Doctrine and Covenants 38-41

This revelation was the Lord’s answer to those who wondered why they should move 300 miles to the west in the middle of the winter! We must know Moses chapter Seven to understand these sections. The gathering of some great souls were happening during this time period in New York (Parley P. Pratt, Sydney Rigdon and others).

Reasons why they were to go to Ohio: 1. Bitterness of the opposition. 2. Spirit of Kirtland was friendly. 3. There were more members of the church in Ohio. 4. Available waterways in which to travel. Main Reason: The Lord promised them the “Law” (section 42)

Doctrine and Covenants 38 “If Ye Are Prepared, Ye Shall Not Fear!” Doctrine and Covenants 38:1 Seraphic host? Seraphs are angels who reside in the presence of God. They include spirits of the pre-mortal existence.

Doctrine and Covenants 38:2 The stunning reality that the past and present and future are part of an eternal now (Joseph Smith, HC, 4:597). Is it surprising that some people still question whether God is omniscient, that is, whether he has all knowledge in the ultimate. They say that he knows all things in relationship to man but that he himself is still learning and progressing in the knowledge he can acquire. God has all knowledge!

Knowledge brings power, and to say that God is limited in his knowledge is to deny his omnipotence as well. The Prophet Joseph Smith taught: “Without the knowledge of all things, God would not be able to save any portion of his creatures; for it is by reason of the knowledge which he has of all things, from the beginning to the end, that enables him to give that understanding to his creatures by which they are made partakes of eternal life; and if it were not for the idea existing in the minds of men that God has all knowledge it would be impossible for them to exercise faith in him” (Lectures on Faith 4:43).

D&C 38:4 I am the same which have taken the Zion of Enoch into mine own bosom; and verily I say, even as many as have believed in my name, for I am Christ, and in mine own name, by the virtue of the blood which I have spilt, have I pleaded before the Father for them. JST Genesis 14:30-34

Doctrine and Covenants 38:7 I am in your midst and ye cannot see me (Temples). Doctrine and Covenants 38:12 Doctrine & Covenants 86:5, the order of the gathering is different from the New Testament.

Sixty-one years later, Pres. Woodruff declared the Lord has released those destroying angels and they were on the earth separating the tares from the wheat in preparation for the burning that would soon come. Doctrine and Covenants 38:32 No Ohio, No Law! “No Endowment with power from on high!”

Your endowment is, to receive all those ordinances in the House of the Lord, which are necessary for you, after you have departed this life, to enable you to walk back to the presence of the Father, passing the angels who stand as sentinels, being able to give them key words, the signs, and tokens, pertaining to the Holy Priesthood, and gain your eternal exaltation in spite of earth and hell (Brigham Young, JD 2:31).

Doctrine and Covenants 39 Revelation to James Covill, a Methodist Minister for forty years! Doctrine and Covenants 40 Fear of Persecution This is last of the revelations in the Doctrine and Covenants that was received in New York before the Church membership moved west to the Ohio.

Those who believe for a while make only a brief tour in the kingdom, though thereafter they often feel qualified to inform those who know even less about the Church; but the fact is they were really only tourists --- not natives who really knew the kingdom’s countryside (Neal A. Maxwell, “’True Believers in Christ,’” 135). A few will be deceived by defectors. Likewise, others will be offended, for sufficient unto each dispensation are the stumbling blocks thereof! A few will stumble because, in their preoccupation with the cares of the world, they do not have oil in their lamps. And again and again, those who refuse to eat their spiritual spinach will come off second when they wrestle with the world (Neal A. Maxwell, Ensign, November 1982, 68).

Doctrine and Covenants 40:2-3 When the fear of man is greater than the fear of God, that’s peer pressure! We don’t know if he was ever baptized! Doctrine and Covenants 41 Edward Partridge, the 1 st Bishop in this dispensation of time. He was ordained a Bishop only two months after he was baptized! In the Law of Consecration, the Bishop was the spiritual and temporal agent who directed the program, assigned inheritances, received properties, etc.