Denver Snuffer

From The Second Comforter, Chapter 10

The setting of God’s throne tells us we are looking at the pinnacle. This is the seat of power. We see here a throne setting. It is “surrounded” or in a middle. The point from which the compass draws a true circle must be fixed by the center point. God is that center point. It is in the middle. He is that fixed, central position from which all creation arises. “Surrounding” it are the “numberless concourses” of angels. That is, the center of the infinite is God. From Him all blessings flow. From Him all sustaining power and authority rises. The surrounding concourses, infinite in number, are all engaged in “singing and praising” Him. Here the ceremony is designed to communicate to the mind of Lehi (and in turn to our own minds) the notion of God’s central position and fixed center-point, from which glory proceeds and to which all praise and thanks should be returned. The setting and the information are ceremonial and symbolic. They tell us something. They try to teach us, with the setting and brief description of events, about higher things. They use simple words describing a ceremonial scene from heaven, to tell us something about sacred things from above. They can communicate powerful things to us, if we will let them. They teach us about God’s role in creation and His continuing, presiding position to which we, as well as heaven itself, turn for light and power.

"When you feel this harmony and closeness, remember it. When you are in balance, in harmony and at rest, you can feel His presence. Feel it, follow it, lean when He leans, and you will learn quicker what it is you are trying to accomplish with your heart, might, mind, and strength. You’ve been keeping His commandments. Now try to feel the underlying state it was intended to bring you to. God did not give you a mere ‘rule book.’ He gave you something much greater. It is a harmony and symphony. But more of a feeling than a thought. It is an experience, and not just an analysis, which brings you into balance as thin as a razor’s edge." (The Second Comforter, Chapter 15)

"God hides most things in plain sight. It is up to you, therefore, to be willing to draw back the veil and see them." (The Second Comforter, Sayings)

"Don‘t trouble yourself, unless it motivates you to change. Repentance means change.  Repentance actually means you turn from the direction you are facing. Whatever direction you are facing, turn from that direction, and face God. When you turn to God and face Him and let Him be the object of your focus and your attention, then you have  repented." (The Mission of Elijah Reconsidered)

"Lose yourself, your pride, self-will and meaningless individuality in something much greater." (The Second Comforter, ch. 9)

"'…and the brother of Jared fell down before the Lord, for he was struck with fear. And the Lord saw that the brother of Jared had fallen to the earth; and the Lord said unto him: Arise, why hast thou fallen? And he saith unto the Lord: I saw the finger of the Lord, and I feared lest he should smite me; for I knew not that the Lord had flesh and blood.' [It frightened him to realize that the God who controls all things had flesh and blood. This was a great secret that ought not get out, and now he knows it. Knowing it frightened him. He thought he was intruding into space he shouldn’t and he felt convicted that somehow, that was something he ought not know.]" (40 Years in Mormonism, Talk 8)

"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)

From blog post, Out of Season Fruit

Out of Season Fruit

I've been asked several times about the comment that Adam and Eve partook of the fruit "out of season" in the Elijah Talk.  Since it's come up more than once, here's an answer I gave to one of those who inquired:

They would have eventually received the command to partake.  If they had waited for that command, the "fall" would have introduced the kind of opposition experienced during the Millennium rather than the kind we now have.  Opposites only required: 1) change and 2) death.  Both will be present during the Millennium.

The Garden of Eden is an allegory, and we all pass through a "Fall from Eden" to come here.  But there are many other worlds, see D&C 76: 24.  Among these countless others, ours fell the greatest. See Moses 7: 36-37.  We are singular in our fallen state, and qualify as the "most wicked" of any of God's creations. Here we suffer, but with the opportunity to grow by making sacrifice. We all came here to offer sacrifice. Just being here is a form of sacrifice, and we will all submit to death to leave here.

Satan Fell From Heaven

"Satan was not thrown out of heaven until after this earth was created.  Jesus remarked, "I beheld Satan as lightning fall from heaven." (Luke 10:18) Similarly, John's revelation records that Satan "which deceiveth the whole world: he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him." (Revelation 12:9) From this we know that Satan was not cast out until after the creation of this earth had prepared a place into which Satan could be cast." (link, emphasis added)