Be Sure to Keep the Spirit of the Lord

It's been an exciting week.  Last Monday I began at the Joseph Smith Papers Project.  I am still trying to get up to speed, but I can tell that it is going to be one of those jobs that I love working at.  I've been blessed to have several of those jobs since I graduated with my BA from BYU in 2005.  While working for the papers, I will be assisting on volumes relating to the documents for November 1839-September 1841.  Although I am just beginning to get my feet wet, I have realized that the Prophet did so much more than I ever realized--and there is so much more that goes beyond what we have documentation for.  At the end of his life, Joseph told a congregation "You don't know me--you never will" (Joseph Smith, April 7, 1844, Willard Richards Report) and "you never knew my heart; no man knows my history" (Joseph Smith, April 7, 1844, Thomas Bullock Report) "I cannot tell it" (Joseph Smith, April 7, 1844, Times and Seasons Report).  In just a short week at the Joseph Smith Papers, I've come to a greater understanding of what he meant when he said that.  It is nearly impossible to know everything that Joseph left on record; and it is impossible to know those things that he experienced that were so sacred that they "cannot be written" (3 Nephi 17:25).  And yet it is a wonderful opportunity for me to learn as much as I can about this man of God.

This past week I've been reading in Alma 30 about Korihor.  While he is far from my favorite character to spend time with in the scriptures, he is instructive.  One verse in particular stood out to me today as I was reading.  Speaking of Korihor, Alma declared, "Behold, I know that thou believes, but thou art possessed with a lying spirit, and ye have put off the Spirit of God that it may have no place in you; but the devil has power over you, and he doth carry you about, working devices that he may destroy the children of God" (Alma 30:42).  The words that jumped off the page for me were that Korihor had "put off the Spirit of God."  Having rejected the Spirit, he traveled down a dangerous and forbidden path, beginning with preaching against the words of the Prophets, then rejecting the prophecies of Christ and the accompanying messages of commandments, sin, and repentance, and finally rejecting the very existence of God Himself.

The trajectory of Korihor's apostasy is not unique; it is a pattern that will play out over and over again unless we come unto daily faith and repentance, and learn how to avoid putting off the Spirit of the Lord in our lives.  Korihor's story reminded me of another story: that of Thomas B. Marsh.  Traditionally when we tell the story of Brother Marsh, we speak of milk strippings; and certainly that is a part of the story.  But in September 1857 when Brother Marsh returned to the Church, he told a larger story.  With Brigham Young's permission, he arose and addressed the Saints, warning them, "If there are any among this people who should ever apostatize and do as I have done, prepare your backs for a good whipping, if you are such as the Lord loves."  For twenty years, Brother Marsh had taken a good whipping from the Lord, until he was brought back to the fellowship of the Saints.  But then came the real lesson.

"Many have said to me, 'How is it that a man like you, who understood so much of the revelations of God . . . should fall away?'  I told them not to feel too secure, but to take heed lest they also should fall. . . . I can say, in reference to the Quorum of the Twelve, to which I belonged, that I did not consider myself a whit behind any of them, and I suppose that others had the same opinion; but let no one feel too secure: for, before you think of it, your steps will slide.  You will not then think nor feel for a moment as you did before you lost the Spirit of Christ. . . . I have sought diligently to know the Spirit of Christ since I turned my face Zionward, and I believe I have obtained it.  I have frequently wanted to know how my apostasy began, and I have come to the conclusion that I must have lost the spirit of the Lord out of my heart.  The next question is, 'How and when did you lose the Spirit?'  I became jealous of the Prophet, and then I saw double, and overlooked everything that was right, and spent all my time in looking for the evil; and then, when the Devil began to lead me, it was easy for the carnal mind to rise up, which is anger, jealousy, and wrath.  I could feel it within me; I felt angry and wrathful; and the Spirit of the Lord being gone . . . I was blinded, and I thought I saw a beam in brother Joseph's eye, but it was nothing but a mote, and my own eye was filled with the beam . . . I got mad, and I wanted everybody else to be mad.  I talked with Brother Brigham and Brother Heber, and I wanted them to be mad like myself; and I saw they were not mad, and I got madder still because they were not.  Brother Brigham, with a cautious look, said, 'Are you the leader of the Church, brother Thomas?'  I answered, 'No.'  'Well then,' said he, 'Why do you not let that alone?'  Well, this is the amount of my hypocrisy--I meddled with that which was not my business" (Thomas B. Marsh, Remarks, September 6, 1857, Journal of Discourses, 5:206-07).

How did milk strippings become an issue?  They became an issue when a good man made choices that caused him to lose the Spirit of the Lord.  They became an issue when a faithful Saint allowed unanswered questions and judgmental feelings to drive a wedge between himself and the man who held the Keys of the Kingdom.  They became an issue when he allowed anger to rule his heart and when he could no longer accept wise counsel from trusted friends and associates.

As I read Alma 30, I seldom think to myself, "I'm worried about becoming like Korihor."  I mean, Korihor was the person who could somehow simultaneously be seeing what he believed to be an angel, and at the same time believe the message of that "angel" that there was no God in heaven.  And often when I heard the story of the milk strippings, I thought the same thing about Brother Marsh.  But reading these words, I begin to understand that the danger of emulating this pattern is much more pernicious than we might suppose.  Each of us can lose--and has at times lost--the Spirit of the Lord.  And we know that in those circumstances, our choices are foolish and illogical at best.  Indeed, they are as illogical as getting angry over milk strippings.

So how then do we protect ourselves and our faith?  How do we safeguard our testimonies and our discipleship?  The answer came in a simple and straightforward message that Joseph Smith delivered to Brigham Young in a vision on February 17, 1847, at Winter Quarters.  At the time, Brigham was deathly ill and enormously stressed.  He asked Joseph if he could rejoin him, to which he received the answer, "we cannot be together yet; we shall be by and by; but you will have to do without me for awhile, and then we shall be together again."  And so, humbly, Brigham responded, "If you have a word of counsel for me I should be glad to receive it."  Then came the instructive and saving message:

"Joseph stepped toward me, and looking very earnestly, yet pleasantly, said, 'Tell the people to be humble and faithful, and be sure to keep the spirit of the Lord and it will lead them right.  Be careful and not turn away the still small voice; it will teach you what to do and where to go; it will yield the fruits of the Kingdom.  Tell the brethren to keep their hearts open to conviction, so that when the Holy Ghost comes to them, their hearts will be ready to receive it.  They can tell the spirit of the Lord from all other spirits; it will whisper peace and joy to their souls; it will take malice, hatred, strife and all evil from their hearts; and their whole desires will be to do good, bring forth righteousness and build up the Kingdom of God.  Tell the brethren if they will follow the spirit of the Lord they will go right.  Be sure to tell the people to keep the Spirit of the Lord; and if they will, they will find themselves just as they were organized by our Father in Heaven before they came into the world.  Our Father in Heaven organized the human family, but they are all disorganized and in great confusion. . . . Joseph again said, 'Tell the people to be sure to keep the spirit of the Lord and follow it, and it will lead them just right'" (Manuscript History of the Church, February 24, 1847).

Joseph's emphasis was on keeping the Spirit of the Lord.  None of us are perfect.  All of us fall short and have moments where we deprive ourselves of the Spirit for a time.  But in these moments, if we will quickly repent, and then strive to live in accordance with the Lord's laws, these moments of deprivation need not turn into decades or a lifetime.  Beyond the protection that the Spirit affords, we have the promise, as we do this, that we will find ourselves exactly where our Father wants us to be, doing what He wants us to do, and being among those whom He wants us to be with.  May we all learn how to keep the Spirit of the Lord more fully in our lives.

Brett