My Come, Follow Me lesson for this week took me to Doctrine and Covenants 89-93. Last week we learned about the School of the Prophets and how it was organized. This week we learn about what happened after the meetings began. The Prophet Joseph Smith taught the elders of Israel about building God’s kingdom on earth, and they discussed spiritual truths, prayed together, fasted, and prepared to teach the gospel. However, something else took place that had lasting effect upon The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
During the meetings, the elders
smoked and chewed tobacco, common behavior for the time. However, the juice
from the tobacco stained the hardwood floors black and caused a strong odor to
linger in the air. In 1868, President Brigham Young gave the following
description of the setting in the School of the Prophets.
The brethren came to that place for
hundreds of miles to attend school in a little room probably no larger than
eleven by fourteen [feet, or three by four meters]. When they assembled
together in this room after breakfast, the first they did was to light their
pipes, and, while smoking, talk about the great things of the kingdom, and spit
all over the room; and as soon as the pipe was out of their mouths, a large
chew of tobacco would then be taken. Often when the prophet entered the room to
give the school instructions he would find himself in a cloud of tobacco smoke.
This, and the complaints of his wife at having to clean so filthy a floor, made
the prophet think upon the matter, and he inquired of the Lord relating to the
conduct of the elders in using tobacco, and the revelation known as the Word of
Wisdom weas the result of his inquiry (“Remarks,” Deseret News, Feb. 26,
1868, 18) (as quoted in Doctrine and Covenants Student Manual – Religion 324-325
[2018]).
Zebedee Coltrin, one of the
participants in the School of the Prophets, reported that after the Prophet
read this revelation to the brethren, they “immediately threw their tobacco and
pipes into the fire” (in The Joseph Smith Papers, Documents, Volume 3:
February 1833-March 1834, 15, note 73) (as quoted in Doctrine and
Covenants Student Manual – Religion 324-325 [2018]).
Doctrine and Covenants 89:2 tells us
that the revelation did not come “by commandment or constraint, but by
revelation and the word of wisdom.” Immediately after the revelation was
received, Church leaders invited the Saints to live the World of Wisdom more
fully. Eighteen years later, President Brigham Young proposed during the fall
general conference of 1851 that all Saints formally covenant to abstain from
tea, coffee, tobacco, and whiskey.
Thirty years had passed after President
Young’s proposal, and the Lord revealed to President John Taylor that the Word
of Wisdom was to be considered to be a commandment (October 13, 1882). The Lord
gave the Saints nearly fifty years to live the Word of Wisdom before He commanded
them to live it.
Another thirty-seven years passed
(1919) the First Presidency, under the direction of President Heber J. Grant,
made the observance of the Word of Wisdom a requirement for receiving a temple
recommend. Obedience to the Word of Wisdom remains a requirement for attending
the temple. The gradual manner in which the Lord required the Saints to live
the Word of Wisdom is an example of His mercy and love for us. If the Saints
had been commanded to obey it as soon as it was received, most of them would
have come under condemnation. Instead, He gave them an opportunity to overcome
the habits before they were commanded to do so.
So, the Word of Wisdom – a principle
with a promise – is the first principle in this lesson. The promise for living
the Word of Wisdom is physical, spiritual, and mental health and safety.
The
second principle for this lesson is found in Doctrine and Covenants 90: “The
First Presidency holds the ‘keys of the kingdom’ (verses 2-6). When the Savior
was on earth, He gave the keys of the kingdom to His ancient apostles Peter,
James, and John. Many hundreds of years later, Peter, James, and John, as
heavenly messengers, bestowed those same priesthood keys upon Joseph Smith and
Oliver Cowdery. These keys are “the right of presidency” (D&C 107:8), the
directing power by which the priesthood is governed (see D&C 42:69; 65:2;
90:2-3).
In the revelation recorded as
Doctrine and Covenants 90, the Lord reminded the Prophet Joseph Smith that he
held the keys of the kingdom and would continue to hold them in the next life.
President Gordon B. Hinckley (1910-2008) explained how the priesthood keys have
continued from Joseph Smith to the current living prophet in this dispensation:
That same authority which Joseph held,
those same keys and powers which were the very essence of his divinely given
right to preside, were by him conferred upon the Twelve Apostles with Brigham
Young at their head. Every president of the Church since then has come to that
most high and sacred office out of the Council of the Twelve. Each of these men
has been blessed with the spirit and power of revelation from on high. There
has been an unbroken chain from Joseph Smith, Jr., to [the current prophet]. Of
that I bear solemn witness and testimony before you this day (quoted in Teachings
of the Living Prophets [Church Education System manual, 2016], 14)
(as quoted in Doctrine and Covenants Student Manual – Religion 324-325 [2018].
From my studies this week, I received
confirmation that Heavenly Father feels great love and mercy for His children.
The gradual implementation of the Word of Wisdom is just one example of how much
we mean to Him. He gave the Saints more than eighty years from when He taught
the Word of Wisdom as a word of wisdom that even the weakest of Saints could
receive and the time when He commanded the Saints to live it as a law.
I also received confirmation that
the First Presidency hold “the keys of the kingdom.” The Lord will direct His
Church through the administration of the First Presidency with assistance from
the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. As I follow the Prophet and stay in the
mainstream of the Church, I will be led in safety.
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