Section 115: Shining Light; Creating Refuge
To whom is this revelation addressed? The
prophet, his counselors, the bishop and his counselors, the high council—these are
all mentioned by name, but if you skip through those historically specific
names and titles, you find:
This revelation is to you and to me! It is personally relevant today!1 Verily thus saith the Lord unto…
3 …all the elders and people of my Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, scattered abroad in all the world;
5 Verily I say unto you all: Arise and shine forth, that thy light may be a standard for the nations;
6 And that the gathering together upon the land of Zion, and upon her stakes, may be for a defense, and for a refuge from the storm, and from wrath when it shall be poured out without mixture upon the whole earth.
The word “standard” in this context is a flag
carried into battle so that in the midst of the noise and the trauma and the smoke and the
confusion, the soldiers can see where their leader is and rally together.
Are we shining forth? Is our light (which
should be the reflected Light of Christ) an effectual banner over our heads? Can
everyone around us see, amidst the din and confusion of the world in which we all
live and strive, that we are carriers of the Love of God for them? Can they see
where to turn for peace and love and safety because we are standard-bearers?
Sometimes we have explicit calls to labor in the kingdom, such as those people mentioned by name or title in this revelation. Sometimes this makes it easier to serve, it makes us more courageous, it tells us what to do. But sometimes we have no official calling—that is the case for me right now because my husband and I are serving in a married student ward and the students fill all the callings. As members of the Church, we always have an implicit calling to “arise and shine forth our light.” We always have an implicit calling to make our stake, ward, branch, mission, and our home “a refuge from the storm.” Are we contributing to a climate of peace, a shelter of love, a place of joy?
Section 116: The Importance of Adam-Ondi-Ahman
Many amazing senior missionaries “shine their light” all over the world to spread God’s love through teaching, serving, and through caring for Church historic sites. Sadly, one of these, Elder Brent Blackburn, 68, from the little mountain pass town of Helper, Utah passed away this summer on the grounds of the Church’s Adam-ondi-Ahman historic site. Elder Blackburn was operating a riding lawn mower on a side hill when it overturned. He and his wife Carol had been serving there only a couple of months (Church Newsroom).
1 Spring Hill is named by the Lord Adam-ondi-Ahman, because, said he, it is the place where Adam shall come to visit his people, or the Ancient of Days shall sit, as spoken of by Daniel the prophet.
Elder Blackburn came as near to dying in heaven as you can do on this earth. Leaving this life while serving a mission, serving in the temple, serving your friends and neighbors is the ultimate example of finishing strong! Carrying that banner until the very last minute. I hope I can do the same, whether I am on a called mission or just serving my implicit mission as a member of the Church and a member of my family.
For more about Adam-Ondi-Ahman, here is a BYU Religious Studies article.
Section 117: Letting Go of Worldly Things
5 Let the properties of Kirtland be turned out for debts, saith the Lord. Let them go, saith the Lord, and whatsoever remaineth, let it remain in your hands, saith the Lord.
How heart-breaking to let go of the beautiful community and temple that the saints had built in these first few years of the Church! But the Lord had a message for the people of Kirtland:
6 For have I not the fowls of heaven, and also the fish of the sea, and the beasts of the mountains? Have I not made the earth? Do I not hold the destinies of all the armies of the nations of the earth?
7 Therefore, will I not make solitary places to bud and to blossom, and to bring forth in abundance? saith the Lord.
8 Is there not room enough on the mountains of Adam-ondi-Ahman, and on the plains of Olaha Shinehah, or the land where Adam dwelt, that you should covet that which is but the drop, and neglect the more weighty matters?
There is always another place to serve, another place to build, another place to grow. Anytime we get too comfortable, the Lord will probably stir us to move, to do something new. But it is hard, even for the best people! Bishop Whitney had a beautiful store and home in Kirtland. He had worked hard for them.
"[Newel K. Whitney] was admonished by the Lord to forsake his worldly ways and devote more time to his duties as a bishop: “Let my servant Newel K. Whitney be ashamed of the Nicolaitane band and of all their secret abominations, and of all his littleness of soul before me, saith the Lord, and come up to the land of Adam-ondi-Ahman, and be a bishop unto my people, saith the Lord, not [only] in name but [also] in deed, saith the Lord” (D&C 117:11). There are no scriptural details available about why the Lord chastened Newel K. Whitney for his involvement in the “Nicolaitane band,” but the scriptures do give us some clues. The designation “Nicolaitane” apparently was derived from “Nicolas,” mentioned in Acts 6:5. Nicolas was one of seven men designated to administer the temporal affairs of the Church during New Testament times. Apparently, Nicolas used his position in the Church for personal gain; hence, the Lord stated in Revelation 2:6 that He “[hated] the deeds of the Nicolaitans.” Elder Bruce R. McConkie taught that those who involve themselves in Nicolaitane interests are “members of the Church who [are] trying to maintain their church standing while continuing to live after the manner of the world.” BYU Religious Studies
Section 118: Calling of New Apostles
By July of 1838, four of the apostles had lost faith in the Church and its prophet, mostly because of financial losses. John Boynton, brothers Luke & Lyman Johnson, and William McLellin left vacancies in the Quorum of the Twelve of the infant Church. John Taylor, John Page, Wilford Woodruff, and Willard Richards were called to replace them and were faithful to the Prophet Joseph Smith for the rest of the prophet's life. John Page left the Church after the martyrdom to follow James Strang and was then replaced by Ezra Taft Benson, the great-grandfather of the prophet Ezra Taft Benson.
This is just a little reminder that, no matter how great our calling, how sure our witness, we can still falter when times are hard, especially when they are financially hard. God will still love us and still guide our lives as much as we will allow, but we can be replaced in His Kingdom and we will suffer the loss more dearly than anyone will suffer our loss.
Section 119: A Definition of Tithing for the General Membership
Section 120: Instruction on Tithing Management and Distribution for Leadership
Latter-day Saints are famous for paying one-tenth of their income to the Church. Often we focus on blessings we may have received for doing so. But perhaps our best focus for paying tithing is love: Love for our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, who gave us everything, and love for our brothers and sisters around the world. There are countless temples and chapels in poverty-stricken areas of the world that are paid for by the tithing of the members in more affluent areas. The beautiful children of our Heavenly Father in every area of the world deserve to hear the gospel, to be baptized, to make covenants in His holy temple, and to be sealed together as families despite their complete and utter inability to build, heat, power, and manage such an edifice.
One such temple is presently being planned for construction on the island of Kiribati where the annual income is in the $100-800 range and many people are subsistence farmers. Wikipedia names Kirabiti as the poorest country in all of Oceania. Progress on the temple is slow; the ground has been cleared and a formal groundbreaking ceremony has been held. But building on a tiny island is very, very difficult. The very transportation and resource problems that keep the people there from being able to attend a temple elsewhere make it extremely difficult to bring in supplies, equipment, and skilled labor for building a temple there. What can we do? Some of us can serve senior missions there if we have skills that will help (you can request to serve in a specific mission as a senior) and the rest of us can pay our tithing. We build all the temples around the world together!
Please enjoy this beautiful video by young missionaries on Kiribati: Island Missionaries
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