D&C 68:1-10

The IM gives background for section 68 by quoting President Joseph Fielding Smith as teaching, “At the close of the conference of November 1-12, 1831, Elders Orson Hyde, Luke Johnson, Lyman E. Johnson, and William W. McLellin, cane to the Prophet and sought the will of the Lord concerning themselves, and their ministry. The Prophet made inquiry and received the revelation which appears as Section sixty-eight. Surely the Lord in his wisdom poured out knowledge, line upon line, precept upon precept as the members of the Church were prepared to receive it.”

68:1-4 - The Lord begins by addressing “My servant, Orson Hyde, was called by his ordination to proclaim the everlasting gospel, by the Spirit of the living God, from people to people, and from land to land, in the congregations of the wicked, in their synagogues, reasoning with and expounding all scriptures unto them.” The IM says, “The prophecy in this verse was literally fulfilled. Orson Hyde proclaimed the gospel ‘from people to people, from land to land.’ In 1832, he and Samuel H. Smith traveled in the States of New York, Massachusetts, Maine, and Rhode Island – two thousand miles- on foot. In 1835 he was ordained an Apostle, and in 1837 he went on a mission to England. In 1840 he was sent on a mission to Jerusalem. He crossed the Ocean, traveled through England and Germany, visited Constantinople, Cairo, and Alexandria, and finally, reached the Holy City. On October 24^th, 1841, he went up on the Mount of Olives and offered a prayer, dedicating Palestine for the gathering of the Jews.” The Lord counsels those who are called to preach the gospel to “speak as they are moved upon by the Holy Ghost. And whatsoever they shall speak when moved upon by the Holy Ghost shall be scripture, shall be the will of the Lord, shall be the mind of the Lord, shall be the word of the Lord, shall be the voice of the Lord, and the power of God unto salvation.” I didn’t really understand what this meant by the IM clarifies, saying, “Scripture is the mind and will of God revealed through His servants. Peter declared, ‘Prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost.’ Such scripture has been written and preserved in the standard works as priceless gems of eternal truth. The standard works are not the only source of scripture, however. As President Joseph Fielding Smith taught: ‘When one of the brethren stands before a congregation of the people today, and the inspiration of the Lord is upon him, he speaks that which the Lord would have him speak. It is just as much scripture as anything you will find written in any of these records, and yet we call these the standard works of the Church. We depend, of course, upon the guidance of the brethren who are entitled to inspiration. There is only one man in the Church at a time who has the right to give revelation for the Church, and that is the President of the Church. But that does not bar any other member in this Church from speaking the word of the Lord, as indicated here in this revelation, section 68, but a revelation that is to be given as these revelations are given in this book, tot the church, will come through the presiding officer of the Church; yet, the word of the Lord, as spoken by other servants at the general conferences and stake conference, or wherever they may be when they speak that which the Lord has put into their mouths, is just as much the word of the Lord as the writing and the words of other prophets in other dispensations.’ Elder Harold B. Lee further defined scripture when he said: ‘It is not to be thought that every word spoken by the General Authorities is inspired, or that they are moved upon by the Holy Ghost in everything they read and write. Now you keep that in mind. I don’t care what his position is, if he writes something or speaks something that goes beyond anything that you can find in the standard church works, unless that one be the prophet, seer, and revelation- please not that one exception- you may immediately say, ‘Well, that is him own idea.’ And if he says something that contradicts what is found in the standard church works (I think that is why we call them ‘standard’- it is the standard of measure of all that men teach), you may know by that same token that it is false, regardless of the position of the man who says it.’” This is kind of like the concept that the Prophet receives direct revelation from the Lord for the whole church, and then the other general authorities explain it to the people. So how do we know the difference? How do we know if someone is speaking from God or from himself? The IM continues by quoting President J. Reuben Clark Jr. as teaching, “How shall we know when the things they have spoken were said as they were ‘moved upon by the Holy Ghost?’ I have given some thought to this question, and the answer thereto so far as I can determine, is: We can tell when the speakers are ‘moved upon by the Holy Ghost’ only when we, ourselves, are ‘moved upon by the Holy Ghost.’ In a way, this completely shifts the responsibility from them to us to determine when they so speak.” I really like this, it take away the possibility of misinterpretation, kind of like when the “elect” are tricked into believing someone or something that is obviously incorrect, we can know if it is really the word of God or not.

68:5-10 - The Elder, and ourselves, are counseled to “be of good cheer, and do not fear, for I the Lord am with you, and will stand by you; and ye shall bear record of me, even Jesus Christ, that I am the Son of the living God, that I was, that I am, and that I am to come.” I feel like this is similar to the last revelation where the principle of personal revelation is expounded, interesting how each revelation seems to build on each other. Even though we might not be full time proselyting missionaries, we can still bear our own testimony of the Savior by being happy. Interestingly, I was listening to the October 2003 general conference, and one of the speakers talked about being a member missionary by showing others that we are happy, and when they ask us why, we can tell them that it is because of the gospel. I needed to hear this today because I am a little bit nervous about moving shifts, but I need to trust the Lord, it was right when I prayed about is, so it is right now, I need to not fear and just trust him. The Lord assures them that those who “believeth and is baptized shall be saved… And he that believeth shall be blest with signs following, even as it is written.” The IM considers this as “signs follow faithful believers.” We have seen numerous examples of people whose testimonies were built upon miracles, or those who saw blatantly the hand of God, and still refused to believe. The IM teaches, “People often desire to see a sign or hear a voice from the unseen world. This desire may be manifest in some members of the Church at some stage of their spiritual development. A few honestly believe that such an experience would greatly strengthen their testimony or convince nonbelievers of the truth of the gospel of Jesus Christ. People who possess such a notion should remember that signs are not usually given before faith is shown, for such desires and manifestations are a detriment to the development of true faith and are the symptoms of wickedness. Signs are the offspring of faith and serve to confirm righteousness. Signs follow faith, and without faith no miracle can occur. The outward manifestation of God’s power is an assurance that our faith and righteousness have received divine sanction.”