Restoration (Alma 41)
What measure ye mete
“And now, my brethren, seeing that ye know the light by which ye may judge, which light is the light of Christ, see that ye do not judge wrongfully; for with that same judgment which ye judge ye shall also be judged.” (Moroni 7:18)
“Verily, verily, I say unto you, Judge not, that ye be not judged. For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged; and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again.” (Matt 7:1-2, Nephi 14:1-2)
“O, my son, this is not the case; but the meaning of the word restoration is to bring back again evil for evil, or carnal for carnal, or devilish for devilish—good for that which is good; righteous for that which is righteous; just for that which is just; merciful for that which is merciful…. For that which ye do send out shall return unto you again, and be restored.” (Alma 41:13, 15)
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“…all they that take the sword shall perish with the sword.” (Matthew 26:52) He that lives by the sword has judged his fellow men worthy of death by the sword. I have no doubt that such a man shall die by the sword as the Savior proclaimed, otherwise he is a liar. Let's make this more personal: “In whatsoever conditions ye deem a people or nation worthy of death, ye shall as a people likewise be deemed worthy.” “If you hold life so valueless that you will be persuaded by falsehoods to kill, you too will have to learn what it is like as an innocent person or young family in a weaker nation to be killed.” Do not find comfort in the fact that some people escape this judgment now, for, for the word of God to be fulfilled, they too must experience what they inflict. Their judgment will return to them.
If you believe it is just through your vote to force a family to conform to your ideas of education, religion or social ideas, though they may find those ideas reprehensible, you must learn in eternity, what it is like to be forced contrary to your conscious and beliefs and face the confiscation of your children and the tears to which anonymous others are oblivious.
The balance of eternity is perfect, it is merciful, it is educational.
Joseph said: “A man is saved no faster than he gets knowledge.” (TPJS p. 217) We must and will know what it is like to inflict evil upon our fellow man until we shudder and shrink from the thought of offending, until it becomes contrary to our nature to do evil.
Eternity is a summary; a word for many things. Brigham Young said we are living in eternity right now. We are living in a spiritual kingdom and under a certain law right now.
An adulterer, as Joseph stated, cannot inherit the celestial kingdom, but must inherit another, why? Because he must learn what it is like to have a man seduce and violate that which is most precious to him, her loyalty dissipate and his family broken up, until he finds it reprehensible. An adulterer cannot be saved until he gains knowledge.
“Why will not man learn wisdom by precept and example at this late age of the world and not be obliged to learn everything we know by sad experience?” (Joseph Smith, HC 3:26)
Our experiences in life are limited, we cannot experience all things, but they are perfectly suited for us, to bring us the knowledge we need to be saved.
"If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him. But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering. For he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed." (James 1:5)
"And he spake a parable unto them, saying, that men ought always to pray and not faint. Saying, There was in a city a judge, who feared not God, nor regarded man. And there was a widow in that city; and she came unto him, saying, Avenge me of mine adversary. And he would not for a while; but afterward, he said within himself, Though I fear not God, nor regard man; Yet because this widow troubleth me, I will avenge her; lest, by her continual coming she weary me. And the Lord said, Hear what the unjust judge saith. And shall not God avenge his own elect, who cry day and night unto him, though he bear long with men? I tell you that he will come, and when he does come, he will avenge his saints speedily. Nevertheless, when the Son of Man cometh, shall he find faith on the earth?" (Luke 18:1-8, IV)
"Come to God weary him until he blesses you." (Joseph Smith, July 1839, Commerce, Illinois; reported by Willard Richards, in Willard Richards, Pocket Companion, pp. 75, 78–79. Words of Joseph Smith)
"Never cease striving until you have seen God face to face. Strengthen your faith; cast off you doubts, your sins, and all your unbelief; and nothing can prevent you from coming to God." (Oliver Cowdery, HC v 2, ch 13, p 195)
"The intelligence out of which we were created might just as accurately be referred to as the 'word' or the 'thought' of God. In Genesis 1:3 we read: 'And God said, Let there be light: and there was light.' God speaks light into existence. Or we might describe it as God imagining or conceiving light into existence. Since we are made of light, or truth, or the glory of God, it would be equally true that He conceives or imagines us into existence. It was both a creative act and an act of faith for God to conceive of us...."
"It is absolutely essential to the process of 'creation' or 'conceiving' for God the Father to have a female consort or Mother God. If we were the product of only one mind’s thought, or word, or intelligence we could never act independently of the one mind. Everything about the conceived individual would be under the exclusive control of the one mind. Therefore such an individual would be wholly predictable and subordinate in all of its acts to the single mind. Only when two are jointly conceiving an individual does it become possible for the individual conceived to be independent of control. So long as both have input, neither one can fully control what the personality will choose to do. The life’s choices, the story-line, the events and decisions of any given personality cannot be fully controlled by either the Father or the Mother when both are allowed to create, conceive or organize the personality. Intelligences require parents in the plural; otherwise they could not acquire independence of thought.
"When the Father and Mother hold the thought (or word, or intelligence) long enough, with faith in the existence of this new creation, while neither one is fully controlling the individual intelligence, then existence becomes possible. The person has everything necessary to exist in her own right. It becomes possible for the intelligence to make her own choice. Only when the intelligence accepts that right and makes a choice freely, without control by the Father and Mother, does the intelligence begin to exist. 'All truth is independent in that sphere in which God has placed it, to act for itself, as all intelligence also; otherwise there is no existence.' (D&C 93:30) It was an act of faith by God the Father and His consort to cause the intelligence to be conceived or organized. But it requires an act of faith on the part of the intelligence to exercise her own free will to accept its creation. Unless she is free to act by making her own choice and actually does so, there is no existence." (Beloved Enos, Chapter 1, p. 17-20)
"Who cannot see, that if God framed the worlds by faith, that it is by faith that he exercises power over them, and that faith is the principle of power? And that if the principle of power, it must be so in man as well as in the Deity? This is the testimony of all [p. 7] the sacred writers, and the lesson which they have been endeavoring to teach to man." (Lectures on Faith, Lecture First)
"We must conform to the truth, the pattern given to us by God in order to be true to our core. God is in our core. He is now sustaining us from moment to moment. Without Him we would not exist at all. But He intends for us to become like Him." (Beloved Enos, Chapter 1, p. 28)
"For the thing which I greatly feared is come upon me, and that which I was afraid of is come unto me." (Job 3:25, IV)
“IT IS TRUE that thoughts are seeds. Each is a living entity of vibrating life, but every thought is not planted, or will not grow any more than every grain of wheat that comes forth will produce. No seed will grow unless it is planted.
“Grain comes forth only after it has been planted in the earth. There it germinates, breaking its outer shell, and gathering from the elements the strength and power of fulfillment, which it holds locked in the vision within itself, it comes forth multiplied.
“In the same way thoughts will only produce after they have been planted. This planting is done by holding to the thoughts with deep intensity until they are dropped into the realm of the emotions. This is conception. You have heard the expression, ‘he conceived the idea.’ This is an absolute fact. When thought and emotion mingle the thought is conceived and will come forth. When they connect with the feeling, or emotions they become living, vibrations, generated into growth and power, expanding into life and will as surely grow into their full stature of fulfillment as a kernel of wheat will grow if planted and given the necessary conditions to produce.
“A thought must be harbored as an emotion, such as a fear, or a deep desire, which find lodgment in the vibrating essence of life, then only is it liberated into the forces of creation. This point where thought and emotion meet is also the place where vibration is released, AND VIBRATION IS LIFE. Thus the life force is generated in the thought or seed and it reaches out to gather to itself its own, be it good or bad.
“The place of vibration is the center of life in each human being—when that life center and the conscious mind become united, with complete understanding, the body and the spirit blend in the power of the ‘at-one-meant,’ and-the mortal and the spiritual become completely united—the material seed, or thought, is released into the emotions, or source of life, to produce and grow. The word ‘father’ in its earliest meaning was known as ‘first cause’ or ‘first mover.’ Thus the mind is the first mover, or the cause, and has the power to plant the seeds of thought into the emotions, which is the female counterpart and contains all that is necessary to bring the seed forth to complete fulfillment. Thus the great creative-principle of Almighty God is complete in every child of earth. Yea, ‘all that the Father has, is yours.’ This is the complete power of the imagination—the power to ‘image in’ to the 'spiritual realm the living seed of thought that it might generate and come forth multiplied into tangible reality." (Annalee Skarin, Ye Are Gods, Chapter 8, How Thoughts are Planted and How They Produce, p. 69-70)
0m 30s: "I prayed for an average of ten people a day, every day. And for three and a half months I didn't see anybody healed.
7m 36s: "It doesn't matter what people believe. I believe. So back to your original question. What if you pray and it does happen? I prayed for about a thousand people before I saw a breakthrough. I really did." (Todd White, Interview, "What if nobody gets healed")
"Cast thy bread upon the waters; for thou shalt find it after many days." (Ecclesiastes 11:1)
"Now I will liken these things unto a parable. For it is like as a man traveling into a far country, who called his own servants, and delivered unto them his goods. And unto one he gave five talents, to another two, and to another one; to every man according to his several ability; and straightway went on his journey. Then he that had received the five talents, went and traded with the same; and gained other five talents. And likewise he who received two talents, he also gained other two. But he who had received one, went and digged in the earth and hid his lord's money. After a long time the lord of those servants cometh, and reckoneth with them. And so he that had received the five talents came, and brought other five talents, saying, Lord, thou deliveredst unto me five talents; behold, I have gained besides them five talents more. His lord said unto him, Well done, good and faithful servant; thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things; enter thou into the joy of thy lord. He also that had received two talents came and said, Lord, thou deliveredst unto me two talents; behold, I have gained two talents besides them. His lord said unto him, Will done, good and faithful servant; thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things; enter thou into the joy of thy lord. Then he who had received the one talent came, and said, Lord, I knew thee that thou art a hard man, reaping where thou hast not sown, and gathering where thou hast not scattered. And I was afraid, and went and hid thy talent in the earth; and lo, here is thy talent; take it from me as thou hast from thine other servants, for it is thine. His lord answered and said unto him, O wicked and slothful servant, thou knewest that I reap where I sowed not, and gather where I have not scattered. Having known this, therefore, thou oughtest to have put my money to the exchangers, and at my coming I should have received mine own with usury. I will take, therefore, the talent from you, and give it unto him who hath ten talents. For unto every one who hath obtained other talents, shall be given, and he shall have an abundance. But from him that hath not obtained other talents, shall be taken away even that which he hath received. And his lord shall say unto his servants, Cast ye the unprofitable servant into outer darkness; there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth."(Matthew 25:13-31 IV)
"Without faith it is impossible to please God." (Hebrews 11:6 IV, Lectures on Faith)
"Behold, a sower went forth to sow. And when he sowed, some seeds fell by the wayside, and the fowls came and devoured them up. Some fell upon stony places, where they had not much earth; and forthwith they sprung up; and when the sun was up, they were scorched, because they had no deepness of earth; and because they had no root, they withered away. And some fell among thorns, and the thorns sprung up and choked them. But others fell into good ground, and brought forth fruit; some an hundred-fold, some sixty-fold, and some thirty-fold. Who hath ears to hear, let him hear." (Matthew 13:3-7 IV)
"WHEN I had prayed at home, and was sat down upon the bed, a certain man came in to me with a reverend look, in the habit of a shepherd, clothed with a white cloak, having his bag upon his back, and his staff in his hand, and saluted me....All these things that Shepherd, the angel of repentance, commanded me to write." (Second Book of Hermas, Introduction)
"AGAIN he said unto me; remove from thee all doubting; and question nothing at all, when thou askest anything of the Lord; saying within thyself: how shall I be able to ask anything of the Lord and receive it, seeing I have so greatly sinned against him?
"Do not think thus, but turn unto the Lord with all thy heart, and ask of him without doubting, and thou shalt know the mercy of the Lord; how that he will not forsake thee, but will fulfil the request of thy soul.
"For God is not as men, mindful of the injuries he has received; but he forgets injuries, and has compassion upon his creature.
"Wherefore purify thy heart from all the vices of this present world; and observe the commands I have before delivered unto thee from God; and thou shalt receive whatsoever good things thou shalt ask, and nothing shall be wanting unto thee of all thy petitions; if thou shalt ask of the Lord without doubting.
"But they that are not such, shall obtain none of those things which they ask. For they that are full of faith ask all things with confidence, and receive from the Lord, because they ask without doubting. But he that doubts, shall hardly live unto God, except he repent.
"Wherefore purify thy heart from doubting, and put on faith, and trust in God, and thou shalt receive all that thou shalt ask. But and if thou shouldest chance to ask somewhat and not (immediately) receive it, yet do not therefore doubt, because thou hast not presently received the petition of thy soul.
"For it may be thou shalt not presently receive it for thy trial, or else for some sin which thou knowest not. But do not thou leave off to ask, and then thou shalt receive. Else if thou shalt cease to ask, thou must complain of thyself, and not of God, that he has not given unto thee what thou didst desire.
"Consider therefore this doubting, how cruel and pernicious it is; and how it utterly roots out many from the faith, who were very faithful and firm. For this doubting is the daughter of the devil, and deals very wickedly with the servants of God.
"Despise it therefore, and thou shalt rule over it on every occasion. Put on a firm and powerful faith: for faith promises all things and perfects all things. But doubting will not believe, that it shall obtain anything, by all that it can do.
"Thou seest therefore, says he, how faith cometh from above, from God; and hath great power. But doubting is an earthly spirit, and proceedeth from the devil, and has no strength.
"Do thou therefore keep the virtue of faith, and depart from doubting, in which is no virtue, and thou shalt live unto God. And all shall live unto God, as many as do these things." (Second Book of Hermas, Command 9)
"Faith is the substance of things hoped for." (Hebrews 11:1)
