Doctrine and Covenants 21 | |
1 BEHOLD, there shall be a record kept among you; and in it thou shalt be called a seer, a translator, a prophet, an apostle of Jesus Christ, an elder of the church through the will of God the Father, and the grace of your Lord Jesus Christ, | |
2 Being inspired of the Holy Ghost to lay the foundation thereof, and to build it up unto the most holy faith. | |
3 Which church was organized and established in the year of your Lord eighteen hundred and thirty, in the fourth month, and on the sixth day of the month which is called April. | |
4 Wherefore, meaning the church, thou shalt give heed unto all his words and commandments which he shall give unto you as he receiveth them, walking in all holiness before me; | |
5 For his word ye shall receive, as if from mine own mouth, in all patience and faith. | 5
“[Joseph Smith’s] word ye shall receive, as if from [God’s] own mouth, in all patience and faith.” Think about the implications of any leader claiming they speak for God. Is there a more powerful way to frame things to control thoughts? Per Steven Hassan, a mind control expert, one of the four pillars of mind control is controlling thoughts. Among the thought control tactics of groups who do this are these: - Require members to internalize the group’s doctrine as truth ...
- Teaching thought-stopping techniques which shut down reality testing by stopping negative thoughts and allowing only positive thoughts, including:
a. Denial, rationalization, justification, wishful thinking ...
- Rejection of rational analysis, critical thinking, constructive criticism
- Forbid critical questions about leader, doctrine, or policy allowed
(Steven Hassan’s BITE Model of Authoritarian Control) Doesn't the assertion of this verse promote all of this? And, keep in mind, Joseph’s word (which equals God’s word per this verse) include some rather extraordinary claims like this: “Inhabitants of the Moon are more of a uniform size than the inhabitants of the Earth, being about 6 feet in height. They dress very much like the Quaker Style & are quite general in Style, or the one fashion of dress. They live to be very old; comeing [sic] generally, near a thousand years.’ This is the description of them as given by Joseph the Seer, and he could ‘See’ whatever he asked the Father in the name of Jesus to see."
(Joseph Smith, from Stuff You Missed in Sunday School) |
6 For by doing these things the gates of hell shall not prevail against you; yea, and the Lord God will disperse the powers of darkness from before you, and cause the heavens to shake for your good, and his name's glory. | |
7 For thus saith the Lord God: Him have I inspired to move the cause of Zion in mighty power for good, and his diligence I know, and his prayers I have heard. | |
8 Yea, his weeping for Zion I have seen, and I will cause that he shall mourn for her no longer; for his days of rejoicing are come unto the remission of his sins, and the manifestations of my blessings upon his works. | |
9 For, behold, I will bless all those who labor in my vineyard with a mighty blessing, and they shall believe on his words, which are given him through me by the Comforter, which manifesteth that Jesus was crucified by sinful men for the sins of the world, yea, for the remission of sins unto the contrite heart. | |
10 Wherefore it behooveth me that he should be ordained by you, Oliver Cowdery mine apostle; | |
11 This being an ordinance unto you, that you are an elder under his hand, he being the first unto you, that you might be an elder unto this church of Christ, bearing my name-- | |
12 And the first preacher of this church unto the church, and before the world, yea, before the Gentiles; yea, and thus saith the Lord God, lo, lo! to the Jews also. Amen. | |
