Dr. Garrett Dirkmaat (47:52)
Yeah, that's spicy. Sometimes you want to learn by experience. I'm guessing in this one you do not. Consequently. So again, what's going on? Clearly this Brother Hewlett. Brother Hewlett has been saying that even the devils can be redeemed, and Joseph is correcting him. Those who teach this doctrine have not received it from the spirit of the Lord. Truly, Brother Oliver Cowdery declared it to be the doctrine of devils. We therefore command that this doctrine be taught no more in Zion. We sanction the decision of the bishop and his council in relation to this doctrine being a bar of communion. So this is a big enough problem. Enough people are teaching this as though it's true that the bishop in Zion, in Missouri has actually had to try to discipline people for teaching it. And they're still teaching it. And Joseph is sanctioning the idea. Listen, if you're going to continue to openly teach this doctrine which has never been revealed, then you are not worthy of to. To have the sacrament or you're not worthy to be in full communion with the Church. They don't have all the different levels of. Of discipline that we do today. But it's clearly a big enough issue that Joseph has to write and say, hey, stop teaching this. It hasn't been revealed. It won't be be revealed. Stop teaching it. I thought it might be helpful also then, since we're talking about doctrine covenant, section 76, to go see the way that Joseph talks about predition and the sons of predition in his 1843 Rewriting of Doctrine Covenant, Section 76, when he writes it into the poetic form. Oh, that'd be great because this is kind of. You could. You could at least say, well, this is a. You know, what is Joseph thinking later on after many, many, many more revelations that take place. And so let's, let's go take a look at that. This is going to sound pretty similar to what's in your scriptures, doctrine covenant, section 76, but Joseph rewrites it into poetic verse and then it's published in the Times and Seasons, 1843. And I saw and bear record of warfare in heaven. For an angel of light in authority great rebelled against Jesus and sought for his power, but was thrust down to woe from his godified state. Now think about that. What a. What a phrase to use a godified state. In the. The manuscript, it may have been that Joseph did not intend godified. So before anyone rushes out in the manuscript, it actually reads deified, which is like, yeah, but anyway. And the heavens all wept and the tears dropped like dew, that Lucifer, son of the morning had fell. Yea, is fallen, is fallen and become, O alas, the son of perdition, the devil of hell. And while I was yet in the spirit of truth, the commandment was, write ye the vision all out for Satan, old serpent, the devil's for war, and yet will encompass the saints roundabout. And I saw to the suffering and misery of those overcome by the devil in warfare and fight, in hellfire and vengeance, the doom of the damned. For the Lord said, the vision is further so right. For thus saith the Lord now concerning all those who know of my power and partake of the same, and suffer themselves that they be overcome by the power of Satan, despising my name, defying my power and denying the truth, they are they of the world or of men most forlorn, the sons of perdition, of whom, ah, I say twere better for them that they'd never been born. Their vessels of wrath and dishonor to God, doomed to suffer his wrath in the regions of woe through the terrific night of eternity's round, with the devil of all of his angels and all of his angels below, of whom it is said, no forgiveness is given in this world, alas, nor the world that's to come. For they denied the spirit of God after having received it, and misery is their doom. And denying the only begotten God, and crucifying him to themselves as they do, and openly Put him to shame in their flesh. By the Gospel they cannot repentance renew. They are they who must go to that great lake of fire which burneth with brimstone, yet never consumes, and dwell with the devil and angels of his while eternity goes and eternity comes. They are they who must groan through the great second death and are not redeemed in the time of the Lord, while all the rest are, through the triumph of Christ, made partakers of grace by the power of his word. The mystery of godliness truly is great. The past and the present and what is to be. And this is the Gospel glad tidings to all which the voice from the heaven bore record to me. So it's, it's pretty expansive there that Joseph is making very clear that these sons of perdition, eternities upon eternities, don't have the ability to repent. Joseph's going to make a reference to this as well in the, the well known King Fallet sermon where he's going to talk about those who become perdition. He says all sins and blasphemy were to be forgiven except for the sin against the Holy Ghost. God has made a provision for every spirit in the eternal world and the spirit of our friend should be searched out and saved. Any man that has a friend in eternity can save him. If he has not committed the unpardonable sin. He cannot be damned throughout all eternity. There is a possibility of escape in a little time. If a man has knowledge he can be saved. If he's been guilty of great sins, he's punished for it. When he consents to obey the gospel, whether alone, alive or dead, he is saved. His own mind damns him. This is where we get the great line from Joseph. I have no fear of hellfire that don't exist. Right? Everyone's always condemning Joseph to hell and he's like, well, jokes on you. It doesn't actually exist. No man can commit the unpardonable sin until he receives the Holy Ghost. All will suffer until they obey Christ himself. Even the devil said, I am a Savior and can save all, and rose up in rebellion against God and was cast down. Jesus Christ will save all except the sons of perdition. Again, this is this radical Latter Day Saint theology. Not that Jesus Christ can save all. Not that, that. Oh, you know, if Jesus wanted to, he could save everyone from eternal hellfire. Jesus is going to save everyone except the sons of perdition. What must a man do to commit the unpardonable sin? They must receive the Holy Ghost and Have the heavens opened unto them and know God and then sin against him. And this kind of goes to my point and where we kind of loop back around and we begin to intersect with Aquinas, where when we talk about sinfulness in this world, I mean, we all know people that sin. Now, this is my opinion here. So this is not, you know, you can take. Give this as much credit as you give Thomas Aquinas's. My opinion is that they, the fallen spirits, including the devil, they can't repent and they can't change because repentance and change is necessitated by an increase of knowledge. Right. So I'm a degenerate, you know, crook and a thief. And I break into everybody's houses. I breaking into Richard's house right now, under the pretext of this podcast recording, stealing everything that he has. Every Oklahoma state, you know, burnt orange thing. I can get out into my car.
