Chapter 28

Be Ye Wise As Serpents And Harmless As Doves

This scripture has always intrigued me.  What does it really mean?

In Matthew 10 from whence we get this saying, Jesus is preparing to send his apostles out to the world to do his work.  He is empowering them, giving them power from on high.

“And when he had called unto him his twelve disciples, he gave them power against unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to heal all manner of sickness and all manner of disease.”

The power against unclean spirits not only refers to evil spirits who are possessing other people, such as in the “Exorcist”,  unclean spirits can also be referring to an evil person whether carnate or incarnate, whether from our dimension or another dimension.  To cast them out not only refers to an exorcism, but also to putting aside the evil one.  To heal “all” manner of sickness and “all” manner of disease indicates no limits, it is all and everything.  The Greek word “nosos” for sickness and “malakia” for disease actually translates to all manner of chronic and difficult ailments and all manner of weakness and defects.  In other words, nothing is out of reach of the power of the disciple of Jesus Christ, all power is given to them.  As such, no enemy would have power over them. 

Let’s analyze this marvelous promise given to any disciple of Jesus Christ and why the righteous need not fear anybody or anything in this world:

And as ye go, preach, saying, The kingdom of heaven is at hand.

Where is the kingdom of Heaven?  It is within us.  It is at hand because it is near, physically and spiritually near, as it is within us is near.

8 Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out devils: freely ye have received, freely give.

Now, this important!  Freely receive and freely give what? His power based on love.  What is the only condition or requirement?  To believe on and in him.  Did the disciples have to worry about a “Lord’s timetable”?  Did they have to worry whether it was the Lord’s will? Did they have to worry if it was a test for the afflicted person?  NO!  If these miracles were so conditional, then they are not freely given.

9 Provide neither gold, nor silver, nor brass in your purses, 10 Nor scrip for your journey, neither two coats, neither shoes, nor yet staves: for the workman is worthy of his meat.

Any disciple of Christ, will not need to worry about anything, similar to the lilies of the field, all will be provided to them, believest thou this?

11And into whatsoever city or town ye shall enter, inquire who in it is worthy; and there abide till ye go thence. 12And when ye come into an house, salute it.

Salute comes from same root as salutatory or healthy, literally wishing good health.  When a soldier salutes another, by touching his head with his hand or holding out his hand with the palm forward, he is literally directing an energy from his hand, head and heart towards another person and wishing them good health,  A disciple of Christ is able to use their hands with great power to bless the house and to ascertain if it is worthy, whether their heart is honest or hypocritical.

13 And if the house be worthy

Worthy of what? Worthy of the kingdom of Heaven, the house being literally a building but also representing ourselves, the inner kingdom,

let your peace come upon it: but if it be not worthy, let your peace return to you.

In the Greek translation, peace means to join, unity, wholeness or holiness. Therefore, the worthy house may join you and also become holy and enjoy the blessings of discipleship, otherwise, the wholeness is returned. Instead of being whole or holy, it is fragmented and “a house divided, cannot stand” It is a house built on sand, not on a rock.

14 And whosoever shall not receive you, nor hear your words, when ye depart out of that house or city, shake off the dust of your feet.

This failure to receive and hear is very serious because the disciple of Christ has already manifested his power, has brought good health, has worked miracles and the evil one who occupies the house and the hearts of the other occupants, is the evil serpent who shall “eat dust all the days of thy life”.  Therefore, the disciple of Christ is shaking off the dust related to the evil one who was given power to “bruise his heel” but the servant of Christ shall have power to “crush his head”.  Actually, under the Hebrew, “bruise” and “crush” are the same word and translate as bruise.  The Hebrew word Shuph which is the word for bruise, also means overwhelm.  It doesn’t mean crush in the sense of stamping and breaking into pieces.  It is not a violent act.  It is victory without bloodshed.

15Verily I say unto you, It shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom and Gomorrha in the day of judgment, than for that city.

The day of judgment of whom?  Many think that God will be the judge but in truth, we will judge ourselves by our own measuring of the unrighteous judgments we meted out.  The city that rejects and even mistreats the servant of Christ, will suffer from such a judgment which may be worse than what befell S and G.

16 Behold, I send you forth as sheep

Who are the sheep? They are the seed referred to by the Lord whose heels will be bruised.  They are the true followers of Christ and who are empowered over all things.

in the midst of wolves

Who are the wolves? They are wolves in sheep’s clothing, they are hidden in plain sight.   

be ye therefore wise as serpents,

The Greek word for serpent is related to the word “seer” or to have sharp and far vision.  The wisdom of the serpent comes from its ability to see. It may be related to remote viewing, to having a far reaching network of spies, it may be the all seeing eye on the back of the dollar.  In the sense that the serpent is evil and is an archetype of Satan, we should be wise in being aware of their practices, their secret combinations, oaths and covenants.  It is interesting that the serpent can also be righteous.  The serpent was an archetype of Jesus Christ.  It was the serpent that Moses placed on the staff representing the Son of God.  John confirms this interpretation,

And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life" (John 3:14-15).

It is the feathered serpent of the pre-colombians.  It is the opposites in all things. Part of Jesus’ greatness is his ability to make evil good through his power of transforming and healing.  He does not do it through force but he does it through love, the opposite of evil and wickedness.  So, one can be wise like the evil serpent and one can be wise like the righteous serpent, seeing and having far reaching vision. 

Moreover, the Greek word for wise in this scripture is “phreneo” which is the root of the word “diaphragm” or that which comes from within and moves outward.  It is related to the word, “phrenology” which relates to the mind, or being thoughtful.  It is subtly distinctive from the Greek word, “sophos” which has more to do with being clever, skilled and knowledgeable.

Most importantly, the scripture says,    

and harmless as doves. 

Not “or” but “and”. We are to be both.  It is not a matter of separating the serpent from the dove because the serpent is evil and the dove is good.  Both are necessary and thus, both are good.  Therefore, I am inclined to believe that Jesus was speaking of the serpent in a good sense.[1]   In fact, there are bad sheep and good sheep, bad wolves and good wolves, bad serpents and good serpents within the animal kingdom[2].  Jesus spoke in parables and it is for us to use our “preneo” to discern.

The Greek word for harmless relates more to being pure and unadulterated, unmixed.  In that context, we are to be aware of the secret works of the wolves in sheep’s clothing, without becoming contaminated from or seduced by their works.  The doves represent the Holy Ghost.  The Holy Ghost is the key to knowing the truth of all things.  The interrelationship between the serpent and the dove is reminiscent of the relationship between mind and heart, male and female.  It is about balance.    

17But beware of men:

THIS IS SIGNIFICANT AND KEY!  Be-ware-y, be aware, be cautious.  Here, Christ is not telling the disciples that they have to submit to their enemies.  He is telling us that if you are not “wise” and aware, that you will be overpowered by your crafty enemies.  A disciple of Christ led by the Holy Ghost will be protected.  Christ is giving us a warning.  If we heed his warning by bewaring, then we have no reason to fear and our enemies will not overcome us.

for they will deliver you up to the councils, and they will scourge you in their synagogues;

Let us remember that Jesus earlier gave the disciples power over all things, over unclean spirits and over all manner of afflictions.  That power enables us to be delivered from our enemies.  If the disciple, for a righteous purpose, allows themselves to be captured and delivered up and scourged, then it is part of their mission.  However, scourge can also mean “chastise”.  It doesn’t necessarily mean to be whipped or flogged and suffer excruciating pain.

18And ye shall be brought before governors and kings for my sake, for a testimony against them and the Gentiles. 19But when they deliver you up, take no thought how or what ye shall speak: for it shall be given you in that same hour what ye shall speak. 20For it is not ye that speak, but the Spirit of your Father which speaketh in you.

This may be the righteous purpose for being delivered up, to be a witness for Christ.  Again, I emphasize that the power that the enemies have over us is only what we permit.  If spoken by the spirit of our Father, which abides in us, we have nothing to fear from our enemies.

21And the brother shall deliver up the brother to death, and the father the child: and the children shall rise up against their parents, and cause them to be put to death. 22And ye shall be hated of all men for my name's sake: but he that endureth to the end shall be saved.

I personally believe that this is addressing the unique evil found among secret combinations, Satanic ritualistic abuse and diabolic ceremonies.  Obviously, the disciples will not be hated by “all men”, for there will be many who will be converted by them.  “All men” refers to those who have been seduced by darkness and have become the wolves in sheep’s clothing, those who are capable of killing brothers and family.  The light of Christ brings out their hate because darkness hates light. 

The Greek word for endure is “hypomeno” which literally means to bear under a load of some kind.  The load that is being born by the follower of Christ is the sorrow and anguish of seeing their fellow man consumed by hate and wickedness.  But, Christ later says that there is no reason to fear them.  Why? Because he has already given them power over them.

---

[1] At the very dawn of religion in Mesopotamia and Egypt, the serpent was a symbol of the Creator-God-of-Life. The identical significance and meaning were attached to the serpent symbol in ancient Mesoamerica. The body of a living serpent is never straight. It curves and undulates, as do all rivers and streams. The serpent was a logical likeness and symbol of the life-giving waters of a river. The river was the very basis of civilization in both Mesopotamia and Egypt, the very source of life. Water for the rivers came from the sky in the form of rain. When the ancients looked into the mystical heavens-the source of the rain, there they saw at night a great river in the sky-the wonderful and beautiful Milky Way. The Milky Way was observed to curve and undulate across the sky as the Euphrates and the Nile curved through the river valleys. The Milky Way came to represent the source of life, the source of rain, or the Creator-God, and the stars were regarded as the creative water or seed of God. In summary, the thinking of the ancients formed a concept which connected the undulating serpent to the Creator in a series of logical symbolic steps: undulating serpent = curving river = Milky Way = the Creator. In other words: the symbol of water = the source of life = the heavenly symbol of the life-giving waters= the Creator. It is interesting that one of the names for the Messiah in Mesoamerica was Itzamna, which means "the dew from heaven". One of the symbols of Itzamna was the serpent. [Bruce W. Warren, The Messiah in Ancient America , chap. 6

[2] Serpents or snakes are sacred members of the animal kingdom and find joy in fulfilling the measure of their creation.  Whether venomous or not, they are no more evil than other animals.  

Chapter 27

With All Thy Soul

Matt 10:28  And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.

To be able to love with all our souls, we must understand what a soul is.  There are many definitions of soul.   I was taught while growing up that the soul is the body and spirit together.  In some scriptures such as Hebrew 4:12, soul refers to the body.  However, the word for soul in Greek is “psuche” which means breath of life.  From this word are derived other words such as psyche and psychology, that which makes us distinct and individual beings.    Although it can mean immortality and life after death, it has more to do with our individual personality.   The soul in Greek and Hebrew have to do with the seat of our emotions and feelings and are closely related to the heart.  The body, Greek “soma”, is the word for our corruptible flesh, that which is traditionally left behind in the grave.

In Matthew 10:28 (above), the Lord is drawing a distinction between body and soul.  There are enemies that can destroy the body but cannot destroy soul.   Here, Jesus is telling us that we need not fear those men who commonly kill the body and thus free our spirits to go to the spirit world.   We need not fear them because they do not have power over us, neither body nor soul.   As noted earlier, they can do no harm to us by any means.   Yes, they have killed many, countless millions, but those who were killed are they who never discovered or found the strait gate.    Those who have entered in at the strait gate, have discovered that they have overcome the world and thereby are not subject to death or harm by their enemies.  They are in the world but not of the world.  They are not subject to death of body nor soul as long as they remain on the side of Jesus Christ.

In this Matthew 10 scripture, the Lord is warning us to fear (be aware, be alert) them who are able to destroy both soul and body in hell.    But, the question must be asked, how can our body be destroyed in hell if we leave our bodies behind?  If our bodies are in the grave and have been decomposed, what body is left to destroy in hell?   This warning is to those who know who Jesus is, who have a testimony of him and in spite of that, turn to the darkness while walking at noonday.  They are subject to destruction of both body and soul if they remain unrepentant.

To avoid this horrible fate, we must love the Lord our God with all of our souls, that which makes us distinct individuals.  In the chapter on discussing the two kinds of leaders that exist in the world and in the universe, there are those who feed their egos and have reached such a state of pride and arrogance that they only see what is in it for them.   They believe the greatest of all exists to have all others serve them.   They belong to a very small and exclusive club of the richest of the rich and the most powerful of the powerful.    They cannot love neither Jesus Christ nor his father nor their fellow man because that means they must stop feeding their own egos, their unique individuality, their psyche.  So, for them their soul exists to be worshipped by others and to obtain further power and glory. 

I once heard a man describe an experience he had at a meeting of world leaders in which he brought his two teenage daughters to accompany him.  The participants in the meeting were discussing how they might reduce the population of the world, to get rid of the surplus humanity who drained the resources of the world and added no value.  Their goal was to reduce the population from 7 billion to 500 million.  Of those 500 million, only a very few would be the leaders of the world, who would receive the highest power and honor.   One of the leaders present in the room was Ted Kennedy, brother of John F. Kennedy.    This man was invited to sit next to Ted Kennedy and as they became acquainted, Ted Kennedy said to him, “You will get to meet a lot of foxy ladies and they will all be available to you.”    Just then, a beautiful young girl entered the room and Ted Kennedy said, “I want to sleep with that girl.”  To which the man remarked, “No you won’t, she is my daughter.”  To which Ted Kennedy replied, “That doesn’t matter to me.”

In referring to these world leaders, Jesus said,

What doth it profit a man if he should gain the whole world but lose his own soul.

Jesus is acknowledging that they have gained the whole world and they have been in possession of its wealth, resources, technology and power since the dawn of time, from generation to generation.  Herein, is found their great power of seduction. It is not so much the wealth and power of the world, it is that they have been in control of it for so long.  They hold up their power and wealth to the righteous and say, “See, you can have this too if you would but join us.  We have had it for many generations.  Jesus will not help you because if he were able to help you, he would not have let us prosper for so long.  He would have prevented all of the wars, the disasters, the atrocities, the suffering of the innocent.  We are proof that Jesus has no power, his power is a myth.  Come follow us, worship us for we have the true power.”

It was this same group of elite that knew who Jesus was and in spite of that knowledge, crucified him.  It was they who mocked him on the cross and said,

And they who passed by railed on him, wagging their heads, and saying, Ah, thou who destroyest the temple and buildest it in three days, save thyself, and come down from the cross.

35 Likewise also, the chief priests mocking, said among themselves with the scribes, He saved others; himself he cannot save.

36 Let Christ, the King of Israel, descend now from the cross, that we may see and believe.

They continue to mock him today.  They masquerade as Christians, many pretend to be church leaders, they draw near to him with their lips, but their hearts are from him and they teach for doctrine the commandments of men.  Commandments of men not only refer to man-made religious commandments designed to keep people dependent, but also refer to all commandments of men including the millions of laws and regulations designed to penalize and oppress their victims.  Ironically, the wolves in sheep’s clothing are absolutely and totally exempt and free from these man-made commandments and suffer none of the consequences in their violation.

They have come over to darkness and to the enemy of Christ because the enemy has seduced them into thinking that the promises of Christ are not real or achievable but the God of this world, Satan, can deliver on his promises and has done so over many ages.

These are they who seek the righteous, those who have been transformed and who have overcome the world through the blood of Christ, and seek to convert them to darkness, to limitless power in this world.  It was to these converted Christians that Christ issued the warning to fear those who would destroy both body and soul. 

To love the Lord our God with all of our soul means surrendering to him our unique identity, the individual self, by losing ourselves in him.   He who will find his life will lose it and he who will lose his life shall find it.  One of the great paradoxes of Jesus was that in order to find ourselves, we must strip ourselves of all pride, and I mean all pride, and cleanse the inner vessel.  We must know our own nothingness and then we will be able to know our own unique identity.  We will find ourselves but the self we find will be renewed, different, transformed.  We will find our true selves, not the one who was blinded by the darkness of this world, but the true and eternal self, the child of the most high God. 

Even when we have made this quantum leap to become one who has overcome the world, we are not out of the woods yet and must be ever vigilant, hence, the warning by Jesus to his disciples and to us that we would be constantly tempted to come over to the dark side with unspeakable riches and power. We would be enticed and distracted by all the things of this world.

The enemies of Christ, the anti-Christ, these rulers of darkness, are not easily discerned,.  They are wolves in sheep’s clothing.  Outwardly, they look like sheep. Their works are deceiving because they do many good works.  They have unlimited wealth and use some of it for humanitarian purposes.  They feed the poor, they build hospitals and they build schools.  They promote peace and religion.  They are the hypocrites to whom Jesus referred who were as whited sepulchers but inwardly were full of dead men’s bones.  They literally are full of dead men’s bones having committed many murders across the ages to get gain and maintain power. Their good works profit them nothing because they did them not to serve Jesus Christ and his father, they did them to deceive the righteous and for their own power and glory.

Hence, the commandment by Jesus to love the Lord our God with all of our soul, surrendering ourselves completely to him helps us to distance ourselves from the temptations of the enemy, the adversary to all righteousness.     In fact, when we have been sufficiently converted to the side of Jesus, we will not only be less subject to temptation, we will be able to help others who have been seduced by the workers of darkness.  On this subject, the apostle James wrote in the book of James,

19. “ Brethren, if any of you do err from the truth, and one convert him; let him know, that he which converteth the sinner from the error of his way shall save a soul from death, and shall hide a multitude of sins.”

The word “hide” has also been translated as prevent.  And whose sins are being hidden or prevented?  I assert that the sins of both the one converted and the one doing the converting.  Both profit there from by being further converted and further distancing oneself from darkness.

Certainly, this is the greatest of conversions, to convert one who was been taken over completely by darkness and their generations of success in this world.   This is where the frontlines are drawn in the war between light and darkness.  The battle for men’s souls.  The powers of darkness rage when the servants of Jesus Christ seek to convert their soldiers and their victims to the light of Christ.  But, the righteous need not fear for Christ has given his true disciples power over all enemies.  The key to this power is the First and Second Great commandments.

Chapter 26

With All Thy Might and with All Thy Strength

Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God is one LORD: And thou shalt love the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might. And these words, which I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart: And thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up. Deuteronomy 6

In some versions of the First and Great commandment, might and strength are used together.  It appears that the Lord is being redundant by using two synonyms.  The Hebrew word for might is “meod” and it has less do with strength than it does with abundance.  The Hebrew “meod” has more to do with “very” or “muchness”  or “greatly” or “exceedingly”.  The Hebrew language has several words for strength that could be considered to be synonyms but they all refer to force, vigor, ability, power.  Therefore, when looked at in the context of Hebrew, might and strength have different meanings and purposes. 

Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, with all thy might (abundance), mind, and strength (power); and in the name of Jesus Christ thou shalt serve him.

One of the great fears for people is religious fanaticism.  To be fanatic, is to be excessive, to be out of control, to be unbalanced.  It would seem that from the extreme nature of the First and Great commandment where “allness”, “exceedingly” and “power” are invoked, we are in danger of becoming religious fanatics.  It has been said that, “Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely.”   What stops us from becoming unbalanced, from being corrupted by power and from being dangerous?

We have this famous exchange between Jesus and Peter,

Luke 22:31 And the Lord said, Simon, Simon, behold, Satan hath desired to have you, that he may sift you as wheat: 32 But I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not: and when thou art converted, strengthen thy brethren. 33 And he said unto him, Lord, I am ready to go with thee, both into prison, and to death. 34 And he said, I tell thee, Peter, the cock shall not crow this day, before that thou shalt thrice deny that thou knowest me.

Peter appears to want to give his all by going to prison and to death.  But Peter is missing the point.  Discipleship does not mean going to prison or death, discipleship means victory and being delivered from our enemies.  Jesus is not asking us to be fanatics in our love for him.  He is asking us to lose our lives by finding it in service to others.  When thou art converted? Converted to what?  Converted to truly understanding what it means to love him by loving our fellow man.  It is being converted to the first and great commandment so that we can fulfill the second great commandment of loving our neighbor as ourselves.  Strengthen thy brethren? Strengthen them in what way?  We strengthen our brethren by teaching them of the importance of the two great commandments.  We love the Lord with all of our strength when we strengthen our brethren (our neighbor).

We cannot strengthen our brethren (our neighbor) if we are being fanatic by going to prison and to death.  Jesus is not asking that of us.  We are far more useful to him if we have life more abundantly by losing ourselves in the strengthening of our brethren (our neighbor).  Loving the Lord with all our strength = strengthening our brethren.

Some have interpreted the prophesy of Peter denying the Christ three times as not a matter of Peter being too weak, or weaker than he thought but this was a commandment of Jesus that Peter was to deny his knowledge of Jesus so as to be able to avoid death and prison and thereby be able to strengthen his brethren.  Jesus was commanding Peter to deny him.  Since Jesus cannot lie and would not command anyone to lie, this seems implausible that Jesus would command Peter to lie.  However, it may not be a lie in the sense that Peter truly did not know Jesus or his true nature at that point.  Peter would later truly know Jesus Christ when he spent time with him following his resurrection.  Whether due to weakness or to commandment, Peter survived to continue his ministry and the work Jesus had for him to do. 

It has been reported that Peter was later crucified upside down and that all of the apostles, except John the Beloved, suffered some kind of horrible death.  There is nothing in known scriptures to support this, it is based on tradition.  Although I have not done thorough research, I have doubts about the veracity of such reports.  I would question if any of the apostles suffered deaths at the hands of their enemies.  The promise of Jesus to his apostles was unconditional,

“Behold, I give unto you power to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy: and nothing shall by any means hurt you.”

Jesus did not say that, “this promise only lasted until your mission was finished and then when I am finished with you, your enemies will have power over you”.  Jesus’ promises are everlasting and do not fail.  I assert that all of the apostles, like John, were promised power over their enemies and their enemies had no power over them.   The promise of life over death applied to all of the apostles.   The difference between John and the other apostles was that John asked to tarry, to continue his work on the earth while the other apostles were anxious to enter into the rest of the Lord and to be with him.  Neither John nor the apostles tasted of death but John tarried and remains in a transformed state.  What is important here and is one of the main messages of this writing, is that the promises made to the apostles is made to all,

Mark 13:37  And what I say unto you I say unto all, Watch.

Watch for what?  The enemy.  Why? The enemy and his followers are they who would destroy, who attempt murder and mayhem, who are the authors of all evil.  They are the serpents and the scorpions who would harm us.  But what did Jesus say to all, not just to the apostles?

“…and nothing shall by any means hurt you”

When we are converted to these truths, when we really believe the words of Jesus Christ, when we have the faith of a mustard seed, when our hearts are not waxed heavy and when we have eyes to see and ears to hear, when we have entered in at the strait gate and trod the narrow way, then…we will be able to strengthen our brethren, our fellow man, our neighbor and we will be keeping the First and Great commandment, to love the Lord our God with all of our might and with all of our strength.

Chapter 25

For After Much Tribulation Come The Blessings: Doing Our Time

A key doctrinal belief among Christians and especially among the LDS, is that we are sent to the earth to pass through much tribulation and that only after we “do our time” and endure the tribulation, can we expect to receive blessings.  For many, the welcome hour of the tribulation ending and the realization of blessings, begins after death and grave when we cross the veil..

“For verily I say unto you, blessed is he that keepeth my commandments, whether in life or in death; and he that is faithful in tribulation, the reward of the same is greater in the kingdom of heaven.

“Ye cannot behold with your natural eyes, for the present time, the design of your God concerning those things which shall come hereafter, and the ^bglory which shall follow after much tribulation.

“For after much tribulation come the blessings” (D&C 58:2–4).

Let’s feast upon this scripture and analyze in the light of the Holy Ghost:

“blessed is he that keepeth my commandments”  What commandments?  All of them that come forth from the mouth of God.  How do we know what they are?  They are all contained in the First and Second Great commandment upon which all other laws, covenants, promises and blessings hang.

“whether in life or in death”  Jesus said at the time he raised Lazarus from the dead[1], that there are two types of people, those who have died and will be resurrected again and those who live and will never die, that is, they have overcome the world through Jesus and by being reborn and, like John the Beloved Revelator, will not die or cast their body into the grave.  The vast majority fall into the first group, those who have died and either went to the grave or the cremator.  The second group is a very small group who have found the strait gate and trod the narrow way that leadeth to life eternal and who have not tasted death.  Both groups can keep the commandments and be blessed for them.  However, those who keep the commandments unto life eternal and who never die, are even more blessed.

“and he that is faithful in tribulation, the reward of the same is greater in the kingdom of heaven.”  Notice that the scripture starts a new sentence following a semi colon.  I believe that this sentence is referring to the second group of people who have lived and not died, who have not tasted death.  It is this second group that is faithful in tribulation and therefore, have a greater reward in the kingdom of heaven. 

Now, the good part.  What is tribulation?  Tribulation comes from the word Tribulum, which was a farm instrument used to thrash wheat.  It separated the wheat from the chaff and the tares from the wheat.  It involved some pressure and distress along with some wind or breeze to blow away the chaff and other non-essentials.  So, the word tribulation, which has come to mean suffering, affliction, pain, deprivation and other negative consequences, may not be the correct definition in all cases.

Tribulation can be different things for different people.  I assert that tribulation for the first group, those who die but yet shall live again, tribulation can be the great suffering and affliction that we hear so much about.  It is the suffering of the Jews in the concentration camps, it is the suffering of the Mormon handcart companies with frost bitten limbs, it is the suffering of the orphans who have lost their parents in a Tsunami or in a war, it is the suffering of a person with third degree burns over most of their body, it is the suffering of the parents who have a had a child abducted and unspeakable atrocities committed.  Yes, it has the effect of separating the wheat from the chaff.  It does create a stark choice, 1) I choose to endure my suffering and continue to believe in God and be grateful for my blessings, in spite of my intense suffering or 2) I choose to not believe that any loving God can exist and allow such suffering.  Yes, it does teach patience and it does teach “long” suffering.

For the second group of people, tribulation is sought after.  As noted in the scripture, “faithful in tribulation” signifies being faithful in a calling, faithful in service, faithful in keeping the commandments.  To be faithful in tribulation is to be faithful in using the thrasher and voluntarily asking for the chaff and tares to be removed from us.  If we choose to be humble, choose to learn suffering empathetically and choose to seek for the strait gate and narrow way, then the tribulum machine will be a joyous experience as we are cleansed of the false traditions (chaff) and the tares (the enemy) in our lives and liberated to be pure wheat. 

For the second group of people, those who never die, tribulation is a blessing because it is an easy yoke and a light burden.  It does not require the difficult yoke and heavy burden of the first group, those who die and have not found the strait gate and narrow way.  There are two kinds of suffering:  1) the intense suffering of this world created by the enemy, even Satan and 2) the sorrow of seeing others suffer unnecessarily because they have dull hearts and refuse to hear with their ears and see with their eyes so that Jesus might heal them.[2] 

“Ye cannot behold with your natural eyes, for the present time, the design of your God concerning those things which shall come hereafter, and the ^bglory which shall follow after much tribulation.”  What are the natural eyes?  Those physical eyes that are so set upon the things of the world that they cannot see spiritual things and the design of God.

What is the glory?  I heard a general authority say that all of the bountiful blessings and prosperity that Mormons enjoy today are part of that glory and the fruit that has been reaped by the descendents of the pioneers thanks to their “tribulation”.  But, glory refers to the glory of God, even light, intelligence and truth.  This intelligence, or light and truth, is manifested in his posterity for he has said that his work and glory is the immortality (not taste death) and eternal life (joy) of man.  His glory is US!  It is the glory that comes to those who have overcome the world and who have made their enemies their footstools, in this life.

“For after much tribulation come the blessings” The wheat thrashing machine requires hard work, sweat of the brow and it requires much thirsting and hungering for righteousness, to shake off our false traditions and beliefs.  Blessings include everything promised by Jesus:

1.     His miracles

2.     Victory over death, no tasting of death, life everlasting.

3.     Deliverance from our enemies.

4.     Joy and happiness of an abundant life mixed with sorrow from seeing others suffer needlessly.

We should remember that the kingdom of heaven is within us.   Greater blessings in the kingdom of heaven refers to the blessings received from voluntarily subjecting oneself to the tribulum and becoming cleansed and sanctified, the easy way.

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[1] 25Jesus said unto her, I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live:(first group) 26And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die.(second group) Believest thou this?  John 15

[2] For the heart of this people is waxed gross, and their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes have they closed; lest they should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and should be converted, and I should heal them.