You have heard that it has been said, You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy. But I say unto you, love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them who falsely accuse you and persecute you, that you may be the children of your Father who is in Heaven; for he makes his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust. For if you love only them who love you, what reward have you (RE Matthew 3:26)? 

The Lord could not have spoken more plainly when laying out the new law before us. As a law, this is required of us. It doesn’t matter what mood you wake up in that day of or how well you can articulate and prove that you are justified, here is what the Lord commands of you:

IF you have enemies, you must love them.

IF someone curses you, you must bless them.

IF someone hates you, you must do good to them.

IF someone falsely accuses you, you must pray for them.

IF someone persecutes you, you must pray for them.

Why? Why is this the test?

You generally hail from a tradition that assures you that you’re in the right way. You generally come from a tradition that says you are better than others. You are able to look down your nose at other people who stumble about in the dark, because they don’t have all the great truths you think you have. The fact of the matter is, you generally, not specifically, are not right before God. Of course, there are some to whom this absolutely does not apply, whose hearts are right before God, but there aren’t many. You have been handed this tradition. Understand, however, the wicked one cometh, and he takes away Light and Truth and he does it because of the false traditions you have been handed. The greatest among us is wholly inadequate. The greatest among us cannot be trusted with the power of God, not yet anyway. The greatest among us is still in need of repentance. Every one of us should walk fearfully before God, not because God is not generous, but because what He offers can turn you into a devil. The only way to be prepared and not fall, is to realize the enormous peril you potentially present to the universe. Before you get in a position to enjoy the status God offers to us all, you need to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, exactly like Paul said. You need to purge, remove, and reprove. This attitude we see in this man in this account (the brother of Jared), this is the man of God! Christ may be the prototype of the saved man, but I know of no record anywhere in all of scripture that exposes the heart of the real disciple of Christ as well as this chapter exposes the heart of this man. This is what we should become. This is why the Lord could open up to him. This is why this man became, in the history of the world, up to that moment, the one God revealed the most about Himself. This is despite the fact the Lord came to Adam in Adam-ondi-Ahman and administered comfort to Adam in the Valley of Adamondi-Ahman. Here He came and showed Himself as He truly was, as a preexistent spirit, possessing a soul as tangible as man’s. Christ ministered to him in a way, which, if you understood what it takes for a quickened being to condescend to show Himself as He does here, you would appreciate this was an enormous sacrifice by our Lord (Lecture 8, Pg. 22-23).

God Himself – who is all powerful and all knowing, who must and does judge correctly and accurately – causes His sun to rise on both the evil and the good. He sends rain on the just and unjust. Are you greater than Him so that you are not required to do the same? And if you cannot do the same (love your enemies, bless them that curse you, etc.) would what God offers turn you into a devil?

It is easy to love those who love you back. It goes completely and utterly against your nature to love those who hate you, dislike you, and misjudge you. If that response is so difficult, what is the easiest reaction that satisfies your natural man and does not require great effort and discipline? Could it include yelling, cussing, demanding, berating, and using entitlement, authority, and threats to respond to those you deem less than you or to be stumbling in the dark?

The 9^th Parable provides a lengthy description of the several different reactions from the king’s subjects. There was arguing and complaining, but nothing stood justified before the king. It was only those who bore the unfairness of it all that became kings and queens.

It is easy to fail. Just gather people who will contend with each other and there will be failure EVERY time. It makes sense to try something new rather than repeat the pattern that will never work. First, provide an opportunity for those who are interested to display who they are, whether they can live peaceably with others. Once we know one another’s hearts then the Lord can gather only those who will avoid contentions, jealousies, strifes, envyings, and jarring. Like the pattern in Abraham, first men are “proven” and then they are gathered, or spared (DS Blog, How To Fail).

How do you live peaceably with others? And how does the Sermon on the Mount help you do so? Is there any other way to learn to live peaceably with others than by living the Sermon on the Mount? What if how I believe God is telling me to follow His teachings is different from how you believe God is telling you to follow His teachings? Are we at an impasse?

Now, recall the story of the man of God from 1 Kings 3.

And it came to pass, when king Jeroboam heard the saying of the man of God who had cried against the altar in Beth-el, that he put forth his hand from the altar, saying, Lay hold on him.

Upon doing so, Jeroboam’s hand dries as a sign which the man of God gave by the word of the Lord. When Jeroboam entreats the man of God to ask God to restore his hand, he implores the Lord and the king’s hand restores itself.

And the king said unto the man of God, Come home with me and refresh yourself, and I will give you a reward. And the man of God said unto the king, If you will give me half your house, I will not go in with you, neither will I eat bread nor drink water in this place; for so was it charged me by the word of the Lord, saying, Eat no bread, nor drink water, nor return by the same way that you came. So he went another way and returned not by the way that he came to Beth-el.

The Lord gave the man of God very specific commandments to not eat bread or drink water and not to return the same way he came. Initially, when King Jeroboam tells the man of God to come home with him to refresh himself, the man of God easily refuses. King Jeroboam was not within the man of God’s religious circle.

Now there dwelled an old prophet in Beth-el, and his sons came and told him all the works that the man of God had done that day in Beth-el; the words which he had spoken unto the king, them they told also to their father. And their father said unto them, What way did he go? For his sons had seen what way the man of God went, who came from Judah. And he said unto his sons, Saddle for me the ass. So they saddled for him the ass and he rode thereon, and went after the man of God, and found him sitting under an oak.

And he said unto him, Are you the man of God that came from Judah? And he said, I am. Then he said unto him, Come home with me and eat bread. And he said, I may not return with you, nor go in with you, neither will I eat bread nor drink water with you in this place; for it was said to me by the word of the Lord, You shall eat no bread, nor drink water there, nor return to go by the way that you came.

He said unto him, I am a prophet also, even as you, and an angel spoke unto me by the word of the Lord, saying, Bring him back with you into your house, that he may eat bread and drink water, that I may prove him; and he lied not unto him. So he went back with him and did eat bread in his house and drank water.

“I am a prophet also, even as you…” See? You and I, amongst all our fellow believers, we are the same. You say the Lord spoke to you, and I say the Lord spoke to me. So follow what the Lord has told me. Come and eat bread and drink water, even though the Lord told you not to.

And it came to pass, as they sat at the table, that the word of the Lord came unto the prophet that brought him back. And he cried unto the man of God that came from Judah, saying, Thus says the Lord: Forasmuch as you have disobeyed the mouth of the Lord, and have not kept the commandment which the Lord your God commanded you, but came back and have eaten bread and drunk water in the place of which the Lord did say to you, Eat no bread and drink no water, your carcass shall not come unto the sepulcher of your fathers.

And it came to pass, after he had eaten bread and after he had drunk, that he saddled for him the ass — that is, for the prophet whom he had brought back. And when he was gone, a lion met him by the way and slew him, and his carcass was cast in the way, and the ass stood by it; the lion also stood by the carcass. And, behold, men passed by and saw the carcass cast in the way, and the lion standing by the carcass. And they came and told it in the city where the old prophet dwelled.

And when the prophet that brought him back from the way heard thereof, he said, It is the man of God who was disobedient unto the word of the Lord; therefore, the Lord has delivered him unto the lion, which has torn him and slain him according to the word of the Lord which he spoke unto him.

The prophet’s reaction to the man of God’s death was “It is the man of God who was disobedient unto the word of the Lord…which he spoke unto him” How can the same man who invited the man of God back to his house be making such a blatant statement? Isn’t he responsible for the man’s death?

If you extend the fundamental LDS doctrine [We follow a man whom we call a prophet.] to its logical conclusion, it is also satanic. It abrogates free will, requires obedience to a man even if he tells you to do something which you know to be wrong (a principle that has been taught in General Conference), and requires you to abandon your own agency. Since I believe everyone will be accountable before God for their choices in the Day of Judgment, the paradigm is false and will not protect you. You may think the “key holder” will absolve you of your mistakes, but God will judge you. If you are asked to do something wrong, and you do it out of veneration for a “prophet” you will not be spared, but you will be judged and condemned (DS Blog, Only One Doctrine Left).

If you are asked to do something that falls out of the scope of what God has commanded of you, no other person will absolve you of following man over God. Accept the responsibility devolving upon you to obey the Lord in what He is asking of you.

“Obey His voice,” in your instance, may be very different than “obeying His voice” in my life, because your circumstances are entirely peculiar to you. You’re living your life, and I’m living mine. You’re asked to minister in your family, to minister in your neighborhood, to function among your friends, to deal with people that you know (Lecture 8, Pg. 8).

The Lord said, “If you love me, keep my commandments.” A better translation is “If you love me, act as a sentinel (or guard), ready to receive further instructions from me.” You must stand alert and ready to receive instruction from the Lord and then obey His voice. This may look very different from another person who likewise is obeying His voice, which is why you must put forth the effort and sacrifice to learn to hear God’s voice through study and prayer.

You should be asking God so that you can understand Scripture. You should not be trusting the expositions of anyone, myself included. These Scriptures have a message for you. God has a message for you. God would like to talk to you. Not through me or any other man. God would like to talk with you. To be saved by knowledge the things you need to know are uniquely situated. The things you have the right to get from God are uniquely situated. Therefore unless you ask of Him, you will never recover the unique message intended for you.

You cannot rely on anyone to speak to God for you. The Lord has a message uniquely for you within the scriptures. You need to do what God is telling you.

Then Jerubbaal (who is Gideon) and all the people that were with him rose up early and pitched beside the well of Harod, so that the host of the Midianites were on the north side of them by the hill of Moreh, in the valley. And the Lord said unto Gideon, The people that are with you are too many for me to give the Midianites into their hands, lest Israel vaunt themselves against me, saying, My own hand has saved me. Now therefore go to, proclaim in the ears of the people, saying, Whoever is fearful and afraid, let him return and depart early from Mount Gilead. And there returned of the people twenty-two thousand, and there remained ten thousand. And the Lord said unto Gideon, The people are yet too many. Bring them down unto the water, and I will try them for you there. And it shall be that of whom I say unto you, This shall go with you, the same shall go with you; and of whomever I say unto you, This shall not go with you, the same shall not go. So he brought down the people unto the water, and the Lord said unto Gideon, Everyone that laps of the water with his tongue, as a dog laps, him shall you set by himself; likewise, everyone that bows down upon his knees to drink. And the number of them that lapped, putting their hand to their mouth, were three hundred men. But all the rest of the people bowed down upon their knees to drink water. And the Lord said unto Gideon, By the three hundred men that lapped will I save you and deliver the Midianites into your hand. And let all the other people go every man unto his place. So the people took provisions in their hand, and their trumpets, and he sent all the rest of Israel every man unto his tent, and retained those three hundred men. And the host of Midian was beneath him in the valley (Judges 3:6).

There is a division seen in this story of Gideon. The Israelite army here are all seeking to follow the Lord, yet out of 32,000 people, only 300 “finish the course.” The initial cut was sending home those where were fearful and afraid. This is “directly analogous to those who forsake following the Lord because of the cares and temptations of this life. They ‘fear’ to do good, when tempted to do otherwise.” The second cut was observing how the soldiers drank the water. The group who remained “vigilant even as they drank” were chosen. They symbolize having a love for God and showing true valiance by watching for their enemy even as they drank. The path is strait and narrow and only a few will find it (Eighteen Verses, Pg. 33).

I appreciate the symbolism in this story of acting as a sentinel (or guard), ready to receive further instructions from the Lord. To love the Lord is to receive His directions. Am I well enough acquainted with the scriptures to hear and recognize the Lord’s voice? How do I come to such faith that I can start to see the Lord’s hand (as the Brother of Jared) behind everything in my life? When will I start to trust that the experiences that I have are uniquely for me so I can work out my salvation with fear and trembling?  

For doubt and faith do not exist in the same person at the same time; so that persons whose minds are under doubts and fears cannot have unshaken confidence, and where unshaken confidence is not, there faith is weak, and where faith is weak, the persons will not be able to contend against all the opposition, tribulations, and afflictions which they will have to encounter in order to be heirs of God and joint-heirs with Christ Jesus, and they will grow weary in their minds, and the adversary will have power over them and destroy them.

Like in the 9^th Parable, here is an opportunity now for those who are interested to display who they are, to show whether they can live peaceably with others. So contend against the opposition, tribulations, and afflictions and love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them who falsely accuse you and persecute you. Do not grow weary. Then you may become the children of your Father who is in Heaven.