Beware How They Hold Them

In an 1833 revelation establishing that the Joseph and his counselors held the keys of the kingdom, the Lord gave us this warning: “And all they who receive the oracles of God, let them beware how they hold them lest they are accounted as a light thing, and are brought under condemnation thereby, and stumble and fall when the storms descend, and the winds blow, and the rains descend, and beat upon their house” (Doctrine and Covenants 90:5). This clearly is hearkening back to the warning of the Lord at the end of the Sermon on the Mount: “And every one that heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them not, shall be likened unto a foolish man, which built his house upon the sand: And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell: and great was the fall of it” (Matthew 7:26-27). The Savior’s message at that time was that for us to be spiritually protected, we must hear His sayings and do them; otherwise we will remain on a sandy foundation. His words in our dispensation highlight that to receive the words of His servants is the same as receiving His words, just as He said in His preface: “Whether by mine own voice or by the voice of my servants, it is the same” (Doctrine and Covenants 1:38).

               Thinking of this idea of being aware of how we “hold” the revelations makes me think of the trip we took as a family recently to Mesa Verde. We were able to visit the ancient Pueblo homes carved into the mountain which were quite amazing. We had to hike down to the location, and then to get up in the ancient dwellings there are two large ladders that you have to climb. This made us a little nervous with all of our kids, especially the younger ones because if you fell off those ladders the result would likely be serious injury. I had our youngest child, age 22 months, in a pack on my front. I was very careful climbing these ladders and was sure to keep her safe to make sure she didn’t get injured. I couldn’t have more precious cargo on me, and certainly I was very aware of how I “held” her to make sure she didn’t fall. Perhaps it is with that same intensity that a parent holds on to a child that we should “hold” the oracles and revelations of the Lord. We would never casually hold our children if we were in a dangerous situation where letting go of them could be deadly; in the same manner, we should hold firmly to the words of the prophets and the scriptures knowing that our spiritual salvation depends upon them. This is how Nephi put it to his brothers: “And I said unto them that it was the word of God; and whoso would hearken unto the word of God, and would hold fast unto it, they would never perish; neither could the temptations and the fiery darts of the adversary overpower them unto blindness, to lead them away to destruction” (1 Nephi 15:24). As we “hold fast” to the iron rod that is the word of God—the living oracles as well as the words of all of the scriptures—we will be protected from the fiery darts of the adversary that certainly are all around us.  

               In a church meeting about ten years ago a leader told us a story of a soldier who served in Vietnam. As the story went, the man was a member of the Church, and before he left for Vietnam he would have a certain reoccurring dream. He was walking down a jungle path when all of a sudden a shot was fired and he went down. He had the dream over and over, and he counseled with his bishop, and the bishop told him to have faith and trust in the Lord. The boy felt like he didn't have a sure testimony, and the bishop gave him a pocket size military set of the scriptures. He went to Vietnam and continued to have the dream while there. One day he was leading a patrol through a jungle path and he realized that it was the place from his dream. Sure enough, a shot went off and he was hit. The bullet hit him over his pocket where the pocket Book of Mormon was, and the bullet stopped on Alma 44:4 which states this: “Now ye see that this is the true faith of God; yea, ye see that God will support, and keep, and preserve us, so long as we are faithful unto him, and unto our faith, and our religion; and never will the Lord suffer that we shall be destroyed except we should fall into transgression and deny our faith.” I certainly can’t confirm that the story is true, but I know the principle is: as we are faithful and hold fast to the oracles of God, they will protect us and the Lord will “support, and keep, and preserve us.”