Many Are Called but Few Are Chosen (D&C 121-122) QUESTIONS

Joseph Smith’s Liberty Jail Plea and the Lord’s Reply

 

READ D&C 121:1-4

Where is God?

Does Joseph not know where God is?

How long does God stay His hand before intervening in the lives of people?

What is the relationship between Joseph Smith’s plea and God’s answer?

 

READ D&C 121:7-8 and D&C 122:7-9

Why are God’s first words to Joseph: “My son, peace be unto thy soul”?

Why are we told to “endure” trials “well”?

How can these terrible experiences “be for our good”?

Some people’s trial last their whole lives and others seem to go from one heartbreaking trial to another; why does God minimize these trials by referring to them as lasting only for a “small moment”?

How much greater were Christ’s burdens than ours?

What does it mean to “hold thy way”?

What words of peace does God offer Joseph?

Will God exalt Joseph Smith on high as a result of the trials he suffered in this life?

 

READ D&C 121:26-32

What knowledge, through the Holy Spirit, is being promised in the “last times”?

If we are only saved as quickly as we gain knowledge (intelligence, truth, light, glory), then why has some knowledge (necessary for salvation) not been revealed since the world was, until the last days?

What do the sun, moon and stars with their various revolutions and appointed days have to teach us?

What does it mean that these things are still as much a mystery today as they were back in 1839, when Joseph Smith was quiet about the rest of what he knew – particularly what he learned from the Book of Abraham?

 

 

Power in the Priesthood: Handling the Powers of Heaven

 

READ D&C 121:34-35

What is priesthood?

How does priesthood have power?

What does it mean to be “called”?

What are they being called to?

Who calls them?

What does it mean to be “chosen”?

Is it possible to be ordained to the Priesthood (receiving authority) without having power in that Priesthood?

What is priesthood authority without power in the priesthood?

 

READ D&C 121:36

What are the “rights of the priesthood”?

What are the “powers of heaven”?

What does “inseparably connected to the powers of heaven” mean?

What does “the powers of heaven cannot be controlled nor handled only upon principles of righteousness” mean?

 

 

READ D&C 121:37-40

What does “though they may be conferred upon us, it is true” imply?

What kinds of behavior will cause priesthood to depart?

Who is D&C 121 a warning to?

What does “ANY degree of unrighteousness” mean?

Is priesthood “perishable”?

What does “amen to the priesthood or the authority of that man” mean?

How does that loss of priesthood manifest itself?

What does “ere he is aware” imply?

Why do people who have lost their priesthood “kick against the pricks” and what does this mean?

What can be implied from “almost ALL men, as soon as they get a little authority, as they suppose, they will IMMEDIATELY begin to exercise unrighteous dominion”?

So, who really has priesthood on this earth?

 

READ D&C 121:41-46

What are the “principles of righteousness” that govern the exercise of God’s power or association with the powers of heaven or priesthood?

When is the ONLY time “reproving” with sharpness (which means “with surgical focus” and not “with unfettered enmity”) is acceptable to the Lord?

What does charity tell you about yourself?

What does it mean to let “virtue garnish thy thoughts unceasingly”?

What are the results of obtaining and exercising God’s priesthood power?

How does God govern the universe?