D&C 129

Section 129 is pretty interesting, abstract for sure, at least for me. The IM gives background saying, "In the early days of the Church, many were curious about angels, spirits, and resurrected persons. About the time Joseph Smith recorded this revelation, he wrote: 'A man came to me in Kirtland, and told me he had seen an angel, and described his dress. I told him he had seen no angel, and that there was no such dress in heaven. He grew mad, and went into the street and commanded fire to come down out of heaven to consume me. I laughed at him, and said, You are one of Baal's prophets; your God does not hear you; jump up and cut yourself; and he commanded fire from heaven to consume my house.' Doctrine and Covenants 129 describes the difference between angels who have gone through mortality and have been resurrected and those who are still spirits. It also gives three keys 'whereby you may know whether any administration is from God.'" The IM also cites back to D&C 128:20 that says "Michael helped the Prophet by detecting Satan, who had appeared to Joseph as an angel of light." One concept that we get into later is kind of abstract for me, but here it quotes the Prophet Joseph Smith as teaching, "The devil may appear as an angel of light. Ask god to reveal it; if it be of the devil, he will flee form you; if of God, He will manifest Himself, or make it manifest. We may come to Jesus and ask Him; He will know all about it." This is how I would imagine myself responding to a vision, asking God and seeing what happens.

129:1-3 - Joseph Smith defines Angels and "resurrected personages, having bodies of flesh and bones" and spirits as "the spirits of just men made perfect, they who are not resurrected, but inherit the same glory." The IM makes a good point "it must be remembered that none of the angels who appeared to men before the death of the Savior could be of that class, for none of them were resurrected. He was the first-fruits of them that slept. He Himself appeared often to His servants before he took His mortal body; for instance, to the brother of Jared, to Abraham, to Moses, to the seventy Elders and to many others." The IM also explains that the phrase "just men made perfect" refer to those who were not perfect in their lifetime, but who have or are working on becoming perfect through the atonement.

129:4-9 - Here's where it gets a little bit weird for me, we are told if "a messenger comes saying he has a message form God, offer him your hand and request him to shake hands with you." If a messenger came to me saying he had a message from God I would probably just go stiff and fall down, it wouldn't occur to me to ask him to shake hands. JS says that if the messenger is truly and angel, he will shake our hand "and you will feel his hand." If he's "the spirit of a just man made perfect" he will not shake our hand, or even move forward to do so "because it is contrary to the order of heaven for a just man to deceive; but he will still deliver his message." The IM makes an interesting point saying, "For spirits to pretend to an ability they do not possess would be deceit, and one who would attempt it would not be a 'just man.' Therefore, the spirits of just men made perfect will not move when a hand is extended toward him." But if the messenger is of the devil "he will offer you his hand, and you will not feel anything; you may therefore detect him." The IM also comments "The Prophet taught that when the devil is offered a hand to shake, 'he will offer you his hand.' The mortal will feel nothing, because the devil is an unembodied spirit. He can therefore he distinguished in this manner from a righteous spirit of angel sent from god. The just man will not attempt to deceive; and angel of Satan will not refrain from trying to deceive."

I will keep this in mind if I ever have a vision.