Come, Follow Me – D&C 10 -11 – God’s Backup Plan! – powered by Happy Scribe
The following story involves theft, deception, intrigue and finally victory, but which side will ultimately win in Section 10 of the doctrine and covenants? We have some of the best insights into Satan and his tactics. The Lord explains how Satan uses wicked people to deceive and lie and how Satan stirs up our hearts to anger. But the Lord also gives some amazing insight into how we can remain strong and overcome anything. Satan throws our way. OK, remember how Martin Harris took home the 116 translated pages from the Book of Mormon and was told he could only show them to a few specific people before returning them quickly?
Well, when Satan gets involved, even the best of intentions has a way of going skip wampus.
He lies to people, gets them angry, and then entices them to become bandits, thieves and tricksters, and then lets them catch themselves in their own snares.
Yeah, he ain’t your friend. Satan did everything in his power back then to thwart The Book of Mormon because it would make people happy and lead them to Christ. In fact, he still does everything he can today to keep people from reading or believing it. Now, Martin started with the best of intentions and at first kept his promise and only showed it to the people he was allowed to show it to. But then he got overexcited and showed it to someone else.
Have you seen this? This is amazing. And once he had broken his promise, he began showing it to whoever would stop by for a visit.
Oh boy. Somewhere in the mix, the manuscript was stolen and Martin had no idea where it went.
Martin was distraught. And when Joseph found out, he was inconsolable and exclaimed, I’ve lost my soul. OK, now just imagine you typed up 116 page term paper and it was accidentally deleted and permanently lost, no cloud backup, nothing.
How would you feel?
Yeah, now what if it was a sacred document and the assignment had come from the Lord, who I have a bad feeling about this.
However, then the Lord revealed exactly what had happened with the lost pages. He knew because nothing is ever hidden from the Lord.
In Section 10, the Lord explained in detail that some of the people Martin had shown the pages who were wicked Satan, coerce those wicked people to steal the manuscript and then change what it said. Then when Joseph Smith retranslated those 116 pages, the new translation wouldn’t match the changes on the doctored manuscript.
This way, Satan thought he could prove to the world that Joseph Smith had no gift or power from God.
Satan thought he destroyed the Lord’s plans for the Book of Mormon. He totally thought he’d won.
However, the works of God cannot and will not be stopped. The Lord had solved this problem over 2000 years. Earlier, he had told Moroni to insert another book from Nephi into the gold plates, which the Lord now told Joseph Smith to translate. Instead, said the Lord, I will confound those who have altered my words, and I will show onto them that my wisdom is greater than the cunning of the devil. So what was actually lost? Nephi first attempt to write Mormons first attempt to edit and Joseph’s first attempt to translate and what was gained?
All of their second writings and the incredible stories found in first Nephi through Romney. The Lord had prepared a great backup plan. But do you ever feel like Joseph Smith did at first, like we’ve messed up so bad there’ll never be hope or happiness again. Ever do sin, mistakes, depression, divorce, bad choices, addiction or abuse ever make us feel that way? Nor do we feel because we’ve made some really bad mistakes that are blessings and promises are ruined, like there’s no way our patriarchal blessings will ever be fulfilled.
So why even bother?
Because God’s master plan of redemption, with all of its brilliant contingencies, including grace, God’s enabling power applies to each of us personally. And the Lord’s wisdom is always greater than Satan’s. Satan will never outsmart him.
Satan thought he’d won by having Adam and Eve partake of the fruit in the Garden of Eden. But that was exactly the plan. God had to introduce humans into mortality. Later, Satan rejoiced when Jesus was crucified.
But that was exactly the way God had planned to bring about the Atonement. And again, Satan thought he had stopped the translation of the Book of Mormon. But the Lord had already included other writings with the golden plates. Satan tries over and over to win. And though he does have some small triumphs, we know good will triumph over evil. And just to be clear, even though we know which side will win, that doesn’t mean we can’t choose what we want to do.
We can, even if it’s wrong.
Martin and Joseph made some huge mistakes, but the Lord took care of them, fix the problems and when they repented, we’re forgiven. Martin even went on to become one of the special witnesses of the Book of Mormon.
Now, because there’s no originality in hell, Satan’s plans pretty much follow the same path today as they did in Joseph’s time.
It may be easy to laugh at some of his tactics, but he actually isn’t funny at all.
He is deadly serious and playing for our souls. Satan tempts, confuses, flatters and deceives. He also lies, counterfeits, destroys and thrives in darkness.
But with the Lord’s light, we can discern Satan’s attacks by doing the basics. Sunday school answers. You know them praying, always keeping his commandments and relying on his promised blessings.
We need to put our trust in that spirit which leadeth to do good.
The Lord says whoever belongs to his church need not fear, and then defines his church as anyone who repents and comes onto him. So don’t fear. Do your best and remember the Lord’s side will ultimately win.
Wow, we covered Satan and his minions. What’s up next? How about angels? Oh, thanks for watching. If you feel like this video has helped you on your path towards truth and Christian discipleship, share it and subscribe to the channel and click on the little alarm bell to get notified when new videos come out. Most importantly, go study the scriptures for yourself.
Guest Author
dyejo
