Come Follow Me LDS 2021 D&C 89-92 (August 16-22) (Doctrine and Covenants) – WoW! Word of Wisdom – powered by Happy Scribe
The School of the Prophets and Kirtland was great, but it had a problem, which Brigham Young described this way when the elders assembled together in the school, the first thing they did was to light their pipes and while smoking, talk about the great things of the kingdom. As soon as the pipe was out of their mouths, they took a large jar of tobacco. What in the world were the church leaders really smoking and chewing tobacco? That doesn’t sound right.
Now, to be fair, the prophet hadn’t yet been given the Lord’s love, health and science, hadn’t yet discovered the dangers of tobacco. So the elders didn’t know that it was bad for them. In fact, many people at that time mistakenly believe that tobacco was good for your health and cured illness. Unsurprisingly, Emma Smith and Whitney didn’t really enjoy cleaning up the disgusting mess day after day, as the School of the Prophets finished, Joseph saw their frustration and also was concerned about the cloud of smoke surrounding the teacher and learners.
So he inquired of the Lord about it. He probably wasn’t expecting the answer he got. Joseph received Section nine, known today as the word of wisdom. It was given at first as counsel and not as a commandment. As Joseph shared the revelation with the elders, they all spit out their tobacco and broke their pipes in the fireplace. However, because addictions are hard to break, many of them went out and bought new pipes. Years later, in September 1851, after a general conference talk about the word of wisdom, Brigham Young stood and proposed that All Saints formally promised to abstain from tea, coffee, tobacco, whiskey and all other things mentioned in it.
Still, its overall acceptance was gradual and controversial, as many didn’t consider it as important as other commandments. Finally, in 1919, President Heiberg Grant officially made it part of the Temple Recommend interview. And today we continue to obey this law of health. So while many of us use personal trainers and diet programs to help us to be stronger and healthier, today the Lord revealed his own amazing health program decades before science slowly figured it out. And it’s still just as relevant.
Think of it this way. If you want to well-built car to function optimally and last, then you follow the manufacturer’s guidelines for what to do and what not to do, including what fuel to use. Well, the Lord, the designer and manufacturer of our physical bodies and spirits, has given us an enablement or commandment to keep our body and spirits running optimally. Our ability to run at our best speed, power and longevity is often in proportion to our level of following his manual for health.
Regardless, there are many great spiritual, physical and temporal blessings that come from obeying this law. Now, listen, we all struggle with keeping our bodies and spirits healthy and clean, but please, even if you struggle with the word of wisdom, still come to church every Sunday and draw strength from fellow saints as we each strive to overcome our individual weaknesses. And if you mess up, that’s OK. Just get back on the horse because there’s always hope in Christ.
Speaking of horses, Viena Jakes garnered some strange looks as she wrote her horse into the Mississippi River for the baptism. Let me explain. She was a witness to the very first proxy baptism in this dispensation in and simply wanted to see and hear better. But who in the world is Viena Jakes? Viena was a single, successful, smart, educated, energetic nurse who used to live and work in Boston as a seeker of truth. She sent for a copy of the Book of Mormon after hearing about it, but didn’t really see its importance at first.
However, one evening, as she prayed, an impressive vision of the Book of Mormon convinced her to diligently ask the Lord about it, convinced of its divine authenticity. She then traveled alone by canal, boat and stagecoach to Kirtland, where she met the prophet and was baptized upon returning home to Boston. She was an active missionary and helped elder Samuel Smith and Arsenide to teach her family, friends and acquaintances. They were so successful that they established a congregation of Saints in Boston.
She then gave up her comfortable living together with the Saints in Kirtland, where she consecrated her substantial wealth to the church when she arrived. Joseph received a revelation with many promises for Vienna, including that she’d one day receive a heavenly reward and settle down in peace throughout her life. Vienna continued to sacrifice by gathering pages from the Book of Commandments after the mob destroyed the printing press in independence, nursing several of the Saints when they felt deathly sick during Zion’s camp and eventually driving her own wagon across the plains to Utah and settling in Salt Lake City.
There, she finally found her promised rest in peace. Vienna sacrifices, testimony and hard work are great examples to us all. Next time, prepare to have your mind blown. It takes a lot to make these videos, so to keep line upon line free for everyone, consider donating the links in the description below and thanks for watching. This episode is packed with info, so you might want to watch it again to make sure you didn’t miss anything, including the hilarious jokes.
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dyejo
