#064: Secret Works Seeking for Power

Reflection: An I one of those refusing to acknowledge the repeating patterns of history?

14 And Seth lived, after he begat Enos, eight hundred and seven years, and begat many sons and daughters.
15 And the children of men were numerous upon all the face of the land. And in those days Satan had great dominion among men, and raged in their hearts; and from thenceforth came wars and bloodshed; and a man's hand was against his own brother, in administering death, because of secret works, seeking for power.*

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*Pearl of Great Price | Moses 6:14-15 
Also: Lutes, Kenneth and Lyndell. Joseph Smith Translation (p. 34). Lutes Publishing. Kindle Edition. | JST-OT Genesis 6:13-14

#063: Loving Satan More Than God?

Self-Reflection: Can I recognize this same pattern in current events? Do I have anything carnal, sensual or devilish in my life?

12 And Adam and Eve blessed the name of God, and they made all things known unto their sons and their daughters.
13 And Satan came among them, saying: I am also a son of God; and he commanded them, saying: Believe it not; and they believed it not, and they loved Satan more than God. And men began from that time forth to be carnal, sensual, and devilish.

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Pearl of Great Price | Moses 5:12-13 (JST Old Testament | Genesis 4:12-13)

#062: Destroying the Agency of Man

Reflection: Can we observe this agenda in our present culture and governments? Are we playing any part in resisting the destruction?

4 Wherefore, because that Satan rebelled against me, and sought to destroy the agency of man, which I, the Lord God, had given him; and also that I should give unto him mine own power; by the power of mine Only Begotten I caused that he should be cast down, and he became Satan;
5 Yea, even the devil, the father of all lies, to deceive, and to blind men, and to lead them captive at his will, even as many as would not hearken unto my voice.

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Lutes, Kenneth and Lyndell. Joseph Smith Translation (p. 24). Lutes Publishing. Kindle Edition.  (Pearl of Great Price | Moses 4:3-4 | JST Genesis 3:4-5 )

#061: Remaining in Sin?

Self-reflection: Do any of these describe something in my life?

30 But wo unto the rich, who are rich as to the things of the world. For because they are rich they despise the poor, and they persecute the meek, and their hearts are upon their treasures; wherefore, their treasure is their god. And behold, their treasure shall perish with them also.
31 And wo unto the deaf that will not hear; for they shall perish.
32 Wo unto the blind that will not see; for they shall perish also.
33 Wo unto the uncircumcised of heart, for a knowledge of their iniquities shall smite them at the last day.
34 Wo unto the liar, for he shall be thrust down to hell.
35 Wo unto the murderer who deliberately killeth, for he shall die.
36 Wo unto them who commit whoredoms, for they shall be thrust down to hell.
37 Yea, wo unto those that worship idols, for the devil of all devils delighteth in them.
38 And, in fine, wo unto all those who die in their sins; for they shall return to God, and behold his face, and remain in their sins.

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Book of Mormon | 2 Nephi 9:30-38

#060: “In the Pride of Their Hearts”

Reflection: Does we see this in our churches? In ourselves?

35 Behold, I speak unto you as if ye were present, and yet ye are not. But behold, Jesus Christ hath shown you unto me, and I know your doing.
36 And I know that ye do walk in the pride of your hearts; and there are none save a few only who do not lift themselves up in the pride of their hearts, unto the wearing of very fine apparel, unto envying, and strifes, and malice, and persecutions, and all manner of iniquities; and your churches, yea, even every one, have become polluted because of the pride of your hearts.
37 For behold, ye do love money, and your substance, and your fine apparel, and the adorning of your churches, more than ye love the poor and the needy, the sick and the afflicted.
38 O ye pollutions, ye hypocrites, ye teachers, who sell yourselves for that which will canker, why have ye polluted the holy church of God? Why are ye ashamed to take upon you the name of Christ? Why do ye not think that greater is the value of an endless happiness than that misery which never dies—because of the praise of the world?
39 Why do ye adorn yourselves with that which hath no life, and yet suffer the hungry, and the needy, and the naked, and the sick and the afflicted to pass by you, and notice them not?
40 Yea, why do ye build up your secret abominations to get gain, and cause that widows should mourn before the Lord, and also orphans to mourn before the Lord, and also the blood of their fathers and their husbands to cry unto the Lord from the ground, for vengeance upon your heads?

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Book of Mormon | Mormon 8:35-40

#059: Leaders Cause Them to Err

Reflection: Does this apply to our day? Am I one of those leaders or a servitor to such a leader?

16 For the leaders of this people cause them to err; and they that are led of them are destroyed.
17 Therefore the Lord shall have no joy in their young men, neither shall have mercy on their fatherless and widows: for every one is an hypocrite and an evildoer, and every mouth speaketh folly. For all this his anger is not turned away, but his hand is stretched out still.
18 ¶ For wickedness burneth as the fire: ...

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Old Testament | Isaiah 9:16-18

#058: “The Bondage of Sin”

Reflection: What is the focus of our present culture, including religious? Am I amongst those who treat lightly the things God has given? How much time do I spend remembering Him?

50 And by this you may know they are under the bondage of sin, because they come not unto me.
51 For whoso cometh not unto me is under the bondage of sin.
52 And whoso receiveth not my voice is not acquainted with my voice, and is not of me.
53 And by this you may know the righteous from the wicked, and that the whole world groaneth under sin and darkness even now.
54 And y our minds in times past have been darkened because of unbelief, and because you have treated lightly the things you have received—

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Doctrine and Covenants | Section 84:50-54

#057: “Veil of Unbelief”

Reflection: When we review world conditions, do we see an awful state of wickedness, hardness of heart, and blindness of mind? Do I see any of these in myself?

15 Behold, when ye shall rend that veil of unbelief which doth cause you to remain in your awful state of wickedness, and hardness of heart, and blindness of mind, then shall the great and marvelous things which have been hid up from the foundation of the world from you— ...
18 Therefore, repent all ye ends of the earth, and come unto me, and believe in my gospel, and be baptized in my name; for he that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned; and signs shall follow them that believe in my name.

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Book of Mormon | Ether 4:14-19

#056: Condemning and Killing the Just

Reflection: If the nature of man is good (as the “romantics” claim), why have we seen so much of this in every age if history?

1 GO to now, ye rich men, weep and howl for your miseries that shall come upon you.
2 Your riches are corrupted, and your garments are motheaten.
3 Your gold and silver is cankered; and the rust of them shall be a witness against you, and shall eat your flesh as it were fire. Ye have heaped treasure together for the last days.
4 Behold, the hire of the labourers who have reaped down your fields, which is of you kept back by fraud, crieth: and the cries of them which have reaped are entered into the ears of the Lord of sabaoth.
5 Ye have lived in pleasure on the earth, and been wanton; ye have nourished your hearts, as in a day of slaughter.
6 Ye have condemned and killed the just; and he doth not resist you.

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New Testament | James 5:1-6

#055: False Prophets and Teachers

[From Lutes edition of Joseph Smith Translation showing deletions (strikethroughs) and corrections (bold) by Joseph Smith.]

Self-reflection: Am I tuned to this warning? Do I know enough and study enough to discern “false”? Or do I make assumptions?

1 But there were false prophets also among the people, even as there shall be false teachers among you, who privily shall bring in damnable abominable heresies, even denying the Lord that bought them, and bring upon themselves swift destruction. ...
10 But chiefly them that walk after the flesh in the lust of uncleanness, and despise government. Presumptuous are they, selfwilled, they are not afraid to speak evil of dignities.

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New Testament | 2 Peter 2:1, 10 (from Lutes, Kenneth and Lyndell. Joseph Smith Translation (p. 2702). Lutes Publishing. Kindle Edition.

#054: Provoking to Anger Continually

[From Lutes edition of Joseph Smith Translation showing deletions (strikethroughs) and corrections (bold) by Joseph Smith.]

Reflection: Has the nature of man changed that much from Isaiah's day?

1 I am sought found of them that who asked not seek for after me, I give unto all them that ask of me; I am not found of them that sought me not, or that inquireth not after me.
2 1– 2 I said unto my servant, Behold me, behold look upon me; I will send you unto a nation that was is not called by after my name, for I have spread out my hands all the day unto to a rebellious people which who walketh not in a my way ways, and that their works was are evil and not good, and they walk after their own thoughts.
3 A people that provoketh me to anger continually to my face; that sacrificeth in gardens, and burneth incense upon altars of brick;
4 Which remain among the graves, and lodge in the monuments; which eat swine’s flesh, and broth of abominable things beasts, and is in pollute their vessels;
5 Which say, Stand by thyself, come not near to me; for I am holier than thou. These are a smoke in my nose, a fire that burneth all the day.

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JST Old Testament | Isaiah 65:1-5 (from Lutes, Kenneth and Lyndell. Joseph Smith Translation (p. 1685). Lutes Publishing. Kindle Edition.)

#053: Watching for Iniquity

[From Lutes edition of Joseph Smith Translation showing corrections in bold by Joseph Smith.]

Reflection: How much of our entertainment might be described as “watching for iniquity”? Do the other descriptions apply?

31 20– 21 For, assuredly as the Lord liveth, they shall see that the terrible one is brought to naught, and the scorner is consumed, and all that watch for iniquity are cut off, and they that make a man an offender for a word, and lay a snare for him that reproveth in the gate, and turn aside the just for a thing of naught.

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JST Old Testament | Isaiah 29:31 (from Lutes, Kenneth and Lyndell. Joseph Smith Translation (p. 1618). Lutes Publishing. Kindle Edition.)

#052: Full of Greediness

Reflection: Could this 90-year old complaint be levied against us today?

31 Now, I, the Lord, am not well pleased with the inhabitants of Zion, for there are idlers among them; and their children are also growing up in wickedness; they also seek not earnestly the riches of eternity, but their eyes are full of greediness.
32 These things ought not to be, and must be done away from among them;

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Doctrine and Covenants | Section 68:31-32

#051: Smooth Things

Reflection: Do we see this in our churches and in our attitudes today?

8 ¶ Now go, write it before them in a table, and note it in a book, that it may be for the time to come for ever and ever:
9 That this is a rebellious people, lying children, children that will not hear the law of the LORD:
10 Which say to the seers, See not; and to the prophets, Prophesy not unto us right things, speak unto us smooth things, prophesy deceits:
11 Get you out of the way, turn aside out of the path, cause the Holy One of Israel to cease from before us.

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Old Testament | Isaiah 30:8-11

#050: That Ye May Be Numbered

Self-reflection: Will I accept this invitation?

2 Turn, all ye Gentiles, from your wicked ways; and repent of your evil doings, of your lyings and deceivings, and of your whoredoms, and of your secret abominations, and your idolatries, and of your murders, and your priestcrafts, and your envyings, and your strifes, and from all your wickedness and abominations, and come unto me, and be baptized in my name, that ye may receive a remission of your sins, and be filled with the Holy Ghost, that ye may be numbered with my people who are of the house of Israel.

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Book of Mormon | 3 Nephi 30:2

#049: “In the Likeness of the World”

Self-Reflection: Am I like “every man”?

16 They seek not the Lord to establish his righteousness, but every man walketh in his own way, and after the image of his own god, whose image is in the likeness of the world, and whose substance is that of an idol, which waxeth old and shall perish in Babylon, even Babylon the great, which shall fall.

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Doctrine and Covenants | Section 1:16

#048: “All We Like Sheep”

Reflection: Consider the historical and latter-day proofs of this statement.

6 All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the LORD hath laid on him the iniquity of us all.

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Old Testament | Isaiah 53:6

#-047: Sorcerers, Adulterers, False Swearers, Oppressers

Reflection: How many of these do we see in political and business leadership?

5 And I will come near to you to judgment; and I will be a swift witness against the sorcerers, and against the adulterers, and against false swearers, and against those that oppress the hireling in his wages, the widow and the fatherless, and that turn aside the stranger, and fear not me, saith the Lord of Hosts.

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Book of Mormon | 3 Nephi 24:5

#046: “From ... Out of the Heart of Men”

Self-Reflection: How much of my entertainment choices contain these things?

20 And he said, That which cometh out of the man, that defileth the man.
21 For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders,
22 Thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lasciviousness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness:
23 All these evil things come from within, and defile the man.

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New Testament | Mark 7:20-23

#045: Lyings, Deceivings, Strifes, Priestscrafts, Whoredoms

World and Self-Reflection: How much of this do we see in the world today? Am I ignoring the evidence so that it can continue? Am I participating?

19 And it shall come to pass that all lyings, and deceivings, and envyings, and strifes, and priestcrafts, and whoredoms, shall be done away.

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Book of Mormon | 3 Nephi 21:19

#044: Covenants to Destroy?

Reflection: How are the powers in our day promoting iniquity and seeking to overthrow liberty and sovereign nations?

15 Now the cause of this iniquity of the people was this—Satan had great power, unto the stirring up of the people to do all manner of iniquity, and to the puffing them up with pride, tempting them to seek for power, and authority, and riches, and the vain things of the world.
16 And thus Satan did lead away the hearts of the people to do all manner of iniquity;
...
30 And they did set at defiance the law and the rights of their country; and they did covenant one with another to destroy the governor, and to establish a king over the land, that the land should no more be at liberty but should be subject unto kings.

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Book of Mormon | 3 Nephi 6:15-16, 30 (Bold emphasis added.)