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Thursday, June 5, 2008

King Follet Sermon



Elder King Follet had been crushed
The congregation was hushed
With prayers to be verified
Each hoped to be edified
On this grave subject of death
The Prophet Joseph was led
And he offered up his own thoughts
Of all those present... none would forget!

"In the morn of creation"....
(He began with earth's formation
Wanting to say things just right...
And not lead away from light.)
"The beasts could eat, drink, and sleep
But, not comprehend what is deep;
Yet, man has been given a heart
To comprehend what heaven imparts."

As it is with faith, visions appear.
He turned  their minds to lofty spheres,
"Have you sought God and communed?
To this desire may your heart be tuned
For I have communed, heard, and seen
The living God in being
All we know of life eternal
Comes from Him supernal!"

"Of what I can comprehend
May I unto you extend?
God once was as we are now
And of this truth, I avow
Adam, made in His own image
Was prepared for life's pilgrimage
We too have been prepared for our day
As God, Himself, started this way!"

"May I take the veil away
And teach of Him today?
The head God brought forth other God's
Though translations are at odds.
God had once been like yourself.
Now the Father hath power himself.
The Savior will help us to reprise
Through degrees of grace to arise!"

"I know of whom we all belong
I can prove the world is wrong
For there are errors in God's book
As translators misnamed and mistook
One says Jacob, one says James...
Gone the message of how God saves
But through the Godhead we've a first hand book
That teaches us how to discern and look."

"Silence your hands and your voices
He who may hear rejoices
To the lawyers who but flutter
We laugh at what they utter
And then console those who mourn
Unto a hope that's been reborn
Jesus has tread in God's own tracks
And has taught us, perfectly, the grand way back."

"When Jesus spoke of His death
Something He said hints of depth
'As the Father hath power...
Even hath the Son power'
To lay down life and then rise
Our Father had known demise!
Of this the Bible does not dispute
Who, then, will believe or dare to refute?"

"Those live's laid down and dissolved
Must repent and be absolved.
Though we're to be immortal
There is more- to rise eternal!
God's kingdom requires man's humbling
He too went through great fear and trembling
Let us avoid everlasting burning
And keep our covenants... continually learning"

"When you climb up a long ladder
You rise with strength you have gathered.
Ever you arrive but step by step.
Then to slip quickly as you misstep.
Now, we have learned of exaltation-
How to build upon a sound foundation.
Mortality awaits for our education.
Ever there are times of self-evaluation."

"We have learn of God's very own character
As the heavens reveal, with faith we factor.
The Father had a grand council
To create, plan, and excel.
From the element, serials-
They organized materials.
Was earth once made of nothing?
Even we are made of something!"

"The plan for mankind was laid.
Out of earth, all life was made.
With a tabernacle of clay
Adam, the first man gave way.
His spirit was placed inside.
In the garden, he did reside.
He transgressed, fell- now we all sin
But through Christ, our souls we will win."

"Intelligence comprehends
What has beginning too must end.
But our spirits, they have neither
And we will go on forever.
The Holy Ghost knows of all
From the Father, for the long haul;
To help us climb life's long ladder
To be happier and not sadder."

"Our eternal life will be good
I know I will taste its sweet fruit!
To have glory, truth, knowledge, light
Power, priesthood, and keen insight-
I proclaim this with boldness.
May each spirit find their access
And of those who have passed beyond the veil
I will help them so they will not fail."

"We're either in grace or dread,
Spiritually alive or dead,
With God or separated,
Lonely or family related,
Either allowed or are barred.
Physically or spiritually scarred
As we are of intelligence
We will continue to learn more hence."


"When our friend was buried alive
We knew there was no way to survive.
Gravely... we ponder mortality
And wish for keen answers to see.
What can we do now that he has passed?
Give him something supernal that lasts!
We will baptize all his family dead
And seal them together for what lies ahead."


... shall comment on the very first Hebrew word
in the Bible; I will make a comment on the very
first sentence of the history of creation in the
Bible—Berosheit. I want to analyze the word.
Baith—in, by, through, and everything else.
Roch—the head, Sheit—grammatical termination.
When the inspired man wrote it, he did not put
the baith there. An old Jew without any authority
added the word; he thought it too bad to begin to
talk about the head! It read first, "The head one
of the Gods brought forth the Gods." That is the
true meaning of the words. Baurau signifies to
bring forth. If you do not believe it, you do
not believe the learned man of God. Learned men
can teach you no more than what I have told you.
Thus the head God brought forth the Gods in the grand council.
Joseph Smith, "King Follet Sermon."
------------------------------------
On the other hand, the whole design
of the gospel is to lead us onward
and upward to greater achievement,
even, eventually, to godhood. This
great possibility was enunciated by
the Prophet Joseph Smith in the
King Follet sermon (see Teachings of the
Prophet Joseph Smith,
pp. 342–62; and emphasized by
President Lorenzo Snow. It is this grand
and incomparable concept: As God now is,
man may become! (See The Teachings of
Lorenzo Snow, comp. Clyde J. Williams,
Salt Lake City: Bookcraft, 1984, p. 1.)

Our enemies have criticized us for believing
in this. Our reply is that this lofty concept
in no way diminishes God the Eternal Father.
He is the Almighty. He is the Creator and
Governor of the universe. He is the
greatest of all and will always be so.
But just as any earthly father wishes for
his sons and daughters every success in life,
so I believe our Father in Heaven wishes for
his children that they might approach him in
stature and stand beside him resplendent in
godly strength and wisdom.

Gordon B. Hinckley, “Don’t Drop the Ball,”
Ensign, Nov 1994, 46

Do not drop the ball
Consider those who've passed
Give to them your all
Give them the gift that lasts

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