Sabbathought: " . . . reject Him for being so rough"

Last year in England Elder David A. Bednar of the Twelve urged the Saints to study "carefully the Five Gospels", as he put it, meaning Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, and 3 Nephi.

Elder Bednar promised that if the Saints would study and search (not just read) these five books of scripture diligently and carefully, they would find a very different Jesus than the one they think they know.

Such a serious study, if undertaken with the full intent of finding the true Son of God, not the one the world speaks of but the One revealed from heaven in this last dispensation, would reveal quite a few surprises.

The greatest revealer of Christ the world has ever known is the Prophet Joseph Smith working through the Holy Ghost. Joseph knows much on the subject, for he knew Him.

Note these teachings of the Prophet: "If you wish to go where God is, you must be like God, or possess the principles which God possesses."

Joseph continued, " . . . for if we are not drawing towards God in principle, we are going from Him and drawing towards the devil [there is no middle ground]. Yes, I am standing in the midst of all kinds of people.

"Search your hearts, and see if you are like God. I have searched mine, and feel to repent of all my sins" (Teachings, page 216).

Joseph's nephew, President Joseph F. Smith, taught: "Unless we do become like Him we will never be permitted to dwell with Him" (Gospel Doctrine, page 276).

Becoming like God is the whole purpose of the Gospel. It can only be accomplished through righteousness and strict observance of sacred covenants. Then the Holy Ghost can testify and sanctify and purify and justify us before God with a mighty change of our basic nature. Deep repentance, as we can see from Joseph above, is key in this process. The devil teaches that we do not need to repent. He lies.

The Prophet further said that the path to happiness, to being like God our Father, the happiest of men, is "virtue, uprightness, faithfulness, holiness, and keeping all the commandments of God. But we cannot keep all the commandments," continued Joseph . . . now, how would you finish that sentence? Some of us finish it by putting a period, a full stop there! And who do you suppose inspires that? See Joseph's statement above about the enemy of our souls.

Joseph finished that sentence thus: "But we cannot keep all the commandments without first knowing them" (see Teachings, pages 255--6). Be honest. That sounds like a daunting task, and we would rather believe that the Lord will accept us as we are. . . . Not so. But there is help in this holy pursuit! Help that makes it a joy and a delight! The scriptures are central to this, but only if we respect them and pay close attention to them. The enemy is pleased if he can keep us separated a good distance from a serious study of the scriptures.

One more thought from Joseph: "I desire the learning and wisdom of heaven alone [not the world's wisdom; Joseph, an untutored farm boy, was a student of the scriptures; he delighted in them]. I have not the least idea," he continued, "if Christ should come to earth and preach such rough things as He preached to the Jews, but that this generation would reject Him for being so rough" (Teachings, page 307).

"Rough things"! From the Lamb of God! No, it cannot be . . . ! Surely!

We are out of space here, so we'll pursue this next week. Allow me to show you some examples of the "rough things" Jesus taught, in the "Five Gospels", next week. . . . Can you think of any?

God bless us all.

Steve