Casey Griffiths:
Is consecration the same thing as communism? I think the principles of consecration are still alive and well in the Church.

Scott Woodward:
We are covenanting right now. I will covenant to consecrate my time, my talents, my property to the building up of God’s kingdom on Earth. That’s been in place ever since Section 42.

Casey Griffiths:
We have a message of warning, but we also have a message of hope towards people that better things are coming, that they’re on the way for us.

Scott Woodward:
The message that’s coming through God’s anointed servant, the one appointed, is a consistent message of preparation for the Second Coming of Jesus.

Casey Griffiths:
We’re going to focus on the word of God, and that is going to be the foundation of what we teach.

Scott Woodward:
What the Lord is doing is reconstituting both some of the laws from Mount Sinai with the Sermon on the Mount, but then giving them a latter day veneer, if you will, a law specifically calculated for the members of the Church in the latter days.

Casey Griffiths:
It’s a little old and it’s a little new, but it’s bringing together the best parts of the Old Testament and New Testament for a new dispensation. We’re hitting the Doctrine and Covenants and the entering of a new era.

Scott Woodward:
Today represents a shift from the New York, Pennsylvania era, Now to Ohio, Casey. This is a big deal. I think you pointed out last week that Joseph Smith spends more time in Ohio as a prophet than anywhere else.

Casey Griffiths:
That’s correct. There are more revelations in the Doctrine and Covenants received in Ohio than any other place as well. We’re talking just about everything from Section 41, which we’re starting on today, to Section 112 are received in and around Ohio, Missouri, this period of Church history. It’s a very fruitful period for the Church, and Joseph Smith hits the ground running when he gets to Ohio. He receives some of the most important revelations in the entire book.

Scott Woodward:
Yeah, we ended last week with Joseph and Emma heading out at the end of January on a sleigh with Emma, six months pregnant, headed the Ohio because Sections 37 and 38 commanded the Saints in New York to migrate. So Joseph and Emma don’t skip a beat. And as soon as they arrive there, like you said, they hit the ground running. We’re getting some really important sections today. In fact, Section 42 is a promise fulfilled, that he had promised back in Section 38, that if you go to Ohio, there I will give you my law. So let’s dive in then, Casey, to these important sections, 41 and 42 go together. And then 43 and 44 are kind of independent of one another, and we’ll hit on them as we go. But drop us into 41 and 42. What’s the context here?

Casey Griffiths:
Yeah, you’re right. Section 41 and Section 42 are paired together. Section 41 is the calling of the first bishop, and then Section 42 is commonly known as the law of the Church. A lot of this coming in fulfillment to the Lord’s promise in Section 38, that if they go to the Ohio, they’ll receive the law and an endowment of power, which is what a lot of these sections are going to resolve around. Here’s the background. At the end of December 1830, Joseph Smith and Sidney Rigdon are translating the Bible. They’ve just finished what we now have today as Moses 7, which contains a prophecy of the Lord to Enoch about the latter-day gathering of God’s elect to a holy city called Zion, the New Jerusalem. This is going to be part of the preparations to usher in the millennial reign of Jesus Christ, who’s the leader of Zion, the King of Zion. Now, after this prophecy is recorded, events are set in motion to begin to fulfill it by commanding the Saints in New York and Pennsylvania to move to Ohio, where they joined these 300 recent converts that had been gathered by the Lamanite missionaries.

Casey Griffiths:
Once in Ohio, the Lord says, again, you’ll get the law, and then you’ll get endowed with power from on high. Those two things, the endowment of power is something that they keep searching for. What does that mean? To them, it’s not an ordinance, it’s not a ceremony, it is a gift. That’s what endowment means in this particular time period in the way they would have thought it. But the law is clearly connected to the idea of gathering Israel to become one like Enoch’s people, as described in Moses 7, becoming of one heart and one mind and dwelling in righteousness. And part of it is the revelation also says, there were no poor among them. So Enoch’s city, one heart, one mind, they were righteous and there were no poor among them. So that’s chief on their mind as well. In the last part of January of 1831, Joseph and Emma are the first of the New York Saints to leave for Ohio. They travel by sleigh. They’re traveling with Sidney Rigdon and Edward Partridge, who’d come to visit them in New York, and they arrive in Kirtland on February fourth, and there are some urgent matters pressing against the prophet.

Casey Griffiths:
The people in Ohio have been members for three or four months. A recent convert named Leman Copley, who’s going to pop up a lot in the next couple of revelations, offers to provide both Joseph and Sidney Rigdon and their families with houses and provisions so they can come and live on this farm in Thompson, Ohio, which is about 20 miles east of Kirtland. That’s a question. Should we accept this offer? Should we be where the people are, or should we go where we can get some work done? A second pressing matter was this law that they had been promised that they should receive when they get to Ohio. And so they’re here. So how do they go about receiving the law? And it’s in Ohio, probably in the home of Newel and Elizabeth Ann Whitney. She’s commonly known as Ann Whitney, that they inquire on these matters, and they receive Section 41, and then they receive Section 42.

Scott Woodward:
Okay, so let’s dig into the content of Section 41 real quick and see how the Lord responded to these issues. It’s just a short little section, but it packs a little punch and has a really important consequence, as we’ll discuss. The Lord opens this revelation with an invitation for his people to hearken and to hear him because, I like this insight into the Lord, he delights to bless, he says, those who hear him with the greatest of all blessings. But those who hypocritically confess his name but won’t hear him, he says, receive the opposite treatment. Now, as to the issue of where Joseph and Sidney’s family should live, The Lord addresses that in verses 7 and 8, saying that Joseph, quote, “should have a house built in which to live and translate, and Sidney can live wherever seemeth him good,” as long as he keeps the Lord’s commandments. No opinion on that one, but Joseph should get to translating right away. He needs a place to live and translate. As to the pressing issue of receiving the law, the Lord instructs them on how to receive it back in verses 2 and 3. He says, “The elders of my church shall assemble yourselves together to agree upon my word, and by the prayer of your faith, ye shall receive my law that ye may know how to govern my church, and have all things right before me.”

Scott Woodward:
And he adds in verse 4, “I will be your ruler when I come, and ye shall see that my law is kept.” In other words, the Lord’s law will help these elders know how to govern the Lord’s church until he personally comes to take over the rule of his kingdom. “And he that receiveth my law and doeth it,” the Lord explains, “the same is my disciple. Whereas he that says he receives it and doeth it not the same is not my disciple, and you shall be cast out from among you.” I don’t know about the circles you’re in, Casey, but we talk about discipleship a lot, where I’m at, part of the university’s mission and those kinds of things, and what we’re trying to do in our wards and stakes. Sometimes disciple can be this elusive word. What is disciple here? The Lord is defining pretty clear, You are my disciple if not only do you hear my law, but you actually do it. That’s going to become a theme in some of what we’ll talk about today. You hear it and then you do it. It reminds me of back in the Sermon on the Mountain, the Lord said, Those who hear it but don’t do it are like a foolish man who builds his house upon sand.

Scott Woodward:
But those who do hear it and do it are built on my rock. He calls that disciples. The Lord is here drawing a little boundary line between those he refers to in verse 6 as the children of the kingdom and those who are not. Disciples, children of the kingdom, bam. Those in the kingdom of the King of Zion must both receive his law and do it. Then finally, in verses 9 through 11, almost out of the blue, the Lord calls the recently baptized Edward Partridge to be ordained a bishop unto the Church. Astonishingly, the Lord tells him here to, quote, “leave his merchandise,” meaning to quit his job as the owner and operator of a successful hat-making factory there in Kirtland, and to, quote, “spend all of his time in the labors of the Church.” The Lord’s need for a full-time bishop, he explains here, is to, quote, “see to all things as it shall be appointed unto him in my laws in the day that I shall give them.” This is almost preemptive to the law or preparatory to the receiving of the law. As we’ll see, part of the law that we call the law of consecration of property is going to require a bishop to administer this.

Scott Woodward:
And so the Lord is putting pieces in place here and saying, Edward, you’re going to be my bishop. I need you to be full-time, and you are going to help with the law, and you’ll understand why in a couple of days when I give it. Casey, I think this makes Edward Partridge one of the very first full-time general authorities who’s being asked to leave his job and dedicate himself full-time to his calling.

Casey Griffiths:
This does present a significant milestone in the Church, which is we’re going to have ecclesiastic leaders that work for the Church full-time and are compensated. Now, most of the officers of the Church are lay members. They work part-time. They make sacrifices, and that’s a But we should be okay with the idea, too, that the Church does need some full-time leaders that dedicate their time and their money and everything that they have to building up the Kingdom of God.

Scott Woodward:
If the question arises, how exactly, I’m sure this is a question in Edward’s mind, how exactly should I provide for my family then? Stay tuned because Section 42 will explain that. But right here, the Lord’s just, again, putting the pieces in place, giving Edward the call with some clarification coming in a couple of days. And the Lord here candidly explains that he chose Edward, quote, “Because his heart is pure before me, for he is like unto Nathaniel of old, in whom there is no guile.” That’s so awesome. What a compliment from the Lord.

Casey Griffiths:
And I remember reading that and thinking, Okay, that’s what the number one thing is the Lord is looking for in a bishop. Maybe not the smartest guy, maybe not the most skilled person, but someone in whom there’s no guile, someone who is really genuinely trying to do the best that they can do.

Scott Woodward:
Yeah, it’s beautiful. Then the Lord concludes this section with, I’d say, some gravity in his voice here, telling them that his words just given to them are pure, and therefore Joseph, the elders, and Edward Partridge are to, quote, “beware how you hold them, for they will be answered upon your souls in the day of judgment.” I’m not just dishing out idle words here. Every word I’m saying here has gravity. Please take it seriously.

Casey Griffiths:
This is the Doctrine and Covenants equivalent of with great power comes great responsibility. This is going to be a major blessing to you, but it also ups the ante on your accountability. I’m expecting more of you because of the responsibilities you’ve been given.

Scott Woodward:
Good. Yeah, both to Edward Partridge, to be the bishop, and to Joseph and the elders who he just told, If you will unite in prayer, I will give you my law. And I hear him saying here at the end, I’m not kidding. Take that seriously. To summarize, we could say that Section 41 is kind of a preface to the Lord’s promised law by giving Church elders instructions on how to receive the law, how to use the law, and then also by outlining to whom the law applies, and by appointing the first Church bishop who will be responsible to administer certain aspects of the law. I would say those are probably the consequences of Section 41. This is just a shorty. We’re doing it kind of condensed. And then that becomes, would you say, Casey, the context for Section 42?

Casey Griffiths:
Yeah, correct. Section 42 is received about five days after Section 41. On February 9th, where Joseph and 12 elders are gathered at Newel K. Whitney’s home to apply the instructions about how to save the law. So it’s interesting. We get a bishop called, and a bishop’s major responsibility is to take care of the needs of his stewardship. There’s no wards at this point, right? So Edward is the presiding bishop, I guess, was the calling you’d give him, but presiding in the sense that the Church is really small. So Section 42 is, like I said, commonly known as the law. And it addresses “the elders of my church, whom have assembled yourselves together in my name,” and tells them to “hearken and hear and obey the law, which I shall give unto you,” acknowledging that they have implemented the instructions given in Section 41, “wherewith I commanded you, and you are agreed as touching this one thing, and have asked the Father in my name,” therefore he says, “even so shall you receive.” Now, the interesting thing about Section 42 is that if you go back and you look at the earliest manuscripts, which are found on the Joseph Smith Papers site, you can see that it’s actually not one continuous There’s a series of questions that these elders ask, and it seems to be a compilation of revealed answers to each one of these questions that are posed by the elders.

Casey Griffiths:
So they’re asking these questions, and then actually, there’s a section that was probably received about two weeks later by seven elders meeting together on February 23. What we call the law could be construed as a series of laws where the Lord is answering questions about things like gathering, about providing for the poor, about what should be taught in the Church as we go on. It kind of breaks down like this. Verses 1 through 10 are the answer to question one. Then verses 11 through 69, the major part of the section, answer the second question, 70 to 73, answer question three. Verses 74 to 93 include his response to question four, post two weeks later. In the earliest copies of this revelation, the questions are actually written out as introductions to each section. However, we’re not really sure why, but when this section was prepared for publication, Oliver Cowdery crossed out the questions, which you can see on the Joseph Smith Papers site. Then the questions prompting each one of these subsections are no longer in the text as we see it. If we’re trying to understand this section, it can be helpful to know the questions that prompted the Lord’s responses.

Casey Griffiths:
Going back to the original manuscript, let’s just take a look at each question, and we might summarize them a little bit, but It’s just to give you the context here. The first question could be summarized this way. Should the Church come together in one place or remain in separate bodies? Up to this point, they’ve been having separate churches in Palmyra, in Fayette, in Colesville. This was probably linked to the Lord commanding them to gather to Ohio. So what should the gathering look like in Ohio? The Lord answers this in verses 4 through 10 by telling them that for the time being, they’re to go out and preach the gospel, baptizing and saying, “Repent ye, repent ye, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” They are thus to build up the Church in every region and not gather to one place yet. That is “until the time when it shall be revealed unto you from on high, when the city of the New Jerusalem shall be prepared, that ye may be gathered in one, that ye may be my people, and I will be your God.” So for now, gather in all these different locations. But keep in mind, the goal is to create Zion.

Casey Griffiths:
So eventually, we are going to come to one central location and in order to build the New Jerusalem, get everything going, bring Zion back to Earth, all that good stuff.

Scott Woodward:
Super interesting. Okay, then the second question, I think we could summarize this way, What is to be the law regulating the Church between now and the time of gathering to the New Jerusalem? That’s the big meat and potatoes of this section, verses 11 through 69. This is where the Lord takes his time to explain over the course of these 58 verses what that is. While in one sense, all of Section 42 can be considered the law, early manuscripts actually designate these verses in particular as the law portion of this revelation, which makes sense given the question that’s prompting these verses. This subsection of the law could be broken down into maybe some smaller subsections still. For instance, verses 11 through 17 contain laws regarding gospel preaching, specifying first that only those ordained by Church authorities to do so can officially go forth to preach my gospel as legit representatives. Second, that those who teach are to, quote, “teach the principles of my gospel, which are found in the Bible and the Book of Mormon.” Herein is established the standard of orthodoxy. The Bible and the Book of Mormon were all the scripture we had. The Doctrine and Covenants is in formation. The Pearl of the Great Price is several years away.

Scott Woodward:
Book of Abraham is not even on the scene yet. I just thought that would be fun to point out that we got to read these verses in context. He’s not dogging on the Doctrine and Covenants.

Casey Griffiths:
This section I usually call the Lord’s law of teaching. What are we supposed to teach and where are we supposed to teach from? And he’s saying, no, you teach from the scriptures. That’s your primary source. A lesson in the Church that doesn’t reference the scriptures at some point is probably deviating from this law. We’re going to focus on the word of God, and that is going to be the foundation of what we teach.

Scott Woodward:
And do so, he says, as you are directed by the Spirit. And then he says, How do you get the Spirit? Great formula right here. “And the Spirit shall be given unto you by the prayer of faith. And if you receive not the Spirit, ye shall not teach.” Which maybe we could call that another mini law of gospel preaching in the Church. Teach from the standard works and teach by the Spirit. And if you do that, it’s pretty much guaranteed you’re going to teach awesome lessons that are going to be life-transformative for those in your classes or in your meetings or whatever. As you teach from the scriptures by the Spirit, that’s an electric union that converts, which is awesome. Okay, next. In verses 18 through 29, the Lord outlines what we could call the moral laws of the covenant community. Now, some of these laws will sound familiar. They have some Old Testament echoes from Mount Sinai, such laws as, Thou shalt not kill, thou shalt not steal, thou shalt not lie, thou shalt not commit adultery. And there’s consequences attached to the violation of each of those. Others sound new but kind of familiar, such as, quote, “Thou shalt love thy wife with all thy heart, and shalt cleave unto her and none else,” and also, “Thou shalt not speak evil of thy neighbor, nor do him harm.”

Scott Woodward:
And then still others feel like they’re drawn straight from the New Testament, such as the prohibition to not look upon a woman to lust after her, as well as the timeless, “If thou lovest me, thou shalt serve me and keep all my commandments.” Underscoring that love is the purest motivation behind observing the commandments. It’s kind of interesting here, Casey, to see that what the Lord’s doing is kind of reconstituting both some of the laws from Mount Sinai with Sermon on the Mount, but then giving them a latter-day veneer, if you will, a law specifically calculated for the members of the Church in the latter days, the children of the kingdom, the disciples of Jesus. And so it’s not a straight borrowing from the Old Testament, nor is it a straight quoting from the Sermon on the Mount. This is synthesis of some of the laws throughout time, from transitioning from the old covenant of the Old Testament times to the new covenant in the New Testament times to now this Restoration period. There’s obviously consistency throughout. Then there’s also just some fun emphases. Can we say it like that? Like, Love your wife with all your heart, cleave unto her and none else.

Scott Woodward:
Prior to this verse, we’ve never been commanded to love anybody besides God with all of our heart. And so now he’s saying your spouse is that important.

Casey Griffiths:
Yeah, it’s a little old and it’s a little new, but it’s bringing together the best parts of the Old Testament and New Testament for a new dispensation.

Scott Woodward:
Well said. I would say this about commandments of God in any day and age, that they are each calculated to strengthen the bonds of the covenant community to help Church members dwell in righteousness together on their collective journey to becoming a more Zion-like people. I would emphasize this forever. Anytime I’m teaching commandments, Casey. I always try to emphasize that what the Lord is doing here is trying to build relationships vertically with God and horizontally with each other. All the commandments are calculated to create really abundant relationships. If you think about righteousness as being in right relationship with God and right relationship with people in the covenant community, you’re right on. If you think about sin as deviation in the relationship, strain on the relationship with God and with those in the covenant community, you’re right on. And make a case how that commandment actually strengthens relationships if you keep it, and it really hurts relationships if you violate it. And you can really start to get at the undergirding why underneath God’s commandments. These aren’t magical commandments that God is watching to see if you’ll be obedient and if you obey, then he blesses you with some arbitrary blessings.

Scott Woodward:
It’s like the commandments themselves, and by keeping them, actually bring forth their own blessings in abundant relationships, both with God and with others. If you don’t lie to people, people are going to trust you. If you’re faithful to your spouse, that’s going to be a beautiful relationship. If you violate that, that’s going to be a really bad relationship. It’s going to be a cause and effect. But if people are keeping your name safe in their mouth and talking well about you, and that just creates good community. This is about becoming one with each other, one with God. I always want to emphasize the relational nature of what God is up to. This isn’t magic. This is powerful, divine insight into what makes relationships thrive.

Casey Griffiths:
Right. This is Christian Living 101. It’s not surprising the Lord reiterates these commandments because they’re the basis of a trusting community, which is going to be especially important because of the next law, which probably is the law most associated with Section 42, verses 30-39 outline the law of consecration of property and explain its crucial purposes. If we have the law of consecration in all these verses, the heart of it is really verse 30, “thou wilt remember the poor and consecrate of thy properties for their support that which thou hast to impart unto them with a covenant and a deed which cannot be broken.” The word consecrate actually means to make sacred. Think of consecrated oil or a consecrated land or anything like that. The Zion work of a covenant community was to support the poor and to ultimately eliminate poverty. Consecration of property was to be done, the Lord described further, with a covenant and a deed which cannot be broken. Meaning a way of deeding the property of the Church in a legally binding way. This wasn’t going to be a haphazard, Hey, do good to the poor, drop a dollar into the charity bucket every now and then.

Casey Griffiths:
It was systematic. That’s one major thing that we miss about the law of consecration is that it is a system described in the Doctrine and Covenants, partially here, but all throughout the Doctrine and Covenants, principles of consecration are set down, and members of the Church are expected to understand this. When we say covenant indeed, they were to legally donate their substance to the poor by laying it before the Bishop Edward Partridge. This was going to be a big job, right? That’s probably why he’s called as a full-time officer of the Church who’s going to work and manage this. You could also go through his counselors. There were written contract-like deeds, such as one from Wilford Woodruff or one from Titus Billings. You can actually go online and find a bunch of these deeds of consecration on the Church history library site. They’re really interesting. Once this property was deeded to the Church, it cannot be taken from the Church, verse 37 explains. If the person who consecrated the property is later cast out of the Church for unrepented sin, it says, “he shall not receive again that which he has consecrated unto the poor and the needy of the Church.”

Casey Griffiths:
So this is going to be legally binding, non-refundable, sacred consecration. There has to be some safeguards. We’ll see further on down the road as complications with the law of consecration rise up. However, this isn’t a law just about giving. The Lord explains that in return, each person would be made a steward over his own property. This is sometimes called the law of consecration and stewardship. Part one, consecrating, part two, receiving stewardship, accountable for that which he has received by consecration back from the bishop as much as is sufficient for himself and his family. What they’re trying to explain here is that all those who consecrate their property would receive from the bishop a legal deed of lease of certain property in return for which they were accountable stewards. For instance, there’s a document from Bishop Edward Partridge legally deeding property to someone like Titus Billings after Titus joins the Church and engages in the law of consecration. The amount of property received back from the Church could be more or less than the individual originally consecrated, depending on the needs of his family. I think the assumption still is among Church members that you accept that all that you have belongs to the Lord when you choose to live the law of consecration.

Scott Woodward:
The Lord explains in verse 33 that if after your initial consecration to the Church, a member accumulated, quote, “more property than is necessary for their support,” then that is to be considered a” residue to be consecrated back to the bishop,” who is then to use that surplus to administer to those who have not from time to time. In this way, he says, “Every man who has need” for himself and family, quote, “may be amply supplied and receive according to his wants.” I love the phrase amply supplied. It suggests that this is a law of abundance, not a law of scarcity. In this economic system, everybody’s needs are to be amply taken care of by the generous and voluntary consecration of all of God’s pure-hearted people. You would definitely need to be a selfless, pure-hearted person to do this. We’ll see that that’s going to come into play as this story unfolds as to whether or not it works based on the kind of people that are being asked to live it.

Casey Griffiths:
That’s one of the challenges. I would point out, too, the words he used here, I think, are important. He says, Their needs and their wants. We’ll be able to take care of everybody’s needs and then start addressing people’s wants, things that they need to survive, and then things that they want that might not totally be necessary for their survival, but might make their life happier and more fulfilled. In this economic system, everyone’s needs are to be amply taken care of by the goodness of the people in the community with you, the generous and voluntary consecration of all of God’s pure-hearted people. The Lord explains further in verses 34 to 36 that “the residue,” or what we would consider surplus property, “shall be kept in my storehouse.” That’s a term that you hear a lot when you talk about consecration is a storehouse, and that the storehouse would be used for four purposes.

Scott Woodward:
The bishop’s storehouse.

Casey Griffiths:
Yeah, we still have these in the Church, right? We skip over them. I grew up less than a block away from a bishop’s storehouse and never even realized it until I started studying this stuff in my 30s and realized, oh, yeah, there’s Section 42 right there still being carried out and lived in the Church. But the storehouse is supposed to have four purposes. One, it’s supposed to “administer to the poor and the needy.” Second, it’s for purchasing lands for the Church. Third, for “building houses of worship.” And fourth, for the “building up of the New Jerusalem, which is hereafter to be revealed so that my covenant people may be gathered in one in that day when I shall come to my temple.” The Lord’s introducing this economic system for the salvation of his people. It is part of the New Jerusalem as well. This is the economic system for the New Jerusalem.

Scott Woodward:
Tying it back to this kind of whole framework of Enoch’s people being of one heart, one mind, dwelling in righteousness, and having no poor among them, we can see here the Lord says, yes, this is the way to eliminate poverty from among you. Again, we can see what the Lord is doing here. He’s trying to help develop a Zion people. One thing I want to point out is that today, Church members will recognize, Casey, that the system of consecrating property, as outlined right here in Section 42, is not the system that’s currently in place in the Church. It wouldn’t work if you went to your bishop said, I would like to deed legally all of my land and property to the Church and receive back from you a stewardship. Bishop would say, That’s not how it works. We don’t do it like that, right?

Casey Griffiths:
Unless he was really open-minded.

Scott Woodward:
Yeah. But over time, what we’re going to see in later revelations in the Doctrine and Covenants is that this practice of consecration of property by voluntary transfer of legal deeds between member and bishop will be replaced by our current practice of the consecration of property through voluntary tithes and offerings. While it’s true that the particular systems for how to give and receive consecrated property have changed, the purposes for these consecrations have remained virtually the same since first articulated here in Section 42. Those purposes you just mentioned of helping the poor, building buildings, building houses of worship, purchasing lands, and building up the New Jerusalem. Those are the things we use tithes and offerings for, essentially. We’re going to see the system change in Section 119. When we get there, we’ll talk about when the Lord introduced what we call the law of tithing, and it is way more tied to Section 42 than we often give it credit for. It’s not a replacement of the law of consecration, as we sometimes hear it talked about. It’s a replacement of the system, the financial system, by which we get funds in order to do these purposes of the law of consecration, as they’re being explained here.

Casey Griffiths:
The other thing I would point out is this wasn’t a totally novel concept of the Church. The Bible and the Book of Mormon, both talk about the disciples having all things in common and working to eliminate poverty. In fact, there was a group of Church members in the Ohio area who, even before joining the Church, formed a communal society on the Kirtland farm of Isaac Morley. Sometimes when I visit the Isaac and Lucy Morley farm, I say, Hey, this is sort of the birthplace of consecration. But it shows some of the problems, too. This group was called the Family, and they were attempting to have all things in common. They’re trying to follow the instructions in Acts 2:44 and 4:32 in the New Testament, but they have problems. John Whitmer, the Church historian who’s one of these members coming from New York to Ohio, gets there. When he sees the family carrying out their communal experiment, he writes, “They were going to destruction very fast as to temporal things. For they considered from reading the scripture that what had belonged to a brother belonged to any of the brethren therefore they would take each other’s clothes and other property and use it without leave, which brought on confusion and disappointments, for they did not understand the scripture.”

Casey Griffiths:
So one thing to emphasize is that the law of consecration is explained here was more than just good intentions, more than just, Hey, you know what? Go ahead, take my food, take my shirt, ride off on my horse. It was structured. The way that it functioned in all practicality was there was a form of private property. Once your stewardship was given to you by the bishop, that was your stewardship, and a person couldn’t just come into your house and take your stuff without your consent. When the Lord says a covenant and a deed, it might be addressing the fact that the Family was kind of navigating this by feel, and he was saying, No, there’s going to be rules and regulations and people to oversee it so that it doesn’t turn into this kind of chaotic system. After Section 42 is revealed, Joseph Smith writes that the communal system which existed in the Family was readily abandoned by them for the more perfect law of the Lord. This is a more detailed version of what those good people in the Family had been trying to do just based on good intentions.

Scott Woodward:
Bless their hearts, right? Like, Acts, it just says they had all things common and gives no explanation of exactly how they operated. None of us still know today exactly how they did it. Can you imagine trying to create an entire economic system based on two little verses in the Book of Acts? It just seems doomed to failure from the beginning. Intentions are good, but the details and the implementation, the tactical and strategic ways to implement it were missing. That’s what Section 42 provides, which is so valuable.

Casey Griffiths:
Yeah, the devil’s in the details when it comes to consecration, right?

Scott Woodward:
Let’s keep going. In verses 40 to 42, and then over, if you jump over to 53 through 55, the Lord adds what we could probably call the laws of personal conduct related to consecration, which briefly sketch the type of character and conduct individually needed by Church members for the community-based system of consecration to thrive. This is what you and your roommates would need to follow, Casey, for this.

Casey Griffiths:
Which we didn’t follow very many of these either.

Scott Woodward:
In these verses, pride and idleness are condemned, cleanliness, personal accountability, honesty, integrity. These are elevated. These are extolled. These are the virtues to be developed and the vices to be avoided in order for consecration to actually work. It does matter who you are as you try to live the law of consecration. I think there’s a beautiful reciprocal cycle that if you have a pure enough heart to engage in consecration, it’s going to help purify your heart and you’re going to become more and more Zion-like, and the effects of that are going to bless a lot of people. But if you allow pride and idleness into the system, it can break down pretty quick. We’ll see future revelations where this unfortunately occurs, and we’ll see the effects of that. But the Lord is laying out those general principles right there. Then over in verses 43 through 52, this contains what could be referred to as the laws of caring for the sick, and it just describes two basic types of sick Church members. First type is described in verses 43 to 47 and 52, are those who, quote, “Have not faith to be healed,” but they still believe.

Scott Woodward:
That’s interesting. So what do you do for those who don’t have faith to be healed, but they still believe? The Lord says, They’re to be cared for. They’re to “be nourished with all tenderness, with herbs and mild food. Two or more elders of the Church shall be called to pray for and lay their hands on them in my name. And if after all of this, they die,” the Lord says, “they shall die unto me. And if they live, they shall live unto me.” Very interesting. Number two, the second type of Church members, described in verses 48 through 51, are those who do have faith in me to be healed. He says that as long as these are, quote, “not appointed unto death, they shall be healed.” The blind who have faith to see, shall see. The deaf who have faith to hear, shall hear. And the lame who have faith to leap, shall leap. Those who don’t have faith to do these things, he explains, but believe in me, still have power to become my sons, meaning to become eternal heirs in his kingdom. And as long as they don’t break the Lord’s laws, “thou shalt bear their infirmities,” he says.

Scott Woodward:
He doesn’t seem to distinguish, if you have faith to be healed, awesome. Here’s the effects of that. If you don’t have faith to be healed, no problem. Let’s take care of these members. Let’s nourish them. Let’s do everything we can. And as long as they believe, they’ll still receive the kingdom. He doesn’t seem to put a premium on those who have faith to be healed in terms of eternal consequences. Am I misreading that, Casey?

Casey Griffiths:
No, I don’t think so. I think that there’s something to be gained in just caring for people without any miraculous intervention. Part of the function of the Church is to drop off some Pedialyte when your ministering family’s baby is sick or something like that. Not to invoke the power of God at every time, but to invoke your own power to do good and to help out and to just bless and minister.

Scott Woodward:
Something beautiful about community building, just in that idea. Okay, so finally, verses 56 through 69, the Lord concludes his response to this second question, which, again, if you’ve lost the question, it was, what is to be the law regarding the Church between now and the time of gathering to the New Jerusalem? These verses here, 56-69, are directed primarily to Joseph Smith, and they act as a coda or like an appendix, almost, to the laws that were just given in verses 11-55. They explain to the prophet here how to receive additional laws of God as circumstances require. “Thou shalt ask,” the Lord says, “and my scripture shall be given as I have appointed, and they shall be preserved in safety.” For now, Joseph is to wait and “not teach them until he has received them in full.” Exactly what the Lord here means by “my scriptures” is unclear. Is he referring to the JST, the Bible revision project, saying that he shouldn’t teach his inspired revisions until he has received them in full? Or is he referring to Joseph’s revelations, which will later become the Doctrine and Covenants, or maybe both? We don’t know. But don’t share everything yet, I guess the Lord is saying.

Scott Woodward:
Whatever the case, the Lord says that Joseph should also take the revelations which he has received for a law, “to be my law, to govern my church.” This is really important. I think from this, it’s pretty clear that Doctrine and Covenants 42 was not intended to be the Lord’s sole repository for the law to the Church. This section alone is insufficient to govern the Church between now and the gathering to the New Jerusalem. Previous revelations should play a governing role in the Church, the Lord says, just as future revelations would. “If thou shalt ask,” he said, “thou shalt receive revelation upon revelation, knowledge upon knowledge. Thou shalt ask, and it shall be revealed unto you in mine own due time, where the New Jerusalem shall be built. For unto you it is given to know the mysteries of the kingdom,” he says to Joseph Smith. But for now, the Church is to, quote, “observe the laws which ye have received and be faithful with his assurance that ye shall hereafter receive more church covenants sufficient to establish you both here and in the New Jerusalem.” The Lord here just leaves his written law kind of open-ended, ever and always subject to be added to and modified.

Scott Woodward:
After all, they are dealing here with the God who promises that if you lack wisdom, you can ask of me, and I will give him liberally and upbraid him not. He says here, kind of riffing off of James 1:5. So “lift up your hearts and rejoice, for unto you the kingdom, or in other words, the keys of the Church have been given. Even so. Amen.” So that concludes the Lord’s multipart answer to their second question about the law. Maybe let’s just take a quick break here and we’ll jump right back to the next question being answered.

Casey Griffiths:
We still got to tackle the third and the fourth question that are asked. The third question could be summarized as, how are elders to care for their families while they’re away on missions or otherwise serving in the Church? This starts in verses 70-73. The Lord just shortly tells them that Church officers have their stewardships in the law of consecration of property, even as members. Thus, if they’re away on their missions or their calling is to assist the bishop, and that consumes too much of their time so that they can’t provide for their families, then they are to have “their famiies supported out of the property which is consecrated to the bishop,” or are to be paid “a just remuneration for all of their services, whichever may be thought best or decided by the counselors and bishop,” who, by the way, also receive his support from consecrated property or by being paid “a just remuneration for all his services within the church.”

Scott Woodward:
Is this the justification, do you think, for… I’m thinking today of mission presidents. If they get called to leave their employment, there’s a stipend in the Church that can be used to take care of the family while the mission president is on the mission. If he’s not engaging in anything that makes money, there’s a way that he can draw from, I’d say, the bishop’s storehouse, if you will, to have their needs taken care of during those three years that the mission president’s gone. Most of the time, it was married men who were being called on missions. Today, we don’t do that. We don’t typically do that unless it’s being called as husband and wife to be a senior couple or to be mission presidents. But back then, it was like you were called on a mission and to leave your family. Now, how is your wife and your kids supposed to be taken care of? This is what the Lord is immediately speaking to, but I see that principle in action in other ways in our Church today as well.

Casey Griffiths:
Yeah, I mean, my mission president was an accountant. I’m sure he wasn’t making as much money as a mission president as he was as an accountant because he was fairly successful from what I could tell. But yes, there’s always going to be the need for people to lay their current occupation aside and serve full-time in the Church. And these provisions just provide for that. The elders of the Church ask at least two additional questions that day, which the Lord responds to, but for whatever reasons were not included in the official printed version of the section. Question four was, how and to what extent should we do business with those not of our Church? Question number five was, what preparation should we make for the New York Saints to gather here? When and how? Two weeks later, February 23rd, Joseph and seven elders gather together again to ask the Lord another question related to what was received two weeks earlier. This question could be summarized as, How are Church leaders to discipline those who seriously transgress the moral laws given in the revelation? The Lord’s response was considered to be building upon and expanding from what they’d already received, so it was combined with this section, too.

Casey Griffiths:
In verses 74 to 77, the Lord first addresses marital abandonment, people that abandon their spouse, about those who are still married but left their spouses because their spouse was unfaithful to them, the Lord instructs, “Ye shall not cast them out from among you.” Take care of them. But on the other side of this equation, those who left their spouse because they themselves were adulterous, that is, they themselves are the offenders and their companions are living, they shall be cast out from among you, the Lord declares. Is this our earliest indication that a person’s Church membership can be revoked for immoral conduct? I think there’s a light provision in Section 20, but this is getting down to business.

Scott Woodward:
It does use the phrase cast out a bunch. If they don’t repent, they’ll be cast out. If you lie and you don’t repent, you’ll be cast out. If you commit adultery and you don’t repent, you’ll be cast out. I think that’s the earliest phrase for excommunication. That same phrase is being used here as well, yes.

Casey Griffiths:
Phrases change from time to time. For instance, the current handbook of the Church asks us to not use the word excommunication because it doesn’t quite capture what we do. It just says that their Church membership will be removed. The Lord tells them, “be watchful and careful with all inquiry so that you receive none such among you if they are married. But if they are not married,” and are presumably guilty of sexual sin, “they shall repent of their sins, or you shall not receive them.” Further, “if any persons among you shall kill, they shall be delivered up and dealt with according to the laws of the land.” I believe that’s still what we do in the Church today, Scott. If somebody is guilty of murder, we turn them over to the cops.

Scott Woodward:
Then verses 80 through 83 deal directly with men and women who commit adultery, and it specifies how they should be tried in a Church court and who should be there. Then it goes on to continue talking about those who rob, steal, or lie, perhaps in a business type transaction. And it says, “They shall be delivered up to the law of the land.” Again, if you’re breaking laws of the land, then you need to be turned over to the authorities. Those who commit iniquity, generic term here, quote, “shall be delivered up to the law of God,” which appears in the next verse is to mean delivered up to Church leaders who can now assess how to properly handle it. We’re starting to see the beginnings of what role do Church leaders play in determining the Church standing of members who transgress, and how do you weigh the seriousness of the transgressions and their iniquity. This is beginning. There will be more revelations that help to clarify this coming up. But the Lord then shares some nuances of how to deal with those who offend, he says. He says, If it’s a personal offense against you, then just talk first with them directly and alone about it.

Scott Woodward:
Then if you can’t be reconciled, escalate it to Church leaders who will meet with them privately to assess the situation. But if an offense is committed against many, then they should be chastened before many. Likewise, if an offense is open and public, he says, then they should receive a commensurate rebuke publicly and openly. “If any shall offend in secret, he or she shall be rebuked in secret, that he or she may have opportunity to confess in secret to the one they have offended,” so that their reputation in the Church is not tainted. “And thus shall ye conduct in all things,” the Lord concludes. So it kind of ends abruptly there with instructions on how to deal with offenders of the law and to what degree. Casey, are there any controversies in Section 42 we need to deal with?

Casey Griffiths:
A few, I would say. First, the law of consecration. There’s a lot of controversy. Do we still live the law of consecration? Was it replaced? Is consecration the same thing as communism? Let’s start by maybe addressing that. Is consecration the same thing as communism? I would say no. When you read through the foundational documents of communist theory and Section 42, they’re fundamentally different on a lot of levels. I mean, under the law of consecration, there was private property, there was a give and take. It was based on a person’s faith in God. Communism often eschewed faith in God. Marx called religion the opiate of the masses and steered away from it because under communism, you had to be loyal to the state for the system to work. There’s a lot of variation in the ways communism was practiced, too, but for the most part, there wasn’t private property, and it wasn’t based on a person’s faith in God or commitment to their religion. When you look at them, they do appear similar in some ways, but when you start to examine the finer details, they’re very, very different.

Scott Woodward:
The underlying assumption of the law of consecration is willing, voluntary, no manipulation, coercion, compulsion. You can participate or you cannot. That’s totally up to you. I find that at odds with communism. Very compulsory means. This is not that. This is from the goodness of your heart and the purity of your heart. Can you help eliminate poverty from amongst us by donating of your surplus to help the poor out and try to get them on their feet so that we can actually have no poor amongst us? Awesome. We need to get rid of pride. We need to get rid of covetousness. If you can do that, you can be an incredible blessing to a lot of people.

Casey Griffiths:
Consecration seems to point towards our better nature, that we can overcome the natural man. Communism seems to be aimed at our lesser nature. We’re going to force you to do this for your own good. But let me ask, this doesn’t seem like the system we live today. How come we don’t follow the exact instructions found in Section 42 today?

Scott Woodward:
Yeah, and sometimes people say, because we don’t follow the instructions of 42, like this specific system being outlined here, we are currently not living the law of consecration. That’s one of the biggest myths we’d like to bust here in this particular episode is, let me preface it with this quote by President Hinckley. He said, quote, “The law of sacrifice and the law of consecration were not done away with and are still in effect.” Close quote. Over time, this is going to break down, not entirely because of the Saints’ own faults. We’re going in 1833 to have Missouri mobs descend in Jackson County upon Church members there, kick them out of that county, destroy property there, steal property, destroy some of the Church money-making institutions that had been built up, like the grocery store and printing press, instruments to help generate revenue for the purposes of building Zion. We have some historical things that are going to play out that are going to interrupt the living of this particular financial system of the law of consecration. Steeped in debt with lawyer fees and other things, the Lord having just commanded them to build another temple in Far West. I’m fast forwarding now to 1838, Joseph is feeling the pressure of these financial needs, this particular system has seems to have been broken up, and Church members were kind of culpable.

Scott Woodward:
If you read section 101, the first couple of verses, we’ll get into all that. But that system wasn’t working. And so Joseph asked the Lord, how should we meet the financial needs of the Church? If not this particular system, what? And that’s why we get Section 119 of the Doctrine and Covenants, where the Lord basically repeats many of these core principles in Section 42 about an initial consecration of all. And then after that, a tithe, he calls it, a tithe of 10% of your interest annually. And we’ll get into all the details of what that means. But that’s a quick sketch of what’s going to happen historically over the next couple of years between 1831 here and 1838 in Far West. What we see, again, is not an abandonment of the law of consecration, but rather the Lord giving them a modified system for the financial element of the law of consecration. But the idea of consecrating yourself, your time, your talents, your property. That’s the general principle. That has never gone away. We shouldn’t confuse this financial systems that are in play here with the law of consecration itself. One system is swapped out for a different one, modification of the first.

Scott Woodward:
That’s it. That’s literally it. That’s the only thing that really changed was a slight modification of Section 42, which we can go read about, and we will study in-depth in Section 119. That’s just a big myth. I’ve heard that ever since I started paying attention in the Church. I’ve heard people say, Yeah, the law of consecration was done away with because the early Saints couldn’t live it. So the Lord gave the lower law of tithing until we can live this higher law, probably in the Millennium or something. All of that is just bogus. That is not true. The law of consecration never went away, although there’s been a modification in the financial element of it, a slight tweak from Section 119.

Casey Griffiths:
I would just add that the law of consecration is a living revelation. One of the things that’s emphasized in here is the Lord keeps telling them, and I’ll give you more instructions. Sometimes with laws like the law of consecration or the word of wisdom, people get overzealous and say, Well, if we’re not living it exactly the way it is in the scriptures, we’re not living it. But these revelations continue to find life in the Church and have to be applied in different contexts with different challenges and different issues coming up. They lived a barter economy in 1831. It was a whole different financial system. But I think the principles of consecration are still alive and well in the Church and always have been. I mean, we can’t give it any more emphasis than to make one of the five covenants a person has to enter into when they go to the temple. So it’s obviously still something that’s a big deal to us and the Church members should think about very seriously. But they’ve been given a little bit more freedom to define what it means for them to to create everything that they’ve been given to the Lord.

Scott Woodward:
Elder Bednar, just in 2019, made it really explicit. He said, “When we go to the temple, we learn about following the Savior by receiving and honoring covenants, too.” And then he names them. These are the covenants of the endowment to keep the law of obedience, the law of sacrifice, the law of the gospel, the law of chastity, and the law of consecration. Casey, we are not covenanting to keep the law of consecration in the future. Not now, but in the future, any more than we’re not covenanting to keep the law of chastity now, but in the future. We are covenanting right now. I will covenant to consecrate my time, my talents, my property to the building up of God’s kingdom on Earth. That’s been in place ever since Section 42. All right, so, Casey, what are the consequences of Section 41 and 42?

Casey Griffiths:
Section 42 is the partial fulfillment of the Lord’s promise to give them the law when they go to the Ohio. That seems to be how the Saints thought of it, too. The same month that it’s received, Joseph Smith writes to Martin Harris, who’s still back in New York, and reports to him about Section 42, and he describes it this way. He says, “We have received the laws of the kingdom since we came here, and the disciples in these parts have received them gladly.” Him calling this the laws of the kingdom is significant here. He understands that God’s kingdom, which he once called the kingdom of Zion, was beginning to come forth into the world. For Joseph, the laws in Section 42 were not just given by a kind God to regulate a then quaint little 19th-century American Christian movement of a few hundred souls, but it was supposed to be the words of a king, the king of Zion, who was beginning to establish his kingdom on earth by building a Zion people who are of one heart and one mind and who dwelt in righteousness, or right relationships with each other and God so that they could also eliminate poverty from among them so that everybody can thrive.

Casey Griffiths:
Section 42 fulfills this in Joseph’s mind, but there is a lot more to come and more laws and commandments, more tweaks and adjustments, especially the law of consecration. As the Church continues to progress, expand and grow.

Scott Woodward:
All right, let’s talk about Doctrine and Covenants 43. What is going on with Section 43, Casey? This is same month as Section 42, but it seems like the context has shifted dramatically.

Casey Griffiths:
Yeah, this is a whole different ball game because rather than elders gathering together to receive the laws of the Lord, this revelation is received around the same time, but it seems like this revelation arises from external factors, problems that are happening. Specifically, there’s a challenge to Joseph’s role as the revelator for the entire Church. It’s really similar to what happened with Hiram Page in Section 28 of the Doctrine and Covenants. In a church where anybody can get revelation, who has the right to receive revelation for who? John Whitmer is the Church historian, and this is the background he gives. He says, “About these days, there was a woman by the name of Hubble who professed to be a prophetess of the Lord and professed to have many revelations and knew that the Book of Mormon was true and that she should become a teacher in the Church of Christ. She appeared very sanctimonious and deceived some who were not able to detect her in her hypocrisy. Others, however, had a spirit of discernment, and her follies and abominations were made manifest. The Lord gave revelation that the Saints might not be deceived.” A woman named Hubble , according to John Whitmer.

Scott Woodward:
We’ve got some Hubble trouble.

Casey Griffiths:
Hubble trouble. Yeah. Now, who is this woman? We don’t know exactly. There’s a couple likely figures. For instance, John Whitmer may have been referencing Laura Fuller Hubble, who was the older sister of Edson Fuller, a man who joined the Church and had been ordained an elder. Looking at the records from the time, another possibility is that he was referring to Louisa Hubble, a convert from the Disciples of Christ, who eventually leaves the Church and rejoined her prior faith a few months after this revelation was received. So a couple of possibilities, but regardless of what her actual identity is, the incident presents a larger issue among the Saints in Kirtland. The issue centers around their confusion about spiritual manifestations and the distinction between personal and ecclesiastical forms of revelation. So Joseph Smith sees the need to establish the order of the Church among new converts in Kirtland. Reflecting on this experience, this is how he introduces the revelation. He says, “A woman came with great pretensions to revealing commandments, laws, and other curious matters. And as every person almost has advocates for both theory and practice in the various notions and projects of the age, it became necessary to inquire of the Lord.”

Casey Griffiths:
So he’s having to act out what happened with Hiram Page here all over again, which is understandable. This is just always going to be a basic question in the Church.

Scott Woodward:
Would it be probably fair to say that this needed to be addressed again because Hiram Page happened in New York, and those New York Saints have not yet gathered to Ohio. This is happening fresh in Kirtland, very similar issue. We get another revelation addressing this there to a very new group of members who are not aware of Section 28. Is that fair?

Casey Griffiths:
Yeah. The question of who can get revelation for whom still lingers in the Church, right? So these new converts are just going through the same growing pains that the new converts in New York and Pennsylvania were going through as well. The revelations reveal very similar principles, but this one does have some nice phrasing in it that clarifies a couple of things. John Whitmer, again, writing about this, says, “The enemy of all righteousness had got a hold of some of those who professed to be his followers because they had not sufficient knowledge to detect him in all his devices. He took a notion to blind the minds of some of the weaker ones and made them think that an angel of God appeared to them and showed them writings on the outside cover of the Bible and on parchment, which flew through the air and on the back of their hands, and many such foolish and vain things. Others lost their strength, and some slid on the floor, and such like maneuvers which prove greatly to the injury of the cause.” It’s not just Laura Hubble. There’s a lot going on here about weird revelations and spiritual enthusiasms.

Casey Griffiths:
The revelation and several other revelations to come down the road will address this, too. So Joseph Smith receives revelations like this one, like Section 46, Section 50 and 52, where the Lord uses really gentle reasoning to help the disciples find their way through these challenges. Again, these are just natural growing pains. While noting the challenges, among them, John Whitmer also recognized the progress that was happening. He also writes, “The Lord also worked, and many embraced the work, and the honest and hard stood firm and immovable.” Growing pains, basically, is, I guess, what we would say are happening here.

Scott Woodward:
Okay, so what does the Lord actually say to this group and to this Hubble situation? Verse 1, “O hearken ye elders of my church, and give ear to the words which I shall speak unto you.” And then he gets right to it. Verse 2, “Behold, verily, verily, I say unto you that ye have received a commandment for a law unto my church.” Referring to Section 42 we just talked about. “Through him whom I have appointed unto you to receive commandments and revelations from my hand.” He’s reminding them of Section 42 here, received earlier that month. And he’s drawing a really clear point here to say, You received it through the one I appointed to receive revelations. Remember that? Building on that idea, verse 3, he says, “And this ye shall know assuredly that there is none other appointed unto you to receive commandments and revelations until he,” Joseph Smith, “be taken if he abide in me. But verily, verily, I say unto you that none else shall be appointed unto this gift,” that Joseph Smith has, “except it be through him,” through Joseph. “For if it be taken from him,” the Lord says, “he,” Joseph, “shall not have power except to appoint another in his stead.”

Scott Woodward:
That’s interesting, right? So notice that while the Lord is not saying that Joseph Smith is infallible, he is saying that there is an established revelatory order in the Church. And were Joseph to lose his revelatory gift, he would still be authorized to appoint another in his place. The point is that there is an appointed one. Verse 5, “And this shall be a law unto you, that ye receive not the teachings of any that shall come before you as revelations or commandments.” This is an important point for Church members then and now to know in order to avoid being spiritually manipulated. If someone at Church or on YouTube or wherever, is teaching or claiming something as true doctrine, which they say they have received personal revelation about, but that revelation can’t be confirmed by the revelations in the standard works that have been authorized through God’s revelators. Then you can confidently receive not that teaching, he’s saying here. If they are not the one appointed, then don’t receive it. Verse 6, “And this I give unto you that you may not be deceived, that you may know they are not of me.” This is a big reason we do sustainings at General Conference, so that we can all know who’s been duly authorized to present new commandments and revelations to the Church.

Scott Woodward:
There is one man who is authorized to exercise all priesthood keys, and we all know who that is because we all do this. And by doing this, by implication, we also know who’s not been authorized to do so. Anyone who’s not that person has not been authorized to introduce new doctrine, new revelation. When God wants a new doctrine revealed, he’ll reveal it through the living prophet. But the act of him doing so will be a recognizable event rather than something merely just like spoken in General Conference, for instance. President Harold B. Lee said, “The only one authorized to bring forth any new doctrine is the President of the Church, who, when he does, will declare it as revelation from God.” Joseph Smith always did this. He was very clear what was a revelation and what wasn’t. “And it will be so accepted by the Council of the Twelve and sustained by the body of the Church.” President Hugh B. Brown confirmed, he said, “The only way I know of by which the teachings of any person or group may become binding upon the Church is if the teachings have been reviewed by all the Brethren, submitted to the highest councils of the Church, and then approved by the whole body of the Church,” like the Doctrine and Covenants was.

Scott Woodward:
It’s done first by the one appointed. This then becomes approved revelation in the Church, which should then be taught by authorized teachers in the Church, which is where he goes next in verse seven. He says, “For verily I say unto you that he that is ordained of me shall come in at the gate.” That’s a cool phrase. “And be ordained, as I have told you before, to teach those revelations which you have received and shall receive through him whom I have appointed.” In other words, you have the revelator, the one person who’s authorized to get new revelations. Then you have others who are ordained of me, he says, who come in at the gate, authorized teachers in the Church, to teach those revelations that the one revelator has received. Then in verse 8, the Lord gives what I think, Casey, might be the best instruction in the scriptures on how to have effective meetings and effective classes in the Church. It’s at least a structure. Verse 8, “Now, behold, I give unto you a commandment,” he says, “that when you are assembled together, ye shall,” one, “instruct and edify each other.” To what end, though, he says, “that ye may know how to act and direct my church, how to act upon the points of my law and commandments, which I have given.”

Scott Woodward:
We get together in classes and meetings to be instructed and edified together with a healthy amount of discussion on how to act upon the Lord’s law and commandments. Then verse 9 adds more insight, says, “And thus ye shall become instructed in the law of my church and be sanctified by that ye have received, and ye shall bind yourselves to act in all holiness before me.” Let that marinate. It seems like there’s a strong relationship between binding yourself to act on God’s law and being sanctified by that law. It’s not in the hearing and discussing of God’s law alone where the magic happens, it’s in the living it. It’s in living in accordance with God’s law that the sanctifying power of that law is unlocked in our lives. What a beautiful pattern there. When you get together to talk with Church members, with each other, and you have a teacher, that’s what you should do. You should discuss God’s laws, talk about what they are so you can know how to act, and then bind yourself to act in a way that will help bring about the sanctification that the law was intended from the beginning to help bring about.

Scott Woodward:
What a pattern.

Casey Griffiths:
One that we should probably follow a little bit more in the Church, right? We tend to get off on tangents and travel logs and the Lord saying, Here’s why this exists. Here’s what I need you to do with it.

Scott Woodward:
This goes back to Section 41, where the Lord said, Those who hear my law and do it, those are my disciples, right? Those are the children of the kingdom. Those are the ones who the sanctifying power of the law is being locked in their lives. It’s because they’re doing it. There’s no shortcut to that. You got to actually, at some point, learn how to live the law. Being in classes and Church meetings can be inspiring settings where you’re actually able to reach deep inside your soul and make the kind of commitments where you’re determined to actually take God’s law seriously. I know that’s happened for me a lot. I have decided, All right, I’m going to actually take this serious and try to live God’s law. That’s the effect of really good teaching, a really good class environment when students walk away with that kind of commitment.

Casey Griffiths:
Yeah. Well, and he again leads into an endorsing prophetic leadership in verse 12, “If you desire the glories of the kingdom, appoint ye my servant, Joseph Smith, Jr., and uphold him before me by the prayer of faith.” This section deals with a lot of things, but it is saying, Hey, if you want to know what I have for you to do, if you want to receive more light knowledge, here’s the instrument, here’s the person.

Scott Woodward:
Support him. Help him succeed.

Casey Griffiths:
The verse in here that’s perplexed me a little bit. Verse 15, “Again, I say, he hark in you elders of my church whom I have appointed, ye are not sent forth to be taught, but to teach the children of men the things which I have put into your hands by the power of my Spirit, and ye are to be taught from on high. Sanctify yourselves, and ye shall be endowed with power, that ye may give even as I have spoken.” That verse just perplexed me a little bit because I learned so much as a missionary. I was constantly learning, and we’d have conversations with interesting people. I wrestled with it a little bit. But I think the message here is, yeah, don’t let your learning overwhelm the message I need you to give to people. I found this quote by Anthony H. Lund, where he said this. He said, “We have only one object in going out amongst the nations, and that is to follow the master’s instructions to go out teach them. That is our work. We do not go out to win battles as debaters, but we go out to teach men that which we have received, which we know is true.

Casey Griffiths:
“If men are not willing to receive it, that is their own concern, not ours. The elders do their duty and leave the result to the Lord. Those who seek to debate with our elders and thirst for the honor of beating them in an argument do not want to be taught. They simply want contention.” Then it seems like the rest of the verses here are to say, this is why the message is so important. Here is what we’re preparing for. Here is the conditions leading up to the Second Coming. Here’s why I need you to listen to what the elders have to say.

Scott Woodward:
Yeah, this seems to reiterate some of the themes from Doctrine and Covenants, Section 1, that the reason I’m calling upon my weak and simple servants is to go out and prepare a people for the Second Coming of Jesus. Then he elaborates a lot in verse 17-35 on what the Second Coming and the preparation for the Second Coming is going to be like. He talks about calamities, the trump sounding long and loud, the resurrection at the beginning of the Millennium in verse 18. He says, Gird up your loins, go out and tell people to prepare themselves for the great day of the Lord, and invite people to repent and prepare for the great day of the Lord, verse 21. Verse 22, “Repent ye for the great day of the Lord has come.” The message that’s coming through God’s anointed servant, the one appointed, is a consistent message of preparation for the Second Coming of Jesus. I just want to point out something that President Nelson, in his one and only talk at General Conference, he started talking about preparing for the Second Coming of Jesus, and then he says this, quote, “We do not know the day or the hour of his coming, but I do know that the Lord is prompting me to urge us to get ready for that great and dreadful day.”

Scott Woodward:
That got my attention. It got me thinking, that’s what the Lord has been doing ever since Joseph Smith. He has been prompting his one appointed to teach and help prepare the Church for the Second Coming of Jesus. Section 43 is that on full display here. It is as he describes the calamities that will come prior to the Lord’s coming. He’s saying, Please, please. Verse 28, “Labor ye, labor ye in my vineyard for the last time, for the last time, call upon the inhabitants of the earth,” invite them to prepare for the coming of Jesus. And so that’s been the message from these early sections of the Doctrine and Covenants, Section 1, like I said, all the way to this most recent General Conference, the one the Lord has appointed to be the revelator, is telling us, the Lord keeps prompting me to help prepare us for that day. I highly recommend reading Section 43, but I also highly recommend reading President Nelson’s recent talk to see what counsel he gave in terms of preparation for the Second Coming of Christ.

Casey Griffiths:
If you read President Nelson’s talk, you’re just doing what Section 43 asked you to do, which is support and uphold the living prophet.

Scott Woodward:
Any other verses you want to highlight before we wrap this all up?

Casey Griffiths:
These last few which talk about calamities and destructions should not be read without including the very end of the section which talks about the promise of this new world to come, this millennial kingdom. He notes verse 30, “The great Millennium,” is what he calls it, “of which I have spoken of by the mouth of my servants, shall come, and Satan shall be bound, and when he is loosed again, he shall only reign for a little season, then cometh the end of the earth, and he that liveth in righteousness shall be changed in the twinkling of an eye.” The good and the bad, right next to each other, we have a message of warning, but we also have a message of hope towards people that better things are coming, that they’re on the way for us.

Scott Woodward:
Yes. With the asterisk, right? If. There’s this if, if you will hearken to these words. That’s what he says in verse 34, “Hearken ye to these words. Behold, I am Jesus Christ, the Savior of the world. Treasure these things up in your hearts, and let the solemnities of eternity rest upon your minds. Be sober. Keep all my commandments. Even so. Amen.” That’s the criteria to Becoming part of that group who will thrive in the Millennium with Jesus. Any controversies we want to bring out in Section 43, Casey? I mean, the whole thing is a response to a controversy happening in Kirtland.

Casey Griffiths:
An oldie but a goody controversy. Who can receive revelation? But it does bring up some interesting wrinkles to that question. For instance, this question addresses prophetic infallibility, probably more directly than any other section in the Doctrine and Covenants. Is the prophet fallible? Yes. It says he can fall. Can he appoint his successor if he loses his prophetic gift? Yes. Can he appoint a successor if he doesn’t lose his revelatory gift? Yes. We believe so. This is already setting up a controversy that we don’t really deal with till the end of the Doctrine and Covenants, which is succession. Who can take a prophet’s place? A lot of my friends in Community of Christ point to this section to say the prophet has to appoint his successor. That’s their preferred method of succession. But I counter back by saying, Yeah, we believe the same thing. We just think that the prophet appoints 14 successors. Anyone that the prophet appoints as an apostle is a possible successor to the leadership of the Church. The Lord just has to take his time and prepare for wear them, and when they’re ready, they will be placed in that position by the Lord, not necessarily by the prophet.

Casey Griffiths:
The prophet calls them. Then the Lord determines who the person in the Church will be.

Scott Woodward:
We will dig deeper into the succession question as we get later on. Right here, we’re already seeing this is only 1831, and we’re seeing some seeds being planted in terms of some of the logic and the theology of succession. Stay tuned for more on that.

Casey Griffiths:
Let’s talk consequences. We mentioned, this one is largely a repeat of Hiram Page, just done in Ohio with slightly different cast of characters. It’s understandable that the same principles about stewardship and revelation needed to be revealed. To new converts in Ohio, they don’t have the Doctrine and Covenants, so they can’t just open up Section 28 and read it at this point. Lord has to give instructions line up online. The outcome is similar, where the prophesies of the lady Hubble were rejected in favor of the revelations of Joseph Smith. Another possible controversy could come from verse 15, where the Lord instructs elders that they’re sent forth to teach and not be taught. I wouldn’t say that missionaries aren’t supposed to listen to people, but I would say that, like we emphasized earlier, they need to give emphasis to their message. They need to take time to teach and make sure that it’s shared.

Scott Woodward:
I would also add another consequence that while this revelation resolves that immediate Hubble trouble, it’s actually the first revelation, opening a whole series of revelations leading up to Doctrine and Covenants 46 and 50 that are going to address more more broadly, how you deal with manifestations of the Spirit and being able to tell if they’re legit or not legit. We’ll get into these coming up in future sections. Many of the converts in Kirtland were, we would call them enthusiastic about the gifts of the Spirit, like the New Testament refers to, speaking in tongues and people moving and shaking their bodies and saying the Spirit of the Lord is upon them. Some people are wondering in the Church if that’s real, legit. Should we countenance that as something that is really from the Lord or not? How can you tell? This is the first in a series, I would say. So Section 43 and then Sections 46 and 50, maybe a couple of others, 52, that are going to help Church members understand how the gifts of the Spirit operate, including personal revelation in the Church so that we will not be deceived. That’s a general principle over those sections is, how do you make sure you’re not deceived by counterfeit revelations?

Scott Woodward:
And how can you tell the authentic from the counterfeit? And so stay tuned for more on that. But this is one of the very beginnings of the Lord’s commentary on that problem. Section 44 is a shorty but goody. Maybe you can do the context, the content, controversy, and consequences all in one minute. Do you want to give it a shot?

Casey Griffiths:
Section 44, we don’t know the exact date this is given, but its placement suggests it’s given around the same time as the other revelations we’ve just dealt with, probably around February 1831. The revelation calls for a gathering of elders to assemble themselves together. We don’t know exactly when this was fulfilled. There was a conference of elders held in April 1831, but it more likely refers to a conference later that year in June. In his history, Joseph Smith ties this revelation directly to that meeting where the prophet and others are ordained to the high priesthood. That one’s a big deal. This is more of a coming-soon kind of thing. We’ll deal with this when we get to Section 52, which is a revelation received at that conference that has huge consequences for the Church. It’s just noting an exciting and challenging time. Around the time this revelation is received, Joseph Smith writes to Martin Harris, asking him to “inform the elders which are there that all of them who can be spared will come here without delay, if possible, by commandment of the Lord, as he has a great work for them all in this our inheritance.”

Casey Griffiths:
All hands on deck. We’ve got all these converts in Ohio. He writes to Hyrum Smith during the same time saying, “I have been engaged in regulating the Churches here as the disciples are numerous, and the devil has made many attempts to overthrow them. It has been a serious job. But as the Lord is with us and we have overcome and have all things regular, the work is breaking forth on the right-hand and on the left, and there’s a great call for elders in this place.” Section 44 is acknowledging a reality, which is there’s a ton of stuff happening in Ohio, exciting stuff, and they need more elders from the Church to regulate these things, to help people, to guide these new converts that are quickly multiplying in Ohio.

Scott Woodward:
Basically, Section 44 is an invitation for the elders of the Church to gather together with a promise, verse 2, that the Lord’s Spirit will be poured out upon them in the day they come together, and then from there, they’re going to be asked to go out and preach the gospel of repentance to the people and build Zion, and teach them the laws that God has revealed in Ohio so that their enemies won’t have power over them. The people will be enabled to keep God’s laws and take care of the poor, the needy, the sick, et cetera, in establishing the cause of Zion. It’s just a shorty book of six little verses calling for a big meeting that we’ll talk about as we talk about the context of Section 52 of the Doctrine and Covenants. In a really important way, Section 44 sets up Section 52.

Casey Griffiths:
I would add verse 6, “Ye must visit the poor and the needy and administer to their relief that they may be kept until all things may be done according to my law which you have received.” Just a little encouragement, go out there and start helping the poor and needy while we’re putting the elements of the law of consecration into place. When it comes to controversies, any major controversies you see in this section?

Scott Woodward:
No, I see no controversies here. You?

Casey Griffiths:
No, the conference that it sets up is going to have some meaty controversies to deal with. But this is just standard. Let’s get everybody together so that we can get further light and knowledge.

Scott Woodward:
Yeah. The consequences of Section 44 are that June 1831 meeting at Isaac Morley’s farm, and it will have major consequences for the Church. At this conference, the high priesthood is revealed, and we get a revelation that calls the first group of elders to go to Missouri and identify of the city of Zion. So this is the first cookie crumb that’s going to lead to that, that’s going to lead to that. And so this is setting things up. We’re going to start talking about Missouri, Casey, and this is the beginning of that.

Casey Griffiths:
Big things to come. Well, Scott, this has been a delight. One of my favorite parts of the Doctrine and Covenants, and discussing consecration is something I always love to do. So thank you.

Scott Woodward:
100%, this has been fun. We will see you next week when we get to dive into just one section, Casey, just Section 45 next week. So that’ll be a blast.

Casey Griffiths:
That’ll be fun. See you then.

Scott Woodward:
Okay. All right. We’ll see you then.