(I want to take a moment and explain why my posts have been sporadic lately and why they haven't been quite like my usual posts. I'm not sure I have mentioned it before but my family lives in Northern Alabama where all the tornadoes came through last Wednesday and we have been without power since Wednesday night, 5:30 pm-ish central time. I sent my wife and daughter up North to stay with her parents until this all blew over and we just got power back last night at 11:30 pm. Prior to the power coming on, I had been going to work and writing my blogs there and e-mailing them up to my wife so she could post them for me since my work would not let me get to this website. So a big thanks to my wife and I appreciate all of your patience and we should now be back to normal.)
Today I read Doctrine and Covenants section 130, a veritable treasure chest of spiritual knowledge. I literally don't know where to start with this post and what to focus on. Section 130 has long been one of my absolute favorite chapters/sections of scripture just because it contains SO much in there and what it does contain is rich with spiritual knowledge. This section explains the nature of a perfected world, more laws concerning angels, Urim and Thummims, a prophecy concerning the Civil War, Joseph's musing concerning the 2nd coming of the Lord, the nature of knowledge, blessings and the physical properties of the Lord God.
Where oh where to begin? I guess the first place to start is on the nature of angels. Joseph teaches that the only angels who visit this earth are those men or women that have lived on this earth or will live on this earth. And the scriptures confirm this with the help of prophets. Anytime we have a record of the angel's name when they visit someone it is someone who has already lived on this earth: Moses appearing to Jesus, Elijah, Gabriel(who are modern prophets teach is Noah from Noah and the ark), Moroni, Peter and James, the Founding Fathers of America and more. I had a strange thought just now, there is no record of female angels appearing to people. I wonder if they happen and we just are not told of them, which is possible because I don't believe for a second that we have a complete record of all the angels that have ever appeared on this earth. It's just really interesting that all the records of angels that we know their names have all been men. Very interesting.
The next thing in this section that has always captured my interest is the prophecy Joseph received concerning the Civil War. However, a careful reading will show that the Lord is not just telling Joseph about the Civil War here in America, but rather that there will many wars and they will start with the Civil War in America. It specifically states, "...the commencements of the difficulties which will cause much bloodshed previous to the coming of the Son of Man..." that to me states all wars that have come since that time. But I think it's neat that Joseph, being a prophet was able to prophecy that the Civil War would start because of South Carolina and it would be over the question of Slavery. How right he was.
The last 6 verses of the section are the meat of this section that most people use it for and they are spiritual gems to be certain. Verses 18 - 19 tells us that whatever degree of intelligence we attain to in this life will stay with us in the life to come. Moreover that if we attain more intelligence in this life we will be ahead in the life to come. I wonder how many people actually digest that information? We are still going to be learning in the life to come. That just makes sense to me when I think about it. If the Lord doesn't just touch our foreheads in this life and grant us knowledge, why would He suddenly change that pattern when we are dead? I'm honestly looking forward to studying in the next life or however we will be learning all we will need to know. To not have to contend with the veil and be forgetting things I have already learned and forgetting new things because my mind is mortal and fallible. It's gonna be GREAT!
Verses 20 - 21 talk about receiving blessings. Most of you reading this will probably be familiar with these verses so I won't quote them. It is really neat to me though that there were laws put into place before this world was created that govern what type of blessings we get for following what type of laws. I wonder how extensive it was? For example would it be too frivolous to suggest that the blessing of safety and health were put into place for all those who adhere to the law of gravity? Perhaps so. But I still think it is awesome to think that all blessings were put into place for their respective laws before this world was created physically. That means that the all too popular excuse of "No one told me" is not effective at all. We WERE told we just don't remember. But that is why we have scriptures and Prophets and Apostles. The Lord sees fit to tell them so they can tell us what those laws and their subsequent blessings are. Can you tell I love this section yet???? :)
Finally, we are treated to a couple of verses about the physical nature of the Godhead. We are told in verses 22-23 that the Lord Jesus Christ and our Heavenly Father, the Creator of our Spirits, both have glorified bodies of flesh and bone. Have you noticed that they don't say flesh and blood? They are very careful when they talk about resurrected bodies to make sure they do not say blood but rather say flesh and bone. I have often wondered why resurrected bodies do not have blood and have thought to myself that perhaps the blood is what makes us mortal? I mean think about when people die? Despite what killed them, the ultimate cause of death is lack of blood to the brain which then shuts down. You can lose too much blood so that there is not enough to power your body or your heart can be damaged so that it does not pump any more blood, but the end result is that the brain is not receiving the blood and oxygen it needs to function. So if that is the case, it makes perfect sense that resurrected beings would not have blood in their systems.
The Holy Ghost however, having never been born in this life, does not have a physical body, with or without blood. He only has a body of Spirit, like we all have inside of us. The verses tell us that the reason He only has a body of Spirit is so that He can dwell within us. Remember it is the job of the Holy Ghost to be a testator and to testify of the truthfulness of all things to us and He does that apparently by dwelling within us and communicating directly with our Spirits. I will admit I do not understand how this happens but I accept it as truth from the scriptures and our modern day Prophets and Apostles.
I need to stop myself because I could literally go on for hours about this section and all its wonderful knowledge that it gives us. If you have not read it in a long time or never read it, I really urge you to take some time out of your day and read it. It is only 23 verses long and you will not be sorry you did. Until tomorrow and happy reading.
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