Becoming a Godly People

 Joseph Smith said of the members of the church: “The duty of the members after they are received by baptism:…And the members shall manifest before the church and also before the elders, by a godly walk and conversation, that they are worthy of it, that there may be works and faith agreeable to the holy scriptures, walking in holiness before the Lord.” (T&C 1 (Joseph Smith History part 16) 19-20 RE)  The Lord requires of us to be holy and walk in godliness.  How do we do that? Just so you know I’m not there yet, but I’ve been thinking about it and here are a few of my thoughts.

 A while ago, I was pointed to a couple of podcasts by Mandy B. Green (Reflecting Light, I found it on Spotify), which I highly recommend.  One that I would like to reference here is her episode on 17 April 2021 entitled “The Ascent Vision of Mary Magdalene”. I believe the Christian world has an incorrect perception of Mary and who she is. Mandy’s extensive research on Mary is eye opening.  I would encourage you to look her up and see if there is truth that is important for you.  Mandy references a noncannonical book called “The Gospel of The Beloved Companion” by Jehanne De Quillan.  I have my own opinions about Mary, who and what she is, but I will save those perhaps for another time as it would get me too off topic.  Suffice it to say I am a big fan. The reason I bring this up in the first place is the vision that Mary had of her ascent to the 8^th Heaven is very instructive.  Below is the transcript taken right from the book. This recounting of the vision takes place at the end of the week after the Lord has been crucified and the disciples get together at the request of Mary. Peter then asked her to share with them “...the words of the Rabbi, which you remember which you know and understand, but we do not, nor have we heard them.”

   Mary replied “My Master spoke thus to me. He said, ‘Miryam, Blessed are you who came into being before coming into being, and whose eyes are set upon the kingdom, who from the beginning has understood and followed my teachings.  Only from the truth I tell you, there is a great tree within you that does not change, summer or winter, and its leaves do not fall. Whosoever listens to my words and ascends to its crown will not taste death, but know the truth of eternal life.’

  Then He showed me a vision in which I saw a great tree that seemed to reach unto the heavens; and as I saw these things, He said, ‘the roots of this tree are in the earth which is your body. The trunk extends upward through the five regions of humanity to the crown, which is the Kingdom of the Spirit. 

   There are eight great boughs upon this tree and each bough bears its own fruit, which you must eat in all its fullness.  As the fruit of the tree in the garden caused Adam and Chav’vah (Eve) to fall into darkness, so this fruit will grant to you the light of the spirit that is eternal life. Between each bough is a gate and a guardian who challenges the unworthy who try to pass.

   The leaves at the bottom of the tree are thick and plentiful, so no light penetrates to illuminate the way. But fear not, for I Am the Way and Light, and I tell you that, as one ascends the tree, the leaves that block one from the light are fewer, so it is possible to see all more clearly.  Those who seek to ascend must free themselves of the world.  If you do not free yourself from the world, you will die in the darkness that is the root of the tree.  But if you free yourself, you will rise and reach the light that is the eternal life of the spirit.’

   And as He said these things, I felt my soul ascend and saw the first great bough that bears the fruit of love and compassion, the foundation of all things.  And I knew that before you can eat of this fruit and gain its nourishment, you must be free of all judgment and wrath.  When you have freed yourself of these burdens, you may eat of the fruit and so gain the love and compassion that will allow you to pass the first of seven guardians.  And I heard the voice of the Lord of Wrath calling to me, but I denied him and he had no part in me.

   So I saw my soul ascend again and He showed me the second great bough, weighed down with the fruit of wisdom and understanding.  And I saw that before you can taste of its bounty, you must be free of all ignorance and intolerance.  Only then can you eat of the fruit and so pass upward unhindered through the second of the seven gates.  And I heard the voice of ignorance call to me, but I knew him not, and so my soul did thus unchallenged.

   Then my master showed me the third great bough, which bears the fruit of honor and humility.  Only when free of all duplicity and arrogance may you partake of its nourishment.  And Arrogance called to me, saying, ‘you are not worthy, go back.’ But my soul was deaf to him, and so moved onward and upward into increasing light.

   And then there came the fourth bough, blossoming with the fruit of strength and courage.  And I hear Him tell me that to eat of this fruit, you must have freed yourself from the weakness of the flesh and confronted and conquered the illusion of your fears. And the Master of the World stood before me and claimed me as his own, but I denied him and he had no part of me.

   Only then, my Master told me, when you have rejected the deceiver, can you pass through the hardest gate of all, to attain the fifth bough and the fruit of clarity and truth. Only then will you know the clarity and truth of your soul and, knowing yourself for the first time, understand that you are a child of the Living Spirit.  And as my soul moved upward, I realized that I could no longer hear the voice of the world, as all had become as silence.

  Then in the light above, I saw the sixth bough, the one that bore the fruit of power and healing.  My Master told me that when you truly have eaten of the fruit of the clarity and truth of yourself, then could you partake of the fruit of power and healing, the power to heal your own soul and thereby make it ready to ascend to the seventh bough, where it will be filled by the fruits of light and goodness.

   And I saw my soul, now free of all darkness ascend again to be filled with the light and goodness that is the spirit.  And I was filled with a fierce joy as my soul turned to fire and flew upwards in the flames from whence my Master showed me the eighth and final bough, upon which burned the fruit of the grace and beauty of the spirit.

   And I felt my soul and all that I could see dissolve and vanish in a brilliant light, in a likeness unto the sun.  And in the light, I beheld a woman of extraordinary beauty clothed in garments of brilliant white.  The figure extended its arms, and I felt my soul drawn into its embrace, and in that moment I was freed from the world, and I realized that the fetter of forgetfulness was temporary. From now on, I shall rest through the course of the time of the age in silence.  And then as if from a great distance, I heard the voice of my Master tell me, Miryam, whom I have called the Migdalah, now you have seen the all, and have known the truth of yourself; the truth that is I Am.  Now you have become the completion of completions.’  And thus the vision ended.”

   This is what my master has told and shown me.  And only from the truth I tell you, that all that I have revealed to you is true.

   When the Migdalah had told of all that Yeshua had said and done, she fell silent, since it was in that silence that Yeshua had spoken with her and revealed these truths.

I include the text, number one because I think it is soo cool, and two, to highlight what she had to let go of, or overcome, in order to obtain the fruit of each bough.  This compares favorably with the levels of Jacobs Ladder.  I have included beautiful artwork done by my friend Kim, which depicts the 8 boughs with their respective challenges and rewards.  Thank you Kim. 

 We have talked before about what we need to do to get out of Babylon and this is a great illustration of just that.  In addition, if we work on these things, we become more and more godly.  When you think about it, all of the things Mary had to let go of are attributes of the world: judgment and wrath, ignorance and intolerance, duplicity and arrogance, weakness of the flesh and the illusion of our fears (that one is interesting).  The next one is obvious, reject the deceiver.

 A while ago, I had a dream about rejecting the deceiver where, in order to overcome him, I was instructed to pronounce with boldness and out loud “Jesus Christ is my Master and Him alone will I serve” thereby putting the deceiver on notice that I choose not to be influenced by him.  With that statement and through repentance can we reject him and turn toward Christ, leaving Satan and his world in the rearview mirror. 

 We have also talked in the past about self awareness.  When we fully turn toward Christ by rejecting the deceiver, we then are able to grab hold of the fruit of clarity and truth of ourselves.  ”Knowing yourself for the first time…”, opens our eyes and heart to see ourselves as we really are, that we are truly children of God—The Living Spirit—and realizing we have much more history that just this mortality. Then we can obtain the fruit of Power and Healing.  Healing is a gift. What do we need to be healed from? Physical afflictions yes, but, I think more importantly, from the residue and wounds inflicted by the world and our incorrect perceptions.   Of course that is done through the Atonement, however, we need to grasp hold and intentionally partake of that gift in order to be filled with light and goodness.

 Mary reflects as she obtained clarity and truth she “…could no longer hear the voice of the world, as all had become as silence.”   I wondered about that, then at the end she says “…it was in that silence that Yeshua had spoken with her…”  When the voice of the world and all her distractions no longer hold our interest then we can be silent and still.  It is in that silence and stillness we can hear the voice of the Lord respond when we ask for instruction and direction. The last bough is the fruit of grace and beauty of the Spirit.  Joseph Smith in the Lectures on Faith refer to God the Father as a being of Spirit, I think this adds an additional witness to Joseph’s insight.

 Now for a squirrel—addressing a different topic. Denver Snuffer received a revelation from the Lord, on June 20^th 2024 (“Full text of June 20 revelation” Denversnuffer.com, July 19, 2024) posted as a blog on his website in which in part the Lord says: “There have been disputes among the women about the conduct of women’s councils and disputes about how they are to proceed.  I have given direction and it is not wise for the women to be commanded in every particular, but it is also not wise for the direction I have given to be used to achieve a predetermined outcome. The outcome should be based on, and the result of, what is learned in the council.

All my revelations are intended to guide you, and therefore remember that I have told you…that I established the Constitution by the hands of wise men…and the principles adopted in the Bill of Rights were intended to secure the protection of those accused of transgressing the laws of the land”.

 The revelation goes on to invite the women, if they choose, to have a conference to “Let the women learn to come to agreement and the voice of that conference decides all matters raised.”  This sounds on the surface as a great idea, but I wonder if it is like Samuel (1 Samuel 4 RE, 1 Samuel 8-10), as he was getting old and his sons did not follow the Lord the people asked Samuel “…Behold, you are old, and your sons walk not in your ways.  Now make us a king to judge us, like all the nations…The Lord said unto Samuel, listen unto the voice of the people in all that they say unto you; for they have not rejected you, but they have rejected me, that I should not reign over them.”

 With this recent revelation, I wonder if the Lord is offering us a lesser law (giving us a King) because there were those who were not satisfied with recent councils and feel His earlier direction regarding councils given to Denver, His servant, was not followed.  It is interesting that as we (my wife and I) learned more information about the how’s and why’s from a recent women’s council we were more at peace with the process and outcome.  This is just my opinion, I believe we should turn our face and ears toward the Lord and listen to His initial council and not bitch and complain when a council is called and we’re not satisfied with the process, the participants, or the outcome.  Perhaps, we need to learn to love each other enough and trust each other enough that we give the participants the benefit of the doubt and are good with decisions made in a council when one is merited.

 The upcoming conference is “Obtain a New Heart” so perhaps learning to be trustworthy according to the Lords definition and trusting each other is a good place to start.