Class 24 – Sections 129-130 & King Follett Eye Hath Not Seen

1. Class 24 – Sections 129-130 & King Follett Eye Hath Not Seen For since the beginning of the world have not men heard nor perceived by the ear, neither hath any eye seen, O God, besides thee, how great things thou hast prepared for him that waiteth for thee. -- D&C 133:45

2. Section 129 • February 1843 – Statements of the prophet recorded by his scribes. We don’t know why the question came up.

3. Section 129 • Three types of messengers:

4. Section 129 • Three types of messengers: • Angels = resurrected beings • Just men made perfect • = spirits • Devil as an angel of light

5. Section 129 • Three types of messengers: When you offer your hand: • Angels He will shake • =resurrected beings and you will feel it. • Just men made perfect He will decline to shake • = spirits • Devil as an angel of light He will shake and you’ll • and you’ll feel nothing

6. The next entry in the journal… A man came to me in Kirtland, and told me he had seen an angel, and described his dress. I told him he had seen no angel, and that there was no such dress in heaven. He grew mad, and went into the street and commanded fire to come down out of heaven to consume me. I laughed at him, and said, You are one of Baal's prophets; your God does not hear you; jump up and cut yourself; and he commanded fire from heaven to consume my house.

7. Section 130 • April 1843 – Statements made after correcting Orson Hyde’s sermon about the appearance of the Savior at the Second Coming.

8. Section 130 • When the Savior shall appear we shall see him as he is. We shall see that he is a man like ourselves. • That same sociality which exists among us here will exist among us there, only it will be coupled with eternal glory. • The reckoning of God’s time, angel’s time, prophet’s time, and man’s time, [is] according to the planet on which they reside.

9. Section 130 • There are no angels who minister to this earth but those who do belong or have belonged to it. • This earth, in its sanctified and immortal state, will be made like unto crystal and will be a Urim and Thummim. • A white stone is given to each of those who come into the celestial kingdom, whereon is a new name written.

10. Section 130 • It may probably arise through the slave question. • “If thou livest until thou art eighty-five years old, thou shalt see the face of the Son of Man.” • Whatever principle of intelligence we attain unto in this life, it will rise with us in the resurrection.

11. Section 130 • When we obtain any blessing from God, it is by obedience to that law upon which it is predicated. • The Father has a body of flesh and bones as tangible as man’s; the Son also; but the Holy Ghost has not a body of flesh and bones.

12. And a couple of other things… • At one p.m., attended meeting, I read the 5th chapter of Revelation, referring particularly to the 6th verse, showing from that the actual existence of beasts in heaven. Probably those were beasts which had lived on another planet, and not ours. God never made use of the figure of a beast to represent the kingdom of heaven. When it is made use of, it is to represent an apostate church. This is the first time I have ever taken a text in Revelation; and if the young Elders would let such things alone it would be far better.

13. And a couple of other things… • I closed by flagellating the audience for their fears, and called upon Elder Hyde to get up and fulfill his covenant to preach three-quarters of an hour, otherwise I would give him a good whipping. Elder Hyde arose and said "Brothers and sisters, I feel as though all had been said that can be said. I can say nothing, but bless you."

14. The King Follett Discourse • This was a funeral sermon for King Follett who was killed in an accident. It was given at the April 1844 General Conference. It was recorded in long-hand by Willard Richards, Wilford Woodruff, Thomas Bullock, and William Clayton.

15. Start at the Beginning • In the first place, I wish to go back to the beginning-to the morn of creation. There is the starting point for us to look to, in order to understand and be fully acquainted with the mind, purposes and decrees of the Great Elohim, who sits in yonder heavens as he did at the creation of this world. It is necessary for us to have an understanding of God himself in the beginning. If we start right, it is easy to go right all the time; but if we start wrong, we may go wrong, and it be a hard matter to get right.

16. As One Having Authority but Sharing His Vision • I will prove that the world is wrong, by showing what God is. I am going to enquire after God; for I want you all to know him, and to be familiar with him; and if I am bringing you to a knowledge of him, all persecutions against me ought to cease. You will then know that I am his servant; for I speak as one having authority.

17. As One Having Authority but Sharing His Vision • God himself was once as we are now, and is an exalted man, and sits enthroned in yonder heavens! That is the great secret. If the veil were rent today, and the great God who holds this world in its orbit, and who upholds all worlds and all things by his power, was to make himself visible, I say, if you were to see him today, you would see him like a man in form - like yourselves in all the person, image, and very form as a man; for Adam was created in the very fashion, image and likeness of God, and received instruction from, and walked, talked and conversed with him, as one man talks and communes with another.

18. Life is a Part of a Great Journey • When you climb up a ladder, you must begin at the bottom, and ascend step by step, until you arrive at the top; and so it is with the principles of the Gospel - you must begin with the first, and go on until you learn all the principles of exaltation. But it will be a great while after you have passed through the veil before you will have learned them.

19. We Must Never of Afraid of Learning • I will transpose and simplify it in the English language. Oh, ye lawyers, ye doctors, and ye priests, who have persecuted me, I want to let you know that the Holy Ghost knows something as well as you do. The head God called together the Gods and sat in grand council to bring forth the world. The grand councilors sat at the head in yonder heavens and contemplated the creation of the worlds which were created at the time… • I have an old edition of the New Testament in the Latin, Hebrew, German and Greek languages. I have been reading the German, and find it to be the most [nearly] correct translation, and to correspond nearest to the revelations which God has given to me for the last fourteen years.

20. It Tastes Good The first principles of man are self-existent with God. God himself, finding he was in the midst of spirits and glory, because he was more intelligent, saw proper to institute laws whereby the rest could have a privilege to advance like himself. The relationship we have with God places us in a situation to advance in knowledge. He has power to institute laws to instruct the weaker intelligences, that they may be exalted with Himself, so that they might have one glory upon another, and all that knowledge, power, glory, and intelligence, which is requisite in order to save them in the world of spirits. This is good doctrine. It tastes good. I can taste the principles of eternal life, and so can you.