Transcript I cannot go beyond the commandment of the Lord [email protected] Another Photo of Big Lou as a child…

I cannot go beyond the
commandment of the
Lord
[email protected]
Another Photo of Big Lou as a child…
Strengths
Ether 12: 27 And if men come unto me I will
show unto them their weakness. I give
unto men weakness that they may be
humble; and … if they humble themselves
before me… I make weak things become
strong unto them.
Question:
Can the opposite also be true- can our
strengths become weaknesses?
Elder Oaks- List of 18
Strengths to Weaknesses
Gospel Hobbies
Misapplication of Spiritual Gifts
A Desire to Know All
A Desire to Be Led in All Things
Honors Can Sometimes Turn to
Our Detriment
Neglect or Distortion of Family
Duties
Distorted Faith
All-Consuming Patriotism
Not Really Following the Prophet
A Desire to Sacrifice More Than
Is Needful
Social Consciousness Not
Tempered by Other Values
An Intense Focus on Goals
Popular Teachers and the
Potential of Priestcraft
Excesses in Giving
Accomplishment and Pride
Inordinate Church Service
Materialistic Self-Reliance
Misapplication of Love and
Tolerance
Elder Oaks Continues…
Those who engage in self-congratulation over a
supposed strength have lost the protection of
humility and are vulnerable to Satan’s using that
strength to produce their downfall.
In contrast, if we are humble and teachable,
hearkening to the commandments of God, the
counsel of his leaders, and the promptings of his
Spirit, we can be guided in how to use our
spiritual gifts, our accomplishments, and all of
our other strengths for righteousness.
And we can be guided in how to avoid Satan’s
efforts to use our strengths to cause our
downfall.
Strange Story of Balaam
1 And the children of Israel set forward, and pitched in the plains of
Moab on this side Jordan by Jericho.
2 ¶ And Balak the son of Zippor saw all that Israel had done to the
Amorites.
5 He sent messengers therefore unto Balaam the son of Beor to
Pethor, …
6 Come now therefore, I pray thee, curse me this people; for they are
too mighty for me…
7 And the elders of Moab and the elders of Midian departed with the
rewards of divination in their hand; and they came unto Balaam,
and spake unto him the words of Balak.
12 And God said unto Balaam, Thou shalt not go with them; thou
shalt not curse the people: for they are blessed.
Remember Oliver Cowdery
D&C 9
3. …it is not expedient that you should
translate at this present time.
5. And behold, it is because that you did
not continue as you commenced…
It begins
Joseph Smith
15 ¶ And Balak sent yet againand
princes,
more, and more honourable than
the
they.
116 pages?
16 And they came to Balaam, and said to him, Thus saith Balak the son of
Zippor, Let nothing, I pray thee, hinder thee from coming unto me:
17 For I will promote thee unto very great honour, and I will do
whatsoever thou sayest unto me:…
18 And Balaam answered and said unto the servants of Balak, If Balak
would give me his house full of silver and gold, I cannot go beyond the
word of the LORD my God, to do less or more.
(BUT!)
19 Now therefore, I pray you, tarry ye also here this night, that I may know
what the LORD will say unto me more.
Even Stranger
Donkey Story
31 Then the LORD opened the
eyes of Balaam, and he saw
the angel of the LORD standing
in the way, and his sword
drawn in his hand: and he
bowed down his head, and fell
flat on his face.
32 And the angel of the LORD said
unto him, Wherefore hast thou
smitten thine ass these three
times? behold, I went out to
withstand thee, because thy
way is perverse before me:
Finally, after offering sacrifices
2 And Balaam lifted up his eyes, and he saw Israel abiding
in his tents according to their tribes; and the spirit of God
came upon him.
3 And he took up his parable, and said, Balaam the son of
Beor hath said, and the man whose eyes are open hath
said:
5 How goodly are thy tents, O Jacob, and thy tabernacles,
O Israel!
12 And Balaam said unto Balak, Spake I not also to thy
messengers which thou sentest unto me, saying,
13 If Balak would give me his house full of silver and gold, I
cannot go beyond the commandment of the LORD, to do
either good or bad of mine own mind; but what the
LORD saith, that will I speak?
Final Fatal Footnote
1 …and the people [of Israel] began to commit
whoredom with the daughters of Moab.
2 And they called the people [of Israel] unto the
sacrifices of their gods: and the people did eat,
and bowed down to their gods
"...these caused the children of Israel, through the
counsel of Balaam, to commit trespass against
the LORD." (Numbers 31:16)
Bruce R. McConkie
What a story this is! Here is a prophet of
God who is firmly committed to declare only
what the Lord of heaven directs. There does not
seem to be the slightest doubt in his mind about
the course he should pursue. He represents the
Lord, and neither a house full of gold and silver
nor high honors offered by the king can sway him from his determined course, which
has been charted for him by that God whom he serves.
But greed for wealth and lust for honor beckon him. How marvelous it would be to be rich
and powerful-as well as having the prophetic powers that already are his.
Perhaps the Lord would let him compromise his standards and have some worldly
prosperity and power as well as a testimony of the gospel. Of course he knew the
gospel was true, as it were, but why should he be denied the things his political file
leader could confer?
I wonder how often some of us get our direction from the Church and then, Balaam-like,
plead for some worldly rewards and finally receive an answer which says, in effect, if
you are determined to be a millionaire or to gain this or that worldly honor, go ahead,
with the understanding that you will continue to serve the Lord. Then we wonder why
things don't work out for us as well as they would have done if we had put first in our
lives the things of God's kingdom.
Question
What tools does
Satan have, at his
disposal, to
subtly derail
Saints with firm
testimonies?
William S. Godbe
Successful Businessman in
early Utah
Opposed Brigham Young’s
call to avoid gentile
merchants in Utah and across
the nation.
Excommunicated in 1870
Founded “Church of Zion” and the “Godbeites”
Also founded The Salt Lake Tribune
Lesson Manual
"Members of the Church who seek earthly
rewards and honors, who seek exceptions
to God's counsel and commandments, or
who try to introduce worldly ideas,
practices, or standards into the Church are
following Balaam's unrighteous example."
Elder Holland
A man who'd been away from the
Church for half a century came back to
Utah and took a job as custodian of the
local chapel, promising the bishop that
he'd come to church and stop smoking.
But he did neither. The bishop did not rebuke him, but he kept asking, "Do you
remember the promise you made?"
The man said, "Yes, I remember, Bishop." The bishop would smile and shake hands
and walk away, but the man did not come to church and he did not stop smoking.
One night, inside the chapel when he was working late, he was overcome with the
most terrifying, paralyzing fear he had ever experienced in his life. (I heard him
say this with his own lips, though I do not know the man's name.) He said, "I have
never been so fearful, so frightened, so petrified in my life. I've been afraid. I have
been in dangerous, frightening circumstances, but there is nothing in this world
with which I can compare or any way in this world I can describe the experience I
had that night.
Every creak and crack and dark corner of the chapel terrified me, and I began to
run." This was a grown man speaking, a grandfather. "I began to run from the
building and fled to my home. But I was also just as terrified in my own home,
and I could not control my emotions.
Elder Holland Cont.
I ran from my home and went to a shed behind my house.
And for the first time in half a century I fell to my knees and I
prayed. I said, 'O Lord, save me from whatever this is that
terrifies me so.'" Quaking, trembling, perspiring on his knees
in this shed out behind his home, he continued his prayer.
He said, "I was lisping like a child the only prayers I knew,
when there came into my heart the words of a song that I had not heard nor
sung for that half century. I think I did not ever know the words, and I surely
do not know them now.
But I heard them with symphonic accompaniment and angelic choirs. I heard
them, music and word, in that shed behind my home in the middle of that
night." It's a hymn that you know, my young friends, and the opening line is
"We thank thee, O God, for a prophet."
The man said, "I stopped trembling, and I stopped crying, and I know I heard
the angels sing. I've never missed a church meeting since that day. I've
never smoked a cigarette, and I've tried to do everything I should have done
for all those years. But I want you to know that I did not then, and I probably
do not now know, the words to the hymn that I heard sung that night in a
shed behind my home with a celestial symphony and an angelic choir."