followHIM - Doctrine & Covenants 94-97 Part 1 : Dr. Susan Easton Black

Episode Date: August 28, 2021

Have you ever received an assignment yet didn’t have the skills to complete it? Join Dr. Susan Easton Black as we discuss Joseph, Hyrum, and others were chastened for not building a temple and how the pattern for becoming like the Lord is established. Also, Dr. Black teaches how the temple amplifies our spiritual gifts and how the Saints can stop living beneath our privileges.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 Follow Him, a weekly podcast dedicated to helping individuals and families with their Come Follow Me study. I'm Hank Smith. And I'm John, by the way. We love to learn. We love to laugh. We want to learn and laugh with you. As together, we follow Him. Hello, everyone. Welcome to another episode of Follow Him. My name is Hank Smith, and I am here with the solemn John, by the way. I mean that in all scriptural positive ways there, John. You're solemn. We love to laugh, and we love to be solemn. We love to laugh and learn, and we love to be solemn at times. John, we have another great week ahead of us as on the Follow Him podcast we have a returning guest again

and we're very blessed to have her with us who's here? Yeah, we're very glad to have Susan Easton Black back with us again and our listeners may remember she's a retired professor of church history and doctrine at BYU she's the author of many books about Joseph Smith and the early history of the church. She has a Ph.D. from BYU in education.

She joined the faculty there in 1978 as the first female full-time professor in religious education at BYU. And she also received the Carl G. Mazur Distinguished Faculty Award in 2000, being the first woman to receive that award. She served as an associate dean of general education and honors, and her passion for LDS history began as a child, hearing stories of early church history from her grandmother, who was born in Utah in 1872 to British immigrant parents. And my wife had her for her religion classes and just loved those classes. I think she had her for more than once. So we're glad to have you back for more than once, too.

Thank you very much. Susan, I'll just have to say this. We don't need to gush because we gushed on our last episode a little bit. But I will say this, that I've had the privilege of walking the streets of Nauvoo with you. And it was almost, it was walking with a celebrity. I have never seen those missionaries, especially those senior couples saying, that's her. That's her. There she is.

Mrs. Nauvoo. Right? that's her there she is mrs navu right um i i would dare to say i would dare to say that you know more about navu than i think the saints who live there did right i i i don't know about that thank you i think so i think you just you've you've been there so many times in your mind and walk those streets i just think that it's your we'll'll call you Miss Nauvoo, Mrs. Nauvoo. Oh, thank you. Let's jump right in, John, to our lesson this week. We're in a few sections of the Doctrine Covenants, sections 94, 95, 96, and 97. So Susan, you are our expert here. Back up as far as you want us to go. It looks like we're going to start in summer of 1833 with Reynolds Calhoun and Jared Carter. We'll let you take it away.

Hey, thanks a lot. I appreciate this opportunity. And you're right, Hank. We're starting off pretty much late spring here in Kirtland, Ohio in 1833. As we start with section 94, it's the very first time the Lord uses the word committee in a scripture in this dispensation. Wow. So any of us that have served on a committee one too many times or whatever, we can always turn to Section 94 and say, so that's where it began. I think it's interesting as it starts with the committee, who's put on the committee and what the purpose is for.

I always like that they only chose three people on a committee. Personally, having served on many committees, the more opinions and the loudest voice seems to get, you know, control what's going on. But in this particular committee, you've got Hiram Smith. He's age 33 at the time of the revelation. You've got Reynolds Calhoun. He's 43, and you've got Jared Carter. And you'd say their assignment, as you look at this committee, it's all about building various houses that the Lord wants built.

And so their assignment is there to raise funds, give oversight, and gather then building material. And I think it's interesting. You look at the three men, and you can't find a builder among them. So you ever been called to an assignment or church assignment, and you go, you know, I'm not really qualified. You'd say, well, where did it begin? And it probably begins here in Section 94.

But Hiram, he's a farmer. Reynolds Cahoon, he's a shoemaker, a leather guy. And you'd say Jared Carter, who was baptized by Hiram, he's a farmer kind of businessman. And suddenly you get these three men are to raise funds, give oversight, and to gather material. And then if we were to look at what they were to give oversight to and gather the material for, the first is to build a building for the presidency of the church. And this building is to be right on what today we call like Temple Square in Kirtland. And then the second, of course, is to build a kind of print building. But it's interesting, both buildings are the same size. And the first revelation about the temple,

it's always the same size. So if you're wondering what size you should build your house, here goes. It's the numbers that go three times all the way through, 55 feet by 65 feet. And obviously two-story house, what they call the lower court and a higher court. And in that presidency building, the initial plan was for the presidency to have a place to receive revelation and direct the ministry. And then the printing then is going to be for sacred scripture work and others. But what I think it's interesting is that which of the three areas did the men seem to fall down on? And giving oversight, you'd say good. And procuring materials, maybe struggling. And raising funds, definitely struggling because there was a subscription. And with that, a decision is then made that we'll only build one

building and we'll combine the two. And so maybe that's the good of buildings. Multi-use, right? Multi-use, yes. It's the word meeting house, right? The multi-purpose room, right? Multi-purpose room. You know what's interesting, Susan, is that the Lord has said we're going to print from here. When earlier he said we're going to print from Jackson County, Missouri, and maybe, I don't know if the prophet knows quite yet, that the printing in Jackson County, Missouri is about to or has just come to an abrupt end. Right.

So the printing definitely ending in July of 1833. So here's May. And I think it's interesting. There's going to be a place even that evening and morning Star newspaper will be now printed out of this print shop that they're going to pull together. So that new building we're talking about, it will house a print shop. It will house, be a place for the First Presidency, and also a place for the School of the Prophets. So it definitely, like John was saying, multi-use. Yeah. I find it fascinating. There's not a builder among them. So you just, I guess you, one of my students pointed out to me once that Nephi doesn't know how to build a boat, but he does know how to work with metal, it seems. So he just gets started doing what he knows how to do, make tools, right? Like, I don't know how to build a boat, but I do know how to make tools, so I'll get started there. Maybe that's with these guys as well. It's, well, we don't know how to build a temple, but we do know how to shovel. We do know how to cut down weeds, so we'll just get started.

Isn't that what Hiram did? He just went out and got started? Right. He digs the first trench there for the temple. Well, okay. It might be of interest to your viewers as to what really is published in that printing office. So I can say newspapers, that Evening and Morning Star. And notice, it's not the Morning and Evening Star, but we live on the Saturday eve of the morning of the coming of the Savior. So it's always the evening and morning star, the Latter-day Saint messenger and advocate, the Elder's Journal, Northern Times. Those are four newspapers that will come out of that office.

But more important than that, you get scriptures. So out of that very office, here's your Book of Mormon, Doctrine and Covenants, and Emma's hymnal. So it's right there on Temple Square. Right there by the Kirtland Temple. The building, the printing office is no longer there. Is that right? Yes. So kind of what happened was you've got this building committee consisting of three. And once the building is done, their responsibilities over the building end. In other words, they're not responsible for the contents. And so it's the literary firm that takes over the printing and actually ownership.

And then it goes through multiple owners until you get William Marks in May of 1837. He's our man that becomes that stake president in Nauvoo. And while he owns the building, the building is burned to the ground. Okay. Well, that's why it's no longer there. That's usually what happens. So the next time you're leading a tour out there, Hank, you can stand almost anywhere and say, you know, it was here somewhere. Where did they put it?

I'll bet Carl Anderson knows. I'll just have to ask him. Yeah, check with him. Check with Carl. So anything else on this section 94? The Lord's just organizing a committee saying, this is how big I want the lot to be. He does mention a little bit about temple work where he says in verse 8, you shall not suffer any unclean thing to come into it.

My glory shall be there. My presence shall be there. So he's kind of maybe doing a little foreshadowing of the blessings that are going to come. Yes, I would think so. I think that the plan had been that the First Presidency would have a place, and it's supposed to be a place of revelation, a place for directing the ministry of the church, and pretty hard to have that when you've got unclean thoughts people you know coming in i've always wondered too what like when did the actual idea of of a temple recommend uh begin i mean this sounds like the

beginnings of that we have to protect that no unclean thing comes into the house to do we know when that idea and practice actually began well you get temple recommends don't come into vogue until uh you come to utah interesting so it's it's not a joseph smith time period but even way back in section 20 the lord did tell them when they go from when they go from congregation to congregation that they should have a a letter a certificate or, or maybe you have some beginnings. So there could be beginnings. Susan, I like sections like 94 because they're practical, right? Sometimes we have to just, sometimes we have to do the work here. The Lord can't, it can't always be inspiring and inspire. Every section we kind of want to be, you know, to be like section 76 or section 93 that just blows us away. But

section 94 is we got to take care of business, right? I kind of like that, that there is that part of the church. I would think, I don't know that any of the apostles personally, but I would think that a lot of their work is the business of the church, the size of the building, the committee. I bet there's a lot of that. And there seems to be a lot of that in wards and stakes, right? A lot of the practical business of the work. And I think for the three men that were chosen, it's interesting. They continue to be chosen for the building committee

and eventually become known as the Kirtland Temple Committee. It's like they get a precursor, a test. Can you do this? And sure enough, they succeeded. Yeah, I really like this. I don't know. To me, I like the Lord saying, all right, you three, we've got to do some work now. Enough being inspired.

Let's actually put a shovel in the ground and do some work. Right. I like that. Yeah. John, anything else on section 94 before we move forward? I'm just, I got so used to seeing Zion and thinking Missouri. And so I like in verse one where the idea of, it says the city of the stake of Zion here in the land of Kirtland. So I have to remember, oh, he's talking about Kirtland here, but it is a stake of Zion.

Because I've been getting used to Zion meaning Missouri. Do you know what I mean? Right. And here this is a stake of Zion, the broader idea of Zion in Kirtland. So I had to stop and go, oh, yeah, this is talking about Kirtland right here, not Jackson County. With Jackson County being the center place and everything else is a stake in the tent. Right, Susan? Right. Stake in the tent, like Isaiah.

Yeah. Okay. And this is 1833 they're not going to finish this this isn't going to be a long project right this is not right in other words uh for this one building you'd say why would they build one and bottom line they don't have enough money to do the two right in other words subscription, and you're going to see the Lord beginning to chasten them, you know, as you move on to section 95. And who's not subscribing? And it's interesting. You look first at the men who attended the school of the prophets.

So men that the Lord loved, the prophet loved, and loved the church. But then the question is, are you willing to kick in for the latest building project? And suddenly you go, wait a minute, wait a minute. I've had my heart in it, but I can give my time. And you get these three men, obviously by the time they're in charge of the committee for the Kirtland Temple, they know what they're doing. But the question is, are you willing to give your money to? I was just going to say, I'm old enough to remember when they used to have the ward building fund drives. And it got all rolled into tithing at one point, but I remember the bishop calling individual families in and saying, here's your building fund assessment and things like that.

And there's kind of a fun story that President Marion G. Romney tells about being asked for an amount that he thought was higher than it should be. And then he said, I came across this verse that says, if you give begrudgingly, it's as if you didn't give the gift. So he went back to the bishop and gave even more, because he didn't want to be on that side of it. But now that's all rolled into tithing, as I understand, and the building, I just think it's kind of an interesting development when that happened. I don't know if you remember that, Hank, but I remember the Ward Building Fund. I was just a kid, but I remember it. I think that was just a little bit before my time. I'm trying to say, oh, for sure I'm not old enough, but yes, those were the good old days.

Yeah. I must have just missed it, but maybe a week or two. Well, Susan, you mentioned section 95 that the Lord is going to get after him a little bit. Let's move forward. All right. Tell us about Section 95. Well, obviously, there's been a delay procuring materials, getting things going, getting the subscription, the money to be able to build this. And the Lord is definitely chasing the saints, but I love that he loves them.

And he indicates, hey, he wants a solemn assembly, wants fasting, and he wants a building. It's like, let's do it. And the promise is, if you keep the commandments, you're going to have power to do this. And I think I can remember like John's talking about getting that building assessment and you wonder fast offerings tithing building assessment and here's here's the family bills and everything else can I do this and uh you know I could testify to you youngsters that uh you know if if you do make an effort to keep the commandments the Lord uh really steps up and kind of gives you the ability to be able to meet those commitments.

Yeah. Let's, let's go back to verse one and talk about this, that you, that you brought up because I can't tell you how many times I've had this conversation with my own children, which is if I didn't care about you, I wouldn't, I wouldn't, there wouldn't be any consequences, right? I'd say, just go do whatever you, if I didn't care about you, there wouldn't be any consequences,

right? I'd say, just go do whatever you want. I don't care. Because the idea is, if you take away a privilege from a child, that mom, dad, you don't love me, right? And the Lord's saying, wait, wait, wait, I am going to chasten you for your sins because I love you. Because I love you. Have you guys had those conversations as parents? Because I sure have. And I can't always say they're well-received. But nevertheless, the effort is there. And the bottom line is the Lord, in his case, he says he wants to reveal to them a strange thing. Obviously, the endowment, he wants to give them a gift, but they need to build these houses to help make all that happen and to show their willingness to sacrifice.

Whom I love, I also chase it. Who is it that recently gave a message in general conference on divine discontent, right? That there are times where the Lord is maybe not upset with us, but he's saying, look, I have things prepared for you, but you got to move. You got to do these things or I can't give you these gifts. You have sinned a very grievous sin. You have not considered building this house. So I don't know.

I don't know if any of your children are like mine, but oftentimes it takes me more than once to ask them to do something. John, probably not your kids. They're probably doing it before you even ask. Oh no, they just remind me of what I haven't done. And yeah. it before you even ask. Oh, no, they just remind me of what I haven't done. But I like this idea of, you know, if the Lord didn't love them, he'd just walk away. I've heard someone say once that,

you know, maybe the opposite of love isn't hate, it's indifference. And he could have been indifferent and just said, forget you guys and walk away. But it says, because I love you, I chasten you. And I love how it says, with the chastisement, I prepare a way for their deliverance. There's an outcome in that. I'm preparing for you to be delivered. I have loved you. And those last five words, I have loved you. And we see evidence of that everywhere. So the chastisement is an evidence of love, and that's, I guess, how we have to see it when we get chastised too. And Hank's kids have to see it that way, right? Yeah, I know this is about the temple, but for me, I learned just a little parenting lesson there,

that not only do I chasten you for your sins because I love you, but I also prepare a way for you to be successful, right? I'm going to help you become successful in this thing that I've asked you to do. Not just kind of, I think as a parent, sometimes I say, well, you didn't do what I asked, so you're going to be in trouble. You're going to lose privileges. But I don't take that next step of, I'm going to stand by you and help you accomplish what I've asked you to do. I think there's a little parenting there, lesson there.

I don't know if the Lord intended that, but I picked up on it. That's great. I think Stephen Harper that we've had on the program said before that section 95 is really a revelation about God's love, which I think is an interesting way to look at it before you read it. He is chastising them and scolding them, but it's because he wants to give them so much more. Right. That's the desired outcome, you know. So what he's going to give them in this case is build the temple,

and then you get that promise of the endowment. I think this building the temple, what we're talking about is the Kirtland Temple, right? And we know that, well, just coming off conference, you've got President Russell M. Nelson, this last April conference, announcing 20 new temples. And, you know, I don't know if you've got any of us going, what? But I think just sheer joy. Whereas, well, my favorite part is one of the early saints approaches Joseph and suggests that as long as we're going to be doing this next one, in other words, we've already kicked it in now for the printing slash presidency building. But as long as we're doing the next one, he suggests that Joseph have

this temple built in logs. And so the big question is, shall we brethren build a house for our God of logs? And I just wanted to tell kind of the social strata going on at the time. You know, when you move to a new area out in this Western Reserve, the Ohio's, right? You first arrive, you build a log cabin and you have a tar bucket next to it. And then you become socially more affluent. So you whitewash the inside and then you do a clapboard and brick. But when you're really affluent, you splash it with color. You know, in other words, you can splash your wealth and suddenly what the man is suggesting is, well, let's build a temple just of logs as if it's, you know, one of the lesser places going to be built in the community. Okay.

Do we all remember Joseph's response? He goes, I want to hear it. I kind of remember. He goes, shall we brethren build a house for our God of logs? He goes, I have a better plan than that. In other words, uh, you know, I know there's this committee going, but I'm telling you, I got a plan. He goes, I have a plan of the house of the Lord given by himself. So when you look at the Kirtland temple, it isn't just where you'd say, well, we've got an architect and we got the foundation and everything perfect. But the plan for the Kirtland Temple is given by the Lord himself. And then notice section 14. So you'll notice in Doctrine and Covenants 95, verse 14,

that the Lord says that he's going to show the manner of which you should build this to three of you. Can't you see the committee saying, I bet we're going to be it? We're one, two, three. We're Hiram, we're Reynolds, we're Jared. But it's not those three that are going to see it. It's going to be the first presidency. And right away you put the temple goes out of a little bit different realm than the first building that was built.

And the first presidency is Joseph Smith, Sidney Rigdon, Frederick G. Williams. That's the first presidency at the time. Yes. But I think it's interesting. Like the other one, guess what size it is. It's going to get you going around measuring your houses, right? It's the same size, 55 by 65 feet. So I imagine your viewers are going to have tape measures running around saying,

do we qualify, do we qualify? And then you'll also notice that it's going to have two floors. In this case, the lower floor is for sacrament, preaching, fasting, prayer, upper court for the school of the apostles. And the word apostle means one who is sent. So you get this idea, school of the prophets, school of the apostles. In other words, it's going to be a school for those that will be sent out on journeys on missions. So you've got, you've got two courts just like the others. Okay. Um, and I mean, I, I remember the Lord saying this way back in section, what was it? Like 38. He's when you said,

I want you to go to Ohio because I'm going to endow you right with, with power. That's section 38 verse 32. And he still hasn't forgotten that because he brings it back up in section 95 verse eight. You're going to build a house in which house I designed to endow those whom I've chosen with power from on high. I love the Lord saying, I haven't forgotten what I told you earlier, right? That there's a purpose. This is why we came to Ohio. Right. I like that. I also like that you've got these three men. The Lord's going to show them the manner in which the temple is to be built. And Frederick J. Williams writes, he says, well, the Lord received the word that Joseph Smith received the word of the Lord for him to take his two counselors before the Lord. And you'd say, well, where would this occur? Don't you think that would occur in the offices of the presidency, right? And so he said, well,

they kneeled down on their knees, they called on the Lord, and the building appeared within viewing distance. It's like viewing distance means a distance away. And Frederick G. Williams, right? I being the first to discover it. You know how you look and you go, can you see this? And Frederick says, I'm the first to discover it. And then he said, then all of us, meaning those three viewed it together. After we'd taken a good look at the exterior, the building seemed to come right over us. In other words, we see it in a distance, it's closer, closer, now we can look up. And as a result, you get, yeah, the intricacies, the external, internal. It's like, I guarantee my son, if I told him, explain this to him, he'd say, dad, that's,

that's virtual reality, right? That's a VR system. The Lord just put a VR system on their, on their head and they, they were able to walk through it and around it. Um, that's, that's, that's absolutely, uh, absolutely incredible. So when they're building it, they can just ask, did it look like this? Right. Is this what it looked like? Yeah, that is what it looked like. And the building, Susan, has, and John, you've mentioned this before. I can't remember if in what episode we were talking or even if it made it into the episode, but it's got, it's got, it doesn't have one pulpit like we have in ours yeah it's got a lot of pulpits right like nine on each side or something side right yeah it's a very which kind of tells you someone else designed it right it's not the conventional not the conventional design that they're that they're

used to when i go in those old american churches i see the pulpit up on the up on the side of the not front and center it's up right on the side in the, not front and center, it's up right on the side and the front, right? But this one's totally different. I've been inside the Kirtland Temple. It doesn't look like any other building I've seen in American history. So you can tell, yeah. And then you have to get a handout.

You have to get a handout to understand what all the letters in front of the pulpits mean. Right. It's hard to remember. Yeah. As the tour guide, you're going, I've got to memorize this. I've got to memorize this. Yeah. See, Melchizedek Priesthood, let's see,

Melchizedek Presidency Priesthood. Teachers, teachers, yeah. Yeah. Okay, what I like about this revelation is that, you know, we've talked about how you get a revelation, but then how quick do you move on it? And obviously, you know, in 94, they're delayed, delay. Are we going to build this building? Two buildings. Now we're going to build one. But in this one, once it's received four days later, Joseph Smith takes some of the brethren

right up to that temple site, and they remove a fence and much foliage. In other words, this is not sit back and wait, but it's receiving a revelation and starting on it. In other words, you're not going to get the same chastisement they had with the other building. Now, Susan, I don't want to wax too personal here, but you're, I've known you for a while. You are a doer. You are a, let's get this done. Let's get moving. Let's get this going, right? John and I, John and I, we've discussed this at length. John and I love to talk about the great things we would do if we had the time, right? John, we say, you know, what we ought to do is this, this, and this.

And then we both go home and we watch the Andy Griffith Show. So how does, in your mind, Susan, how does one come from a, wow, what great things we could do, to a Joseph Smith, Hiram Smith type, well, let's get started. How did you become that way? You know, I've always been, you know, it doesn't seem to matter whether I'm going backwards or forwards, but I must be doing something. And I know you can't see with how we're looking, but if you look behind me, you'd say, well, who authored those? And I go, man, me. And so, well, for me, I just, one of the hardest things is sitting. So here I am sitting, talking to you, but, you know, but if you saw my hands, you'd say, well, okay, you're wondering what time is it? And I don't know. I think it's energy.

I think it's drive. You know, I think it's that. And, you know, I've always had this thing. You know, you wonder. I know we don't do checkoff lists anymore. I love the checkoff list time. And so with that, you know, you wonder personally, you know, am I doing enough? Have I done enough?

You know, can it really be said well done now, faithful servant, if I just think good thoughts? And at least in this revelation, you see Joseph's not letting grass grow under his feet. He's moving at the time. And I think that's great. Yeah. I've taken time and time again as we've gone through the Doctrine and Covenants this year. And John, you can tell me if I'm saying this too much. But this man, Joseph Smith, there is no doubt at all that he believes he's a prophet. Because if he was making this up as he went, he sure is asking himself to do some really hard things.

Right. And it would be he's just saying, you know, and once he receives the revelation, he goes. I'm amazed that they even come to Ohio in the dead of winter. Right. When the Lord says, let's go to Ohio, Joseph is the first to pack up his, a sleigh. And I would say, man, if I was making this up, I'd say, go to Ohio. When? When it's convenient and when the weather's nice. Yeah, spring. Right. Yeah. And the nice weather. So he gets up and he gets started. I like what you said there.

He doesn't let the grass grow under his feet. I'm going to use that, Susan. Okay. Well, do you think, I mean, do you think Joseph's, you know, the committee's going, we need to start and someone says, you know, Joseph's already cleaned it off and, you know, taken out the foliage, the fence is gone. And you do get Hiram Smith and Reynolds Cahoon, remember they're part of the committee. They do dig the first trench for the walls and George A. Smith bringing in, hauling in the first stone. And the committee just kind of moving forward. And what I like about the building of the Kirtland Temple is that as Joseph notices the men now moving into action. And he said their wives, Heber C. Kimball, aren't one whip behind the men, and

they're spinning and sewing on all of that. And Joseph's comment was that never had there been such a time of unity, harmony, and charity. And there's something about working side by side with people that differences kind of fade away because you're working for a common cause. And, you know, people need projects. We need projects that we share together, much like you're doing with this Come Follow Me. We work side by side to try and accomplish something that we couldn't do on our own. And my hat's off to both of you. I think this is wonderful. Yeah, we bond, don't we?

We bond in our projects. You do. I love what you're saying there. When I think of the many youth service projects I've been in as a youth and in participating in a youth conference, it's kind of funny because some of the kids might think, oh, I've got to do this. We've got to go dig up something.

But when they actually get there and start doing it, there is a bonding that goes on. And I always tell the kids, watch each other. Who's working hard and who's hardly working? You're going to learn a lot about each other today at this service project, you know. But I like that you would say that because I think those become really fun memories when we're working on something together. Uh, and maybe that's another good reason to have those just serve projects. What's that

website, Hank, just serve. And I, I like, I was going to add that what Susan said that I love to tell my students, Nephi said, I will go and do, not I will sit and stew. That's a great comment. That's a great quote. Yeah, I was sitting and stewing when I thought of that. I just want to highlight a couple of verses in 95 before we move on, maybe get both of your thoughts on them. The Lord says something I find interesting in verse 6. He says, they who are not chosen, right, those who don't show up,

many are called, but few show up, and those who don't show up, those who don't act, are sinned a very grievous sin in that they are walking in darkness at noonday. Now, that's an interesting parallel of it's noonday, so it should be very bright outside, and yet you are walking in darkness. So it seems when he says a very grievous sin, it's not because you're hurting him, it's because you're hurting you, right? You are hurting you. This is a very grievous sin, because you are hurting you. And here the Lord is offering this light, and he's saying, you're refusing the light. You're walking in darkness at noonday. It reminds me of, John, you'll have to, you know, the scriptures better

than I do. Susan, you do too. But who sees the cloud of darkness over the earth and Satan is laughing? Is that Enoch, right? Enoch, yeah. Moses, what's that? Moses 7? Moses 6? Satan laughs because he's got this darkness covering the earth. I'm glad you brought up that phrase because I think it's such a great phrase. And to me, it was similar to what you were thinking, Hank. You're walking in darkness at noonday.

There's so much more light I would like to give you. And to me, he's still talking about the temple. There's so much more I want to give you. And you're walking in darkness at noonday. Your inaction is eclipsing all this light I want to give you. I like the fact that, you know, as time goes on and there is a temple, right? And they're not going to dedicate it until March of 36. But in January, missionaries have come home and Joseph is surprised they baptized so few.

And it's so interesting. He has them come in and gives them an endowment. And then the difference, if you just looked at the sheer number of the converts that join after. So it's not just that they are, you know, walking in darkness, but they are making all those that are in need of the gospel not receive it because they need this building so bad. So it's like they're putting off blessings. Yeah, that's a fascinating idea. And

I haven't been able to articulate this well, but I try to tell, you know, as someone is preparing for the temple, I'll say, I knew I had some specific spiritual gifts. I could feel them. I knew I had them, but it took the temple to grow them, right? Somehow after I went through the temple, it was like I had the dry mix. I needed to add water, right? Something needed to happen to make that grow. And it's really hard for me to articulate, but I got better at teaching when after I had my experience in the temple and kept going back. I think this is the metaphor.

It reminds me of the you're living beneath your privileges. And you remember the President Uchtdorf made the video about the cruise where the guy, you know, what was that called? Your potential, your privileges, I think. And that's what that walking in darkness. I've got so much more I want to give you, and your inaction is the reason you don't have it. Very layman and lemuel, right? God doesn't talk to me. They're spinning their wheels. Now, he uses a phrase in verse 7 that I don't know if we've heard before, and that is solemn assembly. It's still a word we use today, but that's a very Old Testament type word. Maybe the Lord did use it in section 88. Maybe he did talk about a solemn assembly. What do they understand that to be, Susan?

Do you know? Does Joseph understand what a solemn assembly is going to be? Well, a solemn assembly, we know that you said, you know, you're going to vote in priesthood quorums, right? And to vote sustaining very, very sacred event. Very few times have we in this dispensations, you know, held solemn assemblies as different than sacrament meeting or state conference kind of thing, or even general conference. Yeah. Yeah. It's a fascinating idea that I've, one thing I've learned in the, in this year, Susan, and you can comment on this, that the Lord in earlier sections, he'll drop little tiny hints and phrases about upcoming ideas. Right? But at first he just drops little

phrases, like back in section 38, I don't want you to go Ohio, I'm going to endow you with power, where Joseph's probably thinking, I don't know what that means, but it sounds good, right? Section 88, we're going to have a solemn assembly. I don't know what that means. Even verse 17, he says, saith the son Ammon. That is another idea that's going to not be fleshed out for another couple of years. What that means. And so one part that's been, I've known Joseph was a prophet for a long time, but one thing that's really strengthened my testimony of him are these little hints in these early sections that lead to larger things later on

that he had no idea what was coming. Right. It's like the Lord's done a tapestry. Right. And, you know, we're weaving a little bit there, and then pretty soon you pull the string through and you go, oh, I get it, the gestalt, the aha. Yeah. I really like how these sections build on each other. You know, as a Book of Mormon New Testament teacher, John and I both, our Doctrine and Covenants has really opened up this year, wouldn't you say, John? Mm-hmm. That maybe before this, I thought, Susan, I don't know how you and other Doctrine and Covenants teachers do that, right? I don't know how you keep people interested in the Doctrine and Covenants.

And now this year I'm going, I needed some repenting. I absolutely needed some repenting. There's a lot in here. Oh, I wanted to mention one other thing, and that is, I don't think the Lord, I don't think we have details on this, do we, Susan? In verse 10, he says that contention arose in the school of the prophets. Now, I've been in that room above the Whitney store where they were in the school of the prophets. Now I've been in that room, uh, above the Whitney store where they were holding the school of the prophets. And I got to say, it's

a small room and putting a couple, you know, putting 20 men in there would, I think contention would arise. Uh, your elbows in my side. I don't think we have any specifics on what happened there. Do we? Uh, well, um, part of the contention, you know, they've got a school going, they've got lots of subjects. But the contention, you could go right back to the front, why the Lord's chastising him. You know, it's who's going to kick in the money to make all these buildings happen. And so maybe that's in verse 12 as well. If you keep not my commandments and the commandments to build the temple, right? The love of the father shall not continue with you.

You will keep walking in darkness, right? You will continue to walk in darkness. So four days later, you said they get started. Right. Four days later, they're started and off they go. And it's, and you know how sometimes it's, once you start doing it, it takes you a while and pretty soon you love doing it. And you see people coming in from all over to help to be a part of what's becoming this unity and harmony and, and charity towards each other. There's a, there's a beautiful picture in the Come Follow Me manual. John, I only have the digital one, but you can tell me if it's in the hard copy. Building the Kirtland Temple by Walter Raine.

And yeah, it is a beautiful, and I love what you're saying here, Susan, that once it starts happening, other people say, I want in. Yeah. I want to be a part of that. Part of the bandwagon. Yeah. If you're on our video, you can see John's holding it up there. Yeah. I love the Walter Rayne paintings. And at the BYU Salt Lake Center, they have the whole set of his kind of Book of Mormon paintings. And I always tell my students, go look at the Prayer

of Venus. Go look at... Because we have the Arnold Freeburg paintings in our mind, and it's fun to see the Walter Raine paintings. But I love them. There's always people in action. You rarely see people standing straight up and down in Walter Raine paintings. They're moving. And look at these people working there. I'm glad you pointed that out. Now, it's a place.

They're building on a place called the French Farm, Susan. Okay, so the French Farm, there was a man named Peter French, and he's selling- Pierre French. Yeah, Pierre French. He's selling his property. He's got 103 acres, and he's willing to sell it for $5,000. Those were the good old days, and we all missed it, right? But in that land, it's considered a choice land because they've got a quarry, and that's the attractive, but he wants to sell it all as one parcel. Well, the church as a whole doesn't have that kind of money, but individuals start donating, giving money. Vienna Jocks mentioned in the Doctrine and Covenants, she gives over $1,000.

Her money is received. Joseph Coe kind of coming up with the last payment, and a large payment, will be Father johnson out of hiram ohio he's now come to kirtland and it will be on that property that we've been talking about where you'll get the kirtland temple and other buildings will be built yeah i mean we've we've we've talked at length susan about martin harris and his money giving to the book of mormon and that was three thousand dollars so this for uh vienna that's, that is not a small amount of money. $1,000 in 1833. They say that she actually gave $1,400.

And she's a single woman. There's only two women mentioned by name in the Doctrine and Covenants, one being Emma and one being this Vienna Jocks. She was a nurse and came out and Joseph asked, you know, what she was willing to give. And she was literally willing to give her all. But then on this French farm, that's where you get what John first started talking about, about the city or stake of Zion at Kirtland. So that 103 acres is the center plot. And you'd say the very, very center of that is what we could probably call Temple Square, where you've got the buildings on it. And then from that, Joseph will actually survey out lots that are 10 acres apiece. And you'd say, well, would you go to Joseph Smith to get your lot? You know, it's part of this.

And the answer is no, you go to Neil K. Whitney. And you say, what is Neil K. Whitney? Well, he's our bishop there in Kirtland to assign it out. Now, it's a great plan. It's the plan of Zion. It looks similar to what we've learned before about Zion and independence. The problem is it doesn't work. You know, so, you know, you can have the plan. You've got the city of Zion, you've got the city of Zion or stake of Zion, but the stake, that does work. And I find it so interesting as you go to section 96, that when you talk about the Kirtland stake,

we don't get a stake president per se until the Nauvoo years in 1841. But when you talk about who's the stake presidency, we have a stake presidency. And guess what? They are the same people that are in the first presidency. So you get Joseph Smith, Sidney Rigdon, Frederick G. Williams, the one that have seen the temple in a distance, temple, you know, seeing it as it appears to pass over them. But Newell K. Whitney, then, the bishop in Kirtland, is to divide out the lots. And you can see in section 96 that, you know, there's a lot for the temple,

and the temple committee each are going to get a lot lot and then it's going to go out to others. But anytime like we're talking land, we're talking money and you get contention. You know, whose lot's going to be closest to the temple? Hold it. Newell K. Whitney, he's our, so the church has a total of two bishops now, right? We have Edward Partridge and Newell K. Whitney. Uh, they're in a very small club of, of probably very stressed men. They're in a small club and there's no wards per se.

That, that comes in Nauvoo too. So you've got a stake with no wards, but you do have living within that stake one bishop. One bishop. Big responsibility, especially when people ought to end fighting. Please join us for part two of this podcast.