The following are excerpts from:
Walter D. Bowen and Roy W. Doxey, Doctrine and Covenants
Study Guide with Selected Commentaries, 2 vols. (Provo, Utah: Brigham Young
University, 1971)
“Satan is
employing every method to deceive not only non-members of the Church, but also
particularly those who are members. Each of us must be careful that we are not
out of harmony, that we enjoy daily the guidance of the Holy Spirit in our
lives.
The Lord
has said, (D&C 1:14-16 quoted).
Every
person who goes contrary to the Church and says that the brethren are fallen or
are out of the way or are teaching false doctrines, unless he repents will
never in this life or eternity realize the full measure of his possibilities and
powers. God will not suffer his Church, established for the last time in this
the Dispensation of the Fulness of Times when a restitution of all things is to
be accomplished, to be led by a fallen prophet or someone whom he does not
want.” (Delbert L. Stapley, CR, April 1952, p. 50.) (1:4)
“In the
first part of this dispensation He (the Lord) gave a revelation directly to the
twelve in which He added to what He had previously given, when He said,
[D&C 18:33-36 quoted.]
“Now I ask
you to think of the import of the Lord’s revelation. In the scriptures are
contained His words, and when one having power to teach them speaks them to you
it is as though it were by His own voice, so that those who hear can testify
that they have both heard His voice and that they know His words. . . .
“I wish that
our faith was sufficiently simple that we could read what I have just read to
you, and I shall repeat it now, and I ask you to think about it again. The wors
that are in these scriptures are the words of the Lord, and when one like these
authorized servants read them to you by the power and authority they possess
and by the Spirit, you, all of you, all of us, can say, I have not heard His
words, and I have heard His voice. Because whether it is “by His own voice or
by the voice of his Servants, it is the same.” (Address by Harold B. Lee, Church
News, December 3, 1960.) (1:42)
On D&C 33:11:
. . . “repent,
and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of
sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.” (Acts 2:38)
These two steps
open the door to understanding, peace, brotherhood, and happiness to all men. The
baptism with the Holy Ghost by the laying on of hands obtain for the truly repentant
companionship of this spiritual gifts and blessings. John the Baptist, speaking
of the Christ, testified: “ . . . he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost, and
with fire.” (Matt. 3;11)
Man can
only become spotless and sanctified by the reception of the Holy Ghost in his
personal life. The Holy Ghost is a cleansing and purifying agent to all who
receive it and are righteous. This means that sin and iniquity are spiritually
burned out of the repentant person. He then receives a mission of sins, and his
soul is sanctified and made clean for the Holy Ghost to abide in him. The
cleansed person enjoys a newness of life and becomes a new creature in the
spirit . . .
The Holy
Ghost is an actual, heavenly endowment from God in the life of an individual.
It is a power he can feel. If faithful and obedient, one learns to be sensitive
and responsive to its guidance and influence . . .
The Holy
Ghost then becomes a needful adhesive attribute to one’s personal spirit and it
is a determining character factor in one’s temporal and spiritual matters. The
Holy Ghost has many powers, gifts, and functions, but it will not abide in an unworthy,
dishonest or sinful person.
Without the
Holy Ghost one lives in spiritual darkness, blind to truth, unbelieving of
heart, and apostate in feelings and teachings.
The Holy Ghost
is also a comforter; it has the power to give peace to the soul of the
righteous.
If prophets
speak b the power of the Holy Ghost, then the Holy Ghost is required to interpret
correctly the teachings of holy men . . .
. . . The
Holy Ghost has the power to quicken one’s mind and increase one’s understanding
and comprehension of divine and temporal things. Without it there can be no
faith, hope, nor personal assurance of eternal life.
. . . To
many are skeptical about the actuality of the Holy Ghost or lack faith in it and
thus deny themselves of its powers and blessings . . . it is sweet to the taste
and satisfying to the soul.
The natural
inclination of man is to rely solely upon himself and to ignore the purpose of
his existence as well as his relationship to God, who is his spiritual father.
If man will recognize his divine origin, he will then realize his Heavenly
Father will not leave him alone to grope in darkness of mind and spirit, but
will make available a power to influence him in right paths and into standards
of good behavior. The Holy Ghost is that power . . . Without this spirit, one
cannot teach correct doctrine.” ([Elder Delbert L. Stapley], Improvement Era,
Dec. 1966, p. 1140-42.) (1:76-76)
Yes, within
the Church today there are tares among the wheat and wolves within the flock.
As President Clark stated, “The ravening wolves are among us, from our own
membership, and they, more than any others, are clothed in sheep’s clothing
because they wear the habiliments of the priesthood . . . We should be careful
of them . . . (CR April 1949, p. 163)
The wolves
amongst our flock are more numerous and devious today than when President Clark
made this statement.
President
McKay has said that “the church is little, if at all, injured by persecution and
calumnies from ignorant, misinformed or malicious enemies. A greater hindrance
to its progress comes from fault-finders, shirkers, commandment-breakers, and
apostate cliques within its own ecclesiastical and quorum groups.” (CR
Oct. 1967, p. 9) (1:108-9)
Delbert L.
Stapley:
Now I am
sure we are not forbidding the unworthy the sacrament in the Church today, yet
the words I have quoted are the words of the Saviour. He realized that those
who unworthily partake of the sacred emblems representing His broken body and
spilled blood, would eat and drink damnation to their souls. Moroni, in a great
address, gave the following admonition and counsel:
Be wise, in
the days of your probation; strip yourselves of all uncleanness; ask not, that
ye may consume it on your lusts, but ask with a firmness unshaken, that ye will
yield to no temptation, but that ye will serve the true and living God.
See that ye
are not baptized unworthily; see that ye partake not of the sacrament of Christ
unworthily; but see that ye do all things in the name of Jesus Christ, the Son
of the living God; and if ye do this, and endure to the end, ye will in nowise
be cast out. (Mormon 9:28-29)
The Lord in
our day has said:
Ye are also
commanded not to cast any one who belongeth to the church out of your sacrament
meetings; nevertheless, if any trespassed, let him not partake until he makes reconciliation.
(D & C 46:4)
Which would
indicate, my brothers and sisters, as we go to the sacrament service, that we
would not partake of the sacrament holding grievances against our brother or
sister, but first we should go our way and be reconciled with him or her.
. . . Now,
emphasizing as I have, the importance of worthiness in partaking of the
sacrament of our Lord, maybe there are some of you, I hope not, that have a
feeling you have been unworthily partaking. Remember, we have in the Church the
principles of repentance, and of forgiveness. Certainly one who truly repents
with all their heart and do the works of righteousness can be forgiven and the
Lord will remember their sins no more. Such an individual can reinstate himself
to worthily partake of the emblems of our Lord . . . (BYU Speeches of the Year,
May 8, 1956, p. 7, 9) (1:115-16)
Modern
prophets have set forth the doctrine of salvation of children, as follows:
WILFORD
WOODRUFF:
There is no
infant or child that has died before arriving at the years of accountability,
but what is redeemed, and is therefore entirely beyond the torments of hell, to
use a sectarian term. . . . I will say again they are redeemed by the blood of
Jesus Christ, and then they die, whether of Christian, Pagan or Jewish parentage,
their spirits are taken home to God who gave them, and never go to suffer
torments of any kind. (JD 23:126, May 154, 1882).
LORENZO
SNOW:
Now, this little
boy [four and one-half year old son of Heber J. Grant] has not lived through
the years that others have, and that he might have lived, provided, as I think,
that it was in the providence of God. Well, he goes back there, having been cut
short of living as long as the usual time of people. He will receive as much
honor and as much glory and be welcomed there has having accomplished that for
which he came into the world, and for which he was willing to come into the
world. This is all that could be required, and wherein could there possibly be
any loss? I can see none, and I am just as positive that in time to come or in
eternity this little fellow growing up and becoming enlarged, his capacity
increasing as opportunities are furnished him, and he will start a kingdom, and
that kingdom will increase. His posterity will increase, and become as numerous
as the sands on the sea shore, or as the stars in the firmament, and he will rule
over them, and give them instructions, as the Lord now governs and controls us,
His offspring, so he will govern and control his offspring. I am sure of these
things. (MS 57:387, June 20, 1895). (2:8-9)
On D&C 84:57:
FRANCIS M.
LYMAN:
The
forgiveness of sins is predicated upon faith in God, repentance and reformation
and baptism. Sins are not forgiven through the payment of tithing, nor through
the partaking of the sacrament, nor observing the Word of Wisdom, or prayer.
There are blessings attached to each of these important requirements of the Gospel;
but if a man would have his sins forgiven and be allowed to enter into the
Church, he must have faith in God, and in his son Jesus Christ and in the Holy
Ghost, he must repent of all his sins, turn unto the Lord with full purpose of
heart and sin no more. Then God will forgive him and redeem him from his sins;
but not by paying tithing . . .
But we want
our names recorded in the Lamb’s Book of Lie, and it is not done by the
observance of any one principle alone, but to every principle there are special
blessings promised. (CR. Oct. 1899, p. 34) (2:71)