Hidden
Treasures of Knowledge
Elder
Spencer W. Kimball
Of
the Council of the Twelve Apostles
General
Conference » October » 1968
The
title for this paper was created by me as in 1968 they did not title the talks
but just gave the speaker’s name. So as you will see as you read it, the title
represents an overview of what this talk is about. Champ
President
McKay, we have all appreciated and enjoyed your presence at this
conference.
Brothers
and sisters: I sat one day with an attorney friend, Guy Anderson, across the
directors’ room table of my office in Arizona.
In
his slow, pleasant drawl, he said, “I came to congratulate you on your call
to the apostleship and to visit with you before your move to Salt Lake
City.” We talked about what my call entailed, and then he told me of one of
his experiences as a law student at George Washington University.
Discussion
of Word of Wisdom
A
number of young members of the Church were students there. Since there were no
stakes in the East at that time, they held a Sunday School class in a rented
residence, and Congressman Don B. Colton from Utah was their
teacher.
This
particular Sunday morning, they were considering the 89th section of the
Doctrine and Covenants, the Lord’s law of health.
Brother
Colton had made an impressive presentation on the Word of Wisdom, which is
“the order and will of God in the temporal salvation of all saints in the
last days.”
He
emphasized also the further statement of the Lord:
In
consequence of evils and designs which do and will exist in the hearts of
conspiring men in the last days, I have warned you, and forewarn you, by giving
unto you this word of wisdom by revelation
[D&C 89:4].
The
Lord is displeased when his earthly children imbibe in wine or strong drink. He
said,
“.
. . tobacco is not for the body . . . and is not good for man. . . . And
again, hot drinks, [tea and coffee] are not for the body. [D&C 89:
8-9]
Brother
Colton emphasized the promise made by the Lord to those who did observe this law
of health and other commandments. Hear these rich promises:
.
. . all saints who remember to keep and do these sayings, walking in
obedience to the commandments, shall receive health in their navel and marrow to
their bones;
And
shall find wisdom and great treasures of knowledge, even hidden
treasures,
And
shall run and not be weary, and shall walk and not faint.
And
I, the Lord, give unto them a promise, that the destroying angel shall pass by
them, as the children of Israel, and not slay them”
[D&C 89: 18-21].
Then
came a question from one of the students:
Brother
Colton, the promise is that if one observes these laws, he shall find wisdom and
great treasures of knowledge, even hidden treasures. Many of the men in this
university use tobacco and liquor and break all commandments, including the law
of chastity. Yet in some cases they excel academically. So far as I can tell my
obedience to the Word of Wisdom has not made me superior intellectually to them.
How do you account for that?
Since
closing time had come, Brother Colton held this difficult question for the next
week.
Experience
of Congressman
On
Friday, as usual, several of the congressmen were eating luncheon at the House
of Representatives’ restaurant when Brother Colton joined them. The others began
to joke in a friendly fashion, “Here comes the `Mormon congressman; this man
from Utah won’t drink nor smoke a cigarette nor even drink a cup of coffee.”
A congressman from a western state came to the defense, saying, “Gentlemen,
you may joke at Mr. Colton and have your fun at the expense of the `Mormon
Church, but let me tell you an experience.”
He
told a story something like this:
I
was back in my home state, building political fences, shaking hands with voters,
getting acquainted with my people. Sunday overtook me in a country
town.
I
sat in the lobby of the hotel, reading the paper, and through the plate glass
window I saw many people going in the same direction. My curiosity was stirred.
I followed them to a little church and slid unobtrusively into a back seat and
listened and observed.
This
church service was different. I had never seen one like it. A man called
`bishop’ conducted the meeting. The singing was by the congregation, the prayer
by a man from the audience, apparently called without previous notice. Soft
music was played. All was silent as one young man knelt and said a prayer over
bread, which he and his companion had broken into small pieces, and then several
boys, probably 12 or 13 years of age, took plates of broken bread and passed it
to the congregation. The same was done with little cups of water. After the
choir sang an anthem, to my amazement (for
I expected to hear a sermon), the bishop announced something like this:
`Brothers and sisters, today is your monthly fast and testimony service, and you
may proceed to speak as you feel led by the Spirit. This time is not for sermons
but to speak of your own soul and your inner feelings, and assurances. The time
is yours.
The
western congressman paused and then continued.
Never
before had I experienced anything like this. From the congregation people arose.
One man in a dignified voice said how he loved the Church and the gospel and
what it meant in the life of his family.
From
another part of the chapel, a woman stood and spoke with deep conviction of a
spectacular healing in her family as an answer to prayer and fasting and closed
with what the people called a testimony — that the gospel of Jesus Christ as
taught by the Church was true; that it brought great happiness and a deep peace
to her.
Still
another woman arose and bore witness of her sureness that Joseph Smith was truly
a prophet of God and had been the instrument of the Lord in restoring the true
gospel of Christ to the earth.
A
man from the choir, evidently a recent immigrant, seemed sensitive about his
language. He was struggling with his v’s and his w’s and verbs and construction.
Two years ago, two young missionaries in far-away Holland had taught him the
restored gospel. He told how happy his family had been since embracing it, and
what a transformation had come in their lives!
The
old and the middle-aged and the youth responded; some were farmers, laborers;
there were teachers and business and professional men. There was no ostentation,
no arrogance, but a quiet dignity, a warm friendliness, a sweet
spirituality.
Then
came in succession several children. They spoke less of their knowledge of
spiritual things but more of their love for their parents and for the Savior, of
whom they had learned much in Primary, Sunday School, and family home
evenings.
Finally
the bishop stood and in a few appropriate words of commendation expressed his
own sureness; then he closed the meeting.
The
western congressman noted that all around the table were intently listening. He
continued:
Never
had time passed so rapidly. I had been entranced. And as each additional speaker
had concluded in the name of Jesus Christ, I was moved — deeply stirred — and I
pondered: How sincere! How sweet and spiritual! How sure these people seem to be
of their Redeemer! How much at peace! What security they have in their spiritual
knowledge, what strength and fortitude, and what purposeful
lives!
The
congressman said, “I thought of my own children and grandchildren and their
helter-skelter existence, their self-centered activities, their seeming
spiritual vacuums, their routine lives in search of wealth and fun and
adventure. And I said to myself with an enthusiasm new to me, `How I wish my own
posterity could have this sureness, this faith, this deep conviction.
Why,
these humble people seem to have a secret that most people do not enjoy — yes,
that is it — something worth more than all else, real treasures, hidden
treasures.
The
luncheon ended. The congressmen went back to their offices.
Hidden
treasures of knowledge
Elder
Colton was now again before his Sunday School class of young college men. He
retold the Friday afternoon story and said that what the congressman had
observed were “hidden treasures of knowledge” promised by the revelation.
These
mysteries of the kingdom relate to all truths, not merely to scientific
accomplishments and legal cases and other secular things. He said that
“treasures of knowledge” extended far beyond material things, out into
the infinite areas not explored by many otherwise brilliant people. He repeated
the Prophet’s statements, which are proverbial among members of the Church:
Knowledge is power. The glory of God is intelligence.
Knowledge
is not merely the equations of algebra, the theorems of geometry,’ or the
miracles of space. It is hidden treasures of knowledge as recorded in
Hebrews, by which “the
worlds were framed by the word of God”
(Heb. 11:3); by which Enoch was translated that he should not see death; by
which Noah, with a knowledge no other human had, built an ark on dry land and
saved a race by taking seed through the flood.
Knowledge
is that power which raises one into new and higher worlds and elevates him into
new spiritual realms.
Knowledge
Not Unfindable
The
treasures of both secular and spiritual knowledge are hidden ones — but hidden
from those who do not properly search and strive to find them. The knowledge of
the spiritual will not come to an individual without effort any more than will
the secular knowledge or college degrees. Spiritual knowledge gives the power to
live eternally and to rise and overcome and develop and finally to
create.
Hidden
knowledge is not unfindable. It is available to all who really search. Christ
said, “. . . seek and ye shall find.” (Matt. 7:7.) Spiritual knowledge is
not available merely for the asking; even prayers are not enough. It takes
persistence and dedication of one’s life. The knowledge of things in secular
life are of time and are limited; the knowledge of the infinite truths are of
time and eternity.
Knowledge
of God
Of
all treasures of knowledge, the most vital is the knowledge of God; his
existence, powers, love, and promises.
The
Christ said:
“He
that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me: and he
that loveth me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and will
manifest myself unto him.” (John 14:21.)
He
further said:
If
a man love me, he will keep my words: . . . and we will come unto him, and make
our abode with him.
(John 14:23.)
And
the Prophet Joseph Smith explained:
And
this means that the coming of the Father and the Son to a person is a reality —
a personal appearance — and not merely dwelling in his
heart.
(D&C 130:3.)
This
personal witness, then, is the ultimate treasure.
Knowledge
That Saves
One
may acquire knowledge of space and in a limited degree conquer it. He may
explore the moon and other planets, but no man can ever really find God in a
university campus laboratory, in the physical test tubes of workshops, nor on
the testing fields at Cape Kennedy. God
and his program will be found only in deep pondering, appropriate reading, much
kneeling in devout, humble prayer, and in a sincerity born of need and
dependence.
These
requirements having been fully met, there is no soul between the poles nor from
ocean to ocean who may not positively obtain this knowledge, this hidden
treasure of knowledge, this saving and exalting knowledge.
President
Joseph Fielding Smith, speaking at Brigham Young University, quoted from
latter-day revelation: “It is impossible for a man to be saved in
ignorance” (D&C 131:6), and then asked the question:
“Ignorance
of what? By that, do we mean that a man must become proficient in his secular
learning — that he must master some branch of education? What does it
mean?”
We
mean this: “That
a man cannot be saved in ignorance of the saving principles of the Gospel.
We cannot be saved without faith in God. We cannot be saved in our sins. . .
. We must receive the ordinances and the covenants pertaining to the Gospel and
be true and faithful to the end. Eventually, if we are faithful and true, we
shall gain all knowledge, but this is not required of us in this brief, mortal
life, for that would be impossible. But here in faith and integrity to the
truth, we lay the foundation upon which we build for
eternity.”
Real
intelligence is the creative use of knowledge, not merely an accumulation of
facts.
The
Greatest Knowledge
The
ultimate and greatest of all knowledge, then, is to know God and his program for
our exaltation. We may know him by sight, by sound, by feeling. While relatively
few ever do really know him, everyone may know him, not only prophets — ancient
and modern — but, as he said:
“.
. . every soul who forsaketh his sins and cometh unto me, and calleth on my
name, and obeyeth my voice, and keepeth my commandments, shall see my face and
know that I am.” (D&C 93:1.)
If
men qualify, they have this unalterable promise from their Redeemer.
Among
the numerous people who have had manifestations is Moses, who saw and knew the
Lord:
“.
. . the glory of God was upon Moses; therefore Moses could endure his
presence. (Moses 1:2.)
Moses
tells of this transcendent experience:
But
now mine own eyes have beheld God; but not my natural, but my spiritual eyes,
for my natural eyes could not have beheld; for I should have withered and died
in his presence; but his glory was upon me; and I beheld his face, for I was
transfigured before him.
(Moses 1:11.)
And
then in his dialogue with Satan, whom he saw also, Moses said:
For
behold, I could not look upon God, except his glory should come upon me, and I
were strengthened before him. But I can look upon thee [Satan] in the natural
man? Is it not so, surely?
(Moses 1:14.)
Again,
the Lord spoke of hidden treasures of knowledge when he prayed to his Father to
glorify him:
And
this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus
Christ, whom thou hast sent.
(John 17:3.)
And
he promised:
My
sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me:
And
I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish.
(John 10:27-28.)
Key
to Knowing
The
Savior of the world gave this key:
If
any man will do his will, he shall know of the doctrine, whether it be of God,
or whether I speak of myself.
(John 7:17.)
Nicodemus,
a highly trained man, failed to know the hidden spiritual things, being
unwilling to perform the works. He could not have the Holy Ghost, since he would
not humbly bow in baptism. The Holy Ghost is the testifier. It is he who teaches
all things and brings to our remembrance all things the Lord has
taught.
Nicodemus
asked:
How
can these things be?
Jesus
answered . . ., Art thou a master of Israel, and knowest not these
things?
.
. . I say unto thee, We speak that we do know, and testify that we have seen;
and ye receive not our witness. (John 3:9-11.)
In
one of his prayers Jesus said:
I
thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because thou hast hid these
things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them unto
babes.”
(Matt. 11:25)
The
Mysteries of the Kingdom
Again,
the Lord said: “Because it is given unto you to know the mysteries of the
kingdom, but to them it is not given.” (Matt. 13:11.) Such
must be earned.
And
then Paul speaks of hidden wisdom:
But
we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, even the hidden wisdom, which God
ordained before the world unto our glory:
Which
none of the princes of this world knew.
(1 Cor. 2:7-8.)
For
what man knoweth the things of a man, save the spirit of man which is in him?
even so the things of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God.
(1 Cor. 2:11.)
Secular
and Spiritual Knowledge
To
have both the secular and spiritual is the ideal. To have only the secular is
like Jude said:
“.
. . clouds they are without water, carried about of winds; trees whose fruit
withereth.” (Jude 12.)
Desirable
as is secular knowledge, one
is not truly educated unless he has the spiritual with the
secular.
The secular knowledge is to be desired; the
spiritual knowledge is an absolute necessity.
We shall need all of the accumulated secular knowledge in order to create worlds
and to furnish them, but
only through the “mysteries of God” and these hidden treasures of
knowledge may we arrive at the place and condition where we may use that
knowledge in creation and exaltation.
It
is my prayer that we learn to master ourselves by obedience to the Lord’s
commandments by the control of our physical appetites, and by placing first in
our lives service to God and our fellowmen, so that the hidden things of the
spirit may come to us and that we may attain perfection with the Father and the
Son. Many
have seen God in the course of history. All of us may do so eventually through
our righteousness.
I
add my witness to the numerous ones already spoken and written and talked of
through this conference of the divinity of Jesus Christ and his work, in the
name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
Elder
Spencer W. Kimball, CR, October 1968, Afternoon Meeting, pp.
127-131.
From CW:
http://www.truthorfiction.com/rumors/e/Eddie-Sessions-WSJ.htm
Incorrect author.
The Wall Street Journal Sizes up
Obama
.
Wall
Street Journal Sizes Up Obama
A "deadly" article regarding
Obama, at the Wall Street Journal, which today is the most widely circulated
newspaper in America .
Article from the Wall Street Journal - by Alan
Caruba:
"I have this theory about Barack Obama. I think he's led a kind
of make-believe life in which money was provided and doors were opened because
at some point early on somebody or some group (George Soros anybody?) took a
look at this tall, good looking, half-white, half-black, young man with an
exotic African/Muslim name and concluded he could be guided toward a life in
politics where his facile speaking skills could even put him in the White
House.
In a very real way, he has been a young man in a very big hurry.
Who else do you know has written two memoirs before the age of 45? "Dreams of My
Father" was published in 1995 when he was only 34 years old. The "Audacity of
Hope" followed in 2006. If, indeed, he did write them himself. There are some
who think that his mentor and friend, Bill Ayers, a man who calls himself a
"communist with a small 'c'" was the real author.
His political skills
consisted of rarely voting on anything that might be deemed controversial. He
went from a legislator in the Illinois legislature to the Senator from that
state because he had the good fortune of having Mayor Daley's formidable
political machine at his disposal.
He was in the U.S. Senate so briefly
that his bid for the presidency was either an act of astonishing self-confidence
or part of some greater game plan that had been determined before he first
stepped foot in the Capital. How, many must wonder, was he selected to be a 2004
keynote speaker at the Democrat convention that nominated John Kerry when
virtually no one had ever even heard of him before?
He outmaneuvered
Hillary Clinton in primaries. He took Iowa by storm. A charming young man, an
anomaly in the state with a very small black population, he oozed "cool" in a
place where agriculture was the antithesis of cool. He dazzled the locals. And
he had an army of volunteers drawn to a charisma that hid any real
substance.
And then he had the great good fortune of having the
Republicans select one of the most inept candidates for the presidency since Bob
Dole. And then John McCain did something crazy. He picked Sarah Palin, an
unknown female governor from the very distant state of Alaska . It was a ticket
that was reminiscent of 1984's Walter Mondale and Geraldine Ferraro and they
went down to defeat.
The mainstream political media fell in love with
him. It was a schoolgirl crush with febrile commentators like Chris Mathews
swooning then and now over the man. The venom directed against McCain and, in
particular, Palin, was extraordinary.
Now, 3 full years into his
presidency, all of those gilded years leading up to the White House have left
him unprepared to be President. Left to his own instincts, he has a talent for
saying the wrong thing at the wrong time. It swiftly became a joke that he could
not deliver even the briefest of statements without the ever-present
Tele-Prompters.
Far worse, however, is his capacity to want to "wish
away" some terrible realities, not the least of which is the Islamist intention
to destroy America and enslave the West. Any student of history knows how
swiftly Islam initially spread. It knocked on the doors of Europe, having gained
a foothold in Spain .
The great crowds that greeted him at home or on his
campaign "world tour" were no substitute for having even the slightest grasp of
history and the reality of a world filled with really bad people with really bad
intentions.
Oddly and perhaps even inevitably, his political experience,
a cakewalk, has positioned him to destroy the Democrat Party's hold on power in
Congress because in the end it was never about the Party. It was always about
his communist ideology, learned at an early age from family, mentors, college
professors, and extreme leftist friends and colleagues.
Obama is a man
who could deliver a snap judgment about a Boston police officer who arrested an
"obstreperous" Harvard professor-friend, but would warn Americans against
"jumping to conclusions" about a mass murderer at Fort Hood who shouted "Allahu
Akbar." The absurdity of that was lost on no one. He has since compounded this
by calling the Christmas bomber "an isolated extremist" only to have to admit a
day or two later that he was part of an al Qaeda plot.
He is a man who
could strive to close down our detention facility at Guantanamo even though
those released were known to have returned to the battlefield against America .
He could even instruct his Attorney General to afford the perpetrator of 9/11 a
civil trial when no one else would ever even consider such an obscenity. And he
is a man who could wait three days before having anything to say about the
perpetrator of yet another terrorist attack on Americans and then have to
elaborate on his remarks the following day because his first statement was so
lame.
The pattern repeats itself. He either blames any problem on the
Bush administration or he naively seeks to wish away the truth.
Knock,
knock. Anyone home? Anyone there? Barack Obama exists only as the sock puppet of
his handlers, of the people who have maneuvered and manufactured this pathetic
individual's life.
When anyone else would quickly and easily produce a
birth certificate, this man spent over a million dollars to deny access to his.
Most other documents, the paper trail we all leave in our wake, have been
sequestered from review. He has lived a make-believe life whose true facts
remain hidden.
We laugh at the ventriloquist's dummy, but what do you do
when the dummy is President of the United States .
We the people are
coming!
Only 86% will send this on. Should be a 100%.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
From DH:
Firearms Refresher Course
1.
"Those who hammer their guns into plows will plow for those who do not."
~Thomas Jefferson
2. "Those who trade
liberty for security have neither." ~ John
Adams
3. Free men do not ask
permission to bear arms.
4. An armed man is a
citizen. An unarmed man is a subject.
5. Only a government that is afraid of its citizens tries to control
them.
6. Gun control is not about guns; it's
about control.
7. You
only have the rights you are willing to fight for.
8. Know guns, know peace, know safety.
No guns, no peace, no safety.
9. You don't shoot to kill; you shoot to stay
alive.
10. Assault is a behavior, not a
device.
11. 64,999,987 firearms owners killed
no one yesterday.
12. The United States
Constitution (c) 1791. All Rights Reserved.
13. The Second Amendment is in place in case the politicians ignore the
others.
14. What part of 'shall not be
infringed' do you NOT
understand?
15. Guns
have only two enemies; rust and
politicians.
16. When
you remove the people's right to bear arms, you create
slaves.
17. The American Revolution would
never have happened with gun
control.
"I love this country, it's the government I'm afraid
of."
IF YOU
AGREE, PASS THIS 'REFRESHER' ON TO TEN FREE CITIZENS.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
From JR:
One should be
thinking about this seriously. I'm sending this because I know you are bright
and I care about you.
The Center for Disease Control has issued a warning
about a new virulent strain of this old disease. The disease is called
"Gonorrhea Lectim." It’s Pronounced "Gonna re-elect em" and it is a terrible
Obamanation. The disease is contracted through dangerous and high risk behavior
involving putting your cranium up your rectum. Many victims contracted it in
2008...But now most people, after having been infected for the past 1-3 years,
are starting to realize how destructive this sickness is. It's sad because
Gonorrhea Lectim is easily cured with a new drug just coming on the market
called Votemout. You take the first dose now and the second dose in Nov. 2012
and simply don't engage in such behavior again; otherwise, it could become
permanent and eventually wipe out all life as we know it.
You may want to
pass this important message on to all those bright folks you really care about.
Release Date: 06/02/12
