithson, Liberty Jail, with his first counselor, Sidney Rigden and Hyrum Smith. They're in Northern Missouri, Liberty Jail, the whole first presidency while they're languishing in jail. This is January of 1839. They write a letter to Brigham Young and Heber C. Kimball, who are leading the 12 apostles, instructing them to call two new apostles to replace Orson Hyde and Thomas B. Marsh, who had fallen at this point. Here's what they wrote. Quote, we nominate George A. Smith and Lyman Sherman to take the place of Orson Hyde and Thomas B. Marsh. Brethren, fear not. Be strong in the Lord and the power of his might. Close quote. Okay, George A. Smith, he's Joseph Smith's cousin. And Lyman Sherman is the very same Lyman Sherman of this DNC108. Okay, that's cool. So he's actually called to be an apostle by the First Presidency. But here's the plot twist with the question. Eleven days after this letter was written to call Lyman Sherman to the Quorum of the twelve Apostles, he suddenly passes away before he could be ordained. And in the meantime, Orson, how Hyde, who's one of those fallen apostles who Lyman was called to replace, actually comes back into activity and faithfulness. And since his replacement had just passed away without being ordained, Lyman Sherman, Orson Hyde just reassumes his place back in the quorum of the 12.
- [88:12]
A
It's kind of funny in a dark way, because Orson Hyde takes Lyman Sherman's death as evidence that he should get to come back into the quorum of the 12. And this is casting no disrespect on Orson. And he does some amazing things. Like Orson Hyde, after all this happens, dedicates the Holy Land. There's still Orson Hyde memorial gardens in Jerusalem. He publishes one of the earliest accounts of the first vision in German. And I mean, he is stalwart and faithful. He just has this one little episode of apostasy. And even at the end of his life, demonstrates incredible humility. Orson Hyde was next in seniority after Brigitte Young, I believe. And then a few months before Brigham Young passed away, he actually said, I'm going to reorganize the 12 in order of seniority based on continuous service. Meaning Orson Hyde got moved to the bottom because of his period of apostasy. So did Orson Pratt.
- [89:08]
B
What are your thoughts on why Lyman Sherman was called to the 12 apostles if he was just going to die 11 days later before he's even ordained?
- [89:18]
A
Lyman Sherman was Apostle Matthew material is the only thing I'd have to say. I remember once when I was serving as an ecclesiastical leader, we had to fill a really big role in our ward, and it was like a Relief Society president or something like that, if I recall correctly. I'm not going to mention any names here, by the way, but we all felt really strongly about this one woman. Like she was amazing and great and faithful. And we called her in and spoke to her and said, hey, we think the Lord's calling you to serve as the Relief Society president. And then she told us, well, I'm actually moving. And we were like, whoa, really? How soon? And she said, well, actually, we're kind of in the process right now. So she actually said to me, like, should I stop the move? Is this more important? And I said, gosh, I don't know. We all felt so strongly about it. And so I took a few moments to reflect, and. And the answer that I feel under the voice of inspiration came to me was to say, I think the Lord just wanted you to know that you were the kind of person that he would entrust with this sort of responsibility. And then I emphasized how big a responsibility being a Relief Society president is, how important it is, and what a huge, huge amount of trust the Lord must have in an individual that's called to fill that role. She was not called as the Relief Society Society president, but I also don't think that we weren't inspired when her name came up. We went back to the drawing board and we received revelation that another person should be called, and they were called, and they served absolutely faithfully for their full period of service. But I don't think we were wrong when we called that first person. And I think Lyman Sherman has the blessing, and so does his posterity, of knowing he was apostolic material. Just for whatever reason the Lord decided Orson Hyde was going to carry out those works. But we could, and maybe it's too presumptuous, assume that Lyman Sherman would have been perfectly capable of dedicating the Holy Land. And there could have been Lyman Sherman memorial gardens in Jerusalem today, and Lyman Sherman would have published an early account of the first vision. All those things, it's not for us to say. It's just the Lord blessed this individual and his posterity by letting them know he was a possible material. He could have been a great apostle, but he got called to a different part of the vineyard.
- [91:37]
B
That's a good answer. I like it.
- [91:38]
A
All right, let's talk consequences.
- [91:40]
B
So the Lord promised that Lyman Sherman, back in verse four, would be present at the solemn assembly in which he would be remembered with the first of mine elders. The Lord said, well, that promise was fulfilled on January 22, 1836, when the Twelve Apostles, I'm going to quote from the historical, proceeded to anoint and bless the presidency of the 70, among whom was Lyman Sherman, and to seal upon their heads power and authority to anoint their brethren, which they then went on to do. And there's another way when that verse 4 was also fulfilled, I think, which is when Lyman Sherman was sustained as a member of the presidency of the Seventy in the solemn assembly held on March 30, 1836, in the Kirtland Temple. It was actually during that meeting that members of the leading quorums of the church participated in the ordinance of Washing of feet. We'll talk more about that ordinance a little bit more next week. But they had many prophecies and blessings after anointing each other pronounced upon them in the name of the Lord Jesus. And I'm happy to report that Lyman remains a faithful and fierce advocate for the church for the rest of his life. When Kirtland fell into apostasy, he defended the prophecy Joseph Smith. In fact, according to one source, when he discovered that apostates were planning on using the church printing press to publish material designed to discredit Joseph Smith, Lyman took matters into his own hands and he set fire to the printing press, completely destroying it so that it could not be hijacked for nefarious purposes. So it's rare that you're a hero for destroying church property, but in this case, he was. He'll later relocate with his family to far West Missouri, where he serves as a member of the High Council there. And as we just mentioned in a letter from Liberty Jail, the first Presidency called him to be an apostle with the intention of replacing Orson Hyde. Unfortunately, Sherman dies on January 27, 1839, 11 days after that letter was written, before he could be ordained to the 12. But as you said, he is apostle material. He did a great job in, as the Lord said, to strengthen his brethren in all of his conversations and all of his prayers and exhortations, like he was someone who strengthened, who defended, who protected, who built. So God bless the memory of Lyman Sherman.
- [94:02]
A
There aren't a lot of people you can refer to as a faithful arsonist, but yes, that's right, the bill. He's. He's such a fierce defender, he's willing to burn down the press rather than let them use that to smear the reputation of Joseph Smith. So way to go. And I. I'm so glad that this is in the Doctrine and Covenants, because otherwise he could be one of those figures that is completely forgotten. But he's remembered and honored today, and all the credit to him for that.
- [94:27]
B
That was good dessert, Casey. Section 108's good dessert. To our complete meal this week and studying sections 106 to 100. We appreciate all of you who have joined us in this study. And we look forward to next week when we get to talk about the Kirtland Endowment. This promise that God would endow his people with power from on high is all coming up next week, fulfilled in sections 109, 110, and all the history surrounding all of that. So we look forward to that next week.
- [94:56]
A
Thank you, Scott.
- [94:57]
B
Yeah, thanks, Casey. See you next time, Sam.