followHIM - Doctrine & Covenants 106-108 Part 2 : Dr. Robert L. Millet

Episode Date: September 18, 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 he be a literal descendant of Aaron. But as a high priest of the Melchizedek 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 unto this power by the hands of the presidency of the Melchizedek priesthood. Now, I've heard all kinds of people talking about over the years, you know, if we could just find a guy that can actually trace his lineage to Aaron, that he has every right to be a

bishop of the ward. Well, first of all, it doesn't have anything to do with the ward bishop. This is presiding bishop. This is talking about 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 what the blessings of the priesthood are, the power and authority of the higher or 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 and church of the firstborn, and to enjoy the communion and presence of God the Father and Jesus, the mediator

of 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 firstborn, the church of the firstborn, the church of the exalted, those who qualify for exaltation in the celestial kingdom. It's not the church of Jesus Christ. It's in many ways, President Joseph E. Smith called it the inner church. We used to sing a hymn. 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 order and 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 firstborn. The right to hold communion with them.

You know, in the earliest creed that we know of, the Apostles' Creed, one of the things that's 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. And you start chapter 12, the opening verses there, having talked about all these magnificent men and women who through the years had great faith. And you start chapter 12, and to keep things continuous, he describes that as the great cloud 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 McConkie told me a story where— Is it Oscar McConkie? About Oscar McConkie Sr. Yeah. I remember this. He said that just before Oscar Sr. 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 in 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 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 you don't see anything or you don't know about it, but someone's whispering from the other side. And Bob, you wouldn't say this is just the Lord saying this is just for Melchizedek priesthood holders. This is for anyone who partakes in the ordinances, right, of these— It's like the Aaronic Priesthood. We say—you know, I've heard many a 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 an Aaronic Priesthood,

all people can enjoy the ministry of angels, females, males. And that's true with the blessings of the Melchizedek Priesthood as well. Wow, that's beautiful. Verse 19, commune with the General Assembly and 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. I'm going to say something. Rain me in here, Bob. Totally fine if you need to rein me in,

but I've sat at 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 Melchizedek priesthood ordinances are in place. Cause that seems to me where I'm going to get myself to the temple where the Melchizedek priesthood ordinances are in place, because that seems to me where I'm going to commune. And it can often happen in our own lives, in 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 went to the temple, often maybe in troubled times, as a young couple 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 wavered child. The temple became a sacred spot for us. 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 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 upheld by the confidence, faith, and prayer of the church, form a quorum 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, that they be an apostle. Haven't we had before?

At one time, for a time, wasn't J. Reuben Clark? J. Reuben 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 placed in line of authority. But yes, what's necessary is that they 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 solemn 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. We have to pray for the brethren. And they need that. They pray for that. Especially when you say brethren, I think we're even kind of honing in on those three right now in this verse. That's right. I think this is 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 or leave the church over what I call just piddly, for the most piddly reasons. I'm thinking, really? Really? You're going to leave the church over that? Yeah, I think Brother Packer used to, I was with him on one 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 bringing problems to the leadership of the church. Be a low-maintenance, low-worry, high-yield Latter-day Saint. And then he gets, and then comes the 12, right? Next verse. That's right.

The 12 traveling counselors are called to be 12 apostles or special witnesses of the name of Christ in all the world, thus differing from other officers in the church in the duties of their calling. You know how this is almost always said, an apostle is a special witness of Christ. He is. But notice what's 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, in other 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 to him about the role and 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, and his unique qualifications as the Son of God to be our Redeemer and our Savior. So, that's the end of the quote from Elder Bednar, and that's something to think about in verse 23, like he 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 Twelve for a short time in 1994 when he called me. I was the dean of religious education. And he said, asked how I was.

And he said, I want to was. And then 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 them? I said, oh yeah. I think so. 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. So the faculty was there and 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 since 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 than what you had then? I said, you had 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, when the first apostles were called, never cease striving, you know, till you see the Lord himself. And so I thought that was an interesting thing, both. Yes, there 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 that. That's still my job, yeah.

Yeah, I wish it would have just downloaded a bunch of stuff, you know. Yeah. USB port somewhere and I could just download everything, but. That sounds like the Lord, doesn't it? No more work involved. I'm just going to give it to you. Yeah. Not exactly.

Here's an interesting thing. Look at verse 24. They, the 12, form a quorum equal in 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 that are living return to their place in the Twelve.

And then the quorum of the Twelve 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 prophet, and this is going to become very important. Well, 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. 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 right, 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 Hinkley Hall and Helaman Halls. And I remember on the morning of January 18th, 1970, my roommate awoke, you know, just woke me up and said, hey, President McKay has just passed away. Now, David O. McKay was the only president I'd 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, 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 it was Union Pacific, 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 afterwards he came over for dinner, and we kept firing questions at him. And he said, Elder, 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. Elder Lee, now this is, let me give you the date. This would have been 1968. Elder Lee, is there any question in the minds of the other apostles that when David O. McKay 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 you to be president, he has a way of dealing with that. He takes you. Yeah. He just, yep. You've 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 type of a thing. But the next heartbeat was that of the new president. Does that ring a bell?

I think it was Elder 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 Haycock, 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 with 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 when he passed.

Brother Haycock 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. And he went into the hospital to have some tests run and while there had a massive heart attack. Well, while he was in the hospital and wasn't doing well, Brother Haycock 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. Kimball, the president of the 12. The three of them stood there, Brother Romney, Brother Haycock, and Brother Lee over there. And Brother Haycock

said- And President Kimball? Was President Kimball there as well? And President Kimball was there as the president of the 12, excuse me. Brother Haycock said, all through this, Brother Kimball kept saying, what can I do, President Romney? What would you have me to do at this point? Would you like me to do this? Would you 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 President Lee had passed away, Brother Romney turned to Brother Kimball and said, What would you have me do? Wow. It was moving. The keys of the kingdom had just changed. And the senior apostle now wore the mantle.

That's section 107 in practice, isn't it? It really is. That's a great story. Right in practice. Verse 25 and 26 is not something that most people I think would understand, that the 70 form a quorum

equal in authority to that of the 12. Yes, yes. 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 Elders 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 that large sense 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 12 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 Methuselah. 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, Abel's line, down to Abraham and Moses. This is a line of authority, but a different line of authority. These are the patriarchs, the presiding patriarchs, Adam, Seth, Enos, Canaan, Mahal, Elgerid,

Methuselah, Lamech, 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-Dalmon, this came in the 1834 as Joseph was giving a blessing to his parents. I wonder if those different lineages you talked about in 84 and 107, I wonder, I'm going to have to ask Sister Gardner about this. If we're talking, there's, you know, 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 they are separate from one another. And I'm going to have to ask her about that. I think that's a fascinating idea.

I've heard it called, there's Aaronic priest priesthood, there's a Melchizedek priesthood, and there's a patriarchal priesthood. Does that sound right? I think when I asked about that once, somebody in authority, the response was, patriarchal order within the Melchizedek priesthood. Okay. You know, Joseph Smith said there's the Aaronic order, the Melchizedek order, the patriarchal order of the Melchizedek priesthood falls within the Melchizedek priesthood. And we enter that through, and I'm sure Barb talked about this, enter that through the blessings of the temple. Yeah, I've heard it said, you know, this section starts, there are in the church two priesthoods. We might say in the temple. That's right.

There are three. That's right. Yeah. Excellent. Notice from 85 through 89, this is where we learn what a quorum of deacons is, 12, 24, 48, 96, as they go through the quorums. 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, yea, to be a seer, a revelator, a translator, and a prophet, having all the gifts of God which he best has been given all of the spiritual gifts. When you go back and you read about spiritual gifts earlier in the Doctrine and 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 preside over them, chosen out of the number of the 70. And he 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 priesthood government, particularly, it sounds like the 70s, right? Okay, look at verse 98. Whereas other officers of the church who belong not unto the twelve, neither to the seventy, 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 assistants to the Twelve were called. I remember that.

Sterling W. Sill, right? Was an assistant to the Twelve. L. Ray Christiansen. Yeah. Gordon B. Hinckley. Anyway, the first assistants to the Twelve, this is the scripture that was used. 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. He went in for a zone meeting, and the president 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 Latter-day Saints. He said, I have the longest title in the church and the least amount of authority. Because you remember the regional representative for a time, his job was to not necessarily to supervise, but to provide assistance and help and counsel to the stake presidents. Because there was never to be anyone in between the stake presidents and the Quorum of the Twelve, or the Quorum of the Seventy, 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, our young women, young men's. Yes. Yeah. Good question. Yeah.

John, what are you? You're on the General Young Men's Board. Are you a general officer? I don't think so. You know, our friend Brad Wilcox is, and Achmed Corbett, and President Stephen Lund is a general church officer. Yeah, General Young Men's Presidency. And the Young Women's? Right.

Sister Bonnie Corden, 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 Men's Advisory. So YMAC. So it's like YMAC.

We were thinking of doing the dance. So we have officers who are under the direction of the 70 and the 12. And Bob, that seems to fluctuate then sometimes. Sometimes we have assistance to the 12. Sometimes we have regional representatives. Yeah, that's interesting. We just kind of, it's pretty fluid. Kind of as needed, you know? I think that when the first Quorum of the Seventy was reorganized in the mid-1970s, the Brethren began to feel that it was time to put things into order as it's set forth in Scripture, right?

And for example, President Kimball 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 it was 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 do not have general stewardship. They're assigned to a particular area. Right. Even President Nelson combining high priest group and elders quorum seems to be part of this, let's get back in, I shouldn't say get back in line, but kind of a section 107 type move. It is. It is. Years ago, a friend and I used to talk about this. Wouldn't it be interesting if one day there was just one Melchizedek priest at quorum?

And we talked, well, what would it be? I said, well, I guess the elders 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 is 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. Micromanage. Micromanaging, 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 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. Same thing as a parent, right, Bob? Let your children learn. 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 the year 2040, we're going to need bishops, we're going to need relief site, we're going to need these, who are they? And then he said, it's you, I'm talking to you. 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 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 counsel 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? in the office, it's not, okay, 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 mow the lawn. I remember when I was the first stake presidency I served in, I remember talking to the stake president. I said, look, I was just a bishop. What's the difference between being a bishop and a counselor in the stake presidency? He said, well, I was just a bishop. What's the difference between being a bishop and the counselor in the stake 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? I think it's verse 100. He that is slothful shall not be counted worthy. Sit on the stand and look spiritual. Well, Bob, that word let, that's an important word. I'm glad you pointed that out. Yeah, me too. He that is slothful shall not be counted worthy to stand. Boy, 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 around 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 that maybe a little orchestration i think you've sung twice today so we'll get letters about that when we lived in florida we i when i worked under this particular state president um probably one of the most effective leaders I've 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 stake 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, to do both of those. And so he was very big on let people learn their duty. Let them learn it. And that may mean, unfortunately or fortunately, they'll make some mistakes. I remember that one of the things that people used to do in a position like with an elders quorum for home teaching. I remember in one ward I was in, you had home teaching assignments. 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

um in the name of percentages do you know what i'm saying and so because how am i 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 every 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, there are 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 the 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 9 million and growing will guide 90 million by those same revelations 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, 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 experiences 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'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 and more questions. They ask 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. 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 a 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 piece by piece by piece. Yeah. 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 world will move forward.

And look at all these people surrounding me that are lay ministry. But look at 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 priest group 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 do? How are you going to 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 our own way, being worthy to stand one day. And that's the Lord telling the brother, Jared, hey, I got no light.

I can't breathe. Well, what are you going to do, Mahan Ray? 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, um, you know, uh, prophets here. Um, and she's gonna, she's gonna ask this. I'm going to read a quote for you and then, and then I'm going to let you kind of take off if that's okay. Um, this is from, um, sister, uh, 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 priesthood 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 priesthood power strengthens us to be able to do what is asked in

whatever responsibilities or assignments are ours. With that in mind, 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? Right. We've come alive to the fact that I can still recall Elder Oaks saying, what other power is there but the power in the priesthood? What other authority could it be? What authority is there? When a Relief Society president or a woman who was then a visiting teacher are now a sister minister, by what other power or authority do you bless that person? It's the power of the priesthood. I think it's an

indication that the leadership of the church have 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 I had the 84th section to discuss, kind of like discussing section 107. But as we came to the oath and 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? Now, 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, the idea of receive the Lord's servants. I mean, are there any of those? And 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 for 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 is 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. 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 they were by category. Apostasy, restoration, atonement, et cetera, et cetera. And we were to commit those to memory. I came home from a mission still remembering those. I still remember those 300. But I came home wanting to, I felt like I was in a mind explosion, wanting to just learn and grow. And I first began to just be driven to try to gain deeper understanding within six months after my mission. 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 as 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. And I could just feel my mind exploding with knowledge and understanding. 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 priesthood 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 formative 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 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 Twelve and

Brother Al-Masani, a very large man. He put his hands on my head. It was interesting, he had a bit of a tremor, 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 10 or 15 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. Yeah, 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. Someone asked a question, very good question. I appreciate you. Let's go to what the Lord had to say about that, or let's go to the Book of Mormon. Look it. I thought to myself, if I could ever be like that, I knew I never could be like him, but I thought to be in a position to where you can really assist people because of the price you paid to know the gospel. That experience alone has affected me now for 71 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, well, 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 you have difficulties with children or grandchildren, but 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 prayers 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, priesthood 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. But I look back and I owe all of that to people whose lives affected mine. With what they knew, yes, but more importantly, how they loved. And that's been all the difference for me. And I still feel a drive. I still feel a drive to learn and grow.

And I have a problem. I'm a slow reader. My wife can read a book in a day and it'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 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. 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. If someone 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 the side in a weekend and go, oh, a flight of pieces. And here's someone who studied the prophet Joseph Smith for 51 years. I just want to 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 what Joseph Smith accomplished. And so I read his teachings, his sermons, especially his funeral sermons,

and 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 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 manner of 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. For us to be here. Nice for me to be with you. Oh, Dr. Millett, we just can't. 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 of his time and his knowledge to us these last couple of hours. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you so much. You're certainly welcome. Yeah. I'm sure there's many, many people who are who have love in their heart for 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 it 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 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. Yeah, and people come up, oh, I just love that podcast. Well, you should probably thank 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.