Because of the sacred nature of many of the doctrines revealed to Joseph Smith, and due to the ridicule and persecution that many of the world would have given them, the Prophet taught many things in secret to only his most trusted associates. However, not all of his friends proved to be trustworthy, and they shared with the world, usually in some twisted form, those things he had taught them in purity.
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Some see the law of Moses as entirely irrelevant in our era. Some believe it to be an ancient and mystic set of rites, understood only by aged Rabbis. Others are convinced it is as relevant today in our every day life as it was in ancient Israel.
Most of the world finds its information on Mosaic law solely from the Old Testament, but we Latter-day Saints have another source of God’s dealings with his people before Christ. Unlike the Bible which is only being acceptable only “as far as it is translated correctly” with “many plain and precious things” missing, the Book of Mormon is a volume of scripture translated into our language “by the gift and power of God.”
According to President John Taylor, in his book Mediation and Atonement: “it appears indubitable from the two records, that Bible and the Book of Mormon, that the intent and true meaning of the law of Moses, of its sacrifices, etc., were far better understood and comprehended by the Nephites than by the Jews.”
This means we should expect to find more insights in the Book of Mormon on the origins, purpose, and extent of the law of Moses in that divine record than from any Jewish experts or Rabbinical commentaries, and that its word should carry the greatest authority.
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“A recent study proved if you watch the movie just seven times … your brain would be transformed. Just seven times and The Secret is part of your life forever.” (Rhonda Byrne)
The Secret is a phenomenon. It is a video, a book, and a movement. In it’s DVD and hardback forms it has sold millions. It has been promoted on television by Oprah Winfrey and Larry King, and has made its way into business meetings, church services, support groups, and homes belonging to every ethnic, social and religious group.
It’s author calls it the “most powerful law in the universe,” and claims that it was hidden for 3,500 years by leaders who wanted “to keep the power” to themselves. It promises to “give you anything you want: happiness, health, and wealth.”
It claims to accomplish this through a formula of “ask, believe, and receive” that by “deciding what you want to be, do, and have,” and that by “thinking the thoughts of it,” and “emitting the frequency, … your vision will become your life.” Simply put, the universe is at your beck and call and is only awaiting its orders to furnish you with whatever you want.
The author, Rhonda Byrne, an Australian television producer, was introduced to the Secret herself through a book her daughter gave her during a troubled time in her life. That book was “The Science of Getting Rich” written in 1910, and influenced by the beliefs of Phineas Quimby, whose “New Thought” philosophy formed the basis of the Christian Science and Unity churches, with their hundreds of thousands of members.
Although the video and book tend not to speak about God directly, many Christians have embraced its teachings in the belief that they are just an embodiment of the principles of faith and prayer. But God tells us that whatever we see, hear, or learn we should compare it to His words, and test its truthfulness, and hold fast to what we find to be true. So, with that in mind, let us look at the Secret in greater depth and see how it stands up to the scriptures.
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When, in 1843, Joseph Smith received the revelation on Celestial Marriage we now call section 132, it not only introduced the controversial principle of plural marriage, but for the first time clearly revealed the concept of exaltation:
“Then shall they be gods, because they have no end; therefore shall they be from everlasting to everlasting, because they continue; then shall they be above all, because all things are subject unto them. Then shall they be gods, because they have all power, and the angels are subject unto them.”
That revelation, however, was only known to a few at the time, and was not made public until 1852. However, the idea that our God was but one of many had already been hinted at four years earlier in the Prophet’s epistle from Liberty Jail in which he spoke of “a time to come in the which nothing shall be withheld, whether there be one God or many gods, they shall be manifest.” In saying this he was perhaps paraphrasing the Apostle Paul who said in his first Corinthian epistle that “there be gods many, and lords many” He also hinted that there was more to the subject that was yet to be revealed. Yet It was not until April 1844, in the now famous King Follet sermon that Joseph publicly explained this doctrine to the Saints. Said he:
“God himself was once as we are now, and is an exalted man, and sits enthroned in yonder heavens! That is the great secret. If the veil were rent today, and the great God who holds this world in its orbit, and who upholds all worlds and all things by his power, was to make himself visible, – I say, if you were to see him today, you would see him like a man in form – like yourselves in all the person, image, and very form as a man; for Adam was created in the very fashion, image and likeness of God, and received instruction from, and walked, talked and conversed with him, as one man talks and communes with another. …
Here, then, is eternal life – to know the only wise and true God; and you have got to learn how to be Gods yourselves, and to be kings and priests to God, the same as all Gods have done before you, namely, by going from one small degree to another, and from a small capacity to a great one; from grace to grace, from exaltation to exaltation, until you attain to the resurrection of the dead, and are able to dwell in everlasting burnings, and to sit in glory, as do those who sit enthroned in everlasting power.”
The Prophet Joseph also later revealed why God chose us to have this privilege:
“God himself, finding he was in the midst of spirits and glory, because he was more intelligent, saw proper to institute laws whereby the rest could have a privilege to advance like himself. … [Therefore] he [used his] power to institute laws to instruct the weaker intelligences, that they may be exalted with himself, so that they might have one glory upon another, and all that knowledge, power, glory, and intelligence, which is requisite in order to save them in the world of spirits.”
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For at least some period of a young child’s life anything is conceivable in their imaginations and seems achievable in reality. Thus it was with me when at a young age a friend and I were convinced we could fly. We fashioned wings out of cardboard, and I was the first elected to test them out by climbing on the top of some bails of hay next to my friend’s house.
It seemed to me that my launching point was as high as his roof, and when I had reached the top and put on my wings I launched myself without hesitation into the air, only to find myself falling rather than sailing. The ground, which I wasn’t expecting to see, hurt both my pride and my backside. I wondered after the event what went wrong: should I have jumped from a greater height? Should my wings have been longer? Did I need to flap them vigorously?
On that maiden flight I didn’t lack any confidence in the outcome before I jumped. There were no doubts in my mind, and I had the expectation of me soaring through the skies. I lacked no faith in God either: If the birds could fly why couldn’t I? Yet gravity and God had other plans that involved me crashing rather than sailing with the wind.
When I grew to be a young man I came upon scriptures which stated that “with God all things are possible”, and the saying of Jesus that “if you have faith as much as a mustard seed we could move mountains.” I thought back to my attempts at being a human airplane and wondered why God hadn’t granted my vertical desires at that time.
I have since considered that many might read the same passages and apply them to their business endeavors. Entrepreneurs selling worthy products with the intent of helping their fellow men, and with the hope of supporting their families might indeed find encouragement in such passages. They may hope to lay hold upon their seeming promises. But they too might find themselves disappointed after their maiden voyages, or even after longer journeys of self-sacrifice and dedication.
Was it that they didn’t have enough faith, or because they doubted, that their business failed? Was there some great secret they didn’t understand and implement?
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When John the Baptist came to Oliver Cowdery and the Prophet Joseph Smith, and ordained them he promised them that the Aaronic Priesthood “shall never be taken again from the earth, until the sons of Levi do offer again an offering unto the Lord in righteousness.”
Many Latter-day Saints have never considered the implications of this statement. Who are the sons of Levi? What kind of offering would the sons of Levi need to make? How did this relate to the Priesthood conferred in 1829?
Levi was the son of Jacob and Leah, whose children became known as the tribe of Levi. In a revelation to Moses, God gave Aaron (his brother and descendant of Levi) and his sons a special priestly responsibility, and designating his cousins functions to perform within the temple.
Although their principle duties were primarily temporal, such as dealing with the furnishings in the temple and musical accompaniment, they were also involved in purification rituals, prayers of thanksgiving, and assisting the Priests with burnt offerings.
John the Baptist seems to be quoting an earlier prophesy by Malachi that “God shall purify the sons of Levi, and purge them as gold and silver, that they may offer unto the Lord an offering in righteousness.”
Malachi lived in a time when much of Israel had fallen into apostasy, when the temple had been desecrated, and most of the tribes were in Babylonian exile. He was looking forward to a time when the Messiah would come in power (through the second coming of Jesus) to the New Jerusalem, and when the Levites would again be able to fulfill their temple responsibilities.
That Malachi is speaking of the second coming of Jesus as the time period in which his prophesy will take place is verified by a latter-day revelation given to Joseph Smith in 1842, in which the Saints are told to offer the Lord a record of their genealogy, to be acceptable before Him before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord.
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“The song of the righteous is a prayer unto me” said the Lord to Emma Smith in a revelation received by her husband, the Prophet Joseph. God had instructed her to compile a hymnbook, and with the help of William W. Phelps they put together a uniquely Mormon set of sacred songs to be sung by the Latter-day Saints whenever they might meet together.
Hymns praise God, but also tells stories and illustrate the beliefs of those that sing them. Within their pages different editions of hymn books trace the history of the faiths to which they belong. At different times and under different circumstances there may have been more hymns on persecution, or the passing of loved ones, or a longed for blessing.
A look at different Mormon hymn books since the time the first was published can also give us a record of changes that might have occurred in the beliefs in the LDS Church. It is hard to argue that the Saints didn’t believe in something they sung about in every congregation throughout the world, and which was printed in hymn books for that purpose by the church they were members of.
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Messenger