Saved From Our Sins

"...and thou shalt call his name Jesus; for he shall save his people from their sins" (Matt 1:21).

The greatest part of our energy in this world's life is spent in the endeavour to rid ourselves of discomfort. We spend vast amounts of time and resources trying to avoid discomfort or to make ourselves more comfortable. Some do it through attempting to escape the discomfort, others with strong and continuous effort to keep moving up into bigger and better and more, only to discover that with each new escape or new ascent, new discomfort. The truth is that we bring our troubles with us. We bring ourselves with us. In our haste to be rich or to escape, we are slow to find the poverty of our souls and no amount of effort at escaping or improving our circumstances can rid ourselves of this poverty.

For the cause of every person's discomfort is evil, or as Alma says 'our awful, sinful and polluted state,' or the evil in ourselves, our own corrupted state, our own unrighteousness, and our flawed goodness. In addition we also have and experience the evil of those we love. And the only way to rid ourselves of this evil is to get rid of our own sin--our sinful and polluted state. And I don't mean the deeds that we do, but the evil that we are. Make note of the irony--it is very uncomfortable to admit that we are evil. Only those bad people who have committed atrocious sins are evil, we tell ourselves. For this reason we cling to the deeds that we do, calling them good, because we are afraid to see the evil in ourselves.

What needs to be changed is us, not our actions or our behaviors. We can, for example, quit doing a particular sinful deed, but what is not changed is our capacity to continue to commit that sinful deed. Foolish is the person who would rid himself and others of discomfort by waging war on the evils around him, while that person neglects his own character and capacity for sin. We, nor others, can be righted from the outside. Wrong is always generated and done by an individual because the wrongness exists in that individual! 

Too often our efforts are directed at treating the symptoms rather than the cause. I call it chopping at the leaves as opposed to going to the root of the problem. Almost all of our efforts are thus directed as if a change in our behavior or the behavior of others is the cure to the sickness. We are only right when there is no wrong in us, not when we have quit doing wrong. We must be set free from the evil within us, not set free from the sins or evil we are doing, nor set free from the sins we have committed. I mean the sins we are capable of doing, the sins or evil which spoil our nature--the wrongness in us--the evil we consent to, the evil we are, the evil which makes us do the sins that we do.

Let's pause here and answer the question you may have--is it really evil that is within us? Is it not just the result of the fall? Isn't it better, or doesn't it make us feel better, to say that nobody is perfect and not that we are evil? We could if that were the case, but it isn't. One of the results of the fall of Adam was that Satan came "among the children of men, and tempteth them to worship him; and men have become carnal, sensual, and devilish..." (Moses 6:49 emphasis added). The Lord also told Adam that "inasmuch as thy children are conceived in sin, even so when they begin to grow up, sin conceiveth in their hearts, and they taste the bitter, that they may know to prize the good" (Moses 6:55 emphasis added). 

"For they are carnal and devilish, 

and the devil has power over them; 

yea, even that old serpent that did beguile our first parents, which was the cause of their fall; which was the cause of all mankind becoming carnal, sensual, devilish, knowing evil from good, subjecting themselves to the devil.

Thus all mankind were lost; and behold, they would have been endlessly lost were it not that God redeemed his people from their lost and fallen state.

But remember that he that persists in his own carnal nature, and goes on in the ways of sin and rebellion against God, remaineth in his fallen state and the devil hath all power over him. Therefore he is as though there was no redemption made, being an enemy to God; and also is the devil an enemy to God." (Mosiah 16:3-5). 

Further, if the definition of Good is the righteousness of God and evil is everything else (Moroni 7 et al), then our capacity or desire to choose anything other than the righteousness of God is evil.

 

To save a man from his sins, or from his awful, sinful and polluted state is the reason Christ was sent by His Father, sent to do the will of the Father. Christ did not come to just deliver us from the consequences of our sinful deeds, while yet our sinful nature remained. But men, loving their sins, pervert the word of God by saying that He came to save us from the punishment of our sins. This teaching has perverted and corrupted the teaching of His gospel. He did not come to just pay the price of our sinful deeds, but to pay the price of our awful, sinful and polluted state--to save us from our sins, from ourselves.

As we learn to acknowledge the evil within us and the evil around us, we realize that we are helpless to make any changes in ourselves that will make our evil nature go away. What we can do is look for the light shining in the darkness. But Oh how we hate the light and prefer the darkness! For the light shining upon us will cause that we see the evil within us, and this we cannot stand. So we prefer the darkness. "This is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil."

It is the badness within us, ready to produce bad actions, that we need to be delivered from. As long as this badness remains we are left to be evil, commit evil and suffer the consequences. But to be delivered only from these consequences would be no deliverance from ourselves, but would be damnation. Add to the evil in our being the fact that we do not care and will not obey--we will not repent and turn to Him, because we love the comfort of the darkness rather than the discomfort of the light shining upon us.

Consider that the evil that lives in each of us, our evil judgments, our evil desires, our hate and pride and envy and greed and self satisfaction--these are the souls of our sins, the cause of our sins, and are more terrible than the deeds that we do. They make us as loathsome as the loathsome things that we do.

Christ came to deliver us from the bondage of not just our deeds, but from our awful, sinful and polluted state, and not just from the punishment of any of them. When all our sins are gone and we are changed by Him, the punishment will have departed also. He came to make us good.

One master sin is at the root of all the rest. It is the non-recognition by us, and the consequent inactivity in us. It is the absence of our being in harmony with our Father and His Son. It is the fact that He has given us the choice between Him and His righteousness, and everything else, or evil. Being enticed by one or the other, we choose one or the other. Can you imagine that you can come to align your will with His? Not in the sense that we are better behaved or improved, but in the sense that we become like Him because we have come to recognize the evil within us and turned to Him to change us. It is the will of God that we become like Him. When that becomes our will as well, then we are one with God. The Lord knows what we need; we know only what we want. We want ease and comfort. He wants purity. 

We can begin by acknowledging the evil within us and compare ourselves to His goodness and bring about the godly sorrow that comes as a result of this comparison of His goodness and our nothingness. It is only through seeing the evil within us that we can exercise the faith to see the Good in Him.

As we move about in the shadows of our own darkness and the darkness of those around us we may create fictions of our own goodness by comparing ourselves to others. It is true that we can always find someone worse than we are, or so it seems, because all we measure is the outward manifestations of a people going about to establish their own righteousness. The true God gets distorted, while we assume the authenticities and endorsements that belong only to God. We maintain appearances of true worship and lay stress on outward observances and the need to preserve the exterior of true worship. All of this is caused by avoiding the light and being comfortable in the darkness and avoiding the righteousness of God.

Instead of the righteousness of God we create a fiction that feeds the many as we worship the God of our making, but are now allowed to worship the false gods (our gods) alongside the true God.  

In order to awaken to a sense of our own lost and fallen state, our evil and sinful state, we have a remedy. And that remedy is the "light of the everlasting word." The only problem with this remedy, is that the light of the everlasting word will awaken us to a sense of our awful guilt and the fact that we are encircled about by the bands of death and the chains of hell. Not a very comforting remedy to say the least for those who desire comfort. Nor is it comforting  to be shown our weakness as soon as we come unto Him, or be told that we must lose our life to find it. But it is the only way we can come out of the darkness and into the light. Measuring ourselves by what we do with what others may or may not do may be comforting, but it is not redeeming. 

While it is frightening and certainly not pleasant to see the evil within us, the alternative is much worse and will cause us to wish that we could command the rocks and the mountains to fall upon us to hide us from His presence. Adam and Eve certainly recognized this as they contemplated partaking of the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil. The attached poem that I wrote illustrates our dilemma.

The Lord cannot save us from our sins while we hold on to them.  We must send them away or forsake them. We must begin to cast them out, if we would be delivered from the evil within us. But alone we might labor for all eternity and not succeed. We cannot set ourselves right. Only Christ can do that. He does not even require that we be sorry for our sins, because, until His love is developed in us by Him, we cannot be truly sorry.

As soon as we just desire to forsake or to send our sins away, He will cause that desire to work in us, and immediately we will begin to see some of the fruits of our repentance, fruits which come from Him, such as curing our tendency to turn away from Him and taking away our disposition to do evil. But don't expect all the evil in us to be taken away in this lifetime. Hence the need for continual repentance, for validating our repentance by enduring to the end, with the hope, no the knowledge, that we can be perfected in Him.

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The Net

Something there is that doesn't love safety,

That wants the net removed from under us,

And forces all our timid ones to flee;

And awakens all our senses to the light.

The work of the lifeless is another thing:

I have seen them, cautious and secure,

Staying still, never moving;

Lifeless, helpless, never understanding why.

Never seeing, never feeling. Life I ask:

Is it more than dying? Isn't life for living?

Every year they seek to find their life

On things which have no life and give no life;

Things which give them comfort, make them safe,

And all the while entomb their souls for life.

"Be careful," they're told, "You might get hurt;"

And so they stay away from all that might give life;

As if getting hurt would harm them some.

"You can't get hurt if you are dead," I say.

Why is it that they are afraid to live, afraid to dance?

Wall flowers all, hiding from the real world, turning away;

Behaving themselves, deluding themselves;

Free from the pain of embarrassing failure.

Adam and Eve rejected the set, the garden in which they lived;

Both wanted more than comfort and ease, wanted to be like God.

And yet reseeking Eden, the Garden of Eden, is the work of the day;

"If only life were this or that, wouldn't we be happy?"

"Never suffering is never living," I say, as I remove the net

And see the danger from above, and feel the life within me.

Who Needs to Repent?

What is it about the idea of repentance that is so hard for us to accept? Is it because we have been taught that only 'bad' people need to repent, or, related to this same idea, could it be that the idea of repentance is repugnant to us because we cannot accept that we are in need of repentance? Or could it be that our idea of what it means to repent is not accurate and therefore causes us to pervert the Lord's definition of repentance?

Could it be that we somehow see ourselves as being sufficient as we are? Do we believe in our hearts that we are already good enough, that the Savior may indeed have to forgive us of a few things, but his love and generosity will easily take away those things, and we will then be ushered ceremoniously into the blessings of the great beyond? (2 Nephi 28:7-9). Such a belief is what He defines as pride. It is the belief that we are good, though perhaps our deeds are not. This is the belief that the old us does not need to die and become a new creature, but only our garments need to be cleansed. In pride we see ourselves as eternal creatures who may need to be forgiven and lifted up by Jesus Christ, but who do not need to be totally changed by Him! We perhaps do not believe that we need that new and pure heart which only He can give us. 

Our tendency to grade sins may cause us to deceive ourselves into thinking that we are good because we do not and have not committed the more 'serious' sins. We fall into a trap of thinking that some people need repentance more than others do. As Hugh Nibley reminded us, we can always find someone who is worse than we are to make us feel that we are better. Those terrorists, perverts, adulterers, rapists--they are the ones who need to repent! And there is no question but that they must repent, and for them repentance will be a full-time job, exactly as it is for all the rest of us!

This attitude is consistent with someone who is religious, but not with someone who believes the gospel of Jesus Christ, and certainly not consistent with all that God has revealed to us concerning our condition here, and the need all of us have for His mercy which comes about because of His atonement.

Otherwise we ignore the Lord's words: "Now this is the commandment: Repent, all ye ends of the earth" (3 Nephi 27:20). And why is it that all mankind everywhere must repent? And why is it expedient that an atonement should be made? It is because "according to the great plan of the Eternal God there must be an atonement made, or else all mankind must unavoidably perish; yea, all are hardened; yea, all are fallen and are lost, and must perish except it be through the atonement which it is expedient should be made" (Alma 34:9 emphasis added).

What the Lord is teaching us through Amulek is that all of us are lost and fallen, and because there is "not any man that can sacrifice his own blood which will atone for the sins of another...there can be nothing which is short of an infinite atonement which will suffice for the sins (even ours) of the world" (Alma 34:11-12). And the intent of this "great and last sacrifice" is to "bring about the bowels of mercy, which overpowereth justice, and bringeth about means unto men that they may have faith unto repentance" (Alma 34:14-15 emphasis added). Through His atonement mercy is introduced, which only comes about through repentance. Only mercy will overpower justice, and only the penitent will receive mercy. The idea that we must have faith unto repentance is the idea that we have faith in His mercy, faith in the fact that He will hold us guiltless, and faith in His words, through which we know of His promises of mercy if we repent and of His justice if we do not.

So we find ourselves (all) in a lost and fallen state with sinful natures, unable to merit anything of ourselves, unable to save ourselves no matter the length or nature of our list of good works. "For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God" (Romans 3:22 emphasis added). 

For this reason repentance is the means to turn to Christ and rely wholly upon His merits to save us. It is not a one time process, and is certainly not done a sin at a time. It begins with a desire to turn to Him, a desire to exercise faith in Him, and it is through this faith that we come to repentance, and "only unto him that has faith unto repentance is brought about the great and eternal plan of redemption" (Alma 34:16). 

Amulek's prayer for all of us is: "may God grant unto you...that ye may begin to exercise your faith unto repentance, that ye begin to call upon his holy name, that he would have mercy upon you; Yea, cry unto him for mercy; for he is mighty to save" (Alma 34:17-18). Nephi describes this beautifully in 2 Nephi 31 where he writes that we should come unto Christ with "full purpose of heart, acting no hypocrisy and no deception before God, but with real intent, repenting of (our) sins, witnessing unto the Father that (we) are willing to take upon (us) the name of Christ..." (vs. 13). 

Of course the no hypocrisy and no deception before God means that we not deceive ourselves or act (no hypocrisy) as if we are righteous and merit anything because of our 'good works.' No we "rely wholly" upon His merits! We know we cannot deceive him, but we can and do deceive ourselves because of our vain imaginations and going about to establish our 'own' righteousness (Romans 10:1-4). It is His righteousness and only His righteousness that saves us! (See the following references: 2 Nephi 2:3, 6, 8, 10; 2 Nephi 31:19; Alma 22:14; Alma 24:10-11; Helaman 13:14; Moroni 6:4; D&C 1:20). 

And this prayer is for all, especially for those who think they need no repentance. Alma reminds us that "he sendeth an invitation unto all men, for the arms of mercy are extended toward them, and he saith: Repent, and I will receive you" (Alma 5:33 emphasis added). Note here that it is the Holy One that sendeth the invitation and it is the Holy One that saith "Repent, and I will receive you." Alma makes special mention to those of us that are "puffed up in the vain things of the world, ye that have professed to have known the ways of righteousness nevertheless have gone astray, as sheep having no shepherd, notwithstanding a shepherd hath called after you, and is still calling after you, but ye will not hearken unto his voice!" (Alma 5:37-38 emphasis added). And His voice is clear: "Repent all ye ends of the earth" (3 Nephi 27:20).

Alma had been commanded of God to "stand and testify" unto the people (including, or especially us). He tells us that "I am called, yea, to preach unto my beloved brethren, yea, and every one that dwelleth in the land; to preach unto all, both old and young, both bond and free; yea, I say unto you the aged, and also the middle aged, and the rising generation; yea to cry unto them that they must repent and be born again" (Alma 5:49 emphasis added).

Now note how many times Alma uses the word 'repent' in the next several verses: "Yea, thus saith the Spirit: Repent, all ye ends of the earth.... And also the Spirit saith unto me, yea crieth unto me with a mighty voice, saying: Go forth and say unto this people--Repent, for except ye repent ye can in nowise inherit the kingdom of heaven" (Alma 5:50-51 emphasis added). He then tells us that the "ax is laid at the root of the tree; therefore every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit (fruit meet for repentance) shall be hewn down and cast into the fire..." (Alma 5:52).

And then this: "Behold, and remember, the Holy One hath spoken it" (Alma 5:52 emphasis added). It is not Alma's words but the words of the Lord. It is His voice and He has spoken it. "Can ye withstand these saying; yea, can ye lay aside these things (these words), and trample the Holy One under your feet; yea, can ye be puffed up in the pride of your hearts; yea, will ye still persist in the wearing of costly apparel and setting your hearts upon the vain things of the world, upon your riches? Yea, will ye persist in supposing that ye are better one than another?" (Alma 5:52-53). He warns against persecuting those who humble themselves, "having been sanctified by the Holy Spirit, and they do bring forth works which are meet for repentance--" (Alma 5:52 emphasis added).

"And finally, all ye that will persist in your wickedness (those who will not repent), I say unto you that these are they who shall be hewn down and cast into the fire except they speedily repent" (Alma 5:56 emphasis added).

Alma's message is more timely now than when he gave it. It has been preserved for us. "The good shepherd doth call after you; and if you will hearken unto his voice he will bring you into his fold... I speak by way of command unto those who do belong to the church; and unto those who do not belong to the church I speak by way of invitation, saying: Come and be baptized unto repentance, that ye also may be partakers of the fruit of the tree of life" (Alma 5:62 emphasis added).

After reading this can any of us honestly say we do not need to repent, especially when he, by way of commandment, addresses us who belong to the church? Enduring to the end is to endure to the end in faith in Jesus Christ unto repentance. It is a full time job for us and it is the Father's work that we listen to His voice and repent. Then and only then can He save us through His son.

Again repentance is not a one and done process, nor is it the process of 'repenting' of our sins one sin at a time. Enduring to the end is to fulfill the purpose of repentance. The Latin root for repentance is to turn. The Greek root means to change one's mind. The Hebrew root means to return to God. Repentance is turning from wherever we are, from whatever we are, to the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ. 

We have to want our minds and our hearts to be changed, and be willing to return to God. We have all gone out of the way, we have all sinned and we have all fallen short of the glory of God. Therefore, we must return to God, and that return is by means of His gift of repentance. 

In other words He gives us the blessing of repentance as the way out of our lost and fallen state which leads to the justice of God, and by turning to Him He cures our tendency to turn away from Him. He begins the process of taking away our disposition to do evil, and will bless us with the fruits of our repentance. We then exercise our unshaken faith in Him by relying wholly upon His merits, and in this condition of repentance we endure in faith in Him to the end, feasting upon His words. His arms of mercy are extended to all.

After this post, I wrote a series of posts on Repentance, what it is and what it is not, and more.

Look to God and Live

Follow the Prophet or Look to God 

and Live?

Do we assume that if we 'follow the prophet' and do what he says, our exaltation is assured? 

Brigham Young was concerned that this might be the case. 

"What a pity it would be if we were led by one man to utter destruction! Are you afraid of this? I am more afraid that this people have so much confidence in their leaders that they will not inquire for themselves of God whether they are led by Him. 

I am fearful they settle down in a state of blind self-security, trusting their eternal destiny in the hands of their leaders with a reckless confidence that in itself would thwart the purposes of God in their salvation.... 

Those men, or those women, who know no more about the power of God, and the influences of the Holy Spirit, than to be led entirely by another person, suspending their own understanding, and pinning their faith upon another's sleeve, will never be capable of entering into celestial glory, to be crowned as they anticipate" (Journal of Discourses, Deseret Book, 1:312; 9:151).

Note that Brigham Young was concerned about 

¹"not inquiring for [our]selves," 

²settling down in a "state of blind self-security," 

³"reckless confidence in [our] leaders," 

⁴"not understanding about the power of God and the influences of the Holy Spirit," and 

⁵"pinning [our] faith on another's sleeve."  

He does not say we should not listen and learn, but that we should listen to hear whether or not the word of God is spoken (D&C 1:38).  But he knows we cannot hear the word of God if we don't know the word of God and can't tell the difference between God's words and an inspirational talk.

Contrast "Follow the Prophet" with what Alma taught his son Helaman.

"For behold, it is as easy 

to give heed 

to the word of Christ, 

which will point to you 

a straight course to eternal bliss, as it was for our fathers 

to give heed to this compass, 

which would point unto them 

a straight course to the promised land.  

And now I say, 

is there not a type in this thing? 

For just as surely as 

this director did bring our fathers, 

by following its course, 

to the promised land, 

shall the words of Christ, 

if we follow their course, 

carry us beyond this 

vale of sorrow into 

a far better land of promise. 

O my son, do not let us 

be slothful because of 

the easiness of the way; 

for so was it with our fathers, 

for so was it prepared for them, 

that if they would look 

they might live, 

even so it is with us.  

The way is prepared, 

and if we will look 

we may live forever.  

And now, my son, 

see that ye take care of 

these sacred things (sacred words), yea, see that ye look to God and live.  

Go unto this people 

and declare the word, 

and be sober" 

(Alma 37:44-47 emphasis added).

Alma's words to Helaman illustrate the difference between relying on God's words to tell us all things that we must do (2 Nephi 32:3), and just blindly following the Prophet.

This was an echo of what Lehi taught his sons:

"And now, my sons, I would that ye should look to the great Mediator, and hearken unto his great commandments; and be faithful unto his words..." (2 Nephi 2:28).

Many excuse themselves from searching the scriptures by asserting that "dead prophets" are less relevant than "living prophets." They seem to ignore that the ancient prophets are still very much alive, those of which now "commune with the Church of the Firstborn" (D&C 107:19). 

As Isaiah reminds us, "The word of our God endures forever" (Isaiah 40:8), while Peter cites "a more sure word of prophecy to which you do well to give heed.... Prophecy came not in ancient times by the will of man, but holy men of God spoke as moved upon by the Holy Spirit" (2 Peter 1:19,21). 

No word of God a living prophet speaks can contradict the word of God by an earlier prophet. If so, that prophet is not of God. Those that ignore God's cumulative word, moreover, seem to draw no distinction between prophecy and inspirational talks.

When Jesus appears to the Nephites, he quotes at length the words of Isaiah and also takes care to explain them. Mormon emphasizes how Jesus "expounded all the scriptures unto them" until he had "expounded all the scriptures in one"--those they had received and those he gave them "both great and small" (3 Nephi 23:6, 14; 26:1). 

That should put to rest the view that we need not pay much attention to "dead prophets' when the living prophets will tell us all we need to know. Doesn't Jesus, considering it His responsibility to teach from the prophets and to encourage his followers to search their writing, set an example for His servants to do likewise?

By searching the scriptures, the people of Jacob's day could discern the deception of Sherem, an Antichrist (Jacob 7:23), and the repentant Zoramites could distinguish truth from error (Alma 33:2). What is it that causes us to so easily recuse ourselves from this requirement if not a prideful Zoramitish notion of our chosenness that flies in the face of all truth?

There is an incalculable difference between searching the scriptures and not doing so, between having a firm foundation of Israel's prophets and not having one (cf. 2 Nephi 32:3-7). In the New Testament, as in the Book of Mormon, Jesus counsels the people to "search the scriptures" (John 5:39). Those who believed in Christ, Jew and Gentile, were those who "received the word with all readiness of mind" and "searched the scriptures daily whether those things were so" (Acts 17:11-12). 

Note that He does not say 'read' the scriptures daily. Because ours is the time of which the prophets speak, how much greater is our need to search them so we will not be deceived but rather believe and know how to act on what they say? If almost "the very elect" will be deceived (Matthew 24:24), doesn't that imply everyone else will? Refusing to search the prophecies, on the other hand, makes people "willingly ignorant" of what will transpire when Jesus comes again and catches them unprepared (2 Peter 3:2-10).

The sons of Mosiah and their companions, who served a fourteen-year mission to the Lamanites, are described as having "waxed strong in the knowledge of the truth; for they were men of a sound understanding and they had searched the scriptures diligently, that they might know the word of God. But this is not all; they had given themselves to much prayer, and fasting; therefore they had the spirit of prophecy, and the spirit of revelation, and when they taught, they taught with power and authority of God" (Alma 17:2-3; 23:6).

Their conversion of the Lamanites to the truth and dissuading them from the traditions of their fathers, was successful because they had first "searched the scriptures diligently" to know the truth. The spiritual breakthrough and divine promise they and other scriptural heroes realized in their lives, God offers to all who would gain the "sound understanding" and "knowledge of the truth" they acquired, including the spirit of revelation and prophecy, and the ability to "teach with power and authority of God." 

Once one follows the principle of searching the scriptures diligently, along with fasting and prayer, until he gains a full understanding, then God opens the heaven to him and is able to use him to perform miracles like those the sons of Mosiah performed.

Simplistic slogans and attitudes (tenets and dogmas) that have developed in recent years were never shared by the prophet Joseph Smith. Even as Joseph cited former prophets when teaching scriptural doctrines, he taught that life is a solemn chance a loving Heavenly Father affords us to learn to "look to God and live."  Shouldn't we assume, then, that "looking to God" should be the ultimate pursuit, leaving little room for interests that may be at odds with this pursuit? 

Although following ecclesiastical leaders may indeed get us started on our spiritual quest, their quintessential function--aside from authority to administer church affairs, oversee gospel ordinances, and offer inspired counsel--is to put God's children on the path to God as quickly as possible. How? By teaching us the word of God. If not, our religion is in danger of becoming a personality cult, as it is for those telestial persons who say, "I am of Paul, and I of Apollos, and I of Cephas, and I of Christ" (1 Corinthians 1:12; cf. D&C 76:98-101). Consider how quickly our adoration turns from a deceased Prophet to the new one.

Where following an ecclesiastical leader substitutes for looking to God, or where pleasing men supersedes pleasing God, then it is a mark of apostasy, the erosion of our accountability to God by giving deference to man as we worship the creature and not the creator. 

God's response to those who muddy his people's waters is to pour knowledge from heaven on the heads of his saints, those who are "chosen" of him (D&C 121:33-34), not those who assume they are chosen though they do little more than follow a man, even though on a closer look they really don't. For example President Nelson tells us to hear Him, meaning hear Christ. Do we respond by hearing Christ, or by making it another slogan?

To the Nephites, Jesus explained, "I am he of whom Moses spake, saying: A prophet shall the Lord your God raise up unto you of your brethren, like unto me; him shall ye hear in all things whatsoever he shall say unto you. And it shall come to pass that every soul who will not hear that prophet shall be cut off from among the people" (3 Nephi 20:23; cf. John 5:46; D&C 133:64). 

When the prophet counsels us to be "diligently seeking to be taught by the Lord himself" (Russell M. Nelson, General Conference, April 2016), should we instead transfer responsibility for our salvation to another mortal? If following the prophet is the same thing as receiving revelation through a prophet, why do the scriptures distinguish between the two? While we should "uphold him by the prayer of faith" (D&C 43:12), and while doing so equates with faithfulness to God, don't people who put other people on a pedestal and consider them worthy of all emulation practice idolatry?

Joseph Smith warned of excessive zeal, cautioning that "the Lord had declared by the Prophet (Ezekiel) that the people should each one stand for himself, and depend on no man or men in that state of corruption of the Jewish church--that righteous persons could deliver only their own souls." Applying this to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Joseph Smith added, "If the people departed from the Lord, they must fall--that they were depending on the Prophet (of the church), hence were darkened in their minds in consequence of neglecting the duties devolving upon themselves, envious towards the innocent, while they afflict the virtuous with their shafts of envy" (TPJS, 237-238).

Jesus taught his disciples that "he who receives a prophet in the name of a prophet will receive a prophet's reward. And he who receives a righteous man in the name of a righteous man will receive a righteous man's reward" (Matthew 10:41). Doesn't this imply that he who receives Jesus in Jesus' name will receive Jesus' reward, and that he who receives the Father in Jesus' name will receive the Father's reward?

God has never declared in the scriptures that He reveals all truth through one man, even if it were possible:  

"I speak forth my words 

according to mine own pleasure. 

And because that 

I have spoken one word 

ye need not suppose 

that I cannot speak another; 

for my work is not yet finished; 

neither shall it be 

until the end of man, 

neither from that time 

henceforth and forever. 

For I command all men, 

both in the east and in the west, 

and in the north, and in the south, 

and in the islands of the sea, 

that they shall write the words 

which I speak unto them; 

for out of the books 

which shall be written 

I will judge the world, 

every man according to their works, according to that which is written.  

For behold, I shall speak 

unto the Jews and 

they shall write it; 

and I shall also speak 

unto the Nephites 

and they shall write it; 

and I shall also speak 

unto the other tribes of Israel, 

which I have led away, 

and they shall write it; 

and I shall also speak 

unto all nations of the earth 

and they shall write it" 

(2 Nephi 29:9-12).

Nephi sees that "because of pride, and because of false teachers, and false doctrines"--which "pervert the right way of the Lord"--the endtime Gentiles (as in us the Ephraimite Gentiles) "have all gone astray save it be a few, who are the humble followers of Christ; nevertheless, they are led, that in many instances they do err because they are taught by the precepts of men" (2 Nephi 28:12, 14 emphasis added). 

What does it mean to "be led" if not that sometimes our leaders teach the precepts of men? This is exactly what Nephi means and why we should "look to God and live" meaning to rely upon every word that proceeds from the mouth of God (D&C 84:44), and to the extent that His servants speak the word of God we are obliged to listen and give heed to those words. His words "whether by my voice or by the voice of my servant" are the same (D&C 1:38).

From the story of Aaron and Miriam (Numbers 12:2-8), we learn that a prophet is one who receives divine revelation through "visions" or "dreams," on the one hand, and from "mouth to mouth," on the other.  That sets a prophet apart from one who receives guidance through the Holy Ghost, to which every believer is entitled. The "words and commandments" 

Joseph Smith received, for example, were accompanied by recurring visions and dreams and were given him "even as Moses," obliging the church to receive them "as if from mine own mouth" (D&C 12:4-5; 28:2). 

Inspired counsel and matters of church procedure and policies, therefore, are not the same as prophecy or revelation received through visions, dreams or face to face. To confuse the two could lead to a condition Brigham Young warned of, of which the high priest Ciaphas serves as a type. Doesn't worshiping God "with your mind" require that we distinguish true points of doctrine from that which is false lest we fail in our quest to attain eternal life?

This from President Gordon B. Hinckley when asked about revelation and prophecy is directly on point: 

“Q: And this belief in contemporary revelation and prophecy? As the prophet, tell us how that works. How do you receive divine revelation? What does it feel like?

A: [Gordon B. Hinckley] Let me say first that we have a great body of revelation, the vast majority of which came from the prophet Joseph Smith. We don’t need much revelation. We need to pay more attention to the revelation we’ve already received. Now, if a problem should arise on which we don’t have an answer, we pray about it, we may fast about it, and it comes. Quietly. Usually no voice of any kind, but just a perception in the mind. I liken it to Elijah’s experience. When he sought the Lord, there was a great wind, and the Lord was not in the wind. And there was an earthquake, and the Lord was not in the earthquake. And a fire, and the Lord was not in the fire. But in a still, small voice. Now that’s the way it works.” Prophet Gordon B. Hinckley, San Francisco Chronicle, Sunday Interview, April 13, 1997, by Don Lattin.

Patterns from the past, in fact, inform us that when people's hearts are not whole toward God, their prophets can and do lead them astray. In instances of multiple prophets--where these suppress the lonely voices who bring forth pure revelation from God--these prophets, though they speak in His name, God rebukes: "An amazing, shocking thing has occurred in the land: the prophets prophesy falsely and the priests rule by their own authority. And my people love it that way. But what will you do in the end" (Jeremiah 5:30-31)? "Prophets and priests alike practice deceit. They dress the wound of my people as if it isn't serious. 'Peace, peace,' they say, when there is no peace" (Jeremiah 6:13-14). In the end, those who "prophesy from their own hearts," who "follow their own spirit but have seen nothing" (Ezekiel 13:2-3), who declare "peace" but not of God--for them "the sun will go down" and they will "see no vision" (Micah 3:5-6).

Isaiah calls their bluff:  

"Present your case,' says Jehovah; 

'Submit your evidence,' 

says the King of Jacob. 

'Let them come forward 

and recount to us 

their prophecies of 

events heretofore. 

What were they? 

Tell us, that we may 

examine them and know 

whether they were fulfilled. 

Or predict the future for us: 

Tell us of events to 

come hereafter, so that 

we may know you are gods. 

Perform something good or evil 

at which we will be dazzled 

and all stand in awe. 

It is clear you are of no account, 

that your works amount to nothing; whoever accepts you is himself an abomination'" 

(Isaiah 41:21-24).  

Should we not assume that without being warned of the endtime events his people will be perilously unaware? For this reason and others the Lord has commanded that we search the words of Isaiah so we will know for ourselves and not be dependent on anyone else to know of the endtime events and our role in them, and with the reminder that "all things that he (Isaiah) spake have been and shall be" (3 Nephi 23:3).

One example from Isaiah on why we must receive direct revelation and look to God and live is the idea of prophets and seers of the Lord's people in the last days failing to warn the people of the Lord's impending judgment: 

"Their watchmen are altogether blind and unaware" (Isaiah 56:10-12). 

In the October 2020 General Conference two speakers mentioned Isaiah; in October 2021, four speakers; October 2021, five speakers;  April 2022, two speakers, and in not one single talk was Isaiah’s warning of impending judgments even mentioned. 

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To one who said "Follow me!" (Matthew 4:19; 8:22; 9:9; 16:24; 19:21; Luke 18:22; John 8:12l 10:27; 12:26; 21:19; 22; 2 Nephi 28:14; 31:10-12; D&C 38:22; 56:2; 100:2; 112:14), following an ecclesiastical leader is misguided. It ignores the principles of spiritual advancement Jesus stands for, including the most foundational one of all--the freedom God grants His children to learn by their own experience to know good from evil and the personal processes and circumstances through which he tests his children. The ability to think through situations and make inspired choices can be learned only for oneself; it can't be borrowed or bequeathed by another. Just to "regard the person of men" (Mark 12:14) is a form of idolatry, so our doing so is offensive to God. When sustaining ecclesiastical leaders becomes synonymous with blind compliance, we have misinterpreted the scripture and turned idolatrous.

Said He, "If any man would come after me, let him deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me. For whoever will save his life shall lose it, and whoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it" (Matthew 16:24-25). In effect, Jesus invites those whom he calls to drop all other considerations and follow him even to death without looking back (Matthew 4:18-22; 9:9; Mark 2:14; Luke 9:57; John 1:43). These scriptures define what Jesus means by following Him. 

Should we not do likewise so we will not labor under the illusion that in following a man we are following Jesus Christ, when in reality we may be falling far short of what Jesus had in mind? The laws and ordinances of the gospel that are the terms of his covenants, operate independent of man made imperatives and alone equip a believer to inherit heaven.

Lehi's vision of the Tree of Life, summarizes this discussion. It commences with a "man" dressed in a white robe who "bade me follow him" (1 Nephi 8:5-6). Instead of leading Lehi to the Tree of Life, however, the man led him into a "dark and dreary waste." That barren darkness soon became so intolerable as to cause Lehi "to pray unto the Lord that he would have mercy on me" (1 Nephi 8:8). Only then did he see the "tree whose fruit was desirable to make one happy," which "filled my soul with exceedingly great joy" (1 Nephi 8:10-12). Only when Lehi called upon God directly--independent of the white-robed man who led him--did he partake of the fruit of the tree. 

Give heed to Alma and anyone else who tells you to "look to God and live!"