Follow Him: A Come, Follow Me Podcast - Doctrine & Covenants 106-108 Part 2 : Dr. Robert L. Millet

Episode Date: September 19, 2021

Dr. Robert Millet returns to discuss Doctrine and Covenants, Section 107 and the organization of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, the Seventy, and how all members enjoy the benefits of the priesthood on earth. Dr. Millet also shares his testimony of the Savior and what specific gifts for which he prays.Shownotes: https://followhim.co/Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/followhimpodcastInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/followhimpodcastYouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/FollowHimOfficialChannel"Let Zion in Her Beauty Rise" by Marshall McDonaldhttps://www.marshallmcdonaldmusic.com/products/let-zion-in-her-beauty-rise-pianoPlease rate and review the podcast.

Welcome to part two of this week's podcast. Look over to something that I think we misunderstand. Beginning in section 107, picking up with, start speaking about the lesser priesthood, the priesthood of Aaron. Verse 14, why it is called the lesser priesthood is because it is an appendage, there's that word again, to the greater or the Melchizedek priesthood and has power in administering outward ordinances. The bishopric is the presidency of this priesthood and holds the keys or authority of the same. No man has a legal right to this office to hold the keys of this priesthood except to be a legal right to this office to hold the keys of this priesthood, except to be a literal descendant of Aaron. But as a high priest of the Milchistic priesthood has authority to

officiate in all the lesser offices, he may officiate in the office of Bishop. When no literal descendant of Aaron can be found, provided he is called and set apart and ordained under this power by the hands of the Pres of the Emochistic priesthood. Now, I've heard all kinds of people talking about over the years, you know, if we could just find a guy that has the, can actually trace his, his lineage to Aaron, that we, he has every right to be a bishop of the Lord. Well, first of all, it doesn't have anything to do with the word bishop. This is presiding bishop. This is Stunk Bet the Office of presiding bishop, which is basically what Edward Partridge was, right? He was the presiding bishop. And so that's the one thing. 18 and 19 are powerful when it comes to

the blessings of the priesthood or The power and authority of them higher or a Melchizedek priesthood is to hold the keys of all the spiritual blessings of the church. To 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 in church of the firstborn. And to enjoy the communion and presence of God the Father, and Jesus, the mediator, the new covenant. That's pretty heavy. That's heavy. Mysteries of the kingdom of heaven? Well, you know, on the simplest sense, that means things that can only be known by the power of the Holy Ghost. But I suppose you could say that our temple ceremony and ordinances, for example,

would fall under the category of the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven. But look what you have the right to if the Lord so chooses, commune with the general assembly and church of the firstborn. Church of the firstborn, you know, that's used over in section 76, two or three times, those who attained the celestial kingdom, the church of the first born, the church of the exalted, those who qualify for exaltation and the celestial kingdom. It's not the church of Jesus Christ. It's in many ways, President Joseph Elling's myth called it the inner church. We're used to sing a hymn, it's not in her hymn book anymore, though in the outward church below. We belong to the outward church, the inner church. We're used to singing him, it's not in our hymn book anymore, though in the outward church below. We belong to the outward church.

The inner church within the veil, there's a order in organization there too, and those who constitute that group who are qualified, they've passed the test of mortality, they are the church of the first born, the right to whole communion with them. You know, in the earliest creed that we know of, the Apostles creed, one of the things that just mentioned and not commented on is, we believe in the communion of the saints. In Hebrews, chapter 12, the opening verses there, having talked about all these magnificent men and women who through the years had great faith. You start chapter 12 and to keep things continuous, he describes that as the great cloud of

witnesses that are a part of us. Verse 19 to me is so encouraging in the sense of teaching us that those on the other side, you just have to ask this, when I pass away, will I lose interest in my family? I mean, no, I'm going to be very concerned. Exactly the opposite. Yeah, I'm going to be very concerned about them. My old friend Joseph McConkey told me that a story where he said, all started about Oscar McConkey. Yeah, I remember this.

He said that just before Oscar senior passed away, he called the family together a little gathering, I guess. And he said something like this, he said, I'm going to die soon, but when I die, I shall not cease to love you. I shall not cease to pray for you. I shall not cease to minister in your behalf. Well, I'm reminded of the grand address given by President Joseph F. Smith and the presence of the divine, where he talks about those on the other side who have

been here know the challenges we face. They know our circumstances, they can see dangers that lie ahead and so they're ever so solicitous for our welfare. Well, of course they are. I mean, I cannot imagine not being very concerned on the other side of the veil for my family out of magic and not being very concerned on the other side of the veil for my family, or for my brothers and sisters in the church. So I think the promise of being qualified or able to, where it's appropriate, where the Lord chooses, to allow you to have communion with that group. I guess that doesn't mean you have to be seeing them. It's like angels. You can have the ministry of angels

and don't see anything or you don't know about it, but you know, someone's whispering from the other side. And Bob, you wouldn't say, you wouldn't say, this is just the Lord saying, this is just for Melchizedek priesthood holder. This is for anyone who protects in the ordinances. Absolutely enough. It's like the Aaronic priesthood. We say, I've heard many of talk on, these young men have the right to enjoy the ministry of angels. That's true. But the greater truth is, because there's Aaronic priesthood, all people can enjoy the ministry of angels, females, males.

And that's true with the blessings of the Mokisdic priesthood as well. Wow, that's beautiful. Verse 19, commune with the general assembly in church of the firstborn. That's something you might skip over and not really understand the power of. The presence of God the Father, Jesus, the mediator of the New Covenant, it's powerful. the presence of God, the Father, Jesus, the mediator, the new covenant. It's powerful. I'm going to say something. Rain me in here, Bob. Totally fine. If you need to rain me in, but I've sat at the headstones of my father or my grandparents, and I've thought, this is not where they are. If I want to be close to these people, I'm going to get myself to the temple

where the Melchizedic priesthood ordinances are in place, because that seems to me where I'm going to get myself to the temple where the Melchizedic pre-State ordinances are in place because that seems to me where I'm going to commune and it can often happen in our own lives and our own homes, I'm sure. But for me, I'm drawn to the temple for that reason to commune with those who have gone before. You know, when you think of the times you run to the temple often, maybe in trouble times, as Jan Kupo, when we used to wonder where the next loaf of bread is going to come from, you know, we would go to the temple in those times. And I don't remember ever coming out with any money in my pocket, but we came out with a perspective that was just a peaceful perspective. it's going to work out. The Lord's

going to take care of you, over and over, or to go in and maybe it's struggling with a child, a waiver child. The temple became a sacred spot for us, not only that we could find peace there, Not only that we could find peace there, but we found perspective there. Absolutely. And that's coming from those who are, I would say, like you've told us here, who are part of this church of the Firstborn and the Father and Jesus. All of that is coming from these wonderful souls. Absolutely. Well, let's look at 21, 22.

This gets interesting. We're now talking let's look at 21-22. This gets interesting. We're now talking about the first presidency. Of necessity, there are presidents or presiding officers growing out of who are ordained of the several offices in the two priesthoods. Of the Melchizedek priesthood, three presiding high priests chosen by the body appointed and ordained to that office and appell by the confidence, faith, and prayer of the church for McCormick of the presidency of the church. Interesting things there.

Clearly, they must be a high priest. The member of the first presidency must be a high priest. It is not necessary, according to Joseph F. Smith Smith that they be an apostle. Haven't we had before? At one time. For a time wasn't Jay Ruben Clark? Jay Ruben Clark is who I was thinking of. Yeah.

Who was a high priest in Salt Lake City? Now, he eventually was ordained an apostle and put in a place in line of authority. But yes, what's necessary is that they'd be a high priest, that is, they're in a presiding capacity. Joseph F. Smith talks about that in Gospel doctrine, page 173. But yes, I remember very well when Harold B. Lee was sustained as the president of the church. And it was a very tender time.

He was one that I think the saints had looked forward to being the President of the Church for a long time. Relatively speaking, he was young when he took the office. I think he was 74. And I remember in his address at the Solomon assembly saying, never before in my life has verse 22 meant more to me than now. That is, I must be. I know that I must be upheld by the confidence, the faith, the prayers of the church. We need to have confidence in the brethren. We need to have faith in the brethren.

in the brethren, we need to have faith in the brethren, we have to pray for the brethren. They need that, they pray for that. Especially, when you say brethren, I think you're even, we're even kind of honing in on those three right now in this verse. That's right. I think this talking specifically about the presidency, the first presidency of the church. And how quick we are sometimes to criticize, aren't we, Bob? Well, I've been interested just in recent times with people making decisions to be distraught and upset and or leave the church over what I call just pitily for the most pitily reasons. I'm thinking, really, really?

Really? I'm going to leave the church over that. Yeah, I think Brother Packer used to, I was with him on what occasion Elder Packer when someone said, what can we do to help you? And he said, just take yourselves off our worry list. I mean, they have a lot to worry about, and so they don't need any extra. I mean, there are enough challenges the church faces without members being bringing problems to the leadership of the church.

Be a low maintenance, low worry, high yield. New religion, state. And then he gets, and then comes the 12, right? Next question. That's right. The 12 traveling counselors are called to be 12 apostles or special witnesses of the name of Christ and all the world, thus differing from other officers in the church in the duties of their calling. You know how this is almost always said, an apostle is a special witness of Christ. He is.

But notice what said, really, special witnesses of the name of Christ in all the world, the name of Christ. Years ago Elder Oaks then wrote a book called His Holy Name. And he talks about the way name is used in Scripture. And he said, for example, to be a special witness of the name of Christ in all the world is to be a special witness of his power, of his divinity, of his divine sonship, of his work or program, the plan of salvation are the words, and he showed, illustrated how each of those are used in the scripture in a certain way, to be a special witness of the name of Christ in all the world. That's powerful. I have a statement of Elder Bednar about that from... There's a little periodical called the religious educator. Oh yes, you just go to the

religious study center. Yeah, and it's great. If you're a teacher, you'd love this resource. This is an interview I conducted with Elder Bednar. Oh, this is you. See, I knew I grabbed a good one. I think it is. I talked about the role in the office of Apostle. Yeah. He said, quote, 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.

An Apostle is a missionary and a special witness of the name of Christ. The name of Christ refers to the totality of the Savior's mission, death, and resurrection. His authority, his doctrine, has unique qualifications as the Son of God to be our Redeemer and our Savior. So that's the end of quote from Elder Bednar, and that's something to think about in verse 23, like you just said, witnesses of the name of Christ in all the world, it's all of that. You know, just Elder Holland had only been, a member of the quorum of the 12th or short time

when, in 1994, when he called me, I was the dean of religious education and he said, ask Kaya was and then said, I want to, he said, I want to come see you and I want to come visit with the faculty. He said, do you think you could pull them together? I said, we could probably work something out. We're kind of busy down here. It was on a Thursday or a Friday. I don't remember which, but he said, I'd like to come on Monday. You still think you can get him? I said, oh, yeah. I think so. The faculty was there and it was that he spoke to us for a while and then just took questions. And I remember I asked this question. I said, Elder Holland, you've had

a testimony of Jesus Christ from the time when you were a little guy, haven't you? He said, well, at least my boyhood, yeah, my manhood, certainly. I said, what's the difference? With what you have now, then what you had then? I said, you have a testimony of Jesus then. I said, does that special witness come by ordination, or does it come by personal striving for deeper spirituality?" And he said, a little of both. He said, in other words, there's some things, some powers and rights and privileges that come with the office itself. But they are still expected, as Oliver Cowdery said, when

he gave them that first, what the oath and covenant of the apostleship, and when the first apostles were called, never see striving, you know, till you see the Lord himself. And so I thought that was an interesting thing, both. Yes, it are some things that come with the office. And I think in many ways, that's true with most any office in the church. You know, let's take the office of Bishop. John, you've been a bishop. You felt that. There were some things you knew and felt and understood because you were the bishop, it came with the turf, didn't it? But as far as spirituality and gospel knowledge, that was your private assignment to do. Still my job, yeah. Yeah, I wish it would have just downloaded a bunch of stuff, you know.

USB port somewhere and I could just download everything, but. Yeah. That sounds like the Lord doesn't it? No more work involved. I'm just going to give it to you. Yeah. Yeah. Not exactly.

We're an interesting thing. Look at verse 24. They, the 12, form a quorum equal an authority and power to the three presidents previously mentioned. That really is only the case in terms of the death of the president, the death of the president of the church. When the death of the president takes place, then what? The first presidency is dissolved. The members of the first presidency, they're living, returned to their place in the 12, and then the quorum of the

12 presides over the church at that point. Bob, they're not going to know how crucial this is in just what, nine years. Oh, good point. Yeah. They're going to lose the profit and this is going to be very important. Well, and look, and look what happened. They weren't quite sure what to do with it.

Right. Brigham for about three years, was it? Yeah. John Taylor about the same time. to do with it. Right. Brigham for about three years, was it? Yeah. John Taylor about the same time. Wilford Woodruff tells of how he about the same time a little less, but Wilford Woodruff went to Lorenzo Snow just before Wilford died and said, I'm going to die soon, and you are to proceed immediately without delay to reorganize the first presidency.

And as I recall, he said, and you're to call George Q. Cannon, George Q. Cannon is one of your counselors. Yeah, I mean, in the situation of, you know, you've lived through several successions. When I was a new student, a transfer student to BYU, I came in 69, the fall of 69. I was living in Hinckley Hall and Heelman Halls, and I remember on the morning of January 18, 1970, my roommate awoke, and he was woke me up and said, hey, President McKay has just passed away. David O. McKay was the only president I ever known, and he'd been president for 19 years. And so the concept of succession was not something the church as a whole understood very much. I was fortunate, very fortunate, that as a young missionary, not maybe six months before I came home, Harold B. Lee came frequently

to New York City. For one thing, he was on a board, I think he was union-specific, that he was a member of the board of directors, and he would come, I think, for monthly meetings. But he would often come to the mission home and visit with us. And one time we convinced him to have a whole mission conference and speak to the missionaries which he did, and then after which he came over for dinner, and we kept firing questions at him and he said, elders, he said, let me finish dinner, then we'll go upstairs and we'll talk all you want to talk. So we did, we took him upstairs and my companion asked the first question.

Elderly, now this is, let me give you the date. This would have been 1968. Elderly, is there any question in the minds of the other apostles that when David O. McCay passes away that Joseph Fielding Smith will be the president of the church? He said, Oh, no. No question whatsoever. That's the order.

And he talked about the fact that there's no politicking in this system. You know, you look at it and if the Lord doesn't want to be present, he has a way of dealing with that. He thinks he. Yeah way of dealing with that. He thinks he just, yeah. You got a different assignment. I seem to remember Elder Holland. Was it during the time of President Hunter talking about this and talking about, had this been a corporation the infighting would have been severe or type of a thing?

But the next heartbeat was that of the new president. Or does that ring a bell? I think it was able to Holland. It does. I remember, I guess when President Kimball had just become president of the church, his executive secretary, who had been executive secretary for many of the brethren. Arthur Hacock came and spoke to the seminary teachers in our area and took questions. And you know, he talked about a sweet moment. That is, as you know, we're talking about President Lee. President Lee becomes president of the church, October 72 conference, and dies in December

of 73. I remember looking at the television. We were living in Idaho Falls looking at the television of his picture and the death date. And I was just, I think the church expected he would be president for many, many, many years. Joseph Felix Smith was what 95 and when he passed, brother Hakeock told us a sweet story. He said, Brother Lee had come back from an assignment and was feeling weak and just didn't feel well. He went into the hospital to have some test run, and while there had a massive heart attack. Well, while he was in the hospital and wasn't doing well, Brother Hakek said, President Tanner, his counselor, was in Arizona with his family, Christmas vacation. President Romney was in town. He said, in the room in the hospital room, I was there, Spencer W. Campbell, the president of the 12, the three of them

stood there. Brother Romney, brother Hacock, and brother Lee over there. And brother Hacock said, and President Kimball, is President Kimball there as well. And President Kimball was there as the president of the 12, excuse me. Brother Hacock said, all through this, brother Kimball kept saying, what can I do, present Romney? What would you have me to do at this point? What would you like me to do this? We'd like me to do that. How can I help? What can I do now? And you know, some assignments were made et cetera. When it was announced, the moment it was announced that presently had passed away. Brother Romney turned to Brother Kimball and said, what would you have me do?

It was moving. The keys of the kingdom had just changed. And the man, the senior apostle, now were the mantle. That section 107 in practice, isn't it? It really is. That's a right in practice. Verse 25 and 26 is not something that most people I think would understand that the 70 make form a quorum equal an authority to that of the 12. Yes, yes, and that's what it says. And notice too that you may remember, President Hinckley gave a talk once called Special

Witnesses for Christ in general conference. And he talked about the call of two new apostles. I think it would have been Elder Nelson and Oaks. But he then talked about the 70 and said they also have an apostolic calling to bear that apostolic-type witness, you know, in the, in that large sense of the, of the word apostle, those who are sent out under the direction of the 12. We don't need to read this, but it's interesting that in section 107, beginning with about verse, yeah, 39, it's the duty of the Twelve and all large branches of the Church who ordain evangelical ministers as they shall be designated unto them by revelation, meaning

patriarchs. And then the patriarchal line of descent is given from Adam down to Mathusula. It's very interesting. If you read section 84, it's a different line of Ascent from Moses to Adam. It goes through Abel. It goes through Abel's line down to Abraham and Moses. Same, this is a line of authority, but a different line of order. These are the patriarchs, the presiding patriarchs. Adam, Seth, Venus, Canaan, Mahal, Leo, Jared, Mathus, Llamic, Noah, those first 10 generations. And then of course, as we said, 53 through 58,

the visit or the last conference that was held by Adam at Adam on down. And this came in the 1834, as Joseph was giving a blessing to his parents. I wonder if those different lineage, as you talk about in 1884 and 107, I wonder, I'm going to have to ask a sister gardener about this. If we're talking, she always talks about there's a familial priesthood. There's a priesthood that governs the family and there's a priesthood that governs the church. And that they are separate from one another. And I'm going to have to ask her about that. I think that's a fascinating idea. Yeah. I've heard it called, there's about that. I think that's a fascinating idea. I've heard it called, there's Aaronic priesthood,

there's Melchizedic priesthood, and there's a patriarchal priesthood. Does that sound right? I think when I ask about that once, somebody in authority, the response was, patriarchal order within the Melchistic priesthood. Hmm. Okay. Every, you know, Joseph Smith said,

there's the Aaronic order, the Melchistic order, the patriarchal order of the Melchistic priesthood, falls within the Melchistic priesthood. And we enter that through, and I'm sure Barb talked about this, enter that through the blessings of the temple. Right. Yeah, I've heard it said, you know, this section starts. There are in the church to priesthoods. We might say in the church to priesthoods. We might say in

the temple, there are three. That's right. Yeah. Excellent. You'll notice from 85 through 89, this is where we learn what a quorum of deacons is. 12, 24, 48, 96 as the go through the quorum. 12, 24, 48, 96, as they go through the quorms. Now, look at 91. Again, the duty of the president of the office of the High Priesthood is to preside over the whole church and to be likened to Moses. Behold, here is wisdom, ye 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. That's a powerful statement about the

president has been given all of the spiritual gifts. When you go back and you read about spiritual gifts earlier in the doctrine of covenants and to the bishop is given the power, for example, in a ward, to discern those that are from God and those that are not. But here you have the President given all of the gifts of the Spirit, which, of course, he would have to have that to be able to discern. And then this is very interesting. It's according to the vision showing the order of the 70 that they should have seven presidents to provide, preside over them, chosen out of the number of the 70. And it goes on and talks about the seven presidents and so forth. There's not much said about this except this appears

to be a vision that Joseph Smith had about pre-studed government, particularly it sounds like the 70s, right? Okay, looking verse 98, whereas other officers of the church who belong not unto the 12, neither to the 70, 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. This verse was used when the first assistance to the 12 were called. I remember that, Sterling W. Sill, right? Mm-hmm. It was an assistance to the 12.

Elray Christianson. Gordon B. Hinkley. Anyway, the first assistance to the 12th, this is the scripture of the Jude. And this is the scripture that was used when the first regional representatives were called. In other words, they work under the direction. I remember my mission president, Jay Eldridge, I was a zone leader at the time, and went in for a zone meeting, and present would be leaving in a matter of days, and he was bidding goodbye, and he said, I've received a new assignment.

He said, I am now a regional representative of the Council of the Twelve Apostles of the Church of Jesus Christ of Letterday Saints. He said, I have the longest title in the church and the least amount of authority. Because you remember the regional representative for time, his job was to not necessarily as supervised, but to provide assistance and help and counsel to the state presence, because there was never to be anyone in between the state presidents and the quorum of the twelfth or the quorum of the 70, I guess. Right. And we have general officers of the church.

Do they fall under that? They could, I suppose. Title as well, our Sunday school presidency of the Tribal Women's Young Men's. Yes. Yeah. Good question. Yeah. John, what are you here on the general young men's border?

Are you a general officer? I don't think so. You know, our friend Brad Wilcox is an alternate forbit and and president Steven Lund. Is a general officer? Yeah, general young men's president. Young men's right. Sister Bonnie Gordon Becky Craven, Michelle Craig.

But they're general officers of the church. Yeah, they are general officers. I'm on the young men's advisory council. They used to call it the young men's general board. Now it's young as it fights. So YMAC. So it's like, why am AC? We were thinking of doing the dance.

But. So we have thinking to do in the dance So we have officers who are under the direction of the 70 and the 12 and That Bob that seems to fluctuate then sometimes with sometimes we have assistance to the 12 sometimes we have regional represent it we just kind of It's as blue and as needed, you know, I think that when the first quorum of the 70 was reorganized in the mid 1970s, the brethren began to feel that it was time to put things into order as it set forth in scripture, right? And for example, Presidentball was president of the church when that took place. Later some developments took place in the days when President Benson was president of the church. Remembering that I was almost ordained a 70 in my stake, but I escaped and went to BYU.

And so I never was ordained, but I have buddies that were local 70. But the fact is, this 107th section does not set forth rules to govern local 70. And finally, when the decision was made, and certainly the right decision, the 70 is a general authority calling. And in the case of the local 70 or the area 70s, they have a similar responsibility, but they are, do not have general stewardship. They're assigned to a particular area. Right. Even President Nelson combining high-prescrew and Ellerscorm seems to be part of this. Let's get back in, not I shouldn't say get back in line, but kind of a section 107 type move. That is. Yes. I years ago, a friend and I used to talk about this, wouldn't it be interesting if

one day there was just one Melchistic priesthood quorum? And we talked about what would it be? I said, well, I guess the Elder's quorum. So yeah. And then it happened. It happened, of course. 99. Wherefore, now let every man learn his duty and to act in the office in which he's appointed

in all diligence. More than once I heard Harold B. Lee put the emphasis upon let. Let every man learn his duty. What he was talking about was smother leadership. Smother leadership. Let the man or the woman learn their duty. I think there's nothing more uncomfortable than to have the person that's directly over you making all the decisions for you. Micro-managing, as we say. And I think this is really important. Many times during when the correlation program was being developed and put together, brother Lee had a very strong hand in it. Many a talk, he talked about this, allow them,

permit them to learn their duty. Don't, you know, don't stand over them and super, supervise them. So, I think- So they can't learn, right? You can't learn if someone's always there just fixing every little move that you make The same thing as a parent right Bob?

Let your children learn yes, and this this is a big part of the new children and youth program to let the young people They've been invited into councils that they weren't invited to before and to let them lead and to be not and to let them lead and to be not, maybe you can sit back and watch and help and direct, but let them experience leadership. Who was it? I saw a talk. I bet you saw it too, Hank.

Elder Ballard was saying, you know, in the year, something like in year 2040 we're we're gonna need bishops We're gonna need relief site. We're gonna need these who are they? And then he said it's you I'm talking to you now Learn your leadership skills right now. I love our church for that my mission president used to say a good leader trains leaders while he leads And he would let us lead and and mess up sometimes so that we would learn something. Yeah, it's a beautiful thing to work under the direction of someone who wants to give

you the latitude and the longitude to go in the directions. And if council is needed, great step in when it's needed or when requested, but there's nothing more frustrating than trying to work under someone who is micromanaging as you said. It's frustrating because you can never really learn your duty that way. Or act, right? You can. I like that word act to and there because act in the office. It's not okay. You're now you can now sit on your throne and be admired. in the office, it's not okay, you're now, you can now sit on your throne and be admired. What does it mean to be chosen? I tell my students, it's kind of like being chosen to mold a lawn. I remember when I was first, the first state presidency I served and I remember talking

to the state president, I said, look, I was just a bishop. What's the difference between being a bishop and a counselor in the state presidency? He said, well, I was just a bishop. What's the difference between being a bishop and a counselor in the state presidency? He said, well, back then you had some heavy assignments and some serious responsibilities. Now your job is to sit on the stand and look spiritual. That's somewhere here in 107, isn't it? All right, that's it.

I think it's verse 100. E that is slothful. He counted worthy. Sit on the stand and look spiritual. Well, that word let that's an important word. I'm glad you pointed that out. Me too. He that is slothful shall not be counted worthy to stand. Well, that's a fascinating phrase. Worthy to stand. And he that learns not his duty and shows himself not approved, shall not be counted worthy to stand, even so, amen. Worthy to stand. Worthy to what?

Stand before the Lord with confidence. Worthy to stand when it comes to difficult times and take leadership responsibility. When I see the word stand, I think of a standard, a standard bearer, somebody who is holding the flag saying, this is who I am, this is who I represent. And this is the rally round, the standard bearer, right? Worthy to be the standard bearer type of a thing. Good song, John. That was good.

We could add some backup to that maybe a little more. I think you were saying twice today. We'll get letters about that. When we lived in Florida, when I worked under this particular stake president, probably one of the most effective leaders I've ever ever worked under. And it was because he was that, I won't say rare, but that unusual combination of effective administrator and deeply loving man. He loved the people and they knew it. I loved watching him. He was a young loving man. He loved the people and they knew it. I loved watching him. He was a young state president.

Our time, there was only five years in Tallahassee, but they were the most formative years of my adult life in terms of learning the government of the church and the operations of the church and the duties and so forth. I watched him on so many occasions. He loved the people, they knew it, they felt it, and he was a good administrator, and that's not easy to do, you know, to do both of those. And so he was very big on let people learn their duty, He was very big on let people learn their duty, let them learn it. And that may mean, unfortunately, unfortunately, they'll make some mistakes.

I remember that one of the things that people used to do in a position like with Aneldo Scorum, for home teaching, I remember in one word I was in, they had, you had a home teaching assignment, then you had a special couple of home teachers whose job it was to go and pick up on all those that were missed. And there was just something about that that struck me as, let's don't, let's don't assume his responsibility. Let's don't take his stewardship in the name of percentages, do you know what I'm saying? And so, because how am I going to learn, right? How am I going to learn? If I know you're going to follow right behind me and correct everything that I do that you don't like or you see as a mistake. It takes away my motivation. It takes away the power that I feel like I have to get my own revelation and to

try new things and to be innovative. Well, those are there's so many things we miss, but I'll tell you, section 107 has always been a favorite of mine. I've had a fascination with and love for priesthood and a study of priesthood for a long time. I'm looking behind me at these books, Bob, that you've written, Men of Valor, Men of Covenant, and I thought he's going to love this section because this is something that he loves. I think that the priesthood has blessed me not because I asked for any of these callings. I did not, but it has blessed my life. And I think I guess we would all

say that. Elder Holland August 94, talking about section 107 said, and all of this given by revelation to a boy, a boy leading a church then of only a few hundred members. Yet we still guide nine million and growing will guide nineteen ninety million by those same revelations that were given to virtually a child more than one hundred and sixty years later. That's beautiful. That's beautiful. that were given to virtually a child more than 160 years later. That's beautiful. That's beautiful. About this awesome section right here. You know, there's a, as I've talked with people of other faiths,

they're not unaware of the fact that there's something magical about our lay ministry. That while we may not be as efficient in this or that, while our people aren't necessarily trained for the ministry, if you will, there's something magic about what it does from the time a child grows to adulthood. The experience as you get. When you think about the opportunity to give talks as a primary child, the opportunity to serve in this capacity or that capacity, I don't think we even sometimes appreciate how that by the time a person is an adult, they're accomplished in so many things, so

many areas, so many abilities. I, this is a, I'm not trying to draw attention to myself, but this is an experience I had probably now more than 30 years ago. I went to my 20th year class reunion and I wasn't quite sure what to expect. But I had just been hired at BYU at that point. And I got through talking with some friends that I hadn't seen for 20 years. And they began to ask questions and more questions. They asked about the church.

And I remember thinking, they would say, tell us about this. And tell us about that. They were absolutely blown away by the idea of a lay ministry, by the idea that our people aren't formally trained, they assume a responsibility. And that night, as I thought back on what I just experienced, I spent about two and a half hours just talking with them about different things about the church. And the thing that welled up in my heart was an appreciation for

marvelous teachers, for marvelous priesthood leaders, great advisors, that form members of the church in so many ways. You know, here we can send a person on a mission and they can be competent to go out and teach the gospel as an 18-year-old, as an 19-year-old. There's just a genius in this system. Now, will there be mistakes? Yes. Will we fall down here or there? Yes. But it's nothing compared with the kind of person that is put together by an organization that is founded on revelation and that helps us grow peace by peace by peace. It's really something. It truly depends on people and people who are not prepared. That's right. It really is, it forces you to get prepared. When I was called to be a bishop, how lonely that felt at first,

until it became public, and I got to call my counselors, and then I got to just watch all of these dedicated brothers and sisters in my ward who served no matter who would have been the bishop, they would have done it. But I felt so supported and marveled at their testimonies, their determination to serve the Lord. And it was like I exhaled, you know, this is what the war will move forward and look at all these

people surrounding me that are a LA ministry, but look at how how we're all learning this together. It was a great relief. You know, the first time I was bishop in Florida, I think I was a good bishop, but I did way more than I needed to do. I mean, I didn't delegate a great deal. The second time I was called bishop,

I was a new person. I knew there were certain things I alone could do and those I did. But if it didn't fall into that category, I can still remember the high-pre-scrupulous leader calling and saying, sister, so-and-so's, got a problem with this, this, and this. And I just wanted to let you know, I said, well, what are you going to? How are you gonna take care of that? Well, that's why I was calling you. I said, yeah, I know, but what are you going to do to help fix this?

Oh, I love it. I just did that over and over and over. And I watched the people grow in their assignment. Yeah, the members have to learn, we'll make our mistakes and we'll do things the wrong way, but eventually we grow up in in our own way, being worthy to stand one day. That's the Lord telling the brother, Jared, hey, I got in the light, I can't breathe. Well, what are you going to do?

Mahan, right? What are you going to do? I gave you a brain. Go ahead. Go figure it out. Get that figured out. I know that as my family and I, we're going to study section 107, I have a 17-year-old daughter, and she is wonderful in every way, and she's going to say, where do I fit in section 107?

Dad, there's a lot of deacons and priests and teachers and there's a lot of you know profits here and she's gonna she's gonna ask this. I'm gonna read a quote for you and then and then I'm gonna let you kind of take off if that's okay. This is from sister Jean B. Bingham. Often we women don't realize that the power through which we accomplish much good in our callings and in our homes is an expression of pre-studed power. As a matter of fact, all the good that is done in the world is done through God's power. Knowing that women have access to that pre-studed power strengthens us to be able to do what is asked in whatever responsibilities or assignments are ours. With that in mind, I just, I really like

the quote and I wanted to get it in there. How can I help my daughter see where she sits in section 107? That's a good question. I mean, aren't you grateful that in the last, what, several years, we've come alive to the fact that I can still recall Elder Oak saying, what other power is there, but the power in the priestess? What other authority could it be? What authority is there when a release site president or a woman who was was then a visiting teacher or now a sister minister, what other by what other power or authority does do you bless that person? It's the power of the priesthood. I think I think it's an

indication that the leadership of the church had begun to see, and we've all begun to see, that so many of the things we had assumed were male in nature aren't. The illustration I would give is, I was teaching Sunday School a while back, and just I had the 84th section to discuss, kind of like discussing section 107. But as we came to the oath in covenant and we read verses 33 through 44, I remember asking the class, sisters, is there anything that's asked of the men here that does not fit you? No, as you put on one side,

what man agrees to do, and on the other side, what God agrees to do, I said, is there any single principle here that doesn't apply to a woman, whether it's magnify your calling, whether it's take heed to yourselves, whether it's learn your duty, learn your duty, the idea of receive the Lord's servants. I mean, are there any of those?

I said, no, there aren't. And that means it applies to you too. And the other thing that's critical is when you understand the great blessings that come through keeping those kinds of covenants, there's nothing God has in store for a man that he doesn't have for a woman. In fact, the man can never enjoy the highest blessings of the priesthood without someone by his side called a wife. Why? Because the fullness of priesthood blessings are only four, a woman and a man together. And so, yeah, I've just been thrilled with how the leaders of the church giving us instruction that I think so necessary in the sense that you need not hold an office in the priesthood in order to be a powerful instrument for good and bless people with a power that can be nothing else but the authority of the priesthood.

That's fantastic. You need not hold an office to tap into the power. And draw upon and utilize that power. I think that's what Barb tried to show in her book so well. Bob, you've made this. What we've just done is your life's work. And I don't want to age you, but it's been a couple of decades. It's how many decades has it been since you started studying these things? You know, I came home from a mission eager to study. I had a mission president that did something that I now realize was ingenious. The missionaries then would memorize the 27 basic scriptures in the six discussions. And that was

about it. And you had to memorize the discussions too. But our mission president put together a list of 300 scriptures and And they were by category apostasy restoration at all and etc etc And we were we were to commit those to memory I came home from missions still remembering those I still remember those 300 But I came I came home wanting, I felt like I was in a mind explosion wanting to just learn and grow and, and I first began to just be driven to try to gain deeper understanding within six months after my mission. I came, I transferred to BYU, I had never had seminary, I had never had

institute, those weren't available to me in Louisiana. And so the idea of having a religion class where we're studying the gospel is part of my curriculum, blew me away. I remember I was in a second half of the Doctrine and Covenants class was the very first class I took at BYU. Just, and I could just feel my mind exploding with knowledge and understanding. And so this very section would have been in. This was part of what I sort of fell in love with. And I began to get fascinated with pre-stead correlation.

And I read everything I could find on priesthood correlation. So it began really when I was about 22. And you look like you're 50, but how long ago was that? 51 years. 51 years. Yeah, and those were four-minute years for me. I seen praise to every great teacher that I had, and I had some great ones. You know, we could just name them off, but I won't.

Just men and women whose, whose conviction, whose testimony, whose knowledge of the gospel made me want to be like them. When I was set apart as a full-time missionary, back then you were set apart by a general authority. I was set apart by an assistant to the 12 and brother Al Masani, very large man. He put his hands on my head. It was interesting, he had a bit of a trimmer

and so I can still recall the feeling of his hands moving on my head. But he blessed me with some great things, but one thing I don't think I'll ever forget, he said, I bless you that from this time forth you'll not have difficulties remembering the scriptures. I didn't think about that much at the time. I don't think I thought about that. I've thought about it a lot in the last ten or fifteen years. It was a simple blessing. It wasn't anything overpowering. Now, I'm getting older and it's getting a little harder to remember things. But the desire to know the scriptures well enough to answer people's questions, to teach them the other thing that happened in the mission home. Back then most all of the missionaries would be endowed while they were

in the mission home. You would go over to the Salt Lake Temple and what would then happen is you would go upstairs to the solemn assembly room and Harold B. Lee would be there to take the questions of the missionaries. I don't remember many of the questions that were asked, but I'll tell you what I remember. Every question that was asked, President Elder Lee would say, well, let's see what the Lord has to say. He'd go to the Scriptures. So I would ask question, very good question. I appreciate you. Let's go to, let's go to what the Lord had to say about that, or let's go to the book of Mormon, look at it. I thought to myself, if I could ever be like that, I knew I never could be like him, but I thought, if you could, to be in a position to where you can be, you can really assist people

You can be, you can really assist people because of the price you paid to know the gospel. That experience alone has affected me now for 70 years. Watching a man of God, one of the great doctrinal minds, Harold B. Lee, watching him handle himself so easily with questions that were being raised, as he would turn here and turn there and read the answer. I just feel like the Lord's blessed me with a lot of sweet opportunities, and my wife and I talk about this a lot. How good the church has been to us. How good, or frankly, how good the Lord has been to us. Life isn't easy and you have all kinds of bumps along the way and difficult times, maybe have difficulties with children or grandchildren, but the Lord has been good to us in the sense of the two of us have been blessed with the testimony that I believe is solid and I'd

like to believe is unshakable. I began praying years ago that the Lord would remove doubt from my mind of any kind about when it comes to the restoration of the gospel or truthfulness of the church and so forth. And, you know, I think there's some prayer's God is eager to answer. And my wife and I talk about that often how grateful we are a. That we had wonderful teachers advisors presid leaders, etc. B.

That the Lord has blessed us both with a conviction that No matter what would be asked I think no matter what would be asked of us we would do and so But I look back and I owe all of that to people whose lives affected mine. With what they knew, yes, more importantly, how they loved. That's been all the difference for me. I still feel a drive. I still feel a drive to learn and grow. And I have a problem, that's, I'm a slow reader. My wife can read a book in a day and they'll take me two weeks.

But you know what? It's pretty marked up when I'm done. Right. Anyway, I'm just very grateful for the, for whatever understanding I have, I'm just very grateful for whatever understanding I have. I'm grateful for it because there's nothing, you two know this better than I do. There's nothing more joyous than being able to share understanding and share witness and conviction and sense that maybe it did some good there. That's exactly right.

John and I both have walked out of chapels going, well, I hope we did some good there. That's exactly right. John and I both have walked out of chapels going well I hope I hope we did some good there. I was just thinking you have studied the life of Joseph Smith longer than he's been alive than he was alive. You studied him for 51 years he was only alive for 38. Good point. That is good. I hadn't thought about that either. Yeah, if you've if someone you know knows Joseph Smith On the earth. It's you it's you and yet here you are you love him You honor him and yet we have people who maybe read something on this on the side in a weekend and go Oh, they fly to pieces and here's someone who studied the Prophet Joseph Smith

for 51 years. I just, I can't, I just wanna emphasize that. 51 years, there's nothing that Bob Millett doesn't know about the prophet that someone else knows. That's not true, but I have fallen more deeply in love with Joseph Smith as the years have gone by. Do I think he was a perfect man? No.

Did he make mistakes? Yeah, he was a human being. But isn't it a beautiful thing that the Lord could work with him and teach him? Look what he could accomplish in those 18 years. It's unbelievable. It's unbelievable. It's unbelievable. What, Joseph Smith accomplished? I read his teachings, his sermons, especially his funeral sermons. I'm blown away by the knowledge that that man gained by

study himself, by revelation. And I may have mentioned this the last time, but there has one of my greatest joys is to every morning repeat this that Joseph Smith said, and you know the statement. He said, it is my meditation all the day, and more than my meat and drink to know how I shall make the saints of God comprehend the visions that roll like an overflowing surge before my mind. And I want to say what man or man is that? Yeah. My goodness. John, it's another day where we get to say it was good to be here.

It was good for us to be here. Nice for me to be with you. Oh, Dr. Melo, we just can't thank you enough and I'm sure our listeners are feeling the exact same way. They're saying, what a great man to give his of his time and his knowledge to us these last couple of hours. Thank you. Thank you so much. You're certainly welcome.

Yeah. I'm sure there's many, many people who have loved their heart for Bob Millett and for Sister Millett as well. We want to thank you all for listening. You've been wonderful. We're grateful for your support. We couldn't do without you We have executive producers who we just absolutely love and adore Steve and Shannon Sorenson and we have a production team right John that That does all of this they do the heavy lifting. Yeah, we get to just sit here and talk with our friends and it's So fun and then yeah, and people come up, oh, I just love that podcast. Well, you should probably think these people. David Perry, Jamie Nielsen, Lisa Spice, Kyle Nelson, Will Stoughton, and Maria Hilton.

Those are the ones who deserve thanks for this podcast. And again, thank you for listening. We hope you'll join us on our next episode of Follow Him. you