Episode 15 Doctrine and Covenants 37–40 “If Ye Are Not One Ye Are Not Mine”

This episode is a quick wrap-up of sections 30-36 along with the current lesson 37-40.  I talk about answers to prayers through the Doctrine and Covenants, watching our close associations, and lots of other stuff.

April 12–18

Doctrine and Covenants 37–40

“If Ye Are Not One Ye Are Not Mine”

From the manual:

To the early Saints, the Church was more than a place to hear some preaching on Sunday. Throughout His revelations to Joseph Smith, the Lord described the Church with words like cause, kingdom, Zion, and, quite often, work. That may have been part of what attracted many early members to the Church. As much as they loved the Church’s restored doctrine, many also wanted something they could dedicate their lives to. Even so, the Lord’s 1830 command to the Saints to gather in Ohio was not easy for some to follow. For people like Phebe Carter, it meant leaving comfortable homes for an unfamiliar frontier (see “Voices of the Restoration” at the end of this outline). Today we can see clearly what those Saints could see only with the eye of faith: the Lord had great blessings waiting for them in Ohio.

The need to gather to Ohio has long since passed, but Saints today still unite around the same cause, the same work: to “bring forth Zion” (Doctrine and Covenants 39:13). Like those early Saints, we forsake “the cares of the world” (Doctrine and Covenants 40:2) because we trust the Lord’s promise: “You shall receive … a blessing so great as you never have known” (Doctrine and Covenants 39:10).

See also Saints, 1:109–11.

Here is the song “The Rising” that I was talking about. Sorry Nashville Tribute band, I couldn’t find an official video put out by you.

Here is the part about Phoebe Carter from the manual that was so good.

Phebe Carter

Among the many Saints who gathered to Ohio in the 1830s was Phebe Carter. She joined the Church in the northeastern United States in her mid twenties, though her parents did not. She later wrote of her decision to move to Ohio to unite with the Saints:

“My friends marveled at my course, as did I, but something within impelled me on. My mother’s grief at my leaving home was almost more than I could bear; and had it not been for the spirit within I should have faltered at the last. My mother told me she would rather see me buried than going thus alone out into the heartless world.

“‘[Phebe],’ she said, impressively, ‘will you come back to me if you find Mormonism false?’

“I answered, ‘yes, mother; I will.’ … My answer relieved her trouble; but it cost us all much sorrow to part. When the time came for my departure I dared not trust myself to say farewell; so I wrote my good-byes to each, and leaving them on my table, ran downstairs and jumped into the carriage. Thus I left the beloved home of my childhood to link my life with the saints of God.”¹

In one of those farewell messages, Phebe wrote:

“Beloved Parents—I am now about to leave my paternal roof for a while … I know not how long—but not without grateful feelings for the kindness which I have received from my infancy until the present time—but Providence seems to order it otherwise now than it has been. Let us commit all these things into the hands of Providence and be thankful that we have been permitted to live together so long under so favorable circumstances as we have, believing that all things will work for our good if we love God supremely. Let us realize that we can pray to one God who will hear the sincere prayers of all his creatures and give us that which is best for us. …

“Mother, I believe it is the will of God for me to go to the west and I have been convinced that it has been for a long time. Now the way has opened … ; I believe that it is the spirit of the Lord that has done it which is sufficient for all things. O be not anxious for your child; the Lord will comfort me. I believe that the Lord will take care of me and give me that which is for the best. … I go because my Master calls—he has made my duty plain.”²