Doctrine and Covenants 88 “ The Olive Leaf ”

1. Doctrine and Covenants 88“The Olive Leaf”

2. Doctrine and Covenants 88:3-4 “Second Comforter” Joseph Smith taught: “After a person has faith in Christ, repents of his sins, and is baptized for the remission for his sins and receives the Holy Ghost (by the laying on of hands), which is the first Comforter, then let him continue to humble himself before God, hungering and thirsting after righteousness, and living by every word of God, and the Lord will soon say unto him, Son, thou shalt be exalted. When He has thoroughly proved him, and finds that the man is determined to serve him at all hazards, the man will find his calling and election made sure, then it will be his privilege to receive the other comforter.” To receive the other Comforter is to have Christ appear to him and to see the visions of eternity (Teachings, 149-51).

3. Doctrine and Covenants 88:7-13 “Light of Christ” Light by which worlds are controlled, by which they are made. It is the light of the Son and all other bodies (D. of S. 1:52-53, Joseph Fielding Smith). Doctrine and Covenants 88:15 The spirit and the body are the soul of men! Doctrine and Covenants 88:36 All Kingdoms have a law given! (see verses 18-26)

4. Doctrine and Covenants 88:51-60 “The twelfth world” The numbers: 3, 4, 7, 12, 40 = Priesthood #’s. Sometimes the number is doubled for emphasis.

5. D&C 88:58-61 Orson Pratt says: “He withdraws. What for? To fulfill other purposes; for he has other worlds or creations and other sons and daughters, perhaps just as good as those dwelling on this planet, and they, as well as we, will be visited, and they will be made glad with countenance of their Lord. Thus he will go, in the time and in the season thereof, from Kingdom to kingdom or from world to world, causing the pure in heart, the Zion that is taken from these creations, to rejoice in his presence” (Journal of Discourses, 17:332).

6. Doctrine and Covenants 88:62-65 “Proper Prayer!” Prayer is the most wonderful institution in the Kingdom of God. It is therefore, the deepest and the most wonderful act of which a man is capable (Smith and Sjodahl, 551-52).

7. Prayer is the goal of an individual to place him or herself in spiritual harmony with God the Father and Creator of all. It represents “the pulsation of a yearning, loving heart in tune with the infinite.” Prayer is “a message of the soul sent directly to a loving Father…” (President McKay). Prayer, accompanied by works, “is the invisible switch to tune us with the infinite” (President Kimball). It is placing ourselves “in harmony with divine forces” (Widtsoe). To live without prayer is to live a mere animal existence (Cannon).

8. Joseph Smith’s admonition regarding prayer is helpful: “Be plain and simple and ask for what you want, just like you would go to a neighbor and say, I want to borrow a horse and go to the mill.” Joseph Smith provided guidance in this area, teaching us that we must pray three times a day (Daniel 6:10, Alma 34:21). I know of no single practice that will have a more salutary effect upon your lives than the practice of kneeling together as you begin and close each day. Somehow the little storms that seem to afflict every marriage are dissipated when, kneeling before the Lord, you thank him for one another, in the presence of one another, and then together invoke his blessings upon your lives, your home, your loved ones, and your dreams (President Hinckley).

9. Doctrine and Covenants 88:77-81 “Teaching one another the doctrine of the kingdom” (88:118-119). Spencer W. Kimball gave this explanation. Secular knowledge, important as it may be, can never save a soul nor open the celestial kingdom nor create a world nor make a man of God, but it can be most helpful to that man placing first things first, has found the way to eternal life and who can now bring into play all knowledge to be his tool and servant… Youth, beloved youth, can you see “Do not be deceived! One need not choose between the two but only the sequence, for there is opportunity for one to get both simultaneously; but can you see that the seminary courses should be given preferential attention over the high school subjects; the institute over the college course; the study of the scriptures ahead of the study of the man-written texts” (“Beloved Youth, Study and Learn).

10. Doctrine and Covenants 88:87-95 When the sign appears, God will make it’s meaning known to the prophet who at the time will tell the people and world in general. The world will say that it is a planet or comet,. etc. Doctrine and Covenants 88:95 This is how we know that there will be no women in heaven! We do not know the time schedule, whether 30 minutes to us or 21 years in the Lord’s time. At this time the resurrection of those who are Celestial will take place.

11. Doctrine and Covenants 88:118-119 How do we really know? By study and by faith. Seek ye out of the best books. Doctrine and Covenants 88:121-122 Good Classroom Management!

12. Doctrine and Covenants 88:123-124 The Lord also told the Saints to get their proper rest. Elder Boyd K. Packer spoke of the benefits of rising early in the morning: “I’ve heard President Harold B. Lee begin many a statement about matters involving a revelation with an expression something like this: ‘In the early hours of the morning, while I was pondering upon that subject,’ and so on. He made it a practice to work on the problems that required revelation in the fresh, alert hours of the early morning.”

13. “I counsel our children to do their critical studying in the early hours of the morning when they’re fresh and alert, rather than to fight the physical weariness and mental exhaustion at night. I’ve learned that the dictum, ‘Early to bed, early to rise’ is powerful. When under pressure – for instance, when I was preparing this talk – you wouldn’t find me burning the midnight oil. Much rather I’d be early to bed getting up in the wee hours of the morning, when I could be close to Him who guides this work” (Ensign, Aug. 1975, 88-89).

14. D&C 88:127, 133 The following is from Zebedee Coltrin’s journal: About the time the school was first organized some wished to see an angel, and a number joined in a circle, and prayed when the vision came, two of the brethren shrank and called for the vision to close or they would perish, they were Brothers Hancock and Humphries. At one of these meetings after the organization of the school, on the 23rd January, 1833, when we were all together, Joseph having given instructions, and while engaged in silent prayer in silence prayer, kneeling, with our hands uplifted each one praying in silence, no one whispered above his breath, a personage walked through the room from east to west.

15. Joseph asked if we saw him. I saw him and suppose the others did, and Joseph answered that is Jesus, the Son of God, our elder brother. Afterward Joseph told us to resume our former position in prayer, which we did. Another person came through; He was surrounded as with a flame of fire. I experienced a sensation that it might destroy the tabernacle as it was of consuming fire of great brightness. The Prophet Joseph said this was the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. I saw Him….This appearance was so grand and overwhelming that it seemed I should melt down in His presence, and the sensation was so powerful that it thrilled through my whole system and I felt it in the marrow of my bones. The Prophet Joseph said: Brethren now you are prepared to be Apostles of Jesus Christ, for you have seen both the Father and the Son (Church Archives).