0:00:00 - 0:00:19 So I, I received a question. It's, it's a question that I have received more than once. So I figured I'd take a stab at do a video response. And this, this is a question for those uh coming from an L DS context. So many people have interactions with folks who say that they've had these spiritual experiences 0:00:18 - 0:00:41 in temples and they would like to know how to respond to these kinds of people. Um Because what happens is you start talking about some things that might not be 100% great in the L DS church. And they say, well, yeah, but um we have the temple and where else would we go for a temple? And plus people 0:00:40 - 0:01:05 have had these experiences. So um it, it's kind of hard to, to argue with that it would seem. But, you know, back in the days of the Lord, his mortal ministry. Uh so he was, he was charged for two things. There were two charges in um his trial and one was that he, they said he had spoken against God 0:01:05 - 0:01:30 by making himself equal to God. And the other was that he had spoken against their temple because he said that uh it would be torn down. And, um, the first interesting thing about that is that it was in fact torn down, although it took a few decades, it literally was torn down so that there was not a 0:01:30 - 0:01:51 single stone left on another. Now, this is ironic because, and not a lot of people know this, but what, and a lot of people are gonna be highly offended by this if they happen to be Jewish. But the fact is that what is regarded as the quote unquote temple mount, you know, they, they go and they pray 0:01:51 - 0:02:16 at the wailing wall um today that was not a part of the temple that was part of the Roman fortress. There was no part of the temple structure that was left there. And so it's quite sad and ironic that today, the foundation of the source of their oppression is what they worship. And that's highly symbolic 0:02:15 - 0:02:42 and unfortunate, but it's also a pattern because you know, when we look in the scriptures and we see bad things that other people do. We kind of sneer at them and say, well, um you know, just as the Lord discussed this in the, in the the gospels that uh we should be asking Lord, is it? I so we snare 0:02:42 - 0:03:05 at these people who do these things, but we're doing the same exact things and that, that shouldn't be the case if you have more examples and patterns and information and reasons. You should be less likely to do those things, but too often it tends to be the opposite. And so, you know, we also whitewash 0:03:04 - 0:03:24 the sepulchers of the prophets. And we pretend that if we lived in their days that we would revere them and recognize and receive the information that they provide from God to draw closer to God ourselves. But in reality, we're of the same exact mindset of the influences that always opposed God and his 0:03:24 - 0:03:48 work. And I say we, I'm not talking about myself, I'm talking about um other people. Um And that is not an example of sneering at other folks like I was just talking about because I have used the example of the ancients to fix myself and allow the Lord to extricate me from this blindness and this continuously 0:03:48 - 0:04:14 following the pattern of what the ancients did wrong. So, um likewise today, uh L DS people are, are doing the same thing as the Jews and their wailing wall or all of the influences uh for which the, the, the prophet Joseph Smith was persecuted, resisted, eventually killed. He was impeded greatly from 0:04:14 - 0:04:40 the good he could have done in this world uh through the sluggishness rebellion and lusts of those who uh followed him and all of their ancestors. So I'm sorry, descendants are doing all the same things today. And so um he was able to do great things, but he could have done much more if he were not anchored 0:04:39 - 0:05:16 down by the faithless faith, faithlessness and wickedness of the people that followed him. So, um on to the temple, spiritual experiences uh experienced by people who don't normally have them. Um, they're very ripe, the ripe place for the adversary to get a hold on someone and the less reason bound that 0:05:16 - 0:05:46 individual is the easier it is to do. So, what do I mean by that? Well, if you're in a religious sect that and I don't use sect in a bad way um here, but just, you know, flavor of religion whose traditions strongly um include this idea that feelings are revelation and not just a part of the sources of 0:05:46 - 0:06:14 information that God uses to inform us of things, but the central part that how you feel is how God leads you to greater truth. Well, uh the pins are already set up for a strike because um then if the adversary sends you even one spiritual experience so called supernatural experience, um you're going 0:06:14 - 0:06:36 to, to use that for the rest of your life as an excuse not to listen to reasonable criticisms of the things that you believe, particularly if you're in a faith system that says this whole box is one thing. Everything in it is one thing. And so if there's a valuable thing in it, it implies that everything 0:06:36 - 0:06:56 else is also valuable, even if it doesn't seem valuable. And even if in fact, it seems like garbage sometimes. If it seems like it causes harm, it's all together. It's one thing or it's nothing. And this is preached from the start when a perspective convert is told that if the Book of Mormon is true 0:06:55 - 0:07:21 , every single thing that ever could be done in the L DS church must also be 100% approved by God and from him. And of course, that's complete rubbish and it would be rubbish no matter who said it or what organization it was said about. So, um you can have things that are valuable and still have things 0:07:21 - 0:07:43 that are more valuable and you can have things that are valuable that are, are connected in the perspectives of men with other things that are not valuable and still have them not actually be connected, right? So it turns out that things in a box can be taken out of a box. So um the box itself is its 0:07:43 - 0:08:00 its own thing. So, and everything inside of it is only there because someone put them together there, they're not um conjoined twins or something that takes some brain surgeon to separate. So it, it turns out that for example, with the book of Mormon, there are all kinds of people that believe that it's 0:08:00 - 0:08:24 true. Who aren't L DS now? It's not like the whole world, right? But there are many people like myself who are not L Ds who um have a deep conviction of the value of those words and the, the, that they are um they're sourced from God that, that it is scripture that it's comparable in value to the Bible 0:08:23 - 0:08:48 and, and in some cases preferred. And there are people out there who have never been L DS who believe that about the book of Mormon. And there will be many more because it turns out that you can believe all of that without being a member of the L DS church or wanting to be. So, I, I met a gentleman um 0:08:47 - 0:09:09 and I say this to my own condemnation because I should have figured it out a lot sooner than I did I think. But I met a gentleman while on a mission to Chile in 2005 ish. I met him on this, on this uh lonesome hilltop in the middle of nowhere. And he was a young man. He's probably 26 and he and his brother 0:09:08 - 0:00:00 had, had made their own little shack church there. And um and he was, he was just a great guy and uh no guile in him 100% convicted and, and serving the Lord, he knew the scriptures front to back and he really understood what they said. And um I loved visiting this guy. I only got a chance to do it, 0:00:00 - 0:09:54 you know, three or four times maybe. But, but uh he was just light and uh you know, I loved him from the, from the minute I met him, I felt God's love for him and it made me love him. And it was a wonderful thing. It was like a light in the dark because missions are hard. And especially if you're doing 0:09:54 - 0:10:12 what you're supposed to be doing and working hard. So, um we had these wonderful conversations where, um you know, one of us would get this idea and then the spirit would help the other person elaborate on it. And we all learned something the whole time. It's just this constant stream of edification 0:10:11 - 0:10:27 . It was wonderful and neither of us wanted it to end. And I said, you know, you hear all these reasons that you should consider that the book of Mormon might be true. And here's, you know, you should pray about this, but here's some scriptures that I find valuable and what do you think? And he said 0:10:27 - 0:10:46 , well, I'll pray about it. And uh I came back and he said, I prayed about your book and God told me it was true. I said, all right, cool. And for me, that was never a surprise. I think a lot of missionaries were surprised. But I did this when I was exposed to the L DS religion for the first time as 0:10:46 - 0:11:04 an 18 year old. And God told me it was true. So why would I doubt that he would tell anyone else? So I said, OK, rock and roll and he said, yeah, but he also told me not to join your church. And a lot of people would say that God told them not to join this church. And I knew they were lying and I knew 0:11:04 - 0:11:22 that they didn't actually ask at all. And the spirit revealed that to me. But when he said it, it was the first time someone had said that and I knew he was telling the truth. And I knew God had told him that because God told me that he told him that I knew right. Then I knew and I was very confused 0:11:21 - 0:11:41 , but I felt great peace. So I, what I mean by confused is that uh I couldn't explain what was going on here. I had no idea. And again, I'm condemn condemning my past self. I should have asked God about it. And I didn't, I just let it slide because it, I felt so much peace. And I said, well, I don't 0:11:41 - 0:12:02 understand, but I know you're telling the truth and God bless you like, like God be with you my friend till we meet again. And we hugged each other. And that was the last time I saw him and I hope I see him again because he's a good guy. And there just aren't too many good guys in this world. I wish 0:12:01 - 0:12:27 there were more one day, there will be a higher concentration of good guys in the world, but uh not yet. So um So he was uh humble enough to allow the Lord to tell him that the book of Mormon was true. And also I don't wanna say wise enough, but pliable enough in the hands of the Lord for him to separate 0:12:26 - 0:12:48 these things, you know, priests, they cut, they cut things, they make a difference between things that were previously assumed to be the same when, as we approach God, he has to cut us that. So he cuts out the part that can't come up higher and he gives us the part we need to come up higher. That's how 0:12:47 - 0:13:09 covenants work. It's a, it's a staircase, it's a ladder to heaven and it's multidimensional. It's, it's a, it's a wonderful thing. But anyway, uh the none of these things are well understood uh yet by the people that ought to understand them. But when we cling to things and we don't allow the Lord to 0:13:08 - 0:13:34 differentiate these things that we thought were a homogeneous whole. That's when we literally cut ourselves off from greater things. So, um as far as temples go, uh there are many people who have claimed to have experiences in the temple. Um So what I wanna do is just speak to this and use the example 0:13:33 - 0:13:55 of Moses. He'll help us out with this. All right. So where to start? So, first and foremost, um I'm not gonna say if someone has said that they had these experiences, they're lying. But the fact is that at least some of them are now, is there evidence for this? And you, you might think, well, this is 0:13:55 - 0:14:16 a very private thing. How could you point to someone and say definitively they were lying about this? Well, um let's turn to the presidents of the church. So it just so happens that Wilfred Woodruff was renowned for being such a diligent journalist. He's got entries for every day, over years and years 0:14:16 - 0:14:44 and years. And we rely on these things for historic records of very important um events in L DS history. Well, it turns out that um while he was president of the Saint George Temple, uh you know, back then there were only two in operation and it was a really big deal to be president of the Salt Lake 0:14:44 - 0:15:08 or Saint George Temples. Um And this was something where the, the the church President Brigham Young uh at the time, he was highly involved in this highly involved in the, in the operations of the temples on a, on a personal level. And so, so it was all a very big deal. And um when we read about all 0:15:07 - 0:15:34 of these individuals visiting Wilfred Woodruff to have their temple work done. Um This is a spiritual experience that's, that's often recited in the L DS church. But where is the evidence in his journal of this happening? So this is very um very telling and it turns out that um first, the practice of 0:15:34 - 0:16:05 exaggerating historic events in retrospect. Uh You can point to many, many, many examples where this happens from the pulpit in general conference and also to various extents in official proclamation type um records. There's also the, the intentional uh doctoring of the history of the church that's well 0:16:05 - 0:16:34 documented that that was edited from its original sources uh to better fit the current perspectives of the then contemporary church. So that's a culture that started right away that it was OK to do that sort of thing. Now, um the question of whether that was done on a common member level, um I think 0:16:33 - 0:16:56 that that's gonna be harder to point to evidence for. However, I don't think it's that hard to believe that individuals picked up on the these tendencies. It's not like they took a training class once they became general authorities on how to exaggerate things. And again, I'm, I'm trying to be um compassionate 0:16:55 - 0:17:22 uh and not call this outright lying. So, um but if we went that way, there was this doctrine of lying for the Lord that was a named cultural tenet that L DS people had in the late 18 hundreds. And it, it went on for some time. It was a practice where you would, you would lie about stuff that you thought 0:17:22 - 0:17:47 advanced the mission, whether that was to Eastern people, you know, from Congress or the government to try to hide polygamy or something else. So, is that in place today. Well, I think you'd be hard pressed to come out and say that not one of the experiences people claim to have in temples are, are false 0:17:46 - 0:18:11 . Like didn't happen at all. False. Ok. What about the maybe more gray area situations where something happened? But then the story was uh elaborated upon over time and exaggerated in some way where, you know, it wasn't done maliciously but just kind of in time if, if you're one who like me has parents 0:18:11 - 0:18:27 that are getting older, you know, my sister and I will always text each other after we have a conversation with our mom and she said something from when we were kids and that we think that's not how it happened, but, you know, memory is fallible. So we'll text each other and say the other day she texted 0:18:27 - 0:18:42 me and she's like, did you ever have a pet snake? And I said, no, I didn't have a pet snake. We caught little snakes sometimes that we found outside and we had them for a little while and mom made us put them back and that was that. And she's like mom said, you had a pet snake and I don't remember that 0:18:42 - 0:19:05 . So, um, now my mom, she has a very vivid memory on some things. She has perfect recall. I mean, she can tell you what the room smelled like when this one thing happened 40 years ago. And uh it's amazing, but also she makes some stuff up sometimes, right? And the the the percentage of made up stories 0:19:04 - 0:19:29 is increasing as she gets older and she, she can't really tell the difference. So humans are fallible. Um So there's this gray area there. Now, let's talk about, um let's talk about genuine supernatural experiences in temples. And then I'm going to try to give you some keys on how you can discern these 0:19:29 - 0:19:47 things at the source of these things. And then, um, amidst all of this, I'm going to say some things about how to help people who are struggling with this sort of thing. And when I say, struggle, I'm not saying they're trying to reconcile those experiences to the things that they're hearing that would 0:19:47 - 0:20:04 indicate that maybe there's some value outside of the box that they've put themselves in. But, um, they, they won't see that as a conflict. They'll say, well, I had these experiences therefore, or I've heard these experiences from others. Therefore, I don't have to consider what you're saying might be 0:20:03 - 0:20:25 true or I don't have to pay attention to these obvious logical problems with these claims, these truth claims. Um, instead they will say, uh, well, they just won't, you know, they'll write it off without feeling guilty about it. Um, but that there is a struggle there because the truth needs to take root 0:20:24 - 0:20:50 and they need to consider it. They just don't know that there's a struggle. You know, there's a struggle and you're trying to help them. All right. So now we're gonna transition to Moses. So Moses was not a doofus. He's a very intelligent man. He is a very intelligent man. He's not dead. So, um he grew 0:20:50 - 0:21:15 up amongst the uh Egyptians and the Hebrews, he knew what these people were like. He knew very well. He was a very perceptive person is, um but he, he spent his early years making many observations. He was a, he was a wise man. I keep saying it in past tense. I'm sorry. Um So you, you see examples of 0:21:14 - 0:21:35 this, like when, when he takes the Israelites up on the mountain, there's a very interesting exchange between him and the Lord when uh they ask to just stay halfway up and he just gingerly s you know, skips up to the top, no big deal and they're, they're just scared to death. And the Lord tells him some 0:21:35 - 0:21:56 things to tell them. And he gives this really interesting response where he basically says, Lord, um I know what they're gonna say when I do and say what you're telling me to do and say so what should I do when they do this? Now, how did he know how they were going to react? Well, he paid attention to 0:21:55 - 0:22:24 them. So this didn't start when they got to the mountain. It started long ago because he had been watching these folks his whole life as he grew up, he knew the Egyptians and he knew the Hebrews well, um when the Lord calls him to, um to redeem Israel, he says they're not going to believe me when I say 0:22:23 - 0:22:43 I've been called by you to save them. So how can, what should I say to them? So that they believe me. And that's when he gives him the staff and he tells him to do all these miracles and this is how it's gonna work. And this is all very interesting and important. So he knew how they were going to react 0:22:43 - 0:23:14 . And so what the Lord orchestrated was a um a step wise incremental uh gradual demonstration of the superiority of his power. That's what he orchestrated. And it was for the Hebrews and for the Egyptians. So here's a question, why, why didn't the Lord come out and just start with the biggest of the 0:23:14 - 0:23:40 plagues? Well, what, what's the difference between the early ones and the late ones? Um The early ones involved, the Hebrews, the later ones did not the later ones. The, the harm came uniquely to the Egyptians. And there was this progressive intensity throughout. It's all very interesting and very important 0:23:39 - 0:24:06 . So God gives us incremental experiences to help us choose every single choice that's placed before us is a fork in the road and every single one will cause a change in what happens next. It's like a choose your own adventure book, but you can't go back So, um even when we decide not to choose, life 0:24:06 - 0:24:28 is just a chain of our reactions to stimuli. Even when we're, we're being uh proactive, we're still reacting to the things that we've experienced in the past and doing that, everything's a chain. And so he places everything bef the information before us and then he makes us free to choose. And then when 0:24:28 - 0:24:47 we choose a fork, it happens again and again and again and in every single reaction, it's, it's, it's important to call it a reaction, not a choice. Because if you choose not to do anything, that's still a reaction and it is still a choice. But it's clear to just call it a reaction. So every reaction 0:24:46 - 0:25:11 either draws us nearer to God or pushes us further away and that's how it goes until we die. So when Moses went um before the Pharaoh, yeah, it says that it God says over and over again, he's gonna harden Pharaoh's heart. And that's a really poor translation. But what the Lord was explaining in brief 0:25:11 - 0:25:38 terms was that when you're shown evidence of something and then you don't act how you should as a result, you don't react the way that reason dictates you should honest reason. Then um you lose some of the light that you have. And what this means is, is not just, you know, on a figurative level, you 0:25:38 - 0:26:02 move further away from God. It means that you actually lose some of your ability to rationally understand things in, in words, you become dumber and it, it might not mean that your IQ drops, although I believe it would. Um, but it certainly means that your ability to discern things and to see, to accurately 0:26:01 - 0:26:24 appraise value, to know what options exist and what the relative cost and benefit of each of them are your ability to do that decreases. And so, you know, maybe you can still do simple things just fine and you won't even notice, but harder things are gonna be harder for you and you won't even notice 0:26:23 - 0:26:44 . And that's the kicker is that it's like a mosquito biting you. You don't feel it because part of the experience is a numbing and to have your logic numbed is a really bad thing because not only are you getting dumber but you don't realize you're getting dumber and I mean, dumber on the, in the broadest 0:26:43 - 0:27:10 sense of the word in the most meaningful way. So, um these, these signs that Moses was given to perform before the pharaohs, they are answered by works of the pharaoh's priests. And I always think of this as some kind of crazy spiritual dance off, which is comical, but it is kind of close to what actually 0:27:09 - 0:27:32 happened, right? So Moses does something, the priests do something Moses does something greater, the priests do something greater and it's an, it's a call and answer and um it's really interesting, you know, God knew that the priests had power to work certain miracles. He knew that, but he didn't tell 0:27:32 - 0:27:57 Moses to go. And from day one start with the ones that the other that the priests couldn't do. That's where it got eventually. And he knew that would happen. But he started on the effectively the more subtle miracles. Why? Well, God does all things through faith and faith is a question of whether we're 0:27:56 - 0:28:15 willing to do what is justified, given the evidence that we have people think of faith as what you do when you don't have evidence. And that's not true. There's never a time that God asks us to do anything. We don't have sufficient reason to do. The leap of faith is to do what we have sufficient reason 0:28:15 - 0:28:41 to do. And so few people are willing to do that. It turns out that that magnificent things are justified by the simplest evidence. And uh one component of faith is how visceral that evidence has to be instead of purely mental before you do something about it. Now, the example of Moses, again, very important 0:28:41 - 0:29:08 . He had been around them for a long time. So from his birth, there were abundant evidence is that he was the deliverer that God had promised for a long time. What were those? Well, literally his birth? So the pharaoh was killing all of the Hebrew Children. Why the males? Why? Because there was a prophecy 0:29:07 - 0:29:32 that a deliverer was, had been born. That's why he was killing all the baby boys. So imagine you've probably never thought of this. Moses was literally the only Hebrew that could have been the deliverer because the pharaoh had killed all the others in that age group. He was the only one. Isn't that amazing 0:29:31 - 0:29:54 ? He was the only one that could fulfill that prophecy and still they rejected him. I'm not talking about later on in the wilderness. Of course, that happened. But he came before he had been, he was exiled, he came to the Hebrews and he tried to start helping them. And what did they say to him? Who gave 0:29:54 - 0:30:16 you authority over us? And that is absolutely the most absurd reason you could provide for. Why not to listen to Moses, why to ignore Moses. He literally had all power in heaven and earth over the Hebrews. When that was said to him, there was literally not one thing he could have been given that he had 0:30:16 - 0:30:40 not already been given over the Hebrews. He was the promised deliverer sent from God and he knew it. And he had been miraculously placed in the house of Pharaoh and was a prince in Egypt. He had all authority over the Hebrews on heaven and in heaven and on earth. When they said, who gave you authority 0:30:40 - 0:31:05 over us? The question should have been, who hasn't given you authority over us, right? Because the answer is just us. And last time I checked slaves don't have much pull. Right. So, it's an absolutely absurd thing. But, um, they were not ready to accept Moses or accept God through Moses. And so they 0:31:05 - 0:31:25 got to suffer for many more years. How many more years is, is not exactly known. But if it was 40 or around there, it's very interesting because that would have been enough time for the adults who rejected him uh, to, not that this happened wholesale, but this was just an example of the attitude of everyone 0:31:24 - 0:31:46 in this one person who challenged him when he killed the, the Egyptian. Um So they all died off, essentially, they aged out and died off and then he came back and tried again. And then of course, that generation had problems, but we're getting off topic here. So, um it wasn't until the third generation 0:31:45 - 0:32:08 that there was actually a group who obeyed him as much as they had the, the capacity to um they received as much as they could given their, their background. Um uh Just because we're on this topic, this is very important because there are many people like I said, outside who have never been inside the 0:32:08 - 0:00:00 L DS tradition who will accept the fullness of the gospel and they will never be inside the L DS tradition. They will go from atheism or some other religion, straight design and as straight as one can go anyway, it's also a process, but they're never gonna divert over to the L DS tradition. However, 0:00:00 - 0:32:52 there are all kinds of benefits to the things that the L DS church has carried all of these years that someone who has spent their lifetime becoming well versed in those who can also set aside the false traditions who can make the distinction between. Here's the baby, here's the bath water. One of these 0:32:51 - 0:33:13 , I'm going to keep and the other, I'm going to dump that person will be better off in many ways than someone who just walks up to the, the, I wanna say the trough. But now we're mixing metaphors right, right away straight from wherever they're coming from. Um because they just won't have as much time 0:33:13 - 0:33:39 . They won't have as, as brought a language to do to, to know and have the Lord explain to them the things that need to be learned and done. So there are benefits and costs to language. Uh It invites you to the next higher thing, but it also constrains you to the limits of the language anyway. So that's 0:33:39 - 0:33:58 worth being said. So let's get back to these miracles. Where did the priests get their power from? Well, Satan, but where did Satan get his power from? This is an important question and I'm not sure anyone can answer it. I'm gonna answer it, but I don't know that you know the answer or any of these people 0:33:58 - 0:34:18 you're talking to, but you should ask them um, it turns out he, he gets his power the same place everyone else does. It all comes from God, all of it. Now, this is something that's in the pile of topics that would really offend a whole lot of Christian people. And yet it's true and it's important to 0:34:17 - 0:34:41 know because there's a whole chain of things that you can't understand unless you understand this first. In fact, you can't understand the timeline of the world without understanding where Satan gets his power. Because much of that is only unlocked when you understand how one, how that power can be taken 0:34:41 - 0:35:04 away. The only way that power can be taken away. So um God's power, it comes through knowledge and it comes through the character of the individual, the character of the individual, meaning how much like God they are is what generates the knowledge. But once the knowledge is possessed, one can turn away 0:35:04 - 0:35:28 from the character and depending on how much knowledge they've acquired because there are categories of this classes. Um So, so just speaking roughly from my perspective of what is true, but adopting the language that would be familiar for L DS people, even if it's not strictly correct, someone who's 0:35:27 - 0:35:48 received their calling an election. There are certain things that can't be taken away in this life. Uh certain eternal promises that can't be revoked. It's like that people can get to such a stage where that knowledge cannot be taken away in the normal ways. So I just said earlier that if you turn away 0:35:48 - 0:36:10 from light, you'll lose even what you had some chunk of what you had before your understanding will be darkened, et cetera. Well, that's true up to a certain level. And then the process of losing that light is its own thing. And I'm trying to avoid all the details of that. But my point is knowledge is 0:36:09 - 0:36:26 knowledge and then it's like a tool that can be used for good or evil. Now, you might counter that. So now we're dipping into really deep topics in the priesthood. I'm just trying to keep it simple though. You might counter that by quoting doctrine and covenants and saying, well, God's power can only 0:36:25 - 0:00:00 be used on principles of righteousness. That's true, that's true. And some of those principles will enable a person to use some power in some cases where they are rebelling against God. And that is how Satan does it but explained in really simple way. I'm just gonna make a hand drawing here. So God, 0:00:00 - 0:37:17 God, he, he empowers people by revealing more to them about how He is along with the reasons to value that and become it yourself. And all of that is important. You can't just do one of those things. It's not enough for Him just to reveal himself because the natural man is evil and we'll respond to the 0:37:17 - 0:37:36 revelation of good by presuming it is without value and bad, we'll call good, evil and evil. Good. That's the natural man. That's what we need to overcome. So he does that incrementally by re revealing more of himself and he empowers us by providing everything necessary for us to become more like him 0:37:36 - 0:37:57 . So far? So good. Right. How does Satan work? How does he recruit people for his kingdom? Because that's how God recruits people in his kingdom and advances them in his kingdom. That's how we're exalted. Well, Satan looks for people who already have light because Satan can't. Satan's way, cannot give 0:37:56 - 0:38:21 people light, it can only steal it. He steals things. And so he persuades people who already have light to rebel against God. So God promotes and then Satan steals and then they come over to his side and then they start the process of declining in light because once you're not tied into the living vine 0:38:20 - 0:38:43 and you're not growing, you are decaying. Those are your two choices. There's only one switch. It's either either growing or you're decaying. So once you go over to Satan's side, which incidentally is actually a lot easier than people think. Um I I in terms of it only takes one deviation from what God 0:38:43 - 0:39:02 would do in your place to switch sides and you can repent. But the second you switch sides, you start losing ground very quickly. But Satan's goal is to use that light that people have as they're decaying for his purposes. Because he can. And so if you don't understand that all Satan's power comes from 0:39:01 - 0:39:26 God, power is power, right? But, but, but uh attaining it is different than having it. If you don't understand that, then you are going to be very confused when you see miracles from the other side. And this is still a kind of a rare thing today because it has has to happen equal and opposite. God puts 0:39:26 - 0:39:49 caps on things like in the Book of Job. When Satan says, you know, uh you don't really have the people you think you have as far as loyal followers. And um you know, people who actually love you. And God says, what about job? And Satan says, well, he wouldn't love you if you really subjected him to how 0:39:49 - 0:40:14 hard things can be in this life. And God says, well, let's see, why don't you give it a shot? And so Satan gets leave to go flicked job. Um and we could talk about that for a long time, but let's keep it on track here. So he would not have done that if he didn't see that job was a highly righteous person 0:40:14 - 0:40:35 , he could take it essentially, God will not allow us to be tempted beyond our ability to overcome. Now, that doesn't mean we already are the person who has overcome. It just means he's placed within our reach, everything we need to solve the new problem to overcome the new level of things that were 0:40:34 - 0:40:58 um that provide a trial to us. And then we grow through grabbing those tools and using them, right? And we become more than we were more like him and we move on rinse and repeat. OK. So if you think that any old spiritual experience is a sign of God's power, I should say again, a supernatural experience 0:40:58 - 0:41:17 , you've already been taken. Satan's already got you. Even if he's not using you for much, you're in his little bodega, you're ready for use. You're in his warehouse. He's got you cataloged and he's just waiting for the perfect time to do the most harm to the most people, including you by pulling you 0:41:17 - 0:41:41 out and using you. So you have to learn how to discern these things because the time is coming when there will be many more people like job and God will have to pour out false miracles allow those to happen. He'll have to raise the, the governor currently in place that limits what power Satan can openly 0:41:41 - 0:42:06 show. He will have to raise those limits to continue to provide opposition, which is necessary for people to grow as the positive is exposed. So if you read in Jacob five, we, we read about the loftiness of the trees in the vineyard and how in the end times the good branches will be uh paired up with 0:42:06 - 0:42:25 the bad branches and the bad branches will only be taken out as the good branches grow and bear fruit so that it can be kept balanced. That balance is very important. I'm telling you right now that there is going to be an outpouring of miracles like like has never been seen on this planet in the end 0:42:25 - 0:42:46 times. I've said that before and it's gonna happen. I'm just gonna keep saying it and eventually other people are gonna say it too. But um I've been telling you this for a long time and I was, I, I I'm telling you it's gonna happen. So as that happens, the signs and wonders that the adversary does are 0:42:46 - 0:43:16 also going to increase. But just as in with Moses and the priests, there is going to be a spiritual dance off and there will be clear, abundant signs that one is greater than the other. So you can shortcut this process by developing your powers of reason and by using those powers of reasons, reason to 0:43:15 - 0:43:35 better know the Lord. And I want to share a scripture with you. It is very important on this topic. This is from 3581. And now it came to pass that according to our record and we know our record to be true for behold, it was a just man who did keep the record for. He truly did many miracles in the name 0:43:35 - 0:43:55 of Jesus. And there was not any man who could do a miracle in the name of Jesus save, he were cleansed. Every wit from his iniquity. Now, there are three levels of applying this scripture. Almost everyone who knows about it is at level one, which is that they don't apply it at all. So what this says 0:43:55 - 0:44:19 is if you perform miracles, it it at level one understanding. If you perform miracles, it means that you're cleansed every wit from your iniquity. In other words, you're a righteous person who's more like God than those not doing the miracles. And uh no one practices that if, if someone came up and just 0:44:19 - 0:44:44 started raising the dead, healing, the blind healing, the sick causing limbs to grow, they started performing miracles. Um claiming that it was by the power of Jesus. Hardly anyone would react to that at least in the L DS church because there are people who do this and they don't react, believe it or 0:44:44 - 0:45:13 not, this happens all the time. It happens all the time and we could talk about that. But there's no point right now that's not relevant. That's level one. Level two is to respond to that and say, look, if someone's doing miracles, this better get my attention. So put yourself in the place of those uh 0:45:13 - 0:45:34 of the Jews in the time of Jesus. And he comes around and he starts teaching with wisdom greater than any of them have ever heard or seen and doing miracles greater than any of them had ever heard or seen. And in an abundance that they couldn't even fathom. And how did they respond? Well, you can read 0:45:33 - 0:45:57 it for yourself. Some few responded by saying maybe this is worth something and most of them, it was limited to, what can I get out of this? And they start, you know, dropping their friends through ceilings to try to get to Jesus so that they can be healed of their afflictions. And he said over and over 0:45:56 - 0:46:15 again, this isn't the point when they, when the, the friends did that with the, the one guy who was paralyzed or whatever, he said your sins are forgiven you. He didn't say you're healed. He said your sins are forgiven you. He only healed them because the people watching doubted in their hearts and said 0:46:15 - 0:46:42 , who's this guy that he thinks he can forgive sins? And he said, oh, you think that's hard watch this? And he said be healed? The guy got up. He wasn't going to heal that guy because that's not the point anyway. So what it says though over and over again is that the, a lot of people reacted not by even 0:46:42 - 0:47:10 throwing their handicapped friends through roofs to get to him. But uh and not certainly not by repenting of their sins and becoming more like him because when he taught, he, he made the, the food miraculously multiply two times. And um they said, give us, give us this miraculous food forever. He said 0:47:10 - 0:00:00 , this isn't the point. He said, I'm the miraculous food, eat me and drink my blood, eat my flesh and drink my blood. And that sounds like a creepy thing today. And we're like, wow, that's, that's weird. And then we read that it was a hard saying for them to receive and we assume what that means is, 0:00:00 - 0:47:49 it was creepy for them too. That's not what that means. They knew exactly what he meant and what does he mean? Go read the sacrament prayers. He means, learn about me and do exactly like I would do in your place and keep doing that. I'll teach you more about me. And as I do, you live exactly as you believe 0:47:49 - 0:48:13 I would in your place in all things at all times, even unto death. And that's what you're promising to do when you get baptized. And that's what it means to actually live the gospel. This is my doctrine be even as I am and just as it is for you today, that was very hard for them to hear back then because 0:48:13 - 0:48:31 they were not interested. They wanted all the goodies, they didn't want to be good. They wanted the goodies from someone else and people are like that today too. So that was the second level of how they could have reacted to the miracles. The third level that would have been good if they did that. If 0:48:31 - 0:48:54 that's the ideal is you look at the miracles and you say, wow, obviously this man is from God. And what he demonstrates is is what I should become. He's giving me an example of what God is like beyond what I already live. And I'm going to change my life so that I follow this example. The third way you 0:48:54 - 0:49:12 could react is how an awful lot of people reacted. The ideal was the rarest reaction more commonly what they did. And you'll see this in the, in the, in the scriptures. The second he performs the miracle, they start plotting on how they're gonna kill him again and again, every time he does something 0:49:11 - 0:49:39 wondrous, their first reaction is how do we kill this guy? And that's how most people would react either by trying to shut the person down or by trying to get what they want out of him or her. So that's how we would respond in general to people working miracles, but the people working miracles are going 0:49:39 - 0:50:03 to come. And as they do, Satan will also be working miracles. So um so now let's get to how you tell the difference. So these people who say like, oh my deceased wife or husband or my great uncle, he came to me in the temple. Therefore, everything the L DS church believes must be true. Here's my, my 0:50:03 - 0:50:23 question, God doesn't do anything, save it benefits the world. God doesn't do anything unless it leads to improvement. This is one of the signs that talks about uh the Lord mentions in doctrine and covenants that everything he does edifies, that's a sign that he's working is that things get better, right 0:50:23 - 0:50:47 ? And I'm not talking about prosperity gospel better. I mean, the real better I is the question is how does this cause people to become more like Christ than they were before? That's God's prosperity is becoming more like God. So Mormons ought to uniquely value this idea because they're the only ones 0:50:46 - 0:51:11 that ostensibly believe that God's purpose is to make us like Him. That's, it's to provide everything possible so that we can choose that if we want it. And everyone else seems to have a real problem with that. But ostensibly folks from the Mormon background ought to have no problem with that. Right 0:51:10 - 0:51:37 ? And yet do you use that as a discernment device? So, um, the folks that say that they have these experiences in the temple, here's the question to ask and how did that help you become more like Christ? And they will not have an answer. What they will say is, well, I got really into family history or 0:51:37 - 0:51:58 I spent more time in the temple. Well, guess what? Going to mcdonald's will cause you to spend more time at mcdonald's, you're gonna get hooked on the fast food. That doesn't mean it's good. That doesn't make you more like Jesus, right? It makes you more like grimace. So how does this change you? Now 0:51:57 - 0:52:17 , I'll tell you, I know people who have had legitimate experiences in the temple. And I'm one of them. Now, let me share with you one of these experiences I had, I used to go to the temple more than anybody I knew for a long time. And, uh, I didn't really have circumstances that made that convenient 0:52:16 - 0:52:37 . It was a big sacrifice and I, I did it wholeheartedly. And so I was sitting in the luster room one time and, uh, I, I was single, I had a job that was a pretty good job. And I was, I had, I had set up my life to do all the things that I thought were right. And I was working hard. And the next step 0:52:37 - 0:52:54 in all of that was for me to buy a house. And I was in a place where I could do that even though I was young and single. And so that was exciting because I grew up in poverty. And I was like, well, this is it, this is the, the promised life of abundance. And, uh, I'm following the Lord and everything's 0:52:54 - 0:53:13 good. I'm gonna buy a house. I'm gonna find a wife. Life is good. Got a great job and it was a great job. I loved it. And I'm sitting there in the celestial room and I, I had been house hunting. I had a realtor, we were going to see houses and the lord spoke to me audibly and he said, and this wasn't 0:53:13 - 0:53:43 the first time that had happened. But I, I did not, it wasn't a common thing yet, but he said stop buying houses, you're going to get deployed. And I was like, what the heck? Because I knew he had spoke, I mean, he spoke to me now, I was in the National Guard at the time and um there was no indication 0:53:42 - 0:54:04 whatsoever. I was an executive officer in a company, so I was second in command and whatever was happening, I knew about it was my job, right. So the commander, anything he knew, he told me because I was his guy to make sure everything happened. So this was a big shock to me. There was no reason to believe 0:54:03 - 0:54:24 that this was going to happen. But the second he told me, I believed him completely and I'm not gonna say my heart sank, but I immediately started thinking of all the things I needed to get set up in my life because this, this was a big deal. So the very next day I got a call from my company commander 0:54:24 - 0:54:47 that afternoon after work and he said, hey, Rob, um I just, I just uh wanted to let you know we're not supposed to tell anyone yet, but I just found out today that we're getting deployed and I wasn't sure if you had heard and I said, yeah, I have heard and he didn't, that's the example of my sense of 0:54:47 - 0:55:12 humor because I, it was hilarious to me. And I said, yeah, I have heard and he didn't ask me who I heard from. So sure enough, I mean, that was, that was the Lord speaking to me. Um So, so how did if you ask me, how did that cause you to be more like Christ? You know, I could write a whole book on it 0:55:12 - 0:55:35 , on all of the implications of that in my life on how it, it drew me nearer to God. The so first and foremost in, in the belief that I had the faith that I had, that he knows all things from before and uh that he knows what's coming and that he'll take care of us and that, you know, the list goes on 0:55:35 - 0:56:00 and on and on. But, but at the end of the day, it caused me to trust him more. And so, uh I wasn't afraid I was, I was more courageous to do great things in God's name than I was before. And that's a pattern that just keeps going until like, like it says in Jacob, your faith is unshakeable. Imagine what 0:55:59 - 0:56:29 that would be to have unshakeable faith. Imagine what you would have to go through to be able to say you had unshakable faith. You, you'd literally have to experience the depths of what can happen in this life and say I didn't waver and, and not of yourself, you'd say I know something about how good 0:56:29 - 0:56:55 God is because this is what he's taken me through and he supported me the whole time. And this is what Elma said, I think at least twice. And he, he said, I've been through great afflictions and the Lord has brought me through. What if you could say I have been through all afflictions and the Lord has 0:56:55 - 0:57:16 brought me through. That's unshakeable faith. Well, that's knowledge at that point. But you get there through unshakeable faith. And by being able to say that you inspire others to have greater courage in the Lord. So that's how you can tell the difference if the fruits are now, I go to the temple more 0:57:15 - 0:57:39 and I cry more when I'm telling people about my temple story. OK. So at best, what is that? How is that actually helping you to be more like Jesus or trust him more or obey him more? Because those are the same fruits you'll get from going to mcdonald's. You'll go there more and you'll like it more. I 0:57:39 - 0:58:04 I omitted one thing that I was meant to say about this scripture in 3581. It's really worthy of greater study. But this is very important and it ties into what I was just saying uh in the ideal reaction that we have to miracles, we have to understand this phrase in the name of Jesus. So I'm gonna read 0:58:04 - 0:58:22 that scripture again, that verse and I want you to pay attention to what the verse would be if it was missing the two mentions of this phrase in the name of Jesus because it completely changes the scripture if you omit that this verse, OK? And now it came to pass that according to our record and we know 0:58:22 - 0:58:42 our record to be true for behold, it was a just man who did keep the record for. He truly did many miracles in the name of Jesus. And there was not any man who could do a miracle in the name of Jesus. Save, he were cleansed every wit from his iniquity. So the omission of the phrase in the name of Jesus 0:58:41 - 0:59:04 would mean that they were just doing many miracles and it's not the same. So it turns out you can do miracles not in the name of Jesus. It turns out the priests were not doing miracles in the name of Jesus, the priest of Pharaoh Moses was but the priests of pharaoh were not. So what does in the name 0:59:04 - 0:59:27 of Jesus mean? It means according to his character, it means a fully aligned with how he is and what he would do in your place. That's important. And it's a big thing and I only can say a few words about it. And it's worthy of much more the key, the most important thing you can do to discern between 0:59:26 - 0:59:55 God's miracles and just plain old supernatural events from the devil is knowing the name of Jesus. That's the discerning key. And this is as much a problem as it is a solution because you don't know the name of Jesus, except as much as you've become like him. It's the name only known by those to whom 0:59:55 - 1:00:24 it's given. And it's the only name under heaven through which salvation comes. It's a very important idea. You have to know the Lord to know, to recognize his arm, his power and to discern between it and anything less than it. And the only way you can know that is through living up to the parts, the 1:00:24 - 1:00:47 bit that you already know or repenting of all of your sins. It's such a key critical thing that I stopped all the things I was doing with what the Lord was teaching me on, uh what I would consider much more important topics, much more needed topics. And I wrote a book on repentance. And uh if you haven't 1:00:47 - 1:01:05 read that, I encourage you to, but more than that, I encourage you to live the scriptures that are quoted in it. Because if you don't, your ability to see and understand anything else is basically zero. No matter how much you think, you know, or have experienced, you have nothing. In fact, you have worse 1:01:05 - 1:01:22 than nothing because when you think you have something but you don't actually have anything. Not only do you not have what you don't have, you're also cut off from ever receiving it because you're not gonna go find it because you have no motive for that because you think you have it and you won't receive 1:01:21 - 0:00:00 a person who actually has it if they were to come to you and tell you about it because you'll think you already have it and what you think you have will be very different from what they say they have. And so how are you going to see the value in that you can't? So in short, it takes one to know one, 0:00:00 - 1:02:04 it takes a Moses to show the limits of the priests of Pharaoh. And this is the issue with these folks who go to the L DS temple and they think they have these experiences with God. Um How are they going to know that there's something better available? The short answer is like the Hebrews and like the 1:02:04 - 1:02:31 Egyptians, they're going to have to suffer. So what suffer the revelation of problems that their experiences do not solve? You know, the priests of Pharaoh needed to experience and the people they needed to experience problems that the power of the priest of pharaoh could not solve. And in the last days 1:02:30 - 1:02:54 , there will be an abundance of problems that the power of Satan cannot solve. And it's the duty of the Children of God to rise up to the point where they've learned enough from God about God and live enough like God that they can contend with those problems. And that's what's really going to get people 1:02:54 - 1:03:17 shaken out of their, the shell of their false traditions. Now, for the humble and honest, there are already sufficient reasons for that. So someone who is uh humble, honest, I should also say and intelligent, those three things I'm not saying brainiac, I'm just saying, you know, you can read the instructions 1:03:16 - 1:03:45 on a box of pop tarts and figure out how to toast it level of intelligence pretty basic. If they're honest, intelligent and um humble, then they can entertain an idea. Even if it stands at odds with what they currently find value in, they can still evaluate it objectively and they can also dissociate 1:03:44 - 1:04:11 within their own ideas, the things that they have seen value in and everything else. And so again, coming back to these temple people suppose you had an experience in the temple. Does that mean that everything inside the L DS box is the best that could ever be that you have access to? No, no, it does 1:04:11 - 1:04:31 not. And no honest person believes that it is period. And so that at the end of the day, the problem isn't evidence and it's not that they don't know all the things that I've shared with you in this video that you've probably never heard before either. They already have enough to see and they don't see 1:04:30 - 1:04:51 . And so now you can help them see more with these things that I've shared with you, but don't be surprised when they don't listen to that either. And like Pharaoh, they're just hardening their heart turning away from uh more and more and more abundant evidence, but the evidence is already sufficient 1:04:50 - 1:05:13 . And so coming full circle. Now, looking at this, the most important thing you can take away from this is not what it will change about how you interact with other people. But um I'm sorry how you help others to interact with the things, you know, but in how you interact with what you're shown by others 1:05:13 - 1:05:33 . So you should say, Lord, is it I with this? And, and now you've been thinking about this whole lesson in terms of other people in terms of these L DS temple people. But now I want you to think about it in terms of yourself and maybe re-watch this whole thing. Now thinking of it from your own perspective 1:05:32 - 1:05:53 . So what has God been showing you all along that you've been really stubborn about what evidences has God shown you that you have not reacted appropriately to? Where do you need to, to turn up the heat and up the intensity and let go of what you've already been shown does not have the greatest value 1:05:52 - 1:06:04 and what things have you been shown that have greater value that you haven't reached out and grabbed onto? Well, I need to go but I hope that this was helpful. Take care.