Mysteries of The Kingdom And Stumbling Blocks

Compiled By Glen W. Chapman (July 1996)

JST Matthew 13:

9 Then the disciples came and said unto him, Why speakest thou unto them in parables?

10 For whosoever receiveth, to him shall be given, and he shall have more abundance;

11 But whosoever continueth not to receive, from him shall be taken away even that he hath.

13 And in them is fulfilled the prophecy of Esaias concerning them, which saith, By hearing, ye shall hear and shall not understand; and seeing, ye shall see and shall not perceive.

14 For this people's heart is waxed gross, and their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes they have closed, lest at any time they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears, and should understand with their hearts, and should be converted, and I should heal them.

15 But blessed are your eyes, for they see; and your ears, for they hear. And blessed are you because these things are come unto you, that you might understand them.

16 And verily, I say unto you, many righteous prophets have desired to see these days which you see, and have not seen them; and to hear that which you hear, and have not heard.

JST Matthew 11:

27 And at that time, there came a voice out of heaven, and Jesus answered and said, I thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes. Even so, Father, for so it seemed good in thy sight!

28 All things are delivered unto me of my Father; and no man knoweth the Son, but the Father; neither knoweth any man the Father, save the Son, and they to whom the Son will reveal himself; they shall see the Father also.

Romans 11:

8. (According as it is written, God hath given them the spirit of slumber, eyes that they should not see, and ears that they should not hear;) unto this day.

9. And David saith, Let their table be made a snare, and a trap, and a stumbling block, and a recompense unto them:

10. Let their eyes be darkened, that they may not see, and bow down their back alway.

11.. I say then, Have they stumbled that they should fall? God forbid: but [rather] through their fall

salvation [is come] unto the Gentiles, for to provoke them to jealousy.

John 12:

37. ¶ But though he had done so many miracles before them, yet they believed not on him:

39. Therefore they could not believe, …

40. He hath blinded their eyes, and hardened their heart; that they should not see with [their] eyes, nor understand with [their] heart, and be converted, and I should heal them.

1 Corinthians 2:

14. But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know [them], because they are spiritually discerned.

15. But he that is spiritual judgeth all things, yet he himself is judged of no man.

16 .For who hath known the mind of the Lord, that he may instruct him? But we have the mind of Christ.

1 Corinthians 3:

18. ¶ Let no man deceive himself. If any man among you seemeth to be wise in this world, let him become a fool, that he may be wise.

19. For the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God. For it is written, He taketh the wise in their own craftiness.

20. And again, The Lord knoweth the thoughts of the wise, that they are vain.

21. ¶ Therefore let no man glory in men. For all things are yours;

1 Corinthians 1:

19. For it is written, I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and will bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent.

20. Where [is] the wise? where [is] the scribe? where [is] the disputer of this world? hath not God made foolish the wisdom of this world?

21. For after that in the wisdom of God the world by wisdom knew not God, it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe.

25. Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men; and the weakness of God is stronger than men.

26. For ye see your calling, brethren, how that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, [are called]:

27. But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty;

28. And base things of the world, and things which are despised, hath God chosen, [yea], and things which are not, to bring to naught things that are:

Jacob 4:14

But behold, the Jews were a stiffnecked people; and they despised the words of plainness, and killed the prophets, and sought for things that they could not understand. Wherefore, because of their blindness, which blindness came by looking beyond the mark, they must needs fall; for God hath taken away his plainness from them, and delivered unto them many things which they cannot understand, because they desired it. And because they desired it God hath done it, that they may stumble.

2 Thessalonians 2:

10. And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved.

11. And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie:

12. That they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness.

Quotations From Dr. Hugh Nibley "Since Cumorah"

. . they have ears to hear, and hear not: "

'. . . as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind,

"All men cannot receive this saying, save they to whom it is given.'

. he taught them many things by parables, . as they were able to hear it."

"And they understood none of these things: and this saying was hid from them, . . ."

"If I tell you, ye will not believe '

"If I have told you earthly things, and ye believe not, how shall ye believe, if I tell you of heavenly things?"

"This is an hard saying; who. can hear it? . . . Doth this offend you'?"

''Why do ye not understand my speech'? even because ye cannot hear my word."

"My sheep hear my voice, . . ."

"I have yet many things to say unto you ,but ye cannot bear them now."

". . . we cannot tell what he saith."

". . the time cometh, when I shall no more speak unto you in proverbs, but I shall shew you plainly of the Father."

. . the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehendeth it not.',

". . . they . . . were forbidden of the Holy Ghost to preach the word in Asia."

"Hearing ye shall hear, and shall not understand;"

". . . I . . . could not speak unto you as unto spiritual, . . . I have fed you with milk, and not with meat; . . ."

". . . unspeakable words, which it is not lawful for a man to utter."

. . . as yet they knew not the scripture, . . .

He appeared "not to all the people, but unto witnesses chosen." "...But unto them it is not given."

. . . by revelation he made known unto me the mystery; ... which in other ages was not made known...."

". . . the mystery which hath been hid from ages and from generations, but now is made manifest to his saints:"

". . . many things . . . hard to he uttered, seeing you are dull of hearing."

'. . . many things . . . I would not write with paper and ink; but I . . . come unto you and speak face to face, . . .

In each of these sayings (and there are many others) it is apparent that something is being withheld, and it is also apparent that it is being held back not arbitrarily but for a good reason, namely, that people are not ready to receive it. It is also apparent that people are to .be given knowledge as they are able to receive it so that the mysteries of the kingdom are imparted by degrees. There are, as it were, automatic safeguards built into the teaching to protect sacred things from common misunderstanding and to protect the unworthy from damaging themselves with them.

In all the scriptures and apocryphal writings one finds frequent indication of the careful rationing out of the teaching as people were able to receive it. It was not a matter of secrecy. The word "secrecy" has connotations which can be misleading here. There is nothing whatever in the secret teachings of the early Christians which seeks to beguile or mystify. The rationing of information by and among the early saints was in accordance with a clearly stated policy by which no one was to be denied any teaching which he was ready to receive. And when was one ready to receive information? As soon as one sincerely sought and asked for it. When the Lord warned the disciples against giving their treasures to those who, like domestic animals, would not know how to appreciate them or what to do with them, he immediately added instructions as to who should receive, namely, "every one that asketh." (Matt. 7:6-8.) A more magnanimous policy could not be imagined, giving freely to all who ask and withholding only from those who do not want holy things and would accordingly be harmed by them.

When John the Baptist was hailed before the Jewish doctors, according to Josephus, he told them: "I will not reveal to you the secret that is among you, because you have not desired it."

The earliest Christian Apocrypha, especially those dealing with the Lord's teachings after the resurrection, are represented as extremely secret, but always with the understanding that they are to be given without hesitation to those who really want them. Thus in an early text Peter explains his policy.... "It is important to have some knowledge of the man. . . if he remains wrapped up and polluted in obvious sins, it is not proper for me to speak to him at all of the more secret and sacred things of divine knowledge ... You seem to me not to know what a father and a God is: but I could tell you both whence souls are, and when and how they were made; only it is not permitted to me now to disclose these things to you."

"Now, Clement, you are forcing me to discuss things we are not allowed to talk about," ...

"with the passing of time the more secret things will be disclosed to you."

"Let us remember that the Lord commanded us saying, 'Guard those secret things [mysteria] ...' Nothing is harder than to reason about the truth in the presence of a mixed multitude of people.... I try for the most part, by using a certain circumlocution, to avoid publishing the chief knowledge concerning the Supreme Divinity to unworthy ears. . The Lord has commanded us to go forth to preach, and to invite you to the supper of the heavenly king . . . and to give you your wedding garments, that is to say, the privilege of being baptized.... you are to regard this as the first step of three, which step brings forth thirty commandments, as the second step does sixty and the third one hundred, as we shall explain to you more fully at another time.'

Clementine Recognitions

Lactantius wrote, "We do not make a practice of detending and discussing this thing publicly, because, with the help of God, we quietly keep his secret to ourselves in silence . . . for it is proper to withhold and conceal the mystery with all possible care--especially so for us who bear the name of believers."

Lactantius. Devinee Institutes, VIII. 26

says Clement of Alexandria

"The Mysteries of the Faith, are not to be disclosed indiscriminately to everyone, since not all are ready to receive the truth."

Clement of Alexandnia, Stromat.. I, xii, in Patrologia Graeca VllI, 753.

The very early Testament of Our Lord Jesus Christ opens with the admonition that the document is to come into the hands "only of proven saints who dwell in the third order (or level) next to the mansion of my Father who sent me."

Test. Dom. n. J. Christi

Ignatius wrote to the Saints at Tralles who had asked him for a letter about the mysteries: "I would like to write to you of heavenly things (or of things more full of mystery), but I fear to do so, lest I should inflict injury on you who are but babes . . . you would be strangled by such things."

Ignatius, Epist. ad Tralles, c. 5.

Typical is the newly found Apocryphon of James, which begins: "Since you have asked me to send you a secret book of revelation, which was given to me and to Peter by the Lord, I cannot refuse or be silent.... But I ... send it to you and to you alone.... Take care not to let this book of the Lord be communicated to many. The Savior did not want it transmitted to all the Twelve."

Apocryphon of James, 1:8-25

A recent find illustrates this principle by the best-known of all parables, that of the Good Samaritan. To an outsider this is a story of the loftiest humanitarian and moral purpose, completely satisfying in itself. Yet it would now appear that no early Christian could possibly have missed the real significance of the wine and the oil that heal the wounded man as standing for the sacrament and the anointing that restore the ailing human soul to a healthy state, thanks to the intervention of the Lord, who is the Good Samaritan.

Down through the ages God has opened his treasury to the faithful few who have proven true to the covenant and permitted them to share the secret knowledge of his plans: "The treasury of the holy King is flung open, and they who worthily partake of the good things therein do rest, and resting they shall reign.

The Gospel of Thomas enjoins all to be diligent seekers "Let not him who seeks the Father cease until he finds him; and having found him, let him be amazed; and being amazed he shall reign, and reigning he shall rest."

They should pray that the success and the way of knowledge might be given to them: which way is open only to those who love truth above all the good things of this world; and on no other condition can anyone even begin to understand it. . . "

Excerpts of A Prophecy on Stumbling Blocks And Delusions

"A great and awful crisis is at hand ...such a crisis was never known before since the foundation of the world. All nations are looking through the misty future, in order descry if possible what is about to happen.. The Devil or Satan will be revealed in signs and wonders and mighty deeds... He it is that will head the opposition against God and His Christ. He will be allowed a much longer chain than heretofore. And such will be the greatness of his power, that it will seem to many that he is entirely loose, He will be so far unshackled and unchained that his power will deceive all nations even the world. The elect will barely escape the power of his sorceress, enchantments and miracles. And even God Himself will contribute to put means and instruments in his way and at hand for his use, so he can have a full trial of his strength and cunning with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish. The Devil in the last stage of desperation , will take such pre-eminent lead in literature, politics, philosophy and religion, wars, famines, pestilence, earthquakes ect...Men will be raised up for the express purpose of furthering the designs and marvelous works of the Devil. Every description of curious and mysterious arts that penetrate beyond the common pale of human wisdom will be studied and practiced beyond what has been known by mere mortals. Satan with those he has raised up shall bring such delusions that princes presidents, Governors will be constrained to bow to it. Their credulity will be taxed beyond the power of resistance. The workers of these mysterious and supernatural causes will challenge and defy disputation. The senses and judgment of men cannot withstand such imperative facts as will arrest their observations. For it cannot be denied that facts of the ingredients of these mysterious and wonderful arts and sciences will. give them irresistible strength of conviction to those who are unenlightened by the Spirit of God. And so far as facts and truth are mingled it must also be acknowledged God will contribute to produce the delusions. He has said that "He will send them strong delusions that they might believe a lie".... God suffers Satan to compound and mix up the truth and error in such proportions as to be captivating ang strongly delusive.

Who shall be able to withstand ? Do you think a profound philosophical and scientific mind will enable you to detect the error and delusion of these arts and sciences? This is vain hope. Your mind will not be competent to detect the delusions... Do you say then I will stand aloof from investigation, I will shun all acquaintance with these mysterious workings, in order that. I may nor be carried away with their delusive influence? Vain hope Oh man, you cannot be neutral you must choose your side and put on your armor.. Those who take refuge in the name of the lord and in immediate revelation from heaven will be safe, and no others. You must know it for yourself and not for another. This is your right and privilege. For God has made this promise to you and all others whom He calls to repentance.

The Millenial Star vol. 15 # 18 & 19 April 30, 1853

D&C 123:

12 For there are many yet on the earth among all sects, parties, and denominations, who are blinded by the subtle craftiness of men, whereby they lie in wait to deceive, and who are only kept from the truth because they know not where to find it--

13 Therefore, that we should waste and wear out our lives in bringing to light all the hidden things of darkness, wherein we know them; and they are truly manifest from heaven--

14 These should then be attended to with great earnestness.

15 Let no man count them as small things; for there is much which lieth in futurity, pertaining to the saints, which depends upon these things.

D&C 88:

77 And I give unto you a commandment that you shall teach one another the doctrine of the kingdom.

78 Teach ye diligently and my grace shall attend you, that you may be instructed more perfectly in theory, in principle, in doctrine, in the law of the gospel, in all things that pertain unto the kingdom of God, that are expedient for you to understand;

79 Of things both in heaven and in the earth, and under the earth; things which have been, things which are, things which must shortly come to pass; things which are at home, things which are abroad; the wars and the perplexities of the nations, and the judgments which are on the land; and a knowledge also of countries and of kingdoms-

118 And as all have not faith, seek ye diligently and teach one another words of wisdom; yea, seek ye out of the best books words of wisdom; seek learning, even by study and also by faith.

D&C 76:

7 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.

8 Yea, even the wonders of eternity shall they know, and things to come will I show them, even the things of many generations.

9 And 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.

10 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.

1 Nephi 13:

24. And the angel of the Lord said unto me: Thou hast beheld that the book proceeded forth from the mouth of a Jew; and when it proceeded forth from the mouth of a Jew it contained the fulness of the gospel of the Lord, of whom the twelve apostles bear record; and they bear record according to the truth which is in the Lamb of God.

25. Wherefore, these things go forth from the Jews in purity unto the Gentiles, according to the truth which is in God.

26. And after they go forth by the hand of the twelve apostles of the Lamb, from the Jews unto the Gentiles, thou seest the formation of that great and abominable church, which is most abominable above all other churches; for behold, they have taken away from the gospel of the Lamb many parts which are plain and most precious; and also many covenants of the Lord have they taken away.

27. And all this have they done that they might pervert the right ways of the Lord, that they might blind the eyes and harden the hearts of the children of men.

28. Wherefore, thou seest that after the book hath gone forth through the hands of the great and abominable church, that there are many plain and precious things taken away from the book, which is the book of the Lamb of God.

29 And after these plain and precious things were taken away it goeth forth unto all the nations of the Gentiles; and after it goeth forth unto all the nations of the Gentiles, yea, even across the many waters which thou hast seen with the Gentiles which have gone forth out of captivity, thou seest--because of the many plain and precious things which have been taken out of the book, which were plain unto the understanding of the children of men, according to the plainness which is in the Lamb of God--because of these things which are taken away out of the gospel of the Lamb, an exceedingly great many do stumble, yea, insomuch that Satan hath great power over them.