D&C 112 - Intro

There is a lot going on in section 112 and I find it kind of complicated. The section heading says, “Revelation given through Joseph Smith the Prophet to Thomas B. Marsh, at Kirtland, Ohio, July 23, 1837, concerning the Twelve Apostles of the Lamb. Tis revelation was received on the day Elders Heber C. Kimball and Orson Hyde first preached the gospel in England. Thomas B. Marsh was at this time President of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles.” The IM gives background saying, “Before he received this revelation, the Prophet Joseph Smith recorded in his journal that Kirtland was experiencing widespread disunity, contention, and apostasy. Financial speculation had caused the Kirtland Safety Society, the financial institution of the Church, to fail. Many, even some of the leaders of the Church, blamed the Prophet for such problems. The Prophet Joseph wrote: ‘In this state of things, and but a few weeks before the Twelve were expecting to meet in full quorum, (some of them having been absent for some time), God revealed to me that something new must be done for the salvation of His Church. And on or about the first of June, 1837, Heber C. Kimball, one of the Twelve, was set apart by the spirit of prophecy and revelation, prayer and laying on of hands, of the First Presidency, to preside over a mission to England, to be the first foreign mission of the Church of Christ in the last days.’ President Joseph Fielding Smith wrote: ‘The day that the British Missionaries preached the first sermons in England, July 23, 1837, the Lord gave a revelation to the Prophet Joseph Smith directed to Thomas B. Marsh as president of the council of the apostles. In this revelation Elder Marsh was instructed to teach the brethren in his council and point out to them their duty and responsibilities in proclaiming the Gospel. Some of the apostles had forsaken their responsibility and had turned their attention to schemes of speculation… the years preceding the year 1837, were years of wild speculation throughout the United States and Elder Heber C. Kimball pointed out how this boom had struck Kirtland and some of the brethren had borrowed great sums and had gone into business, at the expense of their ministry. Then when the bauble of false prosperity broke they were left financially stranded; then they began to blame the Prophet Joseph Smith. This revelation to Thomas B. Marsh was a warning and a call to him to bring his brethren back into the line of their duty as apostles of Jesus Christ.’ The first twelve verses of section 112 are directed to Thomas B. Marsh, giving him comfort, counsel, and admonition. The rest of the section contains the instructions he was to convey to the Twelve.” It seems that this section is related to section 111 because it discusses financial concepts and the gospel. The history given here reminds me of a time when I was first involved in learning business. I was living in Utah back in 2008 which was the beginning of the decline of the housing boom, and therefore was interested in buying and selling real estate. I was working with other people, most of whom were members of the Church and they were giving advice that flew in the face of prophetic counsel. They were advocating putting tens of thousands of dollars on credit cards because “you are going to earn it back on your first deal.” And I listened to them. They advocated quitting your job as soon as possible so that you could focus on doing real estate full time. I remembered this when he said that many of the brethren got caught up in speculative businesses and ruined Kirtland financially. I can honestly see exactly where they are coming from, where their motivation is, they suffered in poverty for so long, they sacrificed for so long, they did without for so long. There’s a mindset that comes in when that happens, when the deprivation is so severe and so prolonged that you feel trapped and crushed that you’ll grasp at almost anything to get relief. And it’s not totally far fetched for someone to believe that they’ve been faithful and patient in their suffering so a big windfall relief is coming, especially when we see money swirling around us. I honestly don’t believe that money is real, I believe that it is a concept. If corporations can make billions of dollars annually, but the average income worldwide is $6000, then money isn’t real. If the janitor at the hospital I work at makes a quarter of what I do and does 3 times more physical labor that me, then money isn’t real. So it’s not totally unrealistic to think that you might be on the receiving end of that concept, especially if you’ve lived for so long on the neglected side. And it’s hard to accept that our answer might be no, that we might have to work for it harder or longer, our lifestyle or rather our livelihood is so precious because so many people depend on us that it can be really difficult to not focus on it, but so much of the time our answer is to focus on the spiritual aspect of life and to be satisfied with what we have.