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Atonement and the Law of Justice
By Richard Price
"And thus God breaketh the bands of death ... standing betwixt them and justice" (Mosiah 8:35,37).
Spring is the time when newness of life breaks forth in nature, and a time when Christians celebrate Easter. It is a time to contemplate the meanings of the Crucifixion, Atonement, and the Resurrection of Christ. These three events are so important that they need to be studied carefully.
The Atonement is a subject which has been difficult for many to understand because the Bible does not explain it as completely as the Book of Mormon does. At the time of the coming forth of the Restoration, Christian ministers preached that it was an angry God who demanded Christ's blood as payment for sin. It was taught that sinners owed God a debt, and that it was necessary to "assuage His divine wrath" in order to receive forgiveness. Cotton Mather and other great preachers in Colonial America preached "hellfire and brimstone" sermons in which they portrayed the individual likened unto a spider hanging by a thread over an open fire, and God as a person with a pair of scissors, ready to cut the thread. God was represented as being cruel and vengeful.
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Do We Love the Lord Enough to Serve Him Diligently?
By Elder Larry C. Harlacher
On Sunday morning, February 14, 2010, I was assigned to bring the spoken word at the Glendale Branch in Independence, Missouri, where I attend. I prayed and meditated about what message I should bring, and the following thought was vividly placed in my mind: "Do we love the Lord enough to serve Him diligently?" As I began to study and make preparations based on this thought, I was led to the following scriptures upon which to base my sermon:
Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not charity, I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal. And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries, and all knowledge; and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not charity, I am nothing. And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, and have not charity, it profiteth me nothing. Charity suffereth long, and is kind; charity envieth not; charity vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up, doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil; rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth; beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things. Charity never faileth. (1 Corinthians 13:1–8)
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The Work of the Father
By Vance Snively
We are all familiar with the story of Jesus in His youth. When He was twelve years old, He went with His parents to Jerusalem to celebrate the feast of the Passover. After the celebration ended, His parents began to travel home. Unbeknownst to them, however, Jesus remained in Jerusalem. After a day's journey His parents returned to Jerusalem and found Him teaching in the Temple. His mother, Mary, asked Him why He had done this. And Jesus replied, "Why is it that ye sought me? Knew ye not that I must be about my Father's business?" (Luke 2:40–49). Likewise, the Lord Jesus Christ has called us in these latter days to be about His Father's business, which is also known in the Scriptures as "the work of the Father."
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From the Death of Joseph
Smith, Jr. to the Reorganization
How God Cleansed His Church and Set it
in Order
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"For this saith the Lord, I, the Lord, am merciful and gracious
unto those who fear me, and delight to honor those who serve me
in righteousness and in truth unto the end; great shall be their
reward, and eternal shall be their glory; and to them will I reveal
all mysteries; yea, all the hidden mysteries of my kingdom from
days of old; and for ages to come will I make known unto them
the good pleasure of my will concerning all things pertaining
to my kingdom; yea, even the wonders of eternity shall they know,
and things to come will I show them, even the things of many generations;
their wisdom shall be great, and their understanding reach to
heaven; and before them the wisdom of the wise shall perish, and
the understanding of the prudent shall come to naught; for by
my Spirit will I enlighten them, and by my power will I make known
unto them the secrets of my will; yea, even those things which
eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor yet entered into the heart
of man" (Doctrine and Covenants 76:2)
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Francis M. Higbee Sued Joseph for Five Thousand Dollars
The conspiracies against Joseph and Hyrum increased in intensity in the spring of 1844. On May 1, 1844, Francis M. Higbee issued a complaint against Joseph Smith before the Fifth Judicial District of Illinois at Carthage, Illinois, the Hancock County Seat. On May 6 the clerk of the Circuit Court at Carthage issued a warrant, upon the complaint of Francis M. Higbee, which was served on Joseph by Deputy Sheriff John D. Parker. Joseph was informed by the writ that Francis Higbee was suing him for the sum of five thousand dollars for damages. However, the writ did not specify in what way Joseph had caused damages to Higbee.
Within a very short time it was revealed that Higbee's determination to sue for damages had grown out of events that had transpired in 1842, two years earlier. In the summer of 1842 members of the Church's High Council had investigated the "spiritual wifery" which was being practiced by Francis M. Higbee, Doctor John C. Bennett, and others. Testimony was given before the Council that Higbee had seduced at least six women, and that he had contracted a venereal disease from a prostitute, a French woman who had come to Nauvoo from the neighboring town of Warsaw. When faced with these charges, Higbee confessed that he was guilty of the crimes, and he promised to repent, and reform, and lead an honorable life.
While the published Church records do not identify the venereal disease by name, Higbee may have been infected with syphilis or gonorrhea. If so, there was no medical cure for those diseases in 1842. It would be one hundred years later, in the 1940s, before antibiotics were discovered and made available for those suffering from those sexually transmitted diseases. In spite of Higbee's promises to the Church leaders that he would repent and reform, Higbee continued to malign the Prophet by spreading the falsehood that Joseph had tried to get Nancy Rigdon to become his plural wife. Then came Higbee's charge that Joseph owed Higbee five thousand dollars for damages. This came at a time when Joseph was already harassed by other conspirators within and without the Church. Joseph was certain that he could not get a fair trial at Carthage; therefore, he made the decision to seek to have Higbee's case against him tried at Nauvoo.
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