Lesson 11: D&C 30-34 Reading: D&C 30:1-11 Reading Notes: This revelation came just after the Church s second general conference, held in September in Fayette, NY and before all the participants had returned home. Originally these were three separate revelations, later put together in the 1835 edition. During the conference there had been a lot of excitement about taking the gospel to the Native American people, and several had asked Joseph to enquire of the Lord about this possibility. 1. The Lord rebukes David Whitmer for having feared man rather than God. David had been one of Hiram Page s chief supporters in the affair of the seer stone false revelations (Sec. 28). God says David [had] been persuaded by those whom I have not commanded. He desired the good opinion of certain people more than he cared about what God thought. a) What are some different ways we can fear men more than God? b) Who does the Lord say he should have listened to? c) Do you think the Spirit is trying to communicate with us regularly, and we don t give heed, i.e., we don t listen? How can we increase our sensitivity to what the Spirit is trying to say to us? 2. David Whitmer is also rebuked for having his mind too much on the things of the earth. Earth is a softer word than world, the usual designation for spiritual wickedness. David was a farmer, and his mind was on that. He was having a hard time letting go of the past patterns of his life. Are there similar pitfalls in our lives as modern women? How can our daily work get in the way of hearing God s call to us? 3. David s brother Peter is commanded to go on a mission to the Lamanites with Oliver Cowdery. His broth- er John is commanded to work with a local congregation. To both men the Lord gives the command to open your mouth to declare the gospel. The phrase has become a watchword of today s missionaries. a) Give an example of how an LDS woman can open her mouth without being on a full time mission? b) PERSONAL: Do you have a story of doing this in your own life, or of someone opening their mouth to share the gospel with you that you would like to share? Reading: D&C 31:1-11 Notes: Thomas B. Marsh was one of the first hundred converts to the church. He was a well-educated, very capable man who quickly rose to leadership positions, eventually becoming president of the Quorum of the Twelve. He let disagreements with Joseph Smith cloud his view and left the church during the Missouri persecutions, even signing an affidavit against the church that was a factor in Lilburn Boggs, the governor, issuing the infamous extermination order against the Mormons. Years later he returned to the church in Salt Lake City and was re-baptized, publically expressing regret for the years he spent away from the church. 2012-2013 Poet & Wilson 1 www.sistersatthewell.org
4. Like all the other men God spoke to through the revelations, Thomas Marsh is called to raise his voice to the world, because something is coming in God s economy that the people of the earth need to be warned of. Please read D&C 4: 4 and compare with D&C 31:4. a) What is the difference in the wording? b) Read D&C 86:1-7, an explanation in more depth of the imagery found in many places in the scripture of the world as a farmer s field that is growing a crop. (FYI: tares=weeds) Given the explanation in this verse, what is the significance of the answer to part a? In other words, explain the two different process- es that have to happen in this world. c) What is the fire- insurance that we have as faithful Latter- day Saints according to D&C 64:23-24? 5. PONDER: All the scriptures that we have seen so far in the Doctrine & Covenants that gave a missionary responsibility, gave it to men who held the priesthood. This is a scripture study for women. Do you think women also have a responsibility to warn, or teach the people around them about what the Lord has planned for this earth? a) Specifically, whom might mothers with children have a responsibility towards in this regard? Explain. b) What about all the women who don t have children or who are empty nesters? 6. Certain words are special in the scriptures. It is almost as if the Lord likes to use these words and wants us to deepen our understanding of them, so that they become rich and full of meaning for us. As Alma said, the word is good yea, it beginneth to be delicious to me. (Alma 32:28) Gather is one of these words. Please read D&C 29:1-2 and D&C 86:7. a) What are some different ways that the Lord gathers his people? b) PERSONAL: How has he gathered you? 7. Verse 10 speaks of Thomas Marsh being a physician unto the church. He was not a doctor and never acted as one. However, he was a hands- on leader of the church when it was young in Missouri, when Joseph was still living and presiding from Kirtland, Ohio. Thomas Marsh did much good and was so well respected that he acted as a healer of emotions and moderator to hurt feelings between different factions in his com- munity. Do you know anyone that has the gift of this kind of healing? Explain how they serve. 8. Explain your understanding of how the three- way relationship works between the Lord, the Holy Ghost (or Comforter) and a human servant of God, like Thomas, as it is expressed in verse 11. Reading: D&C 32:1-5 2012-2013 Poet & Wilson 2 www.sistersatthewell.org
9. a) Name the men called to take the gospel message to the Lamanites. b) Who else was going with them? Cite verse. Reading: D&C 33:1-18 10. This section begins with a rehearsal of seven themes in the first seven verses that have become as famil- iar as a recurring melody line in a symphony, because they are repeated so often in the early sections of the D&C. Pick one word out of each of the first seven verses that summarizes a well- established theme in the early revelations to the new Church of Christ. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 11. Why do you think the Lord repeats himself so often? 12. a) What phrase is repeated three times in this section? b) Why does this phrase receive such emphasis do you think? c) What does it mean to you that if we open our mouths, they shall be filled? 13. Every element of the gospel, is present in some way in verses 11 and 12. Write the phrases that identify these elements. 14. Why do you think the Lord says that these things are like a rock? (v. 13) 15. Verses 16 and 17 contain a very powerful formula for being ready for anything the future may bring in other words for being spiritually prepared. These verses contain code words and phrases that refer to other scriptures, so that in order to get the full meaning, we have to know the things to which they refer. a) CHALLENGE QUESTION: What parable does verse 17 refer to? Can you give the reference? How did you find it? b) Sometimes we explain away scriptural concepts with glib Sunday school short- hand answers. So in answer to what is the oil we should have in our lamps? we answer, the oil of preparation (Not a scrip- tural phrase BTW), as if the key to everything is preparation. That s what s called circular reasoning. You can t say that the way to prepare is to have the oil of preparation. The Lord gives the key in verse 16 but you have to dig a little. First: what is the meaning of the word quicken? (We had this in an earlier lesson, but look it up again if you need to.) c) Why would the Lord remind the Saints of the Spirit s power to quicken all things in the same verse with a reminder to rely on the instructions in the holy scriptures (Bible) and Book of Mormon? 2012-2013 Poet & Wilson 3 www.sistersatthewell.org
d) Oil in the Old Testament was always (no exceptions) a symbol for the Spirit of God. For example, Samuel anoints Saul with oil and the spirit of the Lord came upon him. (1 Samuel 10:1,6,10) Later Samuel anointed David and the Spirit of the Lord came upon David from that day forward. (1 Samuel 16:13) Why do you think the Spirit s power to quicken things could be a key to spiritual power in a woman s life? e) What things need to be quickened, or could be quickened by the Spirit in your own life? f) What key to having the Spirit always to be with you is found in verse 17? (See D&C 19:38) Reading: D&C 34:1-12 16. What element does this section begin with in verse 1 that we find also in the first verse of Sec. 25? 17. Compare verse 3 with its more familiar cousin, John 3:16. What is the slight but important change in wording that teaches us about our relationship to the Savior? 18. The word trump appears 28 (!) times in the Doctrine & Covenants. It s just an old fashioned word for trumpet. a) What is Orson told to do? b) The church was new and very small. What need did these Saints have for trumpeting? 19. The cool thing about the scriptures is the way familiar themes keep coming up again and again like repeating colors in a tapestry. We are supposed to recognize them and think of how the different recurrenc- es play against one another. For example, the Lord repeats here the image of coming in a cloud. a) What prediction did Jesus make when he was on the earth? See Luke 21:27. b) How did Jesus leave his apostles and disciples for the last time? See Acts 1:9. c) How did God show himself to the Israelites when leading them in the desert? Ex. 13:21. d) Think about this image. Don t think of a fluffy little cotton ball cloud. Think of a dramatic sky and what the clouds can convey in such a setting. Now tell why you think God uses this imagery in scripture. e) How does the use of interwoven scriptural imagery like those in this section, bear testimony that these revelations are truly from God. 20. Why do you think the Lord keeps bringing up the scarier aspects of His second coming in these revela- tions? What should we take away from this? 2012-2013 Poet & Wilson 4 www.sistersatthewell.org
Scripture List for Lesson 11 1. D&C 4:4 For behold the field is white already to harvest; and lo, he that thrusteth in his sickle with his might, the same layeth up in store that he perisheth not, but bringeth salvation to his soul; 2. D&C 86:1-7 Thus saith the Lord unto you my servants, concerning the parable of the wheat and of the tares: 2 Behold, verily I say, the field was the world, and the apostles were the sowers of the seed; 3 And after they have fallen asleep the great persecutor of the church, the apostate, the whore, even Babylon, that maketh all nations to drink of her cup, in whose hearts the enemy, even Satan, sitteth to reign behold he soweth the tares; wherefore, the tares choke the wheat and drive the church into the wilderness. 4 But behold, in the last days, even now while the Lord is beginning to bring forth the word, and the blade is springing up and is yet tender 5 Behold, verily I say unto you, the angels are crying unto the Lord day and night, who are ready and waiting to be sent forth to reap down the fields; 6 But the Lord saith unto them, pluck not up the tares while the blade is yet tender (for verily your faith is weak), lest you destroy the wheat also. 7 Therefore, let the wheat and the tares grow together until the harvest is fully ripe; then ye shall first gather out the wheat from among the tares, and after the gathering of the wheat, behold and lo, the tares are bound in bundles, and the field remaineth to be burned. 3. D&C 64:23-24 And after that day, I, the Lord, will not hold any guilty that shall go with an open heart up to the land of Zion; for I, the Lord, require the hearts of the children of men. 23 Behold, now it is called today until the coming of the Son of Man, and verily it is a day of sacrifice, and a day for the tithing of my people; for he that is tithed shall not be burned at his coming. 4. D&C 29:1-2 Listen to the voice of Jesus Christ, your Redeemer, the Great I Am, whose arm of mercy hath atoned for your sins; 2 Who will gather his people even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, even as many as will hearken to my voice and humble themselves before me, and call upon me in mighty prayer. 5. D&C 86:7 Therefore, let the wheat and the tares grow together until the harvest is fully ripe; then ye shall first gather out the wheat from among the tares, and after the gathering of the wheat, behold and lo, the tares are bound in bundles, and the field remaineth to be burned. 6. D&C 19:38 Pray always, and I will pour out my Spirit upon you, and great shall be your blessing yea, even more than if you should obtain treasures of earth and corruptibleness to the extent thereof. 7. Sec. 25:1 Hearken unto the voice of the Lord your God, while I speak unto you, Emma Smith, my daughter; for verily I say unto you, all those who receive my gospel are sons and daughters in my kingdom. 8. John 3:16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. 9. Luke 21:27 And then shall they see the Son of man coming in a cloud with power and great glory. 10. Acts 1:9 And when he had spoken these things, while they beheld, he was taken up; and a cloud received him out of their sight. 11. Ex. 13:21 And the Lord went before them by day in a pillar of a cloud, to lead them the way; and by night in a pillar of fire, to give them light; to go by day and night: 2012-2013 Poet & Wilson 5 www.sistersatthewell.org